the time, their level of activity agitated and somewhat ferocious. The winter should have killed them. However, Elder Hennin's poison had raised their metabolic rate, giving them a nastier temper and making them more difficult to destroy. Akindo let one worker-wasp free from the hive. It flew into the house. Tracking Rhu's body scent like a bloodhound, the wasp found its intended target sound asleep in her bed. The holovespa worker-wasp stung Rhu on the neck. Unlike Aunt, Rhu did not have an allergic reaction to the wasp. Aunt had been a person who rejected the kind of despair these wasps inflicted on their victims. In rejecting the despair, Aunt had also rejected Elder Hennin's bid for control over her. When the holovespa stung someone, the wasp opened a psychic back door to the wasp queen of Suxonli. From that moment on, the victim was expected to do the bidding of the queen. If you were not working for Hennin's cause and part of her growing hive-mind, then you were a drone—dispensable. Aunt's will had put her in this latter category. She had resisted Hennin to the last, her Mayanabi loyalties preventing Aunt from falling to Hennin's designs. Rhu woke from her sleep with a start. Feeling the sting on her neck, she was incredulous. The poison began to work in her system almost instantly. Rhu got out of bed, feeling more and more depressed by the moment. She took an artist's rendering of Cobeth down from the wall. Seeing his face, she wept tears of longing for him. Rhu walked over to her desk. She pulled open a desk drawer, her expression angry. Rhu reached for a piece of folded paper. She opened the paper and read the words printed on it: Cobeth, you bastard— We've taken Mab back to the Kaleidicopia. Used your bathrobe. You want it back? Come and get it if you dare. Doogat'll be waiting for you—not to mention the whole house. See you at the Hallows. Love and kisses, your ex-housemate, Timmer Rhu reread the note several times. As far as she could make out, Timmer, Mab, and Doogat had all been present the night of a Saambolin drug raid on her house last autumn. Cobeth had made nothing of this at the time; he hadn't wanted the Guild authorities to close the Kaleidicopia on suspicion of drug dealings before he had a chance to get even with the Kaleidicopians—his way. His way entailed dropping a hefty dose of hallucinogenic holovespa into the punch at the Rimble's Revel, which the house sponsored annually. After everyone was thoroughly dosed and flying, then he would go get the Guild. But Cobeth's plans had failed that night; Rimble himself had killed the scrawny Jinn actor through the touch of his famous «chaos thumb.» So the Guild had never figured out that anyone at the «K» knew Cobeth, much less had ever lived with him. Rhu would fix that now. Smiling, Rhu climbed back into bed to wait until sunrise. *12* The guildmaster and his wife, Sirrefene, had been arguing since dawn. Gadorian had waked with the conviction that he should and would close down the Kaleidiscopia Boarding House. He was suddenly certain that this house was the root of all civil unrest in the city. United under one roof, the residents could meet whenever they wished and hatch plots to overthrow his governance in Speakinghast. Worse, the house rested in the Jinnjirri Quarter, a section of the city famous for its politically anarchistic ideas and intemperance. Gadorian had told Sirrefene his decision while he sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Sirrefene had reacted negatively. Gadorian had been shocked. Astounded at his wife's vehement defense of Janusin, Rowenaster, and the rest of the residents of the «K,» Gadorian now sulked in his pillow, the sheets pulled over his head. Sirrefene wagged a finger at her husband, her wavy, dark tresses tumbling down her back. When she had finished her tirade, she reached to the end table nearest her and picked up a blue ceramic jar of hand cream. She put a dollop of sweet-smelling goo on her dark-skinned hands and rubbed vigorously, her motions angry, her expression stern. Gadorian grumbled under the blanket, his words muffled. «What did you say?» Gadorian threw off the blanket. «I said—I don't know why you're sticking up for the residents of that house. What is it with the Kaleidicopia, anyway?» he asked the universe-at-large. «Why can't I close it down? I'm the Guildmaster. It's my job to close down houses like that one.» Sirrefene shrugged. «Rimble-Rimble.» Gadorian snorted. «That's exactly my point. The 'K' celebrates revels to the Patron of Deviance! It's a cult, that's what it is. We should do a drug raid. Then we'll see something, Sirrey. You mark my words.» «Professor Rowenaster would never live in a house that had drugs in it. He's as clean as they come, Gad. You know that.» Gadorian grunted. «Including the new kid from Tammirring, Rowenaster lives with nine other people. Nine other people—three of them Jinn—are liable to do anything.» «Nonsense.» Gadorian glared at his forty-six-year-old wife. She was a beautiful woman, as lithe as he was obese. Scowling, he remembered the affair she had just before they were to be married—with a Jinnjirri! Scowling, he wondered just how deeply her Jinn sympathies went. Mostly, he didn't want to know. He was afraid the truth would destroy their marriage. Thanks to the efforts of the Merry Pricksters last fall, relations between the Saambolin draw and the Jinnjirri draw were more than strained; they were potentially explosive. Gadorian no longer frequented any portion of the Jinnjirri Quarter without an armed escort. Politically speaking, he knew it was wise not to trust anyone—not even his wife. This thought hurt. Gadorian winced, and turned away from Sirrefene. The tensions between the Saam and the Jinn perfectly reflected themselves in his marriage. It angered him that Sirrefene refused to stand by his decision to close the «K.» Turning back to Sirrefene, the guildmaster repeated, «Why do you defend the people at the Kaleidicopia?» «I hate scapegoating, Gad, My family has lived in this city for generations. I've got guildmasters galore on both sides of my family. I know this city. I know how it gets when it gets scared. And right now Speakinghast is scared.» «The whole city? Oh, come on—» Sirrefene nodded, her expression grim. «The weather's all wrong. It's made everyone's internal rhythm go weird. In a situation like this, people react blindly. But whatever's amiss in Speakinghast, I'll wager many silivrain you won't be able to control it, Gadorian. The changes afoot are bigger than you—» Regarding his great belly, Gadorian chuckled and said, «Nothing's bigger than me in this city.» «Rimble is.» Gadorian laughed derisively now. «Well, you've certainly got that wrong. The one thing I do recall about Greatkin Rimble is that he's uncommonly short.» «That's not the kind of size I meant.» There was a short silence. Gadorian pursed his lips. Then he said suspiciously, «How come you know so much about Rimble, Sirrey?» Sirrefene snorted. «Meaning what? You think I'm part of some cult, too? Gadorian—you're so predictable.» «I'm Saambolin! I'm supposed to be predictable! You're Saambolin! You're supposed to be predictable, too, Sirrefene! What's wrong with you?» Sirrefene lost her temper for the countless time that morning. «How do I know so much about the Greatkin? Because I took Rowen's course. And I passed it, Gadorian. Passed it with high marks.» «Are you saying you think I'm stupid? Because I didn't ?» «No! And don't change the subject.» Master Curator Sirrefene got out of bed. She went to the closet and pulled on a warm, golden-colored bathrobe. It had fur around the neck and cuffs. Her expression now imperious, Sirrefene looked like a queen about to give orders. Whirling on her husband, she snapped, «Twenty some years ago, you screwed up that course, Gadorian. Why? Because you thought I was having an affair—» «You were having an affair! I caught you naked in that Jinn's room!» «He was an artist! I was his model! He was telling me where he wanted me to sit! Damn it to Neath! How many times do I have to tell you this? You and your murderous paranoia! I hate you, Gadorian! I hate you!» she repeated, beginning to weep. Struggling to speak, Sirrefene added, «The truth? You blamed me for something you were doing—» «Are you mad? I had no affairs—» «Liar! You think I'm stupid? I knew what kind of man you were when I married you, Gadorian. You have an appetite for a great many things. One of them is women.» «Oh, yeah? Then why did you marry me? Never mind, I know why. Some political convenience of your mother's, no doubt.» he said referring to the fact that the previous guildmaster was Sirrefene's mother. «No!» she shouted. «I married you because I loved you!» There was a long, painful silence. «That was stupid, Sirrey. No one in your position ever marries for love.» «Well, I did!» Sirrefene went into the bathroom and slammed the door. Gadorian could hear her sobs. He got up slowly. He went to the solid oak door and knocked on it. «Sirrey, come out, will you?» «No!» Gadorian sighed. Leaning against the door, he spoke to Sirrefene from where he stood. «A man has pride, Sirrefene—» «Fuck your pride! A woman has pride, too!» Gadorian winced and tried again. «It wasn't seemly for you to be modeling in the nude for a shift,» said Gadorian, using the pejorative term for a Jinnjirri-born. «You were the guildmaster's daughter. You were consorting with the worst sort of people—intellectuals and artists. It made you look bad. It made your whole family look bad. And because I was your fiance, it made me look bad, too. You were a hot-head, Sirrey. A libertine by Saa'm standards. Why shouldn't I have thought you cuckolded me? Your mother—» The door flew open. «Yes, and I expect she was the one who told you I was having the affair. Well, she must've told Rowenaster, too. I had lunch with him the other day and he confided he knew about my affair.» Sirrefene swore. «It would've been just like Mother to conclude something like that. As a child, I was good at climbing out of three-storey windows, you know. And picking the locks on iron gates.» Sirrefene blew her nose on a handkerchief she found in her bathrobe pocket. «Why? Because I spent my teen years escaping my home!» «You were the guildmaster's daughter,» repeated Gadorian softly. «So what? Did that mean I wasn't to live, Gad?» she shouted, crying fresh tears. «It meant you had a certain standard to uphold. A certain Saambolin dignity—» Sirrefene spat on the rug. «I was and am a daughter of this city. This whole city. That means I care about all the draws that live here, it means I honor their gifts. And make use of them for the benefit of Speakinghast. That's why I commissioned Master Janusin to do those statues of the Greatkin. Because Janusin is the best. Not because I love the Kaleidicopia. You're just like Mother, Gadorian. You believe in partisan politics. Those days are over, Gadorian! Over! This is the Jinnaeon! If you consorted with someone other than your own draw, you'd know the Tammirring prophesies about this time period.» She glared at her husband. «You're lucky you have me, Gadorian. You're lucky you have someone to keep you informed!» Gadorian pursed his lips. This conversation wasn't going the way he had planned. Running his fingers through his thinning hair, the guildmaster asked, «What prophesies?» «Ask Rowen. He'll tell you.» «He's not speaking to me.» «I'm not surprised.» Professor Rowenaster stepped outside his classroom as the noon bell tolled for lunch. The hallways flooded with university students, all of them talking or laughing. As the professor made his way down the crowded stairs, he saw Guildmaster Gadorian cut through the throng. It appeared the Saambolin official wished to speak to him. Rowen sighed with displeasure. He was supposed to meet Janusin for lunch. After Gadorian's outrageous display of landdraw bigotry in his class recently, Rowenaster had little interest in inviting Gadorian to join him and a shift for a noonday meal. Rowenaster waited for Gadorian to catch up to him, and smiled as pleasantly as he could manage when Gadorian bid him good day. «Good day to you as well,» said the professor. «What're you doing for lunch?» «I'm eating it with Master Janusin.» Gadorian hesitated. «Mind if I join you?» «You want the truth?» «I see.» Gadorian stuffed his hands in the pockets of his orange velvet robe. «Say, I'm sorry for what I said in class yesterday. I was out of line. I'm just the guildmaster. I've no say in what goes on at Speakinghast University.» He smiled weakly. «Separate but equal, you know.» Rowenaster raised an eyebrow. «What happened, Gad? Did Sirrey tell you to keep your nose out of her territory?» he asked. Master Curator Sirrefene was the official head of the University of Speakinghast as well as the Great Library grounds. Rowen paused. «I had an interesting lunch with her the other day. Did she tell you about it?» «Yes.» «Seems I've been holding a gross misconception about your wife. And to think I took pity on you, Gadorian—letting you pass my course because I felt sorry for your poor nerves. Newly engaged and already Sirrey was unfaithful? Wasn't that what you told me?» Rowenaster studied the guildmaster's averted face. «You know, we don't have a statute of limitations at the university. I could pull your old records. Make you take that course again. It was mandatory then to graduate. It still is. Can't be guildmaster, Gadorian, without that prized Saambolin degree.» There was dead silence. «Are you threatening me?» asked Gadorian, his voice disbelieving. «Throw me out of my house, Gad, and I'd have to go through a lot of boxes. To decide what I'd be taking with me, you understand. I might come across some old correspondence. Seems to me I recall you swearing that Sirrefene had slept with a Jinn artist— «At that time, I thought she had!» yelled Gadorian. Students' heads turned in their direction. Gadorian bit his lip and lowered his voice. «What I wrote you, I believed. Sirrefene's mother told me—» «What you wanted to hear? What you wanted to believe?» Rowen shook his head. «And to think I listened to you. And gossiped about it to Barlimo last fall! Sirrey says you never asked for her version. Much less the artist's.» Gadorian rolled his eyes. «I didn't have to ask the shift. Sirrey's a beautiful woman. We all know beautiful women aren't faithful. How can they be? They have men after them day and night—» Rowenaster stared at Gadorian. «You don't deserve Sirrefene.» There was a long pause. Gadorian knew he possessed more political clout in the city than Rowenaster. If Rowen chose to threaten him with regard to a twenty-year-old grade point, Gadorian would return the threat by draining certain funds out of the university financial office. Fair was fair, thought Gadorian. He suspected Rowenaster was bluffing, and indeed, Rowenaster was. Rowenaster thumbed through the stack of papers in his arms. «What did you want to see me about, Gadorian? I'm a very busy man—» «Nothing,» snapped the guildmaster, suddenly deciding not to ask the professor to tell him about the Tammirring prophecies. He was mad now. Mad at the world. At that moment, Rhu walked up. She handed Gadorian the note Timmer had written Cobeth last fall just before the drug raid at Rhu's house. She had written the note at Zendrak's request. If Zendrak had thought it through that fateful night, he would never have told Timmer to write it; however, he was hung over from a rich meal he had shared with the Greatkin of Love at the time, and so was thinking fuzzily. Now Rhu presented all the evidence Gadorian needed to shut down the Kaleidicopia. It didn't matter if the evidence was shaky or not; at this point, Gadorian only needed an excuse. Gadorian took the note roughly, hating Rhu for being Jinnjirri. «I thought you might want to see this,» she said calmly. Timmer's handwriting was distinctive. Catching sight of it out of the corner of his eye, Rowenaster felt goose bumps crawl along his spine. «What is it?» he asked Rhu, speaking as amiably as possible. Rhu smiled coldly at the Kaleidicopian. Gadorian turned to Rowenaster. «Cobeth was a housemate of yours?» Rowenaster cleared his throat, but said nothing. Outside in the city streets, Akindo crossed the university campus. He turned at the campanile. He was now heading for the Jinnjirri Quarter of the city. In half an hour, Akindo would reach the Kaleidicopia. *13* Although it was now well past noon, Zendrak and Kelandris had only just returned to the Kaleidicopia after Kel's injudicious attempt to ride to Suxonli Village late last night. The two Greatkin had been so tired that instead of asking Further to deposit them speedily bac