Bren gave a little bow of the head. “I shall be the same. I shall never forget our recent association, nandi, and I shall try to find a mutually agreeable course, fair to you and fair to the aiji-dowager. Standing between is my value in a situation.”
“Dispense with subtlety and give me your best advice. What would you advise in the next number of days?”
“Dispatch the representative to Shejidan as soon as possible—there will be curiosity from all Guilds, once they know the Assassins’ Guild has achieved agreement. Sign with the Merchants’ Guild first; they are reasonable people with a reasonable objective. Transport will have a standard agreement. Be cautious with the Messengers’ Guild, and read their agreement carefully. Bargain hard with them, and ask the Merchants’ Guild if you distrust a clause—they will give you an honest answer. Sign the agreement with the aiji-dowager, and move on all convenient programs. Immediately loose rumors of a great trading venture contingent on that agreement.”
“And then?”
“Simutaneously be ready to send representatives to the East to set up a trade office on the coast; and outfit an expedition by sea. Within the Marid, establish clinics in key places: that will immediately see benefits to the people. Sign with the Academicians and establish a small school in Tanaja with high prestige and technical assistance from the Engineers’, the Messengers’, and the Physicians’ Guilds; concentrating first on those three disciplines and having a relationship with those Guilds. Erect windmills for power in the villages, not neglecting Senji and Dojisigi. The Engineers’ Guild will assist at your request, and Shejidan will assist you in that effort with materials and technology. The Messengers will provide broadcast radio for every village, each village to have at least one receiver, and let that network inform the villages for you. Speak to the people on a fixed schedule and inform them on progress and new programs and how to access them. Rumors in the Marid will then become scarcer than fact. Once people see benefits from change, their opinions will become more favorable—not universally, but with medical care and more prosperity, they will be more favorable. And thatwill secure your future.”
Machigi laughed softly. “Paidhi, you have it all laid out in your head, do you not?”
“One has thought about it, nandi. One has thought about it incessantly, in a desire to have the most benefit the fastest. That is what will make this work.”
“I shall miss you, paidhi, indeed. My ministers have no sense of humor.”
“I shall, I hope, see you again, nandi. I am more than willing to bridge gaps for you and to convey messages in, one hopes, a delicate way.”
“I have gifts for you,” Machigi said, “on which I have labored personally.” Machigi drew two small cylinders from his pocket, and offered it to him. “Use these as you see fit.”
“Shall I open them?”
“One is a polite letter for the aiji-dowager, which you only need deliver, and the other is reading for your journey.” Machigi stood up. The guest was obliged to do the same. The meeting was over. “I shall bid you farewell now, paidhi. The requested items will be aboard your bus by now. Staff will have carried your belongings down, and your small army of Guild will, I am told, be going back to Najida, to keep it safe from—whomever. I shall see you soon in Shejidan, nand’ paidhi.”
Bren slipped the two cylinders into his own pocket and bowed. “One will look forward to that meeting, nandi, not alone officially.”
“Flattery.”
“Yet true.” A second bow. “Baji-naji, nandi, we shall do this.”
He was done—sooner than he had expected, as well. The meeting could have gone far longer, or taken days, had the discussion gone wrong.
But it had not. They were both satisfied.
And it was time to get the hell out of the district and let the Marid take care of the Marid for a while without his interference rousing controversy.
He gathered his aishid, Tano and Algini conveniently arriving on the main floor with their own luggage and three servants carrying the rest. No expressions changed. No expressions betrayed any satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the proceedings. His bodyguard was on strictly formal behavior, communicating with short-range, and if there was any authority on the premises besides Lord Machigi—such as a local Guild officer—none appeared to wish them good travel.
Outside, under gray skies and a light sprinkle of rain, the bus stood waiting. The last baggage went aboard as they lingered at the bus steps.
Then the cargo doors shut. Bren caught the hand grip and climbed the first tall step, with Jago right behind him.
But someone hadnow appeared, in an official capacity: Tema, Machigi’s senior bodyguard, with his partner. Banichi delayed and joined Tano and Algini in that conversation outside the bus.
Jago put the briefcase on the seat and awaited his coat. Bren extracted the cylinders from his pocket before he slipped it off and offered it to Jago to hang for him—ostensibly servant duties, but at no point did his bodyguard leave him to fend for himself under still-questionable circumstances.
He settled in. The air in the bus was a little chill yet, but a welcome chill, considering the heavy vest his bodyguard would not let him omit. He set his briefcase on the floor by his feet, the driver started the engine, and the meeting at the bus steps ended with a fast exchange of signs, apparently cordial.
The rest of his bodyguard got aboard in uncommonly good spirits for the situation, the door definitively shut, and the bus rolled, meeting a light spatter of rain on the windshield as it left the wind-shadow of the building.
Communications would be going out from the bus about now on long-range equipment, a summons for the plane to meet them at Najida airport, a communication with the local Guild that they were on the move and that they would be passing through the streets.
Bren let go a long sigh, sheer relief to have gotten things this far, with Machigi’s general agreement. On the other hand, one hesitated to rejoice too soon.
The ink had not yet landed on the bottom line. There was a lot, lot more to attend to before that happened.
Banichi and Jago sat down in the seats facing his. Tano and Algini hung on in the aisle as the bus negotiated the downslope of the driveway.
“So, nadiin-ji?” he asked them.
“We found good agreement,” Banichi answered him. “His aishid is troubled at so much responsibility falling in their laps. But the Guild is carefully loading them with what they can bear, instructing them in procedures, assisting them with modern equipment. He was fortunate in them. He was very fortunate. You advised him well, Bren-ji.”
“One hoped one would receive a sign, if not.”
“Well-spoken, Bren-ji,” Jago said. “At all points.”
Bren let go a slow breath and melted back into the seat. “One is gratified by your confidence, nadiin-ji. Terrified at the scope of it all, but gratified. —Tano-ji, how are you holding up?”
“Quite well,” Tano said. Tano had taken it in the arm not so very many days ago. He was doing rehabilitation in between standing duty. Banichi and Jago and Algini had lasting scars— from keeping the paidhi-aiji in one piece despite his very best efforts to get himself killed.
“Rest,” he said. “Let the juniors manage the details for the rest of the trip. I have absolutely no needs. But,” he said, “one imagines you would care to read what Machigi has said.”
“One would be a little curious,” Banichi admitted.