“I can do that.”
“Is there any time period in which I have to respond?”
“No, but it’s considered bad form and will discredit your opinion if you take longer than a month.”
“Don’t I have to inform High Holder Aramyn?”
“Caesyt’s supposed to, but you should check with Aramyn. You’ll have to wait for his reply.”
Another problem that may drag on.
“Knowing Aramyn, you won’t wait long-if Caesyt notified him. I wouldn’t put it past him not to.”
“Wouldn’t that prejudice the case?”
“It should, but Caesyt just might want to discredit you as well.”
Quaeryt had already thought about that. He nodded. “I think I’ll be riding out to see High Holder Aramyn.”
Aextyl smiled wearily. “I’ll wait on your draft, Governor.”
“Thank you.” Quaeryt stood. “I do appreciate it.”
“I appreciate your consideration in asking my opinion, Governor.”
“I respect your knowledge, sir.”
“You’re one of the few who does, these days.”
Quaeryt slipped a gold from his wallet and laid it on the desk. “That, I trust, is sufficient to cover your time and expertise today.”
“You don’t have to…”
“But I do. You’ve already kept me from making a terrible mistake.” Quaeryt smiled, started to turn, then stopped. “Oh … you mentioned that I should be careful in dealing with a Factor Lysienk. What can you tell me about him?”
Aextyl frowned. “I can’t say that I know that much. He arrived in Extela only about a year before I stepped down. He seemed to have golds, enough to buy the place he did, and then build a high wall around it. He supplied goods of various sorts to Scythn and others, claimed that he had the best produce, among other things. It seemed to me that people were always wary about saying anything about him. Oh … and he always rides with four bodyguards.” The older justicer shrugged. “I never met him, but when an outsider gets that kind of wealth and influence that quickly … and when he feels he needs guards, it usually suggests the less than savory. I wish I could tell you more, but that’s all I know.”
“Thank you.” Quaeryt nodded again, then made his way from the study, quietly closing the door behind him.
“You didn’t ask him to be a justicer, did you?” asked the daughter, waiting in the narrow hall.
“No. I asked if I could pay him two golds to redraft an opinion correctly and if he would advise me on handling a hearing over water rights, I’d pay him more for the advice.”
“Two golds?”
“I hope that’s not unfair…”
The daughter laughed bitterly. “No. You’re being more than fair, Governor. Unlike some.”
“I don’t want to take advantage of him, but I do need his knowledge and expertise.”
“He’ll be happy that you do.”
Quaeryt hoped so. He nodded politely and made his way down to the hitching ring, untied the mare, and mounted. A quick glance to the northwest revealed no change around or in the air above Mount Extel.
The ride to Aramyn’s holding took almost a glass, and when he stepped into the entry of the hold house, the High Holder met him with a puzzled expression on his face.
“Governor, I’m surprised to see you.”
Quaeryt managed a laugh. “Unfortunately, that’s not good. You shouldn’t be. I thought you might be expecting me.”
Aramyn frowned. “Oh?”
“I received a brief, a complaint this morning. It concerns you.” Quaeryt handed the sheets to the High Holder. “Have you seen this?”
“A brief? Would you mind if I took a moment and read through this?”
“Not at all. That’s why I’m here.”
“Let us go to the study, then.”
Quaeryt followed the High Holder down the corridor and then into the chamber he only vaguely remembered, and mainly for the expanse of goldenwood bookshelves. Aramyn gestured to the chairs before the desk, taking one himself.
Quaeryt took another.
Aramyn read the first page slowly, the second page less so, and then skimmed through the remaining pages. “Would you wait just a moment, Governor?”
“Certainly.”
Aramyn stood, set the brief on the desk, and walked to a wall cabinet, which he opened. There he looked through several stacks of paper before extracting a sheaf of papers before closing the cabinet and moving to the desk. Standing there, he glanced at the first page of the papers Quaeryt had provided, then studied those he had taken from the cabinet. He repeated the process with each page before finishing and looking at Quaeryt.
“This complaint against me is almost identical to one filed by Caesyt two years ago, with one exception. There might be other little changes, but it looks to be the same. The only significant difference I see immediately is a clause alleging that the eruption has resulted in measurable and significant effects on water runoff and stream flows. He’s using that as a basis for petitioning for a change in the decision handed down in Solis.”
Quaeryt managed not to swallow. He hadn’t caught that. He wondered if that were buried somewhere or so carefully disguised that he hadn’t recognized it. “Could you point out that clause?”
Aramyn did-near the top of the second page.
Quaeryt read part of the wordage.
Insomuch as recent geological events have impacted precipitation events and prevailing riverine flow patterns, the party of the second part asserts that any and all past judgments made on the distribution of such riverine allocations be reviewed in light of such recent impacts …
That was it. There was no direct mention of a previous hearing, or conflict or any sort of judgment.
“He wanted to sneak that by you, and he didn’t send me a copy. He thought you might not inform me. That way he might get a favorable recommendation from you, and a reversal of the earlier decision. Even if he didn’t, he could argue that your failure to follow procedures biased his claim.” Aramyn snorted.
“I’ll need your rebuttal.”
“You’ll have it in the next day or so. I have to travel to Montagne on a family matter, but I’ll get it to you before I depart.” He shook his head. “Thank you for letting me know. I do appreciate it.”
“Do you need a copy…”
Aramyn shook his head. “But let me compare this to the original. Except for that one section, they look to be word for word. I will copy that one part.”
In the end, Aramyn had to copy three paragraphs where matters changed, and it was close to fourth glass before Quaeryt left the holding, headed back to Extela and the villa. He was well away from Aramyn’s before he realized that he’d meant to ask the High Holder about Lysienk, and it was late enough in the day that he wasn’t about to ride back. Besides, he’d have other opportunities.
44
Quaeryt was quietly busy on Mardi, and he managed to deal with a number of minor problems, including straightening out the bookkeeping on payments to Gahlen, High Holder Wystgahl, the younger, and making sure that the offerings from the anomen were tracked in a separate ledger, as well as kept in a separate chest in the strong room so that they would be there when Vaelora had time to deal with the next distribution of them to the poor women of Extela. Major Dhaeryn offered a quick report on the ongoing repairs to the east river bridge-which was taking longer than the head engineer had planned, in part because of the difficulty in extracting the red volcanic clay needed for the underwater concrete used to repair the bridge pylons.
Without having to hold hearings at the Civic Patrol station, for which he was grateful, Quaeryt could also take time to reread the dense document from Caesyt several times, until he thought he had a better understanding of the issues.
Although it was two days past the fifteenth of Avryl, no message had arrived from Bhayar ordering Third Regiment to depart for Ferravyl, but Quaeryt was aware such an order could now arrive at any time. He hoped it would not come soon, given how much he was still relying on Skarpa and Third Regiment, especially the engineers.