'Yes, and I'm the one who has got to find somewhere in our estate to put them all. Kristabel rested a hand on top of a pile of folders. 'These are details on lands and farms and vineyards and houses and other properties we own beyond the Iguru Plain. Of course, they're all currently occupied as well.
'This is crazy, he declared. 'Families shouldn't have to support so many… relatives.
'Deadbeats?
'I wouldn't quite say that.
'Actually, my cousins on the third floor aren't as bad as the ones further up. At least they knew they were going to have to move out some day. Most of them have taken some kind of schooling, even if it's not terribly practical. And a few are now seriously considering joining a Guild; cousin Dalbus has already arranged for a commission in the militia. It's everyone else who can't stand the idea of losing status, not to mention their place on the entitlement list.
'Entitlement list?
'Senior family members are entitled to money from the Culverit estate. The further removed you are from the succession, the smaller the amount.
'Oh Lady, so when I come along and marry you—
'Actually, everyone's entitlement stays the same until we start having children. Then they all get bumped down the list.
Edeard grinned. 'How many children are we planning on having?
'Let's put it this way; we'd need to have seventy before Uncle Lorin gets disqualified.
'People should always have a goal in life.
'Edeard Waterwalker! If you think I'm bearing you seventy children—
He started laughing. Kristabel tried to give him a cross look, and failed. She smiled wearily. 'Well how many do you want?
'I don't know. I was an only child, so definitely more than one — but I agree less than seventy.
'All right. She stood up. 'We'll resume negotiations after lunch. It's a buffet, I'm afraid. The staff are all off voting.
'Oh dear Lady, how the senior family suffer for the good of the city. You'll have to order your own genistars around next.
'If you want to be capable of siring just one child, watch your mouth.
'Yes, Mistress.
They walked out on to the hortus, looking over the south western districts. Edeard's arm instinctively went round her shoulder. The winds fluffed her skirt around.
'Is Finitan going to win? Kristabel asked softly.
'He must. Nobody in their right mind would vote for Owain. Surely people understand what he was trying to do with the militia.
She pressed her lips together. 'This is Makkathran. Anything can happen.
'Have you been to vote yet?
Kristabel gave him one of those looks. 'No, Edeard. People like me don't vote.
'I thought everybody is entitled to vote.
'Everybody is. But it's considered bad form for senior members of Grand Families. We carry enough power as it is.
'It was bad form to vote against our Marriage Consent bill. You could get one back on Bise by going down to the hall and voting.
'Two wrongs don't make a right, she said automatically.
'Yeah, I know.
'Is he still out there?
'Bise? Yes. Him and his closest family have moved into one of the Gilmorn farms twenty miles away.
'How do you know?
'Argian has been doing what he does best, and stretching his farsight for me.
'I'm not sure I trust him.
'Did you know the families have agents like him?
'Daddy never said anything specific, but I've always known we were supposed to be protected in a way ordinary people weren't. Things get done quietly if you need them to be. I suppose I will be introduced to the right people when I become Mistress.
'I wonder who they're loyal to in times like this?
'The most conservative families, trust me.
'You're probably right.
She cuddled up close. 'You're learning.
They ate lunch on the hortus, on a long stone table under an archway of flowering honeysuckle. Julan and Mirnatha joined them; the little girl was delighted to be able to pick her own food from the array of dishes the cooks had prepared the previous night, going back several time for slices of smoked hulfish and clotted cheese cream until her father told her no more. She sulked for a while before collecting her pudding of toffee banana cake.
It was a lazy, pleasant afternoon which followed. Kristabel talked with her father on redistributing their family members from the third floor. Edeard finally began to gain an appreciation of just how widespread their holdings were.
The whole agreeable family scene gave him an insight into what the next century might be like, with his children having a similar discussion in another thirty years as they took over the ninth floor and more third floor cousins prepared to leave. Such a thing gave him a sense of continuity, firming up the future from a few vague notions of trying to make life better; this was particulars, making solid plans for expansion and still better days. Like nothing he'd known before.
Captain Ron ark longtalked him in the middle of the afternoon, "lake a look who just showed up to vote in Lillylight.
Edeard obliged, focusing his farsight on the Opera House annexe where the Lillylight voting was conducted. Master Cherix was standing in front of a clerk who was running through the registry ledger. Edeard grinned at the lawyer's distinctive mental signature — no mistake, it was definitely him. When he checked by using the city's perception he saw Cherix was keeping his composure, waiting with apparent patience for the clerk to find his name. 'I wonder where he's been holed up? The constables had been unable to locate him on the day of banishment; since then Edeard had more pressing issues than tracking down the lawyer.
'What do you suggest we do? Ronark asked.
'Let him vote. He only ever had an exclusion warrant against him because it was useful to me. They've all served their purpose, I suppose we should cancel the outstanding ones. And persecuting Cherix now would make me seem petty.
'All right, I'll longtalk the Lillylight captain.
Edeard kept watch on the voting hall. After a couple of minutes the clerk suddenly found Cherix's entry in the ledger and handed over his ballot papers. Edeard thought the lawyer looked surprised when it happened. He definitely looked relieved as he walked to the privacy booth.
Was it deliberate? Was Owain trying to stir up a little sympathy, or was Cherix just wanting to know where he stood? Lady, I'm on edge.
'Are you all right? Kristabel asked.
'Yes, he smiled reassuringly. Actually, if that's the worst Owain can do today, I'm perfectly all right.
Edeard was back at the Jeavons public hall when the Grand Master of the Guild of Clerks stood on the Orchard Palace balcony again to announce the end of the voting. He watched the clerks sealing up the slots on the voting boxes, signed the dockets to say he'd seen it, and watched as two squads of constables carried them out.- Dinlay was assigned to accompany them to the Orchard Palace.
'Eighty per cent turnout, the Master of Clerks said as he picked up his own papers.
'High then, Edeard said.
'I've never known that many voters bother before; and this is my twenty-second election.
'A good sign, then?
The old Master gave him a dry smile. 'For someone.
There were a couple of hours between the time the voting officially ended and the counting began. Edeard took a gondola down to Sampalok. It was all right now voting was finished, there were no political consequences to his visiting.
The gondola dropped him off at the Mid Pool concourse, and he made his way along Zulmal Street. The families who lived along the street gave him a guarded welcome. As always his footsteps slowed as he passed the baker's where Boyd had been shot. Just about all the shops and businesses had re-opened, helped by money from the Diroal family's fortune. It was the same across the district, most of the damage from the riots had been repaired. Commerce was back on its usual uncompromising path.