Half an hour later, the adults gathered in the dining hall. It was a subdued group, and the pleasant smell of cooked meats and pastries did nothing to relieve the unspoken gloom.
Once again there was a hesitation while everyone considered where to sit. Lew, his silvered hair dry and curling slightly, appeared quite at ease as he seated himself at the head of the table, as if it had never occurred to him to sit elsewhere. He wore a rose-colored tunic with silver mountains embroidered at the sleeves and throat and a pair of blue trousers. He glanced around, completely confident. Margaret had never seen him in such command of himself, or the situation, and she felt both vastly relieved and mildly angry. Her earlier pleasure in his arrival was now mitigated by his air of assurance. How dare he waltz in looking so damn cheerful!
She sat down in the chair beside him, and Jeff took the place opposite her, across the board. Javanne seated herself at the foot of the table, with her sons, Gabriel and Rafael, on either side of her. It was as if the table was the battleground of two opposing armies, with Javanne as the general of one side, and Lew Alton on the other. When Mikhail took a place beside Jeff, silently allying himself with that side of the wordless conflict, Javanne gave her youngest son a look that spoke of betrayal.
Liriel came in then, her wide shoulders drooping a little. “’I have Ariel calmed down, and I sent Piedro to bed. The children are in the nursery. I don’t think it has quite sunk in, yet, what has happened. Our old nurse is looking after Dominic for the moment, and I cannot think of any better hands to leave him in. That thing you put on him seems to have relieved the pressure, Marguerida, and the worst danger now is pneumonia, not his spine. We will need to transport him to Arilinn as quickly as he is able to travel.” She sat down beside Mikhail, apparently unaware of her mother’s hostile gaze.
Liriel glanced around the table, and her eyes stopped at Lew Alton. They widened. Then she turned back to face her mother. Whatever words they exchanged they kept private, but it was clear to Margaret that Javanne was understandably more concerned with her daughter and her eldest grandson than she was with the sudden appearance of the Old Man. Still, Javanne looked hostile, and Margaret was sure that she wished Lew Alton anywhere in the universe but sitting opposite her, at the other end of the table.
Donal appeared just as Liriel sat down, his hair tousled and wearing his night robes. He climbed into the empty chair next to Margaret. “I don’t want porridge,” he announced, and smiled at her winningly.
“Of course you don’t,” she told the charming child. “I never liked porridge for dinner myself.”
“They make you have it when you are sick, and I am not sick.”
The presence of the little boy seemed to ease the tension around the table somewhat, and the food was brought in by the servants. There was a miasma of worry that seemed to effect everyone except the child, so rather than talk, they gave their attention to a thick soup followed by roast meat and a custard side dish that was heavy with dried fruits. Margaret was surprised by her own hunger, and a little ashamed as well. It didn’t seem right to be so hungry with that child lying upstairs with a broken neck. If he lived, he would probably be paralyzed for the rest of his life, and she could not bear that. She could not imagine what the life of a cripple would be like on Darkover.
Then she noticed that everyone, including her aunt, was tucking into their suppers with a good appetite, and felt slightly less guilty. It was not, she decided, that they were unmoved by the accident—not in the least! It was only that they had done what they could for the present, and needed to keep up their strength for whatever lay ahead.
Jeff finally broke the silence. “We never thought to see you back on Darkover, Lew.”
“I never thought to return myself—but never is a word that almost always comes back to haunt me. I am finished with trying to be a diplomat. I was not very good at in the best of times, and now, with Dio ill, it was intolerable.”
“Dio is sick?” Jeff’s voice expressed concern, but Lew just gave him a head shake, as if the matter was not to be discussed for the present.
“But, Lew, who will represent us in the Senate now?” Javanne asked the question with real interest, and gave Mikhail a look as if she imagined that he might be sent to fill the spot. Margaret almost choked on her food. She could guess at her aunt’s train of thought, without needing any telepathy at all. Well, it would certainly solve the problem of what to do with her third son, wouldn’t it? Get him off the planet—which Mikhail would like, she knew—and out of her hair. But Margaret didn’t like the idea at all, for some reason.
It took her a minute to unravel her own turmoil. She knew now that she must spend some time studying in a Tower, no matter how she felt about it. But Mikhail was her friend, and she wanted him to be on Darkover if she was. It was so simple and, at the same time, so complicated.
“Herm Aldaran, who has been sitting in the lower house for six years, is taking my place. He’s sound, experienced, and he knows how to deal with the Terrans better than I do. He is also young enough to do the job. I was getting stale and frustrated.”
“An Aldaran in the Senate!” Javanne looked quite alarmed, but Margaret was immensely relieved. “He will hand Darkover to the Terranan on a platter. Are you mad?”
“On the contrary, Javanne. Herm may be the only man in the galaxy who can save us from that just now.”
Margaret gave her father a sidewise glance from beneath her lashes. She had never heard of Herm Aldaran, but guessed he must be some sort of relative, like everyone else. She knew that the Aldarans were mistrusted by both the Ardais and her aunt and uncle, but she did not know why. “Save us?”
“During the most recent election the Expansionist Party got control of the lower house.”
“What’s that?” Rafael asked quietly, before his mother could speak.
Lew stared at his kinsman for a moment. “The government of the Federation follows an old Terran form of a two body system. The lower house, the Commons, formulates policy, and the Senate makes sure they don’t run wild with it. There are a number of parties in the Federation at present, but the largest are the Expansionist Party and the Liberals. For the past several decades, the Liberals, who believe that planets should choose the sort of government they wish, have been the majority in both houses. Now this has changed. There are just barely enough votes in the Senate to prevent the Expansionists from changing policy so that the needs of the Federation take precedence over the wishes of any individual planet. If the Expansionists have their way, no world will be safe from the greed of the Terrans.”
“And you left in the middle of that! You are a greater fool than I ever imagined, Lew! You should have stayed and protected us, not left us in the hands of an Aldaran. I know of Herm. I was opposed to his appointment to the lower house when Regis sent him six years ago. Even though we have almost no contact with the Aldarans, we have to keep an eye on them. He seems a decent enough sort, for an Aldaran, but hardly . . .” Javanne was nearly sputtering with fury.
“Javanne, whatever you may think of Herm, he has the interests of Darkover at heart. This situation has been growing for a long time, and Herm has the advantage of knowing many men and women in the Commons well.” Lew gave a little chuckle. “He’s a better horse trader than I ever was.”
“Humph! Likely he’ll trade Darkover for an aircar, then. Surely there are more able men, older men, more experienced men, from among the Domains. I cannot think that Regis would have agreed to this insanity. The Aldarans are cowards and cheats!”
“Mother, I don’t think you really know what you are talking about,” Mikhail replied. “Herm Aldaran is one of the best men I have ever known.”
Javanne did not take this rebuke gracefully, and her always ready temper flared up, now that she had a target to direct it at. “What do you know about it! Just because you can read Terranan does not make you an expert on anything!”
“I trust Herm.” Mother and son looked daggers at each other, and to Ma
rgaret’s surprise, it was Javanne who dropped her eyes, not Mikhail. Her aunt’s hand closed around a slice of bread, and she proceeded to crush it between her fingers.
Donal, oblivious to the tensions around the table, pushed his plate back and gave a small belch. He rubbed his belly. “What’s for dessert?”
Liriel looked at her nephew. “Where will you put any?”
“I always save room for dessert,” he answered calmly. “Do they have good desserts in the Trade City?”
“Not really,” Margaret answered. “Why do you ask?”
“Because if Domenic dies, I am second, and I get to learn to read and be educated like Uncle Mikhail. I always wanted that—well, since last Midwinter, anyhow.” He seemed to think something about his place in the family gave him certain rights, and was determined to have them. “I want to go to Thendara and learn everything!”
Javanne shook her head. “Donal, first of all, I’ll have no talk of Domenic dying! And secondly, your mother would never let you go to Thendara, not now. You are going to Neskaya as soon as you are old enough, and even that will be very difficult for her. You will learn everything you need to know there.”
“No, I won’t!” He turned and looked at Margaret. “Aunt Liriel says you can read all the books in her library. Is that so? She says you can read them all, and a lot more.”
“I can read, and have read, a great many books, yes.”
“I won’t have you encouraging the boy, Marguerida,” Javanne interrupted angrily. “You don’t know anything about our ways, and I don’t want you interfering any more. I think you have caused enough trouble for one day.” Trouble is all Lew ever brings, and his child is like him! I know I am right! We must maintain the Domains as they have always been. We never should have let the Terranan get a foothold. If I had been Regis . . . why was I born a woman!
Do they think I don’t know what is going on? I see how my son looks at Marguerida—it will not do! There must be some way to get Herm Aldaran out of the Senate, and Mikhail into it. That would be best. I will speak to my brother, and he will listen to me. I will make him listen.
“My father cannot read very good,” Donal said in his high boy voice, “and my mother cannot read at all. Domenic wanted help with some hard words, and they . . . they couldn’t do it. They say it is not useful, but Domenic told me that it was wonderful, to read and learn things!” His voice broke a little as he spoke of his injured brother. “I always wanted to be like Dom, and now I am going to, whether he gets better or not!”
Margaret was mildly shocked. She knew that literacy was rare on Darkover, but somehow she had assumed that at least the members of the Domain families were able to read. She realized that she took literacy for granted, except on the most primitive planets, and she felt slightly ashamed that the place of her birth seemed to have chosen deliberate ignorance over formal education. Why, Rafaella probably read better than most of the people at this table!
Gabriel decided to put in his oar. “I have heard all of Liriel’s arguments that reading makes you wiser, and I think it is nonsense. There is no reason for people to addle their brains learning what they will never need to know.”
“There speaks the voice of a man who can hardly sign his name,” Mikhail muttered, loud enough to be heard by Margaret, but not so loud as to carry to the other end of the table.
Jeff said quietly, “We are getting well ahead of ourselves. First we must hope that Domenic will make a complete recovery, that Marguerida’s quick thinking about the splint will make the difference. On the other hand, it is obvious that Donal is quick of mind and that he will need to be properly educated. It is in the best interests of Darkover that our sons and daughters are educated. Ariel will resist, but we must not let her tie her sons with apron strings. It is neither healthy nor wise.” The Towers have served us well, but they are no longer enough. We must change with the times or perish.
“Best interests?” Gabriel snarled at his uncle. “I like that! Half the young men are mad to go out to the stars, and some of the women, too,” he added darkly. “The old ways are good enough for my father, and they are good enough for me, and for Donal as well. He is too young to know what he is talking about. He would be bored to death in a tenday.”
“I would not,” the child protested.
“You don’t know what is good for you,” Gabriel insisted, his skin darkening and his eyes narrowing. He looked to his mother for support, but Javanne appeared lost in her own thoughts.
“Gabriel,” Margaret said sharply, “you seem to think that you know what is good for everyone—and you don’t!”
As they glared at each other, Jeff tried to be reasonable. “We cannot change Darkover in a day, or even a generation, but if our children are not educated, they will not be able to make sound decisions about the future of our world.” He sighed softly. “I have long wished we had some plan, some program, to teach the young more than can be learned in the Towers or among the cristoforos.”
Margaret looked at the older man, and realized that he was speaking both to himself and to her. He, like herself, was a man of several worlds, and he loved Darkover as she was coming to love it. They both knew that without education Darkover was very vulnerable to forces like the Expansionist Party, which saw planets other than Terra as collections of resources to be exploited, not as the homes of human beings with their own aims and ambitions. She knew enough about the Expansionists from her occasional forays into the newsfaxes to understand the threat they posed, not just to Darkover, but to some of the planets she had visited—Relegan and Mantenon just to name two.
So, my Marja, would you like to remain here and create schools? I “heard” you as I rode toward Armida, wishing to run away, to be anywhere but Darkover, and I did not blame you in the least. But now your mind seems to have changed a bit.
I don’t know. Between Istvana Ridenow, Liriel, and Uncle Jeff trying to drag me off to a Tower, Javanne trying to force me to marry one of her dreadful sons, threshold sickness, and Ivor’s death, I have barely had time to think. She felt Mikhail flinch mentally at her thoughts. Don’t be an idiot, Mik. I didn’t mean you! And you know it perfectly well, too!
Thank you, cousin. I was beginning to fear that Gabe’s bad behavior had rubbed off on me.
Don’t be silly! You are quite sensible, for a Lanart.
Damned with faint praise. It is all that I can expect. His tone was mocking in her mind. Beneath the casual pleasantry, though, there was an undertone of feeling that was both attractive and frightening. What would she do if Javanne succeeded in getting Mikhail sent off planet? It did not bear thinking of.
The Senator was following this byplay with an interest Margaret found disquieting, and she felt her cheeks redden. He studied Mikhail curiously and lifted one eyebrow at the younger man. Then he looked at his daughter, and his eyes widened slightly.
Father, don’t you go getting marriage-minded on me, dammit! I have had enough of that to last two lifetimes. Do you know that young Dyan Ardais came into my bedroom to plead a suit! Rafaella was horrified. She felt almost trapped, and her breath came in short pants.
Who? Lew’s voice was curious, and her panic started to subside.
Rafaella n’ha Liriel, my guide and my good friend. She’s upstairs with a terrible cold.
A Renunciate? You have been busy, haven’t you, child? Having more adventures than I realized. I am not in the least marriage-minded, having been somewhat unfortunate with women in my early years. Still, anyone can see you are clearly on excellent terms with your cousin, which rather surprises me, since you are not fond of your Aunt Javanne. He gave a slight shrug. I barely know you, do I?
No, but it doesn’t matter now. Just don’t hand me off to the first fellow who approaches you for my hand, because I am quite fussy. I don’t want to spend the next thirty or forty years slamming the doors of Armida off their hinges like Aunt Javanne and Uncle Gabriel.
Lew Alton smiled at his daughter, a face-splitting grin that took
a decade off his age. Margaret stared at him, because she could not remember him ever smiling so broadly before, or at all. We must, of course, consider the doors of Armida.
Margaret dropped her jaw. Her father was teasing her! He was sitting there and making jokes as if he had never been a depressed drinker with a terrible temper. She was caught between the urge to hug him and another, equally strong, to smack him right across the face. Could I start some sort of school on Darkover, do you think? I have been thinking of that, from time to time, when I wasn’t busy battling dead Keepers or throwing up.
What? Lew seemed stunned.
I’ll tell you everything later.
I certainly hope so, because I am now very curious. But, I believe you can do anything you choose to, daughter. I never could stop you, once you made up your mind, you know.
You couldn’t? No, I didn’t know that.
Donal was bored with the sudden cessation of talk around the table, and the absence of dessert. “Would you teach me how to read, Marguerida? I would ask Liriel, but she has to go back to her Tower soon.”
“I don’t know, Donal. I have never tried to teach anyone to read before. It is not as easy as you think.”
“Uncle Jeff said I was smart, so it should be real easy.” Donal gave her another winning smile, and she thought the boy was going to be altogether too charming when he grew up.
Before she could reply, Javanne spoke. “I think we have had enough of this nonsense for one night. Gabriel is right—Donal is much too young to know what he wants. He just thinks reading is exciting because Domenic can do it, and he has no idea what he is talking about.”
Jeff shook his head. “Javanne, closing the door after the horse has run away is futile. We on Darkover must choose our destiny, and perhaps sooner than you imagine, and we will need all the young Donals to be as well-informed as they can be, lest we be eaten up by Expansionist politics or something worse.”