"Gods inferior and blasphemed, you're so much more collected than Brominandi. That wretch had the effrontery to send me a telegram in support of the rebels, do you know?"
"I hadn't known."
"He should take lessons from you. At telegraph rates he's spent his annual budget."
"But I believe it, aiji-ma. I'd never urge you against what I believe is to the benefit of atevi."
"Grandmother will take no harm of me."
"But Malguri."
"Nor will there be public markets at Malguri. — Which some would urge, you understand. Some see the old places as superfluous, an emblem of opprobrious privilege."
"I see it," he said, "as something atevi can never obtain from human books."
Tabini said nothing in reply to that. Only recrossed his ankles on the footstool, and the two of them stared at the fire a moment.
"Where is man'chi," Tabini asked him, "paidhi-ji?"
"Mine? One thought atevi didn't ask one another such questions."
"An aiji may ask. — Of course —"
A hurried group of security went through the room, and the seniormost, it seemed, stopped. "Aiji-ma, pardon." The man gave Tabini a piece of paper, which Tabini read.
Tabini's leg came down off the chair arm. Tabini sat up, frowning.
"Is it distributed?" Tabini asked.
"Unfortunately so."
"No action against the paper. Do inquire their connections. One wonders if this is accidental."
"Aiji-ma." The security officer left.
And Tabini scowled.
"Trouble?" Superfluous question.
"Oh, a small matter. Merely a notice in the resort society paper that we're here forthe landing."
"Lake society?"
"The lake resort. A thousand tourists. At least. Passed out free to every campsite at the supply store."
"God."
"Invite the whole damned resort, why don't we? They'll be here, with camping gear and cameras andchildren! We've a chance of heavy arms fire! Of bombs, from small aircraft! We've a thousand damned tourists, gods unfortunate!"
Public land. There was no border, no boundary. One thing ran into the other.
" Damnedif this is a mistake," Tabini said. "The publisher knows it's stupid, the publisher knows it won't make a landing easier or safer. Dammit, dammit, dammit!"
Tabini flung himself to his feet. Bren gathered himself up more cautiously, as Tabini drew his coat closed and showed every sign of taking off.
"We can't be butchering tourists in mantraps," Tabini said. "Bren, put yourself to bed. Get some rest. It's clear I won't."
"If I could help in any way —"
"Since none of our problems of tonight speak Mosphei', I fear not. Stay by the phone. Be here in case we receive calls from the heavens that something's gone amiss. Don't wait up."
Property where private was sacrosanct and even tourists respected a security line — but a landing was a world-shattering event. The Landing was the end of the old world as the Treaty was the beginning of the new. Atevi were attracted to momentous events, and believed, in the way of numbers, that having been in the harmony of the moment gave them a special importance in the universe.
There couldn't be an ateva in the whole world, once the news got beyond Taiben and once it hit the lake resort and the airport, who wouldn't phone a relative to say that humans were falling out of the sky again, and they were doing it here, at dawn tomorrow.
It wasn't a prescription for early sleep. Tano and Algini came in briefly to say they'd indeed contacted the rangers, who took the rail over to the lake and personally, on the loudspeakers, advised tourists that it was a dangerous area, that and that they risked the aiji's extreme displeasure.
"One wonders how many have already left," Bren said.
"The rangers are all advised," Algini said.
"But one couldn't tell tourists from Guild members looking for trouble."
"Many of us know each other," Tano said. "Especially in the central region."
"But true," Algini said, "that one has to approach closer than one would like to tell the difference. It's very clever, what they've done."
"Who's done? Does anybody know who's behind this?"
"There's a fairly long list, including neighboring estates."
"But the message. Was it the dowager's doing?"
"One doesn't know. If —"
"Nand' paidhi," a member of Tabini's staff was in the doorway. "A human is calling."
"I'm coming." He was instantly out of the chair, and with Tano and Algini who had come from that wing, which they'd devoted to operations, he followed the man to the nearest phone.
"This is Bren Cameron. Hello?"
" Jase Graham. Got a real small window here. Closer we get…" There was breakup. " Everything on schedule?"
"We're fine. How are you?"
"I lost that. Where are you?"
"Fifty kilometers from the landing site. I'll bethere, do you hear?"
"We're… board the lander. Systems… can you…?"
"Repeat, please."
There was just static. Then: " See you. You copy?"
"Yes! I get that! I'll be there!"
The communication faded out in static, tantalizing in what he didn't know, reassuring in what he could hear.
And what could they say? Watch out for hikers? We hope nobody shoots at the lander?
"They're on schedule," he said. "When are we going out there?"
"One hasn't heard that you were going, nand' paidhi," Tano said.
That was a possibility he hadn't even considered. If he was at Taiben, he'd damn sure be at the landing in the morning. He wasn't leaving two humans to be scared out of their minds or to make some risky misassumption before they reached the lodge.
"Where's Tabini?" he asked. "I need to talk to him."
"Nand' paidhi," Algini said, "we'll make that request."
"No talking through relays. I want to talk to him."
He was being, perhaps, unreasonable. But if the tourist emergency had hauled Tabini off where he couldn't get to Tabini before they arranged details that left him out, he was damned mad, andsurprised, andfrustrated.
"Yes, nand' paidhi," Algini said, and a certain part of Taiben's whole communications diverted itself, probably not operationally wise, probably an obstruction of operations and possibly a dangerous betrayal of the fact Tabini wasn't under Taiben's roof at the moment.
"Don't make noise about it," he said. "Just — I need this straightened out. They could come down in need of medical help. They could need a translator. Or first aid. Which I can give — at least have a good guess. There's a chance of a rough landing. And I don't want a mistake."
"I'll find the aiji," Tano said.
"Thank you, nadi."
Which meant Tano hiking out through the dark himself.
He was sorry about it. But the reasons that came to him were real reasons.
Dammit.
So he went back to the central hall and paced and repositioned bric-a-brac, and waited, in general, until, short of breath, Tano came in with, "Paidhi-ma. Banichi confirms you're to be picked up with the rest, two hours before dawn."
" Thankyou, Tano-ji," he said, and felt foolish, having had Tano run all over the estate, in the dark, but it eased his mind enough he at least lost his urge to pace the floor.