Briony shook her head. "Shaso's… choice?"
"Yes." Idite turned to the other women and said something in Tuani- Briony could make out Shaso's name. The women all nodded solemnly, some saying, "sesa, sesa," which Briony had come to learn meant "yes, yes."
It was strange to think of Shaso as someone who had his own history- his own legends, even, although she had known that in his day he had been
a much respected warrior."What choice, Idite? 1 mean, surely you can talk of n now without breaking the law. lie's only a few rooms away."
Idite laughed."I was thinking of Tuan. There is no law here in Marrins-walk." In her accented speech it became "Mah-reens-oo-woke," an exotic name that for a moment made it seem an exotic place to Briony, too. "But there is custom, and sometimes that is as strong as law. His choice was to honor the vow he made on the battlefield, to a foreign king, to leave his country and live in exile. Even when the Autarch of Xis attacked us, Shaso was not allowed to return and defend us. Some say that without his strong hand, without the fear he made when he led our armies, the Great Tuan had no chance against Xis."
It took Briony a moment to understand. "You're talking about how he came to serve my father? How he came to Southmarch?"
"Yes, of course-I almost forget." Idite lifted her hands in a gesture of embarrassment. "You are the daughter of Olin,"-"Aw-leen" was how she rendered it. "I meant no offense."
"I'm not offended, I'm just… tell me. Tell me about it."
"But… you must know all, yourself."
"Not what it meant to your people." It was Briony's turn to feel shamed. "I've never thought much about Shaso's life before now. Of course, that's in part because he's so closemouthed. Until a few months ago, I didn't even know he had a daughter."
"Ah, yes, Hanede." Idite shook her head. "Very sad."
"I was told she died because… because Dawet ruined her. Made love to her and then deserted her. Is that true?"
Idite looked a little alarmed. Some of the other women, bored or con¬fused by the long stretch of conversation in Briony's tongue, seemed to beg for translation. Idite waved them to silence. "I do not know the facts-I am only a merchant's wife and it is not for me to speak of noble ones like the Dan-Heza and the Dan-Faar. They are above me like stars-like you are yourself, Lady."
"Huh. I'm not above you or anyone. I've been wearing borrowed clothes for nearly a month. At the moment I'm just grateful you've taken me into your house."
"No, it is our honor, Briony-zisaya!
"Do… do your people hate my father? For what he did to Shaso?"
Idite eyed her, the soft brown eyes full of shrewd intelligence. "1 will
speak honestly with you, Princess, because I believe you truly wish it. Yes, many of my people hated your father, but as with most things, it has more complicatedness-complication? — than that. Some respected him lor Ion ing his own nobles to spare Shaso's life, but making a servant out of the Dan-Heza still was seen as dishonorable. Giving him land and honors, that was surprising, and many thought your father a very wise man, but then the people were furious that Shaso was not allowed to come back and fight against the old autarch (may he have to cross each of the seven hells twice!). These are things much discussed among our folk even now, and your fa¬ther is seen as both hero and villain." Idite bowed her head. "I hope I have not offended."
"No. No, not at all." Briony was overwhelmed. She had been painfully reminded again how little she knew about Shaso despite his importance to both her father and herself, and she was just as ignorant about many oth¬ers who had been her helpers and guardians and advisers. Avin Brone, Chaven, old Nynor the castellan-what did she know about any of them beyond the obvious? How had she dared to think of herself as a ruler for even one moment?
"You seem sad, my lady." Idite waved for one of the younger women to refill their guest's cup with flower-scented tea-Briony had not developed a taste for the Tuani's gawa as yet and she doubted she ever would. "I have said too much."
"You've made me think, that's all. Surely that's nothing to apologize for." Briony took a breath. "Sometimes we don't see the shape of things until we're a long way away, do we?"
"If I had learned that at your age," said Idite, "I would have been on the road to deep wisdom instead of becoming the foolish old woman that I am."
Briony ignored Idite's ritualized self-deprecation. "But all the wisdom of the world can't take you back to change a mistake you've already made, can it?"
"There." Idite smiled. "That is another step down the road. Now drink your tea and let us talk of happier things. Fanu and her sister have a song they will sing for you."
Briony woke on her thirteenth day in the house of the Dan-Mozan to find the women's quarters bustling. She had still not developed the habit of rising as early as the others-they seemed to get out of bed before the sun
WAS above the horizon but even so she was surprised by the degree of activity.
"All, she awake!" cried pretty young Fanu, and then added something in the i'uani tongue; Briony thought she recognized Idite's name in the fast slur of sounds.
Briony began sluggishly to pull off her nightdress so she could don her own garments, but the women gathered around her, waving their hands and laughing.
"Don't do!" said Fanu. "Later. For Idite wait."
Briony was grateful that she was at least allowed to wash her face and scrape her teeth clean before Idite arrived. The older woman was beautifully dressed in a robe of spotless white silk with a fringed girdle of deep red.
"They won't let me dress," Briony complained, shamed by Idite's splen¬did clothes and feeling more than ever that she was too large and too pale for this household.
"That is because we will dress you," Idite explained. "Today is a special day, and special care must be taken, especially for you, Uriony-zisaya!
"Why? Is someone getting married?"
Idite laughed and repeated her remark. The other young women gig¬gled. Idite had explained to Briony that most of them were the daughters of other well-to-do families, that they were not Effir's wives but closer to the ladies-in-waiting of Briony's own court. Only a few were true servants, and some, like Fanu, were relatives of Idite or her husband. Although Effir dan-Mozan was not a Tuani noble, not in the sense Briony understood it, it was clear that he was an important man and this was an important house¬hold, a fine place to send a daughter to learn from a respected woman like Idite.
"No, no one is to be married. Today is Godsday, and just as you go to your temple, so do we."
"But you didn't take me the last time." She remembered well the long morning she had spent on her own in the women's quarters, wishing she had something to read or even some sewing with which to occupy herself, much as she disliked it.
"Nor will we take you this time," Idite said kindly, patting Briony's hand. "You would be welcome, but you are a stranger to the Great Mother and Dan-Mozan my husband says it would be wrong to teach you the rituals, since you are a guest."
"So why do I have to dress in a special way?"
"Because afterward we are going out to the town," said Idite. The women behind her all murmured and smiled. "You have not been outside the walls of the hadar since you came. My husband thought you deserved to go outside today with the rest of us."