Wayaways made an unreadable gesture. “Is that against the law?”
“No,” Gundhalinu said, aware that Vhanu was looking at him sidelong.
“Then why shouldn’t I put in my application? It’s no more than what I’ve always done…. Well, of course, you’re too young to remember that far back…” He shrugged again. “You were only on Tiamat for… what? About five years, before the Change. I seem to remember seeing you at Arienrhod’s court, along with Commander—Chief Inspector—PalaThion, when she was only an inspector. In fact, I remember an amusing incident….” He broke off, as Gundhalinu’s expression darkened. “But you’ve probably forgotten that encounter with Starbuck, long since. I remember much more vividly that spectacularly heroic moment during the final Festival, when young Inspector Gundhalinu burst in on the mob in the Hall of the Winds, as Arienrhod was trying to have Moon Dawntreader thrown into the Pit. You single-handedly saved the woman who became the new Queen.”
“Ye gods,” Vhanu murmured in Sandhi, looking at Gundhalinu as if he had never seen him before. “Thou never told me about that, BZ.”
“He exaggerates,” Gundhalinu said abruptly, answering in the same language. “Moon Dawntreader saved herself, Wayaways—” switching back to Tiamatan, “or don’t you remember how she stopped the wind, when you were in the hall with the rest of the mob?”
“Yes, I do remember.” Wayaways shook his head. “Incredible. How does she do that? Did she ever tell you? … But you’re too modest, Justice. The mob would have had her anyway, if you hadn’t shown them your Police badge and faced them down.”
“Father of all my grandfathers,” Vhanu said. “Why would the Snow Queen want to kill Moon Dawntreader in the first place? Arienrhod surely couldn’t know that she would become Queen.”
“Well, because Moon was—” Wayaways hesitated, glancing suddenly at Gundhalinu, his gaze like a spotlight, “a sibyl. You know, Commander, how stupidly superstitious we used to be about sibyls, before the Summer Queen enlightened us.” He laughed. Gundhalinu pressed his mouth together. “But there was more to it, there was Sparks Dawntreader, Moon’s pledged. The Queen had him for a lover, and Moon wanted him back. Jealousy is one of the great random factors in history, you know. But I probably don’t need to tell you gentlemen that, considering the positions you find yourselves in.” His eyes danced speculatively from Gundhalinu’s face to Vhanu’s, and back. “It’s no wonder the Queen is so fond of you, Justice. She must have been someone special to you back then for you to risk your life for her.”
“I was doing my sworn duty as a Police Officer.” Gundhalinu looked straight ahead, frowning again. “That was all.”
“But you chose to come back to Tiamat, after all this time, knowing she was Queen. And the way you’ve supported her policies—”
“That has nothing to do with the present.”
“I say, BZ, how did you come to know Moon Dawntreader?” Vhanu asked. The faintly scandalized fascination still showed in his eyes.
“Really, he never told you—?” Wayaways exclaimed, in mock surprise.
“It’s a long story, and exceedingly unremarkable,” Gundhalinu said, his voice grating.
“Not the version I heard,” Wayaways protested. “Something about techrunners, and nomad thieves up in the interior; that the two of you were lost together—”
“We’re here.” Gundhalinu stopped abruptly, cutting Wayaways off. He looked up at the newly installed sign above the ancient doorway, which marked the reopened Survey Hall. He turned back to Wayaways, meeting the Tiamatan’s gaze with a stare of cold warning. “Some other time,” he said. He looked back at Vhanu, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Wayaways nodded and shrugged. “Until then,” he said, gracefully retreating. “Have a pleasant evening. The Survey Hall must seem like a haven of peace and respite for strangers like yourselves, far from home.” He raised his hand in farewell, turning away, disappearing into the crowd even as he spoke the words. Gundhalinu stared at the Tiamatan’s retreating back; his body quivered, caught between the urge to go after Wayaways, and the urge to be rid of him. He looked back at Vhanu, finally.
“A chance remark?” Vhanu murmured. His expression said that he doubted it.
Gundhalinu shook his head. “No.”
“I thought there were no Tiamatan members of Survey,” Vhanu said.
“So did I.” Gundhalinu turned back, looking toward the dark, shadowed rectangle of the building entrance, below the static image that displayed only a single data figure, the ancient star-and-compass symbol of the order. He had never seen a Tiamatan face inside this building, when he had visited the Hall during his previous tour of duty on Tiamat. He had been told that the locals were excluded from membership, and he had simply accepted it. But back then he had thought that this was merely a social club. He had not known then anything of what he knew now … about the secrets this building held, even from the majority of its membership; or the secrets within secrets signified by that symbol above its door. He looked back at the crowd eddying past along the Street. Wayaways had disappeared.
“He must have picked up the expression during the previous occupation. He seems to have collected a great deal of unexpected information.…” Vhanu glanced at Gundhalinu again; curiosity still glinted through his doubt and concern.
“He was a user.… I suppose anything is possible,” Gundhalinu said, still frowning. Even that he is Survey. But not the one they knew and served.
“A user—of people?” Vhanu asked.
“Of the water of life.” Gundhalinu’s mouth pulled down. “Of people too. I wouldn’t trust anything he says, if I were you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Vhanu nodded. But Gundhalinu felt Vhanu’s eyes linger speculatively on him a moment longer.
He shook off his unease, cursing Wayaways under his breath for making him doubt the one man he really depended on, for making that man doubt him, even for a moment. He went in under the overhang, into sudden darkness; pushed through the ancient, windowpaned doors and on into the light.
Superficially the Survey Hall was just as he remembered it from before: one large main room for social functions, with smaller offices and meeting rooms above it. Now he knew there were rooms within the rooms, hidden inside each other like Samathan votive-boxes. The main room was still rather spartan, with few of the odd souvenirs of other worlds that had formerly decorated its walls and native-crafted shelves, an accretion of mementos that had been left there by visiting members over a century and a half. He wondered what had become of the old collection; supposed the things had been carried off by the locals, or thrown away.
The room was sparsely populated tonight, even though this was the night of a scheduled meeting. There simply were not enough Survey members on-planet yet to fill the Hall. It was late enough for them to have missed the somewhat tedious pattern of rituals that had opened this evening’s gathering, at least. Most of the men and few women stood clustered together in small conversational groups, eating and drinking desultorily, or huddled on the clusters of cushioned benches in the ghostly light of their dozen gaming tables.