“There’s a chill,” Jase said. “Not sure whether it’s the night or the events.”
“Tea,” Bren said, “all around.” Supani nodded and set about it, Koharu moving to help him, while Tano and Algini talked to someone who presumably was in touch with those outside.
“It’s not the way the Kadagidi normally go about things,” he said to Jase, “up close like this. Usually it’s sniping from a distance. Political maneuvering. However, they’ve been pretty well confined to their own borders this entire year. The people can come and go, but Aseida’s been bottled up–not his bodyguard, but Aseida himself. If he’s picked this time to make a nuisance of himself to Tatiseigi, it’s a bad time.”
“Not part two of the grandfather’s assassination.”
“I don’t rule anything out–from either side of that matter. If it’s a probe–they already suspect their answer. And finding that out’s fairly inevitable. We only figured the Malguri story to last a few days, as is–possibly not past a Kadagidi spy on the road here. There’s a reason the Taibeni met us at the train station. They were sweeping the area before we got there, and they’ve been watching the road between Kadagidi and here. The Kadagidi have their own train station, two of them, one in the township, one closer to the Kadagidi estate. It’s not as if they need to be using the road past Tatiseigi’s estate. As far as I know–it’s not been an issue.”
Koharu poured tea for them, as Supani was doing the same for Kaplan and Polano. Bren took a sip.
“The Taibeni have located them, nandiin,” Algini said. “The signal is located but not taken.”
Damn. A complication?
“What do you think is going on, Gini‑ji?”
“One rather suspects,” Algini said, “that our problems are up a tree.”
· · ·
They could have the lights on now, Nawari said as he arrived, and kindly turned them on.
Cajeiri was relieved that the alert seemed to be winding down, and he drew easier breaths with Nawari in the room to look things over. He trusted his own aishid, that they could take care of things if they happened, but he by no means wanted things to happen tonight, with gunshots going off. He had heard that sound all too often in his life, and one could not trust being absolutely safe even on the second floor.
And his guests were impressed and seemed reassured, now that the light was on. Nawari walked around with his rifle in hand–Nawari was lean and particularly good‑looking and very professional‑looking in his glance over things.
“Good you had the lights out,” Nawari said.
Antaro said firmly, “The moment the alert came, Nawari‑nadi.”
Nawari looked at the window latch, took a look outside, moving the filmy curtain with his hand, and looked satisfied.
Then he looked at him. “One understands you recovered the parid’ja, nandi.”
Cajeiri took a careful breath: Nawari would not chastise him or his aishid in front of his guests, no.
But he could not let his aishid be pulled aside for a reprimand, either. “Nawari‑nadi, I ordered it. We heard the mecheiti. And then we heard Boji scratching at the window. We had turned the lights out.”
“We put the lights out immediately when we heard a disturbance,” Veijico said, which was right. “Records will note we notified security simultaneously.”
“Then Boji tapped the window,” Cajeiri said. “He makes this sound. My aishid was very careful. They opened the drape from the sides, we had the lights out, and we did not open the window but a crack. I had an egg, and Boji came in on his own.”
Nawari looked at Antaro and Jegari.
“The tap is distinctive, nadi,” Antaro said, “and we at no time presented a target.”
“Bear in mind that the window‑glass would not stop an intruder, nadiin. –Our allies have deployed riders from both camps, tracking two targets. Do not look out the windows, even after the all‑clear.”
“Great‑uncle’s herd–” Cajeiri said, thinking instantly of Jeichido out there.
“Shut in,” Nawari said. “Safe and shut into their stable. Our allies are dealing with the matter. There may be unpleasantness. Your guests, young gentleman, should not be confronted with the view.”
He understood, then–he absolutely understood. “Yes, Nawari‑nadi,” he said.
“You seem to be in good order here. Are you anxious about being by yourselves tonight, young gentleman? There will be guards in the hall all night.”
“We are perfectly fine,” he was quick to say. “Only no house servant should open our door.”
“That word is already out, for all the house.” Nawari headed the door, and Cajeiri cast a fast look about the tops of the curtains and hangings.
“Please,” he said as Nawari laid his hand on the latch, “please be very careful with the door, Nawari‑nadi. Boji is hiding somewhere in the suite, and one does not wish him loose in Great‑uncle’s house.”
“One will be very careful,” Nawari said solemnly, and was exactly that, in leaving them alone in the room.
The Taibeni had the mecheiti hunting the intruders.
At least they were not in Great‑uncle’s basement.
He hoped there were no more of them.
He faced his guests, who had not, he thought, gotten all of that past Nawari’s Malguri accent.
And he did not want to tell them all of it, about the mecheiti, or he would never get them back near the stables.
“Everything is good,” he said. “All safe.” He glanced at his aishid, very sorry that he had gotten them in trouble. “Nadiin‑ji, one regrets–”
Antaro gave a little oblique nod, as if to say, yes, there would be a problem, but his aishid would deal with that for him, too.
“We have Boji back,” she said.
“Wherever he is,” Lucasi said.
But they all sat down to talk it over, late as it was, with his aishid nominally still on duty, still armed, leaning rather than sitting.
And in a little while Boji put his head out from the top of a drape.
“Egg,” Cajeiri said, and Lieidi, nearby and with his eye on Boji, calmly reached into his pocket and produced one. “His egg, nandi.”
· · ·
“We are strongly suspecting,” Tano said, still listening to the communications flow, and still with no word what the situation was out on the grounds, “that this infiltration was prior to the sensors going up. It would take a very expert sort to get in here now. I know only four who could attempt it and three of them are under this roof.”
“The fourth?” Bren asked. Jase was doing a shorthand translation for Kaplan and Polano. Algini was checking Banichi’s black box, doing something.
“Far too wise to take off across that meadow with the mecheiti let loose. We believe they were inside, decided to try to get out. At the moment, we are more worried about anyone who may be left inside.”
“Somebody our housecleaning missed?” Bren asked.
“Possibly, nandiin‑ji. We have kept staff frozen in place for hours for individual interviews. We have begun to release certain staff, one area at a time, as their personal quarters are searched and cleared. Lord Tatiseigi’s security is proceeding now with a roll call, all staff to report for individual recognition and clearance, and it has been slow. We are not accepting a supervisor’s word without an interview and an examination of identification–we are doing this as delicately as possible, considering we are treading over Atageini prerogatives. We have conducted interviews. We have asked about unlocked doors, pilferage, or unusual behavior, about persons late, or otherwise out of routine. We have had chiefs of staff cross‑compare the schedules and duty reports. We are now going over those records ourselves. We have checked the furloughed servants: five groundskeepers who were put on holiday before our visit–three mechanics sent on furlough the day before our arrival. They are registered at the hotel in the township. We have sixteen questionable individuals lodged in a house, under guard, which represents every individual who might know anything about our activity and security arrangements here. We have not had any deliveries, no one coming or going.”