"Heh. I've no wish to be number ninety-nine. Not that she ever showed any interest in making me ninety-nine."
"Manager Miesa has ninety-eight Akasi?"
"Well," Yevris amended. "Maybe I exaggerate. The last I heard she had four. But you see my point."
"That I do."
"Besides," Yevris said. "There is Rohka."
"Who?"
"Rohka." Yevris rocked on his heels. "You've met her. She comes to see me all the time."
"Oh. You mean your girlfriend."
"Who did you think I meant?"
Kelric shook his head.
Yevris scowled. "You always do that."
"Do what?"
"Close up like a treeclam in the rain."
"It's just that my mother's name is Roca." Although much of the Imperialate knew her as Cya Liessa, which was the name his mother used as a ballerina, her true name was Roca Skolia, with all of the Ruby dynastical titles that went with it.
Yevris let himself down over the inner edge of the wall. "No way is my Rohka your mother."
Kelric climbed down after him. As they walked back to the Calanya, Yevris swept his arm up at the sky. "It's hard to believe people live out there. Very strange, offworlders."
Kelric laughed "So my father tells my mother."
A First Level appeared around a curve in the path. "Sevtar. Henta sent me to find you."
Yevris grinned at Kelric. "Maybe you have another suitor."
Kelric hoped not. First it had been a woman on the Estate staff. Then a Calanya guard. Then others. It baffled him why they kept coming to court him. He rebuffed all their advances.
In his suite, he bathed and dressed, then went to the common room where his guards waited. They took him through the Estate to an alcove high in a tower. Inside, Henta and her Akasi Tevon sat at a Quis table.
Henta clucked at his damp hair. "You're wet."
"You'll catch a fever," Tevon admonished.
Kelric smiled. "My greetings."
Henta chuckled. "And ours to you. Come sit with us." As Kelric settled into a chair at the round table, she said, "We've an important matter to consider. The Council of Estates meets at Karn in a few days It is a crucial session."
"The vote on the Wardship of the Miesa Plateau comes up again" Tevon said.
Henta leaned forward. "How that vote goes, Sevtar, could depend on you."
"Me? Why?"
"It's been deadlocked," Henta answered. "Last year Dahl, Bahvla, Shazorla, and Eviza voted with Karn. Haka, Ahkah, Lasa, and Miesa Went with Varz. So we had an even split"
"That's only ten Estates," Kelric said.
"Viasa abstained," Tevon said. "So its Secondary, Tehnsa Estate, did as well."
Henta nodded. "Usually Viasa votes with Varz. But Manager Viasa and Ixpar Karn, the Ministry Successor, seem on good terms these days."
"It sounds like it depends on Manager Viasa, then," Kelric said.
"It isn't so simple," Henta said. "I may abstain this year."
"I thought you supported a Ministry Wardship of the Plateau."
"It's Savina Miesa." Henta picked up a gold dodecahedron from a pile of dice, then set it down as if she didn't know what to do with it. "How can I vote to strip her of the Plateau? She may act daft, but she's not. I believe she can pull Miesa out of its mire without Karn taking over the Wardship. The problem is that Savina lets Avtac Varz intimidate her."
Kelric thought back to his work at Haka. "Without Varz's help, Miesa would have collapsed years ago."
Tevon snorted "Varz saves Miesa from a crisis Varz created."
Kelric considered them. "If Manager Miesa is,in so much trouble, why is everyone who claims to be her friend trying to take away the mines that support her Estate?"
"If the Wardship goes to Karn, the mines will still support Miesa," Henta replied. "Minister Karn will simply control that support."
"That doesn't sound any different from the way it is now," Kelric, said. "Except it will be Jahlt Karn who takes from Miesa instead of Avtac Varz."
"Karn is not Varz," Tevon said.
"Jahlt I trust" Henta said. "Avtac I don't"
Tevon set a ruby ball in front of Kelric. "You know Haka better than any- Karn ally." He added an opal to the structure. "You also know Dahl. You have the tools to determine why past strategies of Dahl against Haka have succeeded or failed."
Henta placed a gold ball by the opal. "With your help, I may be able to neutralize Haka in Council, perhaps even swing Viasa to our side."
An unbidden memory rose in Kelric's mind: Rashiva's face lighting up as he entered the room. "Suppose I don't want to give you advantage over Haka?"
Henta and Tevon exchanged glances.
"Chankah told me it was your choice to come here," Henta said.
Kelric exhaled. "Yes. It was."
She spoke gently. "We wish no harm to Rashiva Haka. We seek only to protect Miesa. You will understand better after you play Quis with Savina."
Quis with another Manager? "Aren't you worried about giving her advantage over your Estate?"
"Yes " Henta said "But I must make her see. Avtac Varz is destroying Miesa and Savina won't admit it."
"Why have me sit with her?" Kelric glanced at Tevon. "Why not someone who better understands your motivations?"
Tevon spoke. "Because no one else at Bahvla comes close to your expertise at Quis."
Henta nodded. "Maybe you can help me make some sense out of Savina." She sighed. "That is no easy task, I tell you. Winds only know what goes on in her mind."
Among all Estates, Varz stood highest in the Teotecs. It crowned the apex of Mount Skywalk, its towers shearing stark lines against a sky that was forever cobalt—blue. The cliffs around it dropped straight down until they disappeared into clouds, massed below the fortress.
A windrider knifed toward the Estate, piloted by a grizzled woman from Lasa Estate. Her craft carried only one passenger and that passenger carried only one name.
Zecha.
A trio of Varz riders shot out of the cliff. Painted black, with carnelian eyes, they bore the Varz clawcat emblem on their wings. They came around and escorted the Lasa craft to the cliff. The pilot's eyes darted back and forth as she took her rider into a tunnel in that massive wall of rock. Only the lamps in the eyes of the windriders lit the cold shadows.
They soared out of the tunnel above an airfield and landed on the icy tarmac. As Zecha disembarked, Varz guards jumped down from the other riders.
A captain strode over to her. "Follow me."
Zecha nodded, acutely aware of what the request lacked. No follow me, please, Warden Haka. There was no warden and no Haka, neither now nor ever again.
The captain took her to an alcove on the Estate and left her there.
Zecha waited.
An aide appeared and took her to another alcove.
Zecha waited.
The next aide took her to an office. It was a sparse room, long and narrow. A window dominated the far wall, and beyond it the night loomed in a harsh canopy of stars on a black backdrop. A desk stood in front of the window.
Avtac Varz, the Manager of Varz, sat at the desk.
The cold light edged the planes of Avtac's face, delineating the hollows of her eyes and the bones of her cheeks. Her gaze riveted. It was as if a miner had dug two chunks of iron from the ground, shaped them into orbs, and set them in the sockets of her face. She spoke in a shadowed voice. "My greetings."
Zecha bowed. "My greetings, Manager Varz."
Avtac lifted a narrow hand and indicated a chair by the wall. "Be seated."
Zecha sat.
"You come from Lasa?" Avtac asked.
"I work on the CityGuard there," Zecha said.
Avtac lifted a scroll from her desk. "Then why does this letter say you seek employment?"
"My abilities are wasted as a Lasa guard."
"I have heard much about you, former warden." Avtac set down the scroll. "Perhaps the authorities at Lasa also had ears and this
is why you seek new employment."
Zecha had her answer ready. "Your Estate is known for many things. Manager Varz. Strength. Wealth. Power." She paused. "One thing it isn't known for is weakness."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning the weak may shun the strong because of fear."
Avtac steepled her fingers. "Even my closest ally?"
"Young Managers make mistakes."
"Perhaps." Avtac picked up a stylus and tapped it against her fingers. "The captain of my hunting unit grows older. She expects to retire soon."
Zecha tensed. Did Avtac offer her a chance at the position? Varz might well starve if it wasn't for its renowned hunting unit that brought in game from the lower elevations and protected the city from marauding clawcats. Famous for their fierce expertise, the Varz Hunters were both admired and feared throughout the Twelve Estates. Captain of their unit was a position of tremendous prestige.
Zecha spoke carefully. "Many must hope to fill the vacancy."
"So they do." Avtac put down her stylus. "A slot is available on my CityGuard. You will start tomorrow." She paused. "When the captain retires—we will see how matters stand."
The touch brushed Kelric's mind like a caress. It was the first time in his three years on Coba that he had felt another telepath.
Yevris laughed. "She affects one that way, heh?"
Kelric focused his attention outward, on Yevris, who stood with him in an alcove off the main common room. "What?"
"Manager Miesa." Yevris tilted his head toward the common room. "That's who you were staring at."
Kelric looked and saw a petite woman watching a Quis game in the common room. Savina Miesa? No wonder people used gold dice in Miesa patterns. Glossy gold tresses cascaded over her shoulders, spilled down her back, floated around her waist and hips. Curls drifted about an angelic face as innocent as a child's. The cut of her blouse drew his eyes as it swelled out to her ample breasts, plunged in to a tiny waist, curved out again at her hips. Gold lace blouse, gold satin trousers, gold suede boots. Golden sungoddess.
"Saints almighty," Kelric said.
Yevris grinned. "Artwork yes?"
Kelric thought of Rashiva. "It's just artwork. Nothing more."
Yevris leaned against the wall. "What is it with you? 'Just artwork. Nothing more.' And you ignore every woman who comes to call on you. Is it that you prefer men?"
Kelric scowled. "Of course not."
"Why else would a healthy—"
Kelric advanced toward him "I told you I didn't."
"There's no reason to get hostile."
"Where I grew up a question like that got your head cracked open."
"I don't see why." Yevris shrugged. "It is a tradition dating from the Old Age."
"Why was it more common then?"
Dryly Yevris said, "Our foremothers were too busy killing each other. So there were many more of us than them. It's why they often took more than one husband." He rocked on his heels. "Eventually they quit lopping each other to pieces on the battlefield. Then there were more of them, which meant if one woman had many kasi, many women had none. So the Managers got together and made a law. Only Managers can have more than one husband."
Kelric snorted. "That figures."
Yevris smiled. "Yes. It does. But you avoid the question, my friend. Why do you ignore all these women who come hoping to make you their only one?"
Kelric crossed his arms. "I prefer not to discuss it."
"You always say that." Yevris crossed his arms in imitation of Kelric." 'I prefer not to discuss it.' Maybe if you discussed more you would brood less."
Henta appeared in the archway and smiled. "Manager Miesa is here, Sevtar."
Kelric glared at her. .
"Ah—hmmm." Henta glanced .from him to Yevris. "Maybe I should come back later."
Kelric uncrossed his arms. "No. Now is fine." .
As he and Henta walked into the common room, Savina Miesa looked up and gave him a cursory glance. Then she did a double take and stared. Her mental touch brushed his mind like a kiss, stopping him cold in the center of the room.
Savina came over and bowed,,her tousled hair making her look like an imp. "Sevtar Bahvla? I am honored."
Kelric nodded, silent and unsmiling.
An octet escorted them to a private alcove in an isolated tower. The guards took up posts Outside while he and Savina sat at the Quis table. She untied her pouch, glanced at him, and promptly spilled dice all over the table.
"Did you know you're a psion?" Kelric asked.
Savina reddened. "Hush. The escort will hear. I'm not supposed to talk to you."
"They can't hear. They're Outside."
She tried to make a neat pile out of her dice, but the stack kept falling over. Finally she thunked a ruby cube in the center of the table. "Your move."
"Did you know?" he asked.
"Know what?"
"That you're a psion."
"A sigh—on?"
"A telepath."
"Are you making a joke?"
"No."
Savina smiled. "You think I can hear your thoughts?"
"No. You don't have the training. But you are a psion."
Her look turned mischievous. "Do you sigh-on, Sevtar?"
"I lost most of it." He hesitated. "But when I felt your touch—maybe it's not gone."
Her face went crimson. "Felt my touch? You know what I'm thinking?"
"No."
"Oh." She relaxed. "Well. I don't know what you're thinking either. So we better play." She grinned. "Play Quis, that is."
Kelric set a topaz by her cube and the game took off. For some reason, she played almost exclusively with rubies and sapphires.
"You know," she said. "Blue is a special color."
He glanced at her. "It is?"
She nodded. "Blue sky. Blue water. Blue."
"Oh." He played an emerald disk. "Your move."
"Pah," Savina muttered.
Yevris handed Kelric a glass of wine. "Blue? She could have meant a lot of things. Were you making water patterns?"
"No," Kelric said. "It was about her Estate."
"Maybe she meant the sapphire mine."
"I don't think so."
Yevris smiled. "Blue is also the color of love."
"I thought that was red." Kelric reviewed the game in his mind. "She used a lot of rubies."
Yevris laughed. "Red, my friend, is for lust."
"For pugging sake," Kelric said. "If that's what it was, the interest isn't mutual."
"Sure. And I'm an offworlder."
Kelric glowered. "You have a perfect word for that. Pah."
Wreathed in mist. Henta and Savina strolled past the old battlements of Bahvla Estate. "I leave tonight for Council," Henta said. "I want to get to Karn early."
Savina pulled her fur-lined jacket tighter around her body. "I have to go to Miesa first. But I'll be at Karn in time for the opening session."
Henta laughed. "You'll dash in ten seconds before it starts."
"I will not."
"You always do."
"Not this time." Savina paused. "Are you bringing any Calani?"
"I might."
"Which ones?"
Henta recognized the too-casual tone of her voice. "I don't know, Savina. Who do you think I should bring?"
"Well, there's that fellow I played Quis with—what is his name? The gold one. He seems quite skilled. At dice, I mean."
"You know perfectly well what his name is."
"Sigh-on."
"What?"
"Sigh-on." Mischief danced across Savina's face. "He thinks if he sighs enough he can read minds."
"Yes? And just where did you get this gem of information?"
"He told—oh." Savina's hand flew over her mouth. "Uh. Hmmmm."
Henta scowled. "What were you doing, talking to my . Calani?" .
"Sorry."
"Sorry, pah. You ought to know better"
"Well, how was I supposed to concentrate on dice
with that glorious specimen of manhood sitting across the table from me? Winds, Henta, how could you not make him your Akasi?"
"I don't want another husband. Besides, Sevtar doesn't want to be an Akasi."
"Does he belong to anyone?"
"Yes Himself. You'll get nowhere with that one. He's not interested."
Savina spoke in a dramatic voice "It's his Haka mystique. I can't resist it."
"What Haka mystique? He's an offworlder."
"But he acts like a Haka man. They drive me crazy." Savina's face reddened. "The way they go around all covered up except for their eyes. It gets me hot just thinking about what's under there. And even if they do let you see their faces they never smile. Never. Do you know what it does to me when Sevtar acts that way? Just one smile out of him and I'll lose control. One smile. You'll need an octet to hold me back."
Henta sighed. "Did it ever occur to you that he doesn't smile at you because he's not interested?"
Savina scowled. "You're a cranky old clawcat, you know that?"
23
Queen's Spectrum
The Hall of Teotec at Karn Estate seated hundreds when its galleries and balconies were full. Today only Managers and their retinues were present, gathered around the oval-shaped Opal Table that dominated the lower floor, the edges of its amberwood surface inlaid with opals, rainbow ivory, and snowstones.
When Henta entered the Hall, she found many of the Estate Chairs already occupied. In the Haka Chair, Rashiva sat heavy with pregnancy. The desert queen's luster had dimmed into pallor, and fatigue creased her face. An aide spoke to her in a low voice obviously urging her to retire from the session, but the Manager shook her head.
Henta settled into the Bahvla Chair, her retinue taking seats behind and around her. Her Senior Aide leaned over to her. "Do you want a last look at the files?"
Henta shook her head. "I'm as prepared as I'm going to be." But she had a feeling the Council might not be prepared for Bahvla this year.
The great double doors behind the Ministry Chair swung open and the aide at the entrance announced, "Ixpar Karn, Ministry Successor."
Henta found it hard to believe that the striking young woman who strode into the room was the same gangly child she had known a few years ago. Ixpar brought to mind a painting Henta had once seen, an Old Age warrior queen in bronze and leather armor standing with her long legs planted on a cliff, holding a spear aloft in one hand and a shield in the other, her hip-length hair whipping out behind her body, turned into fire by the sunset.