Trading in Futures (6 page)

He turned to Daav.

"Card tables have been set out, sir, and
other light amusements. Please, be easy in our House."

He flicked a glance at his mother, who
inclined her head.

"Amuse yourself, Daav, do. Etgora will wish
to walk Ilthiria and myself through his garden. I will require your
arm in two hours."

"Ma'am." He bowed obedience to the Delm,
then a general leave-taking to Lady yo'Lanna and Etgora. This done,
he bowed once more, very gently, and offered his arm to Kesa
del'Fordan, "Lady Kesa, will you walk with me?"

She hesitated fractionally, brown eyes
lifting to his face in a child's straight look of assessment.
Whatever she saw convinced her that he was not having fun at her
expense, for she stepped forward and put her hand lightly on his
sleeve.

"Certainly, I will walk with you,"she said,
unselfconsciously. "How else may I show you to the Sunset
Garden?"

"Very true," Daav replied gravely. From the
edge of his eye, he saw Etgora offer an arm and his mother take it.
"In which direction shall we walk, then, Lady?"

"This,"she said, moving a hand to the west,
belatedly adding, "Of your goodness."

The pathways toward sunset were somewhat
less crowded than those they had followed from the house. That was
not to say, Daav thought, that the paths were empty or that the
garden reposed in tranquility.

He bowed briefly to Lady
pel'Nyan and moved on, Kesa del'Fordan silent on his arm. Etgora,
he considered, had come a fair way to making a recover. Lady
yo'Lanna's attendance had of course assured the attendance of
several other Houses of rank. And if
she
were inclined to smile upon
Etgora...

Or, Daav thought suddenly, if Ilthiria
yo'Lanna attended at the request of her old friend Chi yos'Phelium,
Delm of the ancient ally of her House? Oh, yes, that fit well.
Especially when one heard one's mother declaring herself comforted
in the presence of an ally. Korval had never taken allies easily,
to the benefit, mostwise, of the more conservative Clans.

Daav made a mental note to review the
Summary of Balance dea'Gauss had sent more closely. He had missed
the reason that Etgora was thought necessary to the interests of
Korval. Presumption had, of course, been answered, but it seemed
that the upstart Clan could not be allowed entirely to sink. Thus,
this gather, with its theme of courteous and charming commonsense,
and everyone of consequence in attendance.

In consideration of
which
, Daav said to himself,
you are in arrears of your
duty
.

He tipped his head, assessing his companion
from beneath his lashes. She looked pale, he thought, and her jaw
was definitely clenched too tightly for fashion. Her shoulders
moved like boards beneath the pretty silk tunic and the hand that
rested against his sleeve put no pressure on his arm at all.

He cleared his throat gently and smiled when
she looked up, startled.

"I hope you will allow me to commend your
performance as House Guard," he murmured. "I am persuaded that you
stand the duty often."

Kesa blushed, lashes flickering. "Not," she
said, somewhat faintly, "so very often." She paused, glancing
aside, then looked back to his face.

"In fact," she said, rather breathlessly,
"this evening is the first time I have stood between the House and
the world. It is--it has been my brother's duty, you know--he is
the elder--but, this evening, he... He asked our father for other
work."

"Very proper in him," Daav murmured, noting
her hesitation and drawing the conclusion that Kesa's brother's
"ask" had very little of "if-you-please" about it. "So this was
your first time a House Guard? I am all admiration. Well I remember
my first time at the door--a mere dinner party, nothing like what
we have here!--and I was wishing for nothing but my bed before even
half the guests were arrived!"

She actually laughed, and Daav ducked as
they passed beneath a string of balloons and streamers.

Kesa paused, frowning up at him and the
balloons just behind his head.

"I do not--you are very tall, are you not? I
recall my father said that Korval is a tall Clan. He--Jen Dal was
to have made certain the lines were strung well above--but I am
certain." she said in a sudden rush, "that he could not have
realized that, that--"

"That the pickpocket who wishes to rob
Korval must bring his own stepladder," Daav said lightly, rescuing
her from what could only be an unfortunate culmination of her
sentence.

Kesa frowned. "I do not entirely--"

"Ah, Daav! I had heard the Scouts had
released you to us!"

The voice was lovely, as was the lady. Two
years ago, he had been besotted with both. He was no longer
besotted, but he was indebted to her for a lesson well-delivered
and equally well-learned, and so he bowed, with courtesy.

"Bobrin, good evening to you."

She returned his bow, eyes teasing his face,
then straightened, one hand rising to her flower-braided hair. Her
eyes left his face, and found Kesa.

"It is Etgora's daughter, is it not?"

Kesa bowed low--Child of the House to
Honored Guest. "Kesa del'Fordan, Lady del'Pemridj."

"Just so." Bobrin inclined her beflowered
head, then shot Daav a glance of pure mischief. "Take advice and
walk carefully with this one, House-daughter. Daav--" She paused,
likely on the edge of more specific mischief. Daav met her eye
squarely, and had the satisfaction of seeing her look aside.

"Daav," she said, "Good evening."

She swept down the path and Daav became
aware that he was gritting his teeth. Deliberately, he relaxed his
jaw and looked down at his companion.

Kesa was staring after Bobrin, brown eyes
wide. After a moment, she sighed and glanced up at Daav.

"She is a very beautiful lady. I--do you
think when I am grown I might wear flowers in my hair?"

When you are
grown
, Daav thought,
my hope is that you will care more for other matters--even
for what I deduce is your scapegrace brother--than for the dressing
of your hair.

Her look, however, was appealing--and she
was, after all, a child--so he swallowed his initial answer and
instead looked about with wide amaze, flinging his arm out.

"Why, here we are in the very heart of a
garden! What is to prevent you from having flowers in your hair
this instant, if you wish it?"

"I--" She, too, stared about, as if she just
now realized their setting, then looked back to his face.

"No one, that is, I have yet to learn
the--the proper manner in which to place flowers in the hair."

"Ah, there you are fortunate," Daav said
gaily. "I have some training in the placement of hair-ornaments.
Perhaps you will allow me to be of service to you."

The brown eyes took fire. "Would you? I--I
would be in your debt."

"Not a bit of it." Daav said stoutly. "It is
a pleasure to share my skill. Now, which flowers will you
have?"

She moved to the edge of the walk, staring
at the orderly rows of blossom. "That, if you please," she said,
pointing to a low, spike-leafed shrub. Its indigo blooms were flat
and multi-petalled, noteworthy without being ostentatious, and a
good match for the silk Doorkeeper's tunic.

"Excellent," Daav murmured approvingly and
bent to pluck one. The stem was woody, but broke easily. "Yes, very
good. Now, my Lady, if you will step over here, so that we do not
impede traffic while this very delicate operation is
performed..."

Kesa stepped to his side, Daav inclined his
head to Lord Andresi--another of his mother's cronies--who smiled
and passed on without comment.

"Now, then," Daav said. "I will wish you to
stand very tall, but not at all stiffly. True beauty is never ill
at ease. Very good. A moment, now, while I discover the perfect
placement--yes, I believe so." He hesitated, flower poised. "Be
easy, Lady Kesa, but as still as you may--"

He moved, Scout-quick, smoothing her thick
brown hair with one hand while he slid the flower home just above
her right ear.

"Let us be certain that it is
well-anchored," Daav said, hands hovering. "Move your head
now--look up at me. Ah--"

"Stand away from my sister!"

The voice was, of course, too loud. Had the
phrase been whispered it would have been too loud, at this gather.
Daav sighed and glanced up.

The young man bearing down on them had
something of Etgora's look to him, albeit Etgora in an ugly pet. He
had, Daav judged, about twenty Standard years.

"Calm yourself, sir," Daav said moderately.
"I am doing your sister no harm."

"I will be the judge of that, sir!" the
other snapped. "As kinsman, I--"

"Jen Dal, be still!" Kesa flung about--the
flower stayed firmly in place, Daav saw with pleasure. "There's
nothing amiss." She swallowed and glanced back to Daav. "Lord
yos'Phelium, here is my brother Jen Dal del'Fordan. Jen Dal, here
is Daav yos'Phelium Clan--"

"I know who he is," Jen Dal said awfully.
"Sir, you have not yet put yourself at a decent distance from my
sister." Kesa made a sound rather like a splutter, which Daav
interpreted as outrage. Her brother spared her a single withering
glance.

"Be still, Kesa. This is a matter of
honor."

"If it's a matter of
my
honor," Kesa said,
with spirit, "then I should judge the damage and the price, not
you."

"Completely by Code," Daav said, uneasily
aware that they were attracting a crowd.

The young gentleman stared
at him, eyes hard with hatred.
So
, thought Daav, the balloons were
not strung so low by accident.
Here's one
who has taken Etgora's fall as a blow to his heart, and cannot see
'round his anger to the greater good of the House.

"My sister is a child, sir. It is as
ludicrous to expect her to know proper Code as it is to expect her
to know all the faces of harm."

Daav drew a breath, trying
to still the quick flare of anger. For Kesa's sake, for the sake of
Etgora's value to Korval, he would
not
lose his temper. He would quell
this self-important upstart and dismiss him, then disperse the
growing crowd of the curious. He was Chi yos'Phelium's son. These
things were not beyond him.

"Sir, your concern for your kin does you
credit. However, I feel that you have allowed an elder sibling's
natural partiality--"

Jen Dal del'Fordan turned his face away.

"Kesa," he said, as if Daav had finished
speaking--no, as if Daav had never begun to speak!--"pray remove
yourself from the proximity of this--person."

Tears filled the brown
eyes. "Jen Dal, he is our
guest
! I am quite unharmed, Lord
yos'Phelium was only placing a flower in my hair, as I asked him to
do!" There was a ripple through those gathered at that, but Jen Dal
was unmoved.

"This man is son of a House with a long
history of predation among the lesser Houses. I will not see him
attack my kin. He will--"

Oh,
gods
, Daav thought, suddenly seeing the
destination of the farce.
You fool!
He leaned forward and touched Kesa lightly on the
sleeve.

"Lady, your brother is correct. You cannot
stay this."

For a heartbeat, the brown eyes searched his
face, then she stepped back, bowed fully--House Child to Honored
Guest--and turned. She walked away as sedately as one with years of
negotiation behind her, and the crowd parted to let her
through.

"You, sir," Jen Dal del'Fordan cried, "will
satisfy the honor of my House!"

"Don't be absurd," Daav said, voice
stringently calm, despite the anger trembling within. "The honor of
your House is intact, as you well know."

"I know nothing of the sort. Korval destroys
Clans as casually as I pluck a flower." The last was said with a
sneer and Daav caught his breath at the sheer, blinding stupidity
of the man. Did he not know that even now Korval and Etgora were
mending the damage given his Clan? Did he not know that with
Korval's patronage and the smiles of the High Houses, Etgora would
recover its loss and reap new profits before Kesa signed her first
Contract lines?

"You do your sister an injustice--you call
her honor and her understanding into question before all
these."

He threw an arm out, showing the so-quiet
crowd damming the pathway. "Is this the path a brother treads, in
the task of keeping his kin safely? Your understanding is at fault
in this, sir. Neither Etgora nor Etgora's children has taken
lasting harm from Korval. Have done and stand away."

Jen Dal del'Fordan smiled. "And I say," he
returned, voice, without doubt, pitched to carry far into the
gardens, "that Korval has tainted Etgora's honor. Everyone here has
heard me. I will have satisfaction, sir!"

Fool
! Daav raged, forcing himself to breathe deeply. He bowed,
deliberately, in the mode of Master to Novice, taking a savage
satisfaction in the gasp from the crowd.

"Call the House's dueling master," he said,
and his voice was not--quite--steady. "I will satisfy you."

From the corner of his eye, he saw the crowd
waver and reform with Etgora and his mother in the first rank. His
mother's face was very calm.

* * *

THE CARD TABLES in the Sunset Glade had been
hastily removed to make room for the combatants. Clan Etgora's
dueling master bowed to Daav.

"My Lord yos'Phelium. As the one challenged,
you may choose the weapons of the duel. The House can provide
pistols, swords, knives, or Turing forks from its own arsenal. If
you wish a weapon we do not own, the House will acquire a matched
set of the weapon of your choice, within reason. If it appears, in
the judgement of the Master of the Duel, that your weapon has been
chosen with an eye to indefinitely postponing this duel, you will
be required to choose another weapon. Is this understood, sir?"