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Chapter Eleven



Maira blew out a long breath when the magnificent sprawl of Ambassador Walksbetween’s compound came into view. Treads-the-grass guided her down the long, winding private road to the red brick walls and gleaming brass gates of the estate. The expansive main house made of dark wood dominated the hill beyond it.

At each corner, the flat tiered roofs had landing platforms and banners the color of Yena’s card. A handful of Pahali wore the colors on their shirts and uniforms, so Maira took them to be guards or servants. Once launched off the roof and glided over an orchard of ornamental pink-blossomed trees, flying to a smaller house that peeked out behind the main one like a shy little child hiding behind its mother.

“Be very careful how you speak and act here. Do not disrespect the ambassador,” Treads-the-grass warned as they came to the gate. It opened for them with no one there. She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t ask. Treads-the-grass didn’t seem worried. “She has the power to force you to leave the Tract. We let you into the gate because the decision to do otherwise was not ours. This is the one who’s decision it is. The Asna’isi seem to want you badly. I have never seen a Prime do the work of common agents like that. Everything else that will happen to you will happen here.”

Maira nodded, she hadn’t understood every word but the stern tone with which Treads-the-grass spoke sufficed.

Half way to the house, Treads-the-grass slowed. “Bow to the ambassador when you first see her, when you leave, and if she does you any favors. You probably will not be able to bow correctly, but try anyway. Effort shows respect. Bow at the waist, not with your back. Keep your spine straight, hands at your side. Don’t put your eyes down, keep them up, look her in the face. Looking away makes you seem suspicious or inattentive. Do not sit before she sits, do not stand before she stands, and do not refuse her hospitality if she offers it. Drink at least a little tea. To refuse is rude.”

“Thank you. Why you help?”

Treads-the-grass smiled. “Have you never helped anyone because you could?”

Yes, and it’s caused me no end of trouble, she thought but said nothing.

When they approached the house proper, two guards left their posts at the door and blocked their way. Treads-the-Grass exchanged brief words with them, then bowed back and looked at Maira as if to say ‘good luck’.

“Give me your pass,” the one on the left commanded, extending reddish brown wings. Maira held out Yena’s card with an unsteady hand, willing herself not to look away. Amongst the Taye looking someone straight in the eyes was disrespectful and an open challenge. “Message of Ambassador Enaqi Jenda Walksbetween, of Captain Enaqi Yena Lookinghard.”

“Take your shoes off at the door,” the guard replied. She nodded, then belatedly remembered to bow to them, at the waist. They escorted her to two wide, sliding front doors. The guards slipped their own shoes off in a clean, well practiced way. Clumsy in comparison, Maira was obliged to bend down and unbuckle her boots before placing them flush to the wall. Immediately she worried about them being stolen, then realized that if anyone came here to steal, her ragged boots would be beneath notice.

She looked down at her feet, nervously, wondering if she should removed her stocking, too. She didn’t ask and the guards said nothing, so she assumed it was all right.

One pushed open the sliding doors and another stood behind her. They lead her into a a sleek, open spaced front room with polished floors cool as glass under her feet. Past a low, long table - the sole piece of furniture in the room - another door lead to a garden or courtyard of some kind. She saw the tips of branches and flowers through the opening. To her right was a closed door, paneled with translucent pale beige paper.

One guard told her to stay and the other went through them, bowed, and spoke so softly Maira couldn’t make out a single word. After a brief conversation, the guard emerged and silently waved her over. After gesturing for her to enter, they stood back and let her, then shut the door behind her.

Inside, Maira’s eyes immediately locked on the ambassador who sat at a low desk, surrounded by papers. Maira could only assume this was the ambassador by the fine red and black robe and the jewels and the long black hair falling to the middle of her back. She cut a deeply impressive, regal figure even in the simple act of dipping a brush into an ink well.

The ambassador looked straight at her. Through her, even. Maira swallowed, stunned by the direct attention from someone even more important and powerful than Motswa. Shaking off the awe, she remembered herself and bowed, steadying herself before she gave into the instinct to look away. Walksbetween nodded at Maira so slightly she barely noticed.

“I regret to inform you that my daughter is not here at the moment. I realize that it was her you wished to speak with when you fled the Asna’isi to our gates,” Walksbetween said in impeccable Domainish, neither smiling nor frowning.

Maira straightened quickly and sucked in a sharp breath. Of course someone would have flown ahead to give warning. “I didn’t mean any disrespect, high person,” she said, careful not to assume the wrong pronoun. Suddenly, Maira panicked, unable to remember if Yena definitively said her mother took the feminine or not.

Walksbetween sensed it immediately. “You may call me lady or ma’am. I take the feminine in Domainish. Yena has told me a little of this case. When I can get her to come for dinner, that is. Please, sit. You have gone through much trouble to find yourself in my house. Tea will be brought to us shortly.”

So nervous she scarcely dared breathe, Maira approached the table and lowered herself onto a cushion, sitting on her heels. Every other moment she caught herself looking away. “Thank you very much, ambassador, that’s very generous.”

“Do not rush to thank me. I have my own purposes for letting you inside my house. If I did not, you would have been returned to the gates and it would be Prime Graymere thanking me.”
“Is there something I can do for you?”

“Yes. Give me what I imagine everyone has wanted from you since Professor Decaran -” she stopped to mutter brief words in Old Pahali, probably a prayer or warding. Some words resembled New Pahali ones for ‘blessing’ and ‘death’ and ‘friend’. Then she continued, “Was murdered. I want information.”

“I probably don’t have much to give you. Your daughter could tell you more.”

The side door to the courtyard opened and a servant in a plain dark blue robe with a bright orange sash entered, wings pulled in closely. The servant laid the tray on the table, bowed and left in seconds. She looked to the neatly arranged cups, steaming teapot and other things. The ambassador reached for them first and Maira became alarmed.

“Do not worry, as the master of this house, it is not beneath my dignity to pour tea for a guest. Any guest. No matter their station.”

“Thank you. I really do not want to disrespect you, ambassador. Please forgive me not knowing all your customs before I came. I was desperate, and I’m sorry for that, too.”

“Do not apologize. I am not sure what you know of Prime Graymere, but you are right to fear him. That you managed to escape at all speaks highly of you. Were I in you situation, I would have done the same if no other option presented itself.”

Walksbetween gently pushed a small porcelain cup to the other side of the table. Maira offered a smile and politely picked it up. The hot surface burned her fingertips, but she held on and sipped though it scalded the inside of her mouth and throat.

The ambassador laughed, deep and sonorous laugh. “You are supposed to let it cool before you sip! I should have warned you. Intrepidly done, Maira Aialah. The heat burned, but you did not let go. You do not fear to put your hands in the flame. I see why Yena spoke highly of you.”

“Yena spoke highly of me?”

“Very much so. Tell me, precisely, what happened to that night.”

She paused a moment. The ambassador was grinning a little too confidently. Perhaps Yena had not told her mother this for a good reason. Maira glanced down at the teacup for a moment’s respite and then looked up again. “How much has Yena told you?” she asked, quietly.

The ambassador chuckled. “Ah. You have just realized why I might have let you into my house. So you are observant, too. Do not fear. Yena will understand that once you came into my possession, you had no power to resist. She will not hold it against you.”

“I know very little. I was supposed to deliver a package to the professor. When I got there, someone was stabbing him. We fought and they fled. Then the professor died. I told the prefects what had happened, and that’s all.”

“And he said absolutely nothing to you?”

“He was stabbed so bad, he couldn’t. He died so quickly,” she replied and looked down at her bandaged hand. Truth rang in the words, even through the lie.

“This is all that you know? You are certain?” Walksbetween’s voice held so subtle a warning it might have been imaginary, save that her voice deepened. She spoke far too precisely and focused her eyes far too sharply, like a hawk.

Maira searched her mind for anything else safe to tell. “His blood burned my hands.”

“Quite badly, by the look of it. You were able to see a healer?” She nodded and peered down at the cup of tea. Experimentally, she touched it and found it cooled. She sipped again.

Walksbetween did as well, with a soft slurping sound. Maira mimicked her and drank. A light, crisp flavor filled her mouth. Not unpleasant. She gently put the cup down.

“Does Yena know that Lord Shadow wants you?” Walksbetween asked. Her lips curved upward in a proud smirk. Maira couldn’t help but admire the double edged nature of the question. She stood not just to learn about Lord Shadow but Yena, too, by the answer.

“I haven’t gotten a chance to tell her yet. I didn’t know he was after me until he sent the prime.”

“Ah, so she is unaware of why he has sought you out?”

“So am I. Two days ago I was nobody. Now everyone seems to want me.”

She tapped her grinning lips with her index finger, eyes narrowing. “Yes. Who are you to know anything? Just a human messenger, of no interest to anyone.”

Maira gave a longing sigh, ignoring the obvious taunt. “Not anymore. I don’t know why he cares so much. I didn’t think the Asna’isi even noticed that human exist.”

“You truly do know nothing of Lord Shadow’s business, do you?”

“No, and I don’t want to, either.”

She laughed again. “You should be very curious. Lord Shadow sent his Prime. This is no small gesture on his part. Even as an enemy, he honors you in this. If I were you, I might allow myself to be taken.”

“Ma’am?”

“Lord Shadow is relentless,” she said, but her eyes grew distant, darker. She paused with her teacup only halfway to her mouth and breathed slowly. “And so very clever. He will find a way to get what he desires. Always.”

“You fought against him, didn’t you? In the war?” she asked, deliberately tentative in her wording.

Walksbetween regained her focus, sipped the tea and replied, quickly, “Yes, but those were old days.”

“I apologize, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No apologies necessary. My advice to you is to surrender if you are not strong enough to fight or flee further. You will not be able to seek refuge at our gates again, and I cannot keep you here. I hope you had other plans than that, though I think you didn’t.”

Maira broke a smile. “You’re why Yena is so good at observing things, aren’t you?” She sipped more of her own tea. It was good, it made her feel a little better. Then again, any food or drink would have. She hadn’t eaten much in the last two days. Even simple warm liquid was welcome. She and the other workhouse kids used to do that, drinking dirty water from the heated pipes to take the edge off their hunger.

“I am proud to say that I am.”

“How long am I allowed to stay here?”

The door slid open before she could answer. The guard who lead Maira in entered, bowed and spoke in Pahali. “The honored representative of the Asna’isi, Amabassador Summerlong wishes to speak with you as soon as it is possible for you to do so.”

Maira drew in a sharp breath between her teeth and immediately examined the room for escape routes. If the ambassador held them off and let her through the back way, she might yet escape.

Holding up a hand to gesture to her to stay silent, Walksbetween asked, “Has the ambassador brought any escorts?”

“Yes. Four.”

“Oh, four. That’s daring,” she said, sounding pleased. She turned to explain to Maira, “Ambassadors are allowed no more than four personal escorts of their own race inside a foreign Tract.”

Maira swallowed and looked down at her hands on her knees. It wouldn’t take even that many to grab her now. She glanced to the door leading to the courtyard. The entire estate was open ground, designed specifically for flying people.

“Are all of their weapons and armor within acceptable standards?”

The guard said that they were. Walksbetween looked at her, then at the guard. “I cannot be seen to sneak you out of here, or act in anyway that would suggest that I am helping you, do you understand that Maira?”

She nodded. “Yes. You’ve been very kind, ambassador. I wouldn’t ask you to cause trouble for yourself just so I can deliver a message to Yena. The tea was very good, thank you.” She bowed as much as she could at the table.

“Ah. And still, she doesn’t hesitate. In another life you would be a stunning firewalker. Perhaps we can save you a while longer.”

“You said that you can’t -”

Walksbetween held up a hand “Looking and doing are always two separate things. I cannot look as if I am helping you. It does not mean I cannot help you. Listen to me very closely, Maira Aialah. I am going to let Ambassador Summerlong in. When I do, I am going to send you out with Catches-the-Water. Zie will take you to be paid by my house treasurer for your services. I will keep the ambassador here as long as I can with discussion. She will be obliged to stay until we are concluded, as will her people. When you are receiving your payment, ask for a map and a safe passage script. Use the time to find an alternate escape route, but don’t rely on having much.”

“While I’m in the Tract, they can’t take me, can they?” she asked.

“I can’t say. If they have writs from one of the chiefs, they can, but they still have to let me read and authenticate them before they act. And even if they don’t, they may risk taking you from this Tract anyway. So your time is limited. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ambassador, ma’am.” Walksbetween stood up and Maira stood as well. She gave a very deep bow, in the best form she could muster. “Thank you for risking so much on my behalf.”

The ambassador laughed. “These things happen more than you think. I thought of Professor Decaran as a friend. And I certainly think of Lord Shadow as an enemy. To deprive him of something he wants is always a pleasure. And you have brought me some amusement.”

“I’m glad I could do that.”

“So am I. I will tell Yena all that you have told me. Is there anything else she should know?”

Maira thought quickly. “I’ll try to get to the safehouse. If I get Shadow -”

“Lord Shadow,” she corrected, sharply and firmly. “He is my enemy, but he is due his honors.”

“Sorry,” Maira said, quickly. “If I escape or find out what Lord Shadow wants, I’ll tell her as soon as I see her.”

“If it’s helpful, she’s usually here after the third night bell. If you can return freely, do try to come here.”

“Thank you.”

“You are very welcome,” she said and went for the door. Catches-the-Water took Maira’s elbow and gently pushed her forward. Walksbetween went through first and began talking immediately to the waiting Asna’isi. They all eyed Maira like cats spotting a wounded mouse. Her heart thumped hard and fast, like wings fluttering in desperation.

“See that the messenger is paid,” the ambassador said, casually, as though Maira were suddenly beneath notice and they had not spent a long time talking. Maira played along, following Catches-the-Water away, not looking back at the Asna’isi.

Behind her Walksbetween all too cheerfully said, “Ambassador Summerlong, you honor my house with your gracious presence. Please allow me to attend you in my gallery so that we can be comfortable.”

Maira forced herself to take a long, slow breath and pressed her lips together nervously, looking sidelong. She gathered her strength, lengthening her strides to stretch her leg muscles. She would run again. She would have to.

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The City of the Hand

July 2012

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