“Oh, absolutely he has been responsible, Nedi-ji. But now committed to the hilt, and threatened by our presence, he is vulnerable, and do you not think his maneuvers have alarmed his rivals? This attack was nothis doing, and one now questions whether prior actions were his doing.”

Mani never said Cenedi was wrong. And likely Cenedi was notwrong, that was the curious thing. They both were right, and Machigi really was an enemy.

But it was very interesting: there was, mani had taught him, a wisdom in the baji-naji design. It was about flux. And change. One thing could become the other.

Chance—and fortune.

Randomness. And order.

“Look at this,” mani had said once, giving him a small brooch with that design on it, black and white. He had sat on the spaceship’s deck, at her feet, with the ship on its way to the stars; with this round brooch of black onyx and ivory in his hand, and mani had asked him which was more important, the black or the white. And neither had been greater. “This governs outcomes,” mani had told him. “When we say baji-naji, it does not mean ‘accident.’ It means two powers at work: without flux in the universe, this ship could not move, and we would be like statues, always the same.” She had closed his hand on the piece, saying: “Keep it. Remember.” And he had. It was in his baggage that he had brought down from the ship. It had gone through the fight to put his father back in Shejidan, and it was safe in his room in the Bujavid, now, in the capital of the whole world.

That moment with Great-grandmother flashed into memory, when she said, “He is vulnerable.”

Poised between the black and the white. The tipping point. The scary point.

A person could be really smart, and really clever, but ultimately that person could end up between the black and the white. And he had to make a move.

If somebody was really smart, he understood that.

Cenedi had that look on his face that said he had just this moment understood Great-grandmother. Cajeiri thought hejust had, and kept very quiet about it.

“When you want to take an enemy in your hand, Great-grandson,” mani said slowly and softly, “provide him an exit. And continue to control it. This young man, Machigi, is not a fool, but being young, he has moved too fast, too confidently. He has been high-handed with the other, older lords of the Marid. He has planned everything. He has done everything. These older lords have not been consulted. So they have consulted among themselves, have they not?”

“Yes,” Cenedi said thoughtfully, and one could see a spark in Cenedi’s eyes. “We are not speaking of a punitive action, then. We cannot divert ourselves to attack some other part of the Marid, Sidi-ji. The Marid Association has fiveaijiin. This act is, whatever its origin, from the Marid.”

“Oh, indeed. But we need not attack,” Great-grandmother said. “We are thinking of something much more interesting. And something much more challenging to the Marid —baji-naji. Perhaps there should be oneaiji in the Marid, and we can cease this endless shifting of blame.”

A small silence followed. Cenedi gave mani a sidelong look. “If you are thinking what I think you mean, aiji-ma, this is a shift not only in plan, but in policy. In your grandson the aiji’spolicy, as laid down before the hasdrawad and the tashrid.”

“Pish. If we fail, he can easily disown us and our entire venture,” Great-grandmother said with a dismissive waggle of her fingers, “a matter the Edi should well consider before they take any action to jeopardize our operation or force our hand. But our solution, if we succeed, will notcost lives in the aishidi’tat. Ifwe succeed, the change in this coast will proceed like a landslide. All things we have set in motion will proceed, and my grandson need do nothing but claim the credit. We are determined, Nedi-ji. Have you a secure contact with the paidhi-aiji?”

Cenedi drew a deep breath and let it go slowly. “Yes, aiji-ma,” he said. “We do, that.”

“Delay the Guild deliberation. Say that we have a contribution to make and information which must be considered. Let them make a certain amount of fuss so Machigi’s bodyguard knows it is under debate. But we shall be late getting essential papers before them. This will work soon or it will not work at all. At very least they will have a more accurate target for their decree of outlawry. At best—they can save themselves the paperwork.”

Mani then fixed Cajeiri with a direct and terrible look. “Neither you nor your aishid will have a word to say about this where you can possibly be overheard. Your two remaining bodyguard we consider trustworthy. Beyond this—no one. Not even nand’ Toby, should he ask about nand’ Bren. Especiallynand’ Toby.”

“Yes, mani.” Cajeiri gathered a deeper breath. “But—”

“No but, young gentleman! If you wish to know secrets, then consider the lives at stake and keep them closer than your own breath!”

He gave a bow, as deep and as solemn as he could. “Mani. We will not make a mistake.”

“Go,” mani said then, with a snap of her fingers, and Cajeiri gathered Jegari and left, fast.

Likely, he thought, she had specific things to say to Cenedi that young ears were not meant to hear.

And he wished he knew what was going on, and he wished Great-grandmother would come downstairs where it was safer, but he did not think either was likely to happen soon at all.

20

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The aiji-dowager, to the paidhi-aiji, salutations. The kidnapping of a child and the mining of the Kajiminda road with consequent injury to civilians has brought the Assassins’ Guild Council into session to debate outlawry for Guild members responsible, for all Guild employed by the responsible clan, and for the clan leadership— for which there is physical evidence. There is a strong possibility that other Guilds, notably the Transportation Guild and the Messengers’ Guild, may follow suit.

This is the Guild view. It is our judgement that Machigi would have been a fool to have ordered these acts, and we do not believe Lord Machigi is a fool. It is our belief that someone within the Marid itself, older lords offended by his assumption of power, have moved to focus the wrath of the Guild on Lord Machigi and his guard. Their motive would be to overthrow him, bring war on his section of the Marid, and make the Assassins’ Guild and the aiji our grandson the agents of his destruction, with little loss to them.

We alone hold this suspicion as of this hour, and now communicate it to the paidhi-aiji. We consider that if Lord Machigi will consider his own best interests he can be a force for stability in this whole region.

Therefore as the Guild meets to consider outlawry for the persons responsible for two illicit attacks, we direct the paidhi-aiji to go to Tanaja and work out an understanding between us and Lord Machigi, for the best interests of this district and of the aishidi’tat.”

Bren read it twice. A third time. Banichi, who had given it to him, stood in the aisle of the moving bus. Jago sat with a curious look on her face. Tano and Algini, across the aisle, had similar expressions.

It was Banichi’s handwriting. Banichi was the one through whom the message had come, in a brief trip to the rear of the bus, where the aiji’s men had their communications gear.

“Do theyknow about this?” Bren asked, first, with a shift of his eyes toward the rear, and the aiji’s men.

“No,” Banichi said. “But we are obliged to inform them unless you decide to put them off the bus. We cannot operate at diverse purposes.”

“Jago-ji.” Bren handed the note to Jago, who lost no time reading it. She immediately passed it across the aisle to Tano and Algini.