“They—they were upset by the death of my honored mother. One was in shock, aiji-ma—one hardly knew when—one day there were no servants. There were just no servants.”
“Indeed.”
“One was overwhelmed, nand’ dowager! One had no means to ask Uncle what to do. There was—there was this offer of marriage. This offer of alliance. If I refused it—it might be fatal. There might be no time for such maneuvers. So I thought, I thought—being new to my post, aiji-ma, and without your sage advice—”
Bang! “Do not annoy me, wretch! Your mother was dead, unfortunate dotingwoman, and you, still more unfortunate for the region, were alive. Go on!”
“I was stalling, aiji-ma. I was continually pretending to agree. One hoped—one hoped, aiji-ma, that your ship would any day reappear in the heavens with the true aiji’s heir, and that would solve everything. And if one could play for timec”
He had looked to Ilisidi a second time, and his voice faltered.
Bang! went the cane. “Go on. We are listening.”
“So I protested I had favored a lady of the district, and I lied, aiji-ma, that I had spoken to the daughter of the Hesi. But—” A tremor entered his voice. “This unfortunate girl—this entirely innocent girl, whom I had only met socially—she died within the month. At her own father’s table.” Baiji’s lips trembled. “And I knew—I knew surely it was my fault. It was because I used her name. They removed—removed her from consideration. And now—now I have the gravest doubt whether my mother’s death was from her illnessc I had not thought that. I never had thought that, aiji-ma.”
For the first time Bren felt a twinge of sympathy for the man who had harbored assassinsc not overmuch, since they had shot one of his people, killed two of Ilisidi’s, and attempted to kill him and Banichi and Jago. But the young man was a fool. Possibly he hadtried to match wits with the Marid.
“Go on,” Ilisidi said.
“Within two days I received a letter expressing condolence and renewing the offer. I have this letter. I have saved everything, aiji-ma—if you wish to have these things.”
“We shall expect it. Say on.”
“So—I could not call my uncle, I had the fate of the young lady of the Hesi on my conscience. One had the estate to protect—”
One noted he never said “my people.” And that he reverted to the remote formal when speaking of them.
“—so one hoped to temporize, never naming names: one pleaded grief for my mother, grief for the young lady. One asked questions, pretending not to understand clauses in the agreement. One conjured every remote provision of treaties and agreements which I wished specifically to be preserved—I have the list, aiji-ma. I have all those papers.”
“On, I say! You were grieving. And you saved the papers, as any reasonably careful accountant might do. What more?”
“Then—they wished me to visit the Marid, aiji-ma, but—but then you came back from the heavens, and Murini was about to fall, and I—one feared to travel in those days in the first place, and then my bodyguard left me, just like the servants. I thought they had gone to fight for you, aiji-ma, but I never saw them again.”
“Where did you acquire the ones you had?” Banichi asked from the side of the room.
“They came from the Guild. They gave me regards from my own guard and said they had taken their place.”
When the Guild itself had been suspect, in those last days of Murini’s administration.
“One fears you may never see your bodyguard again,” Bren murmured.
“The replacements,” Banichi said, unasked, “are dead.”
Baiji looked from one to the other of them, and his jaw trembled. “I was afraid of them, nandiin. I knew—I knew they reported elsewhere.”
“My grandson’s men,” Ilisidi said, “have taken the estate in hand until your uncle’s return. In himwe have confidence, and there will be questions and an accounting, a rendering of the books and records, a task in which he will have your assistance, if you wish to regain anything.”
“Aiji-ma.” A seated bow. “One longs to be of service.”
“We hold this notion for consideration,” Ilisidi said, “since we have not heard how you continued this dalliance with the Marid afterour return from space and aftermy grandson took Shejidan and drove Murini in retreat. Nowpresent us your excuse! Was there some unreported difficulty with the phones, that would prevent your calling Shejidan or sending a messenger covertly?”
“I was afraid, aiji-ma! My very guard was sending secret messages! I had no idea whether they were reporting to the aiji or—or to the Marid! How could I move in any regard without them knowing?”
“Ingenuity might have overcome this. A phone call, I say. A visit to your neighbors. A shopping expedition to Dalaigi. Shopkeepers would surely have acted for you at your request.”
“They would know.”
“They would know. A call to my grandson, man! A note, contained in a basket of produce, sent to your neighbor!”
“But—one thought—aiji-ma—the aiji himself was negotiating with the Marid. Things might yet change. Perhaps—perhaps I could do something favorable by marrying the girl. I could draw her house into association with the coastc”
“Marry a Dojisigi girl, part of a scheme the Tasaigi clan no longer had any motive to move forward? Draw the Dojisigi into conflict with the Tasaigi, perhaps? Bring the eastern peninsula of the Marid into conflict with the western, which has had their man’chi for seven hundred years? Gods above and below, what do you think your help is worth, man?”
“Aiji-ma— ”
“You had onevalue to them: as a foothold on the western coast, within its association, a foothold that would be shortlived, but one from which they could work to alienate the Edi from the aishidi’tat; one from which they could plan an assassination that would shake the entire world. Notmy great-grandson. Nota power for the future of the aishidi’tat. That was not their aim. The paidhi-aiji was their target, the power that connects my grandson with the Mospheirans and with the heavens and all its factions—and you agreed.”
“No, aiji-ma, by no means!”
“You ignoredthe chance my great-grandson would perish in your scheme. No, that was of no import to you and your advisors. You were set on the paidhi’s life, and have made two attempts on it!”
“Not I, aiji-ma! Not I!”
“Where is your aunt, man?”
“My—aunt.”
“Lord Geigi’s wife. Lord Geigi’s Samiusi clan wife. Did she maintain ties with your mother?”
“Not—not that I know, aiji-ma. She—”
“Once before, the Marid tried to achieve a foothold in Sarini province—attempting to impoverish your uncle, do you recall that event? They made every effort to bring him down, and Lord Geigi’s last-contracted wife, your aunt, was in frequent correspondence with her sister, who—ah! I remember—just happened to be married into the Marid! Whata grand coincidence! And Lord Geigi’s sister—”
“I cannot hear you speak ill of my mother, aiji-ma!”
“Your mother was a virtuous woman, certainly, in Lord Geigi’s confidence—ah, but how could I forget? She correspondedwith Geigi’s former wifec”
“Innocently, aiji-ma!”
“Well, well, she administered Kajiminda well enough in difficult times. I wonder where the change happened. A message from your aunt’s end of the continent, perhaps? Communication from your cousins in the Marid? One is certainyou have cousins in the Maridc”
“They are not in my man’chi, nor am I in theirs, aiji-ma. And my mother very rarely corresponded with that branch!”
“So you say. What would you have done if you had found my great-grandson at sea? Ridden him under? Or held him hostage, pending nand’ Bren’s walking into a trap?”
“I wished to rescue the boy, and to meet with the paidhi-aiji, on the boat—I would have told him—I would have asked him to rescue mefrom my predicament—I would ask to sail into Najida, and for the boy’s safety, I would be safe in his good opinion.” Baiji cast a frantic look at him, and Bren drew a deep breath. “I would have done it! I would have asked for your help, paidhi-aiji! I did so even under my own roof!”