The Quartered Sea (41 page)

Feeling as though he was coming about into the teeth of a gale, Benedikt banished hopes and fears and attempted to consider the question. "Xaan Rayalmi is a powerful ally of House Kohunlich, peerless one."

"She wouldn't have been here if she wasn't an ally." Rising, Mijandra walked to the bed and sat down, gathering Shecquai into her lap. "Why powerful?"

"Because her mother spoiled her and you can't have an…"…
untuned quintara in the band
. Shkoden metaphors wouldn't be understood and he didn't know any Petayn ones. "You can't have a xaan of a great house who doesn't know the rules."

"What makes you think her mother spoiled her?"

"Her hair, peerless one. She never had her head shaved in the children's compound, so she was probably raised to consider herself as xaan."

"What's wrong with that? It's very likely, she
will
be xaan."

"Overindulged children seldom make good leaders, peerless one."

"Then why would I support Omliaz over her aunt?" Her tone suggested he think carefully about his answer.

Benedikt shrugged. "I can think of two reasons, peerless one. The aunt is older, less easy for you to mold, or House Calakroul has something you need and you can get it more easily from the girl."

"House Calakroul controls the land nearest Atixlan. The Calakroul-tul is a religious idiot and no problem, but House Kohunlich had no guarantee of safe passage after the change. Thus I bring Omliaz under my influence. You see the things that are in front of you. That's a rare skill, Benedikt. I'm impressed." Lips stained a deep red curved up into a smile.

"Good. There's something I need you to do for me first, but after that, we'll see how good a teacher you are." As Benedikt wondered if teaching entitled him to more braids, the xaan settled back against her cushions. "I've been at the palace much of the last three days. Tell me everything that's been happening here."

Wanting to show her that his earlier observations were no accident, he reported much the way he would have reported to his Bardic Captain, mixing observed detail with overheard bits of conversation. When he saw he had the xaan's full and complete attention, he lightly embellished a story one of her "cousins" had repeated about the tul.

Interesting evening
, he thought three songs later as he made his way back to his room.
Not at all what I expected
.

His ears burned as he remembered his earlier expectations. He didn't know why Xaan Mijandra had told the others to stay away from him, but she, herself, was clearly more interested in his mind than his body. Head up, gaze locked on the not too distant future, he could see a day when he became her primary councillor. Indispensable. Doing the job a Bardic Captain should be doing were he not an opinionated old fool.

"Stick that in your four quarters and bang it, Kovar. Watch me learn what not to do from your example."

He had a future.

The xaan's cousins were trying to make friends. Xaan Mijandra, herself, was impressed by him.

For the first time in what seemed like forever, he felt secure.
And if the bath is empty, maybe I can even get laid
.

"True. I did." She sighed and moved Shecquai off her lap.
There are times
, she thought as Hueru sat beside her and nuzzled his face into the rippled mass of her hair,
that I regret not being able to trust the more intelligent members of my family
. Which reminded her. "When you leave here, see that Hilieja has her tongue notched for repeating gossip."

Chapter Twelve

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WONDERING if the barber had braided his wet hair extra tightly, Benedikt scratched his head and walked out onto his tiny balcony to get a look at the new day. "Maybe I shouldn't have laughed when he told me he had a good voice," he muttered, trying to ease the tension on his scalp.

Although thick cloud combined with the surrounding walls to keep him from seeing the sun, the distant chanting and drumming from the Great Temple told him it couldn't be long after dawn. He'd been amazed to discover that the square and the great houses surrounding it had been constructed in such a way as to carry the sound of the prayers to as many of the faithful as possible—no one but Benedikt seemed concerned about sleeping after the change when the priests of the moon would be in charge.
Maybe you get used to it after a while
…

Scratching his head again, he took a moment to congratulate himself on what he'd already gotten used to. Had anyone ever told him he'd not only eat fried honeybee larva but like the combination of sweet and spicy, he'd have assumed they were out of their mind. And although he hadn't gotten used to the heat, he had gotten used to the lack of clothing the high temperatures demanded. He'd more-or-less gotten used to the braids.

Benedikt leaned his forearms on the balcony railing and stared down into the courtyard. He'd thought he was used to living on the edge of things—of no help to his village on the boats, without the ability of every other bard to Sing air— but his old life put him in the center of the Circle compared to how he lived now. He hadn't realized how used to a bard's welcome he'd become until he ended up where no one knew what a bard was.

"Oh, stop feeling so unenclosed sorry for yourself," he muttered as he straightened. "Considering that the kigh dumped you here, naked and alone after having failed to save any of the lives entrusted to you, you've done better than you deserve. You have a position of some importance with a very powerful person which will only improve as she realizes what you can do. You
could
be faking a god connection for the tul, remember."

From where he was standing, he could just barely see the edge of upper bowl of the fountain through the greenery. It wasn't really that he didn't go out of his way to make friends, he just wasn't very good at it. Anticipating the moment they'd discover he was less than they thought always left him guarded and uneasy. He knew that some of the other bards had thought he was full of himself, but they didn't understand.
They
could Sing air.

He grinned as he tugged at a particularly annoying braid. Singing air was no longer an issue. "Here in Petayn, they'll only discover what I can do and that'll make that whole friendship thing a lot easier. Which is a good thing," he added in Shkoden as a tiny, ruby-throated, iridescent green bird caught his attention. "Because unless I'm talking to you, I'm spending far too much time talking to myself."

Ignoring him completely, the bird backed out of a huge red blossom and flew up and over the dividing wall, taking Benedikt's gaze with it. Squinting a little to keep it in sight, he realized there was a figure in one of the tul's third-floor windows.
Why not
? He waved.

As the figure moved forward, out of the shadows and into an identity, he waved again, more vigorously. Xhojee looked startled but waved back.

Distance made communication difficult. Shouting would draw the attention of both halves of House Kohunlich and as far as mouthing the words, Benedikt doubted he'd be able to recognize the shapes of a language he'd only just learned the sounds of.

Xhojee smiled and, using the same system, signaled back, "Me, too." Then suddenly he grew serious, scanned the xaan's side of the building, leaned forward, and beckoned.

"You want me to come over there?" Grasping the balcony railing with both hands, Benedikt tried to work out a gesture that meant,
I can't
.

"What are you doing?"

Had he not been holding the railing, Benedikt was fairly sure he would've gone over it. Heart pounding, he whirled around and glared at Serasti. Had he not been certain he was doing something he shouldn't be, it would have been a more convincing glare.

"I asked you a question, Benedikt." Blue-on-blue robe whipping around her bare legs, the house master strode toward him, one hand outstretched as if to pluck him bodily from the railing.

Trusting Xhojee to have faded back, Benedikt stepped out of her direct path and drew himself up to his full height. "I was looking at a bird," he told her, using enough Voice that she had to believe it, telling himself that he wasn't using his training to support a lie. He
had
been looking at a bird.

Serasti peered out into the courtyard, inspecting the tul's side of the building through narrowed eyes. "A bird," she repeated. "I see." When she turned toward him, Benedikt had the strangest feeling that, in spite of the way he towered over her, she was looking down her nose at him. "The Kohunlich-xaan wants to see you. Now."

Knowing that he'd think of a hundred clever responses later, when it would be far too late for them to be of use, Benedikt sighed and fell into step, following one pace behind the house master's heels.

Benedikt leaned back in the small cart and stared at the stubby tail of the coloas flicking flies off its rump. He knew he should be happy about being out of the house, even hidden by the enveloping priest's robe, but something nagged at him. "Why does the house master dislike me so much, peerless one?"