Pickles
Three : Pickles
Heian-Kyó, 23 March
Despite all the ructions and ripples, among Tortallans almost as much as Yamanis, Kel steadfastly insisted that the third day of the visit should remain her own, as scheduled, and her duty in it New Hope's trade. If the Emperor had requested her presence she would have gone, but as he didn't and Shinko had a whispered explanation that even she didn't think made much sense, Kel just shrugged.
"So He has some reason he won't divulge, Cricket. I'm not surprised — Lord Sakuyo is being very close-mouthed about whatever it is he wants, so it's probably another ambiguous dream your uncle is trying to understand without giving offence. And good luck to Him, but that being so I'm off to suzukema-ichi tomorrow."
The great pickle market was a public enough venue to defy danger, and Kel had genuine business there as well as a hankering to show it to Dom and Tobe. The immortals had had no trouble in the city, though both the stormwings and Kravimal had reported that certain individuals had shadowed them throughout their wanderings, perhaps intending mischief if opportunity offered. But it hadn't, or they were merely observers, and all had found much to interest them — a warehouse under construction where Var'istaan and Kuriaju had been able to demonstrate what ogre strength and basilisk magic could achieve in partnership ; a funeral the stormwings had attended, horribly spooking the mourners but leaving them the richer for some immortal discourse ; and a spice shop where Kitten had eaten three of their hottest chillies without even a burp, winning and gracefully accepting for New Hope a bushel of rice as a prize before cheerfully eating a free meal of their speciality, made with the same chillies.
They were very good, Kel, the dragonet confided with some excitement. I have the name, wanizame, and we should take as many as we can back to New Hope. Icefall will like them very much.
An amused Kel underlined super-hot shark chillies on her list, thanked Kitten for very responsible and grown-up behaviour, and told her about her own day.
The laughing god's blossom makes his chief priest sneeze? Kitten shook her snout reprovingly. That is not a sensible arrangement. But there is no accounting for gods. It is partly why they are so annoying.
"I don't disagree, Kit, and they are being annoying, though Ebony thought the joke punishing Lord Hidetaki was fun." They were alone and her collar squeaked agreement. "If they'd only say what they want doing, we could get on with it. But no, everything has to be mysterious. Just bad habits, I suppose. Anyway, would you like to come to the pickle market with us tomorrow? As the next most senior member of the Guild present, it would be good to have your approval."
That was a low blow, but Kit took her Guild rank very seriously.
Of course I will come if you need me, Kel. But I am sure they will like Yuki's pickles — everyone does.
"I hope so, Kit, but there's what we want to buy as well. Yuki works wonders, but there are thousands of pickles here, and you'll know if any have special appeal for immortals."
Thousands?
"Oh yes. Neal doesn't quite believe it either, but he'll learn."
Kit chortled, and Kel spent the rest of the evening reassuring Jonathan and Thayet and, more congenially now she was mostly over her embarrassment about it, considering the Yamani version of Lord Sakuyo's paragraph with her parents. Her father was especially struck by doukegata, and after cogitating offered her an unsettling thought.
"The thing is, my dear, that the doukegata is very much the moving force in those plots. Lord Sakuyo is often said to inspire them or applaud their jests, and the plays are all in his honour, of course, but they are the jesters, not the, um, jested. And while I entirely agree with seeking to know what he wants, I do note the major response we were blessed with today came because you stopped waiting and acted."
Kel gave him a mild fish-eye, and he held up a hand.
"No, spare me, my dear — and your caution is certainly politically wise, as well as proper. But great jests exceed wisdom and propriety alike, and you know better than I that the gods like us to work and sweat. All I'm saying, my dear, is that where you have clear cause, I believe you should not hesitate to act. Not that you often do."
"Umph." But Kel didn't have the heart to glare, and rather grumpily suspected he had a point. "The trouble is, Papa, that in open battle that's fine — with the siege I only had to win, and anything that helped in that was fine. The gods turning up was wonderful in all sorts of ways, but the objective was straightforward. But here? I've no idea what he wants, let alone what would work politically. What the Sakuyans were doing with the book was the first clear target I've had
— he wouldn't be creating Yamani copies if he didn't want them to be read — but that's why I didn't force any public admission that it was Lord Fujiwara who interfered." She scowled. "And presumably hoped to be able to circulate altered copies if he had to let any circulate at all. It's a good job Lord Sakuyo's magic was discriminating, or we could be in a horrible mess."
"My word, yes. But I'm sure you were correct that he wouldn't set his name to something imperfect, and that the jest of his paragraph only works in its proper context."
"Oh yes. Thayet's right about that. But if it's attitudes he wants changing, Papa, I've no idea at all how I'm supposed to do it."
"Mmm. But you're doing it anyway, sweeting. Yesterday you served notice at court that you were something they hadn't rightly reckoned with. And today — well, those chimes were audible for miles, by all accounts, and the kamunushi had a stall set up at the Temple Quarter gate before sundown with quite a queue building up." Ilane grinned. "I don't suppose it'll please you, but Toshuro told me Prince Eitaro had a library orator read the 'Note' aloud in Kammu Park, which was packed."
"Wonderful."
"Quite literally so, my dear."
Kel rolled her eyes and took herself off to nurse the twins, and then to bed and Dom's distracting attentions. Waking very early she returned the favour, fed the twins again, and then, feeling very supple, and cunningly enlisting her Mama's help, took Thayet, Roald, Shinko, Dom, Tobe, and Alanna off to weapons' practice, despite various sleepy (and in Alanna's case downright rude) protests.
"Hush. You all need to see this, and this is no time to be less than fighting fit."
Alanna didn't stop muttering about ungodly hours and needing her beauty sleep until they reached the Guard's compound, when, like everyone, she grew abruptly intent. There were many more people present as watchers than there had been yesterday, and Kravimal and his troop were obliging with a display.
The spidrens fought with steel by taking their weight on their rear pairs of legs and folding the first three joints of the front pair underneath them, which made the glaive blades strapped to the end of the fourth joint into what were in effect paired swords. Most of the time they used only the first pair of legs, moving on the other three, but at need the blades on the second pair could be brought into play as well, at least briefly. And they were fast, as well as getting considerable momentum and whipping speed into each strike, so the clash of steel was a blur to the eyes and a rolling clangour to the ears.
After a while sparring pairs reformed, and mortal samurai guards practiced more slowly and carefully against the spidrens. Kel assumed the standard samurai use of paired blades, katana in the dominant hand and shorter ko-wazikashi in the lesser, made the necessary double defence more natural to them than it seemed to her, but the asymmetry of swords against paired glaive-blades made for real difficulties as speed increased — and that was without any actual or threatened use of squirted webbing, which would not be the case in a real fight. She had brought her own swords, the Emperor's wedding-gift, and though she would never be as comfortable with them as with her glaive, assiduous practice had given her some confidence in the style. She had also been amused to find herself almost grateful to Wyldon for his old scorn at her glaive, forcing her to do so much sword-work with both hands that the necessary disciplines had come quite quickly once her muscles had become used to the different balance required. Not that she thought it would help much against spidrens, as Kravimal suddenly turned just enough to use the blade on a second leg to block his opponent's katana while one first-leg blade blocked the ko-wazikashi and the other stopped a scant inch from the man's throat.
"Yush!" Alanna's shook her head. "Rude awakening forgiven, Kel. Goddess but they're fast. And sneaky."
"Aren't they just?"
"All of that, Thayet. And they've asked if other Wangetsushima spidrens might enter Guild service, not necessarily as soldiers, so come and meet Kravimal properly."
He and his opponent had disengaged and bowed to one another, and he looked up as Kel led people across.
"Protector."
"Kravimal. A very impressive display. But let me introduce Her Majesty."
Quite versed by now in reading spidrens, Kel suspected her Mama, Dom, and Tobe interested Kravimal more than Thayet and Shinko, or even Alanna, though the Lioness's reputation was obviously alive and well on Wangetsushima. And she was sure he appreciated both her courtesy and relative ease, like all the New Hopers, with his appearance — the blades might make him an extremely formidable warrior but he was only half Quenuresh's size and a lot less bristly. He was also eyeing the swords she bore.
"Did you wish to spar, Protector?"
"After a warm-up pattern-dance, if you're willing. But you'll have to bear with me — the sword is
my second weapon, and paired swords about fifth, not that more experience seems to help with the asymmetry."
Steel teeth glinted. "Indeed. I have urged them to fight with two katanas, but they say it feels all wrong."
"Not as wrong as one of your blades through the throat."
"So I observed. And to be fair, many sensei are trying — hence the Temple's new field of styles."
Kel nodded. "So I gather. But let me get ready."
Already loose from her rather different sparring with Dom, Kel chose one of the harder warm-up dances and took herself through it smartly, feeling comfortable warmth come swiftly back to her muscles and a light sheen of sweat starting. Then she laid her glaive aside, took up her swords, and with some trepidation bowed to Kravimal and took guard.
He began with slow courtesy, letting her get the feel of each sword against his blades, and of the awkward, slightly turned stance necessary to offset the clear advantage of glaive-blade against ko-wazikashi. It could be done but impeded any counterstrike and was a constant distraction, and as soon as he began to speed up she disengaged, stepping back, and shook her head.
"There's only one way that's going to end, Kravimal — the imbalance is crippling. Let me try something else?"
He nodded assent, curiosity in his eyes, and she swapped her ko-wazikashi for her glaive, grasped one-handed at its point of balance. She was aware of indrawn Yamani breaths around her, and suppressed a grin — using a naginata one-handed went against every precept of the weapon, and she'd never done so on foot before ; but unlike Yamanis she had long used hers on horseback and was entirely comfortable with the necessary grip. And it certainly made facing Kravimal easier : with the portion of the staff in front of her hand, the blade had greater reach even than her katana, so she could revert to a squarer stance, and her utter familiarity with the angles, blocks, and deflections of glaive-blade against glaive-blade freed her mind to concentrate on the potential advantages of the wider and heavier blade of the katana against glaive-blade. For now, at least, the novelty also worked as much against Kravimal as her, and as he again began to increase the tempo she went with him, light deflections with her glaive allowing her to get more force into strikes with the katana and obliging him for the first time to concentrate on his own defence. The stance also made any attempt to use his second pair of blades very much riskier for him, as her restored balance meant she could pivot away from the slight turn he had to make, negating the advantage by putting herself out of reach of his further first-blade and enabling a lunging body-strike past the deflected second-leg blade, aiming for the gap in his mail where his leg emerged, that had him jumping back.
When they re-engaged he increased the tempo again, seeking weakness without finding it — and, she soon realised, creating a certain vulnerability of his own. Agile as he was, the six-legged stance was not one spidrens were designed to sustain, and the greater speed and force he was putting into his attack was giving him an impetus that he was in effect relying on her solid blocks to control. While he was using upward blows and she was having to bear down with blocks it wasn't enough ; but the moment he next switched to a downward strike, aiming in at her body, she converted a block with her glaive into the merest, feathered deflection, turning slightly to bring her leg inside the unbalanced lunge into which he was betrayed, and with her katana squarely blocking his other first-blade brought her glaive-point to rest a few inches in front of his nose. They were both frozen for a moment, and then she disengaged, bowing and, once he had unfolded his tucked-away joints to stand eight-square again and lift his blades back into their crown, receiving his own deeper bow.
"A valuable lesson, Protector, for which I thank you."
"And for me, Kravimal, for which I thank you also. In a real fight, though, you could use webbing as well."
He frowned. "Not from that position."
"Maybe not. But you could have dropped flat as soon as you knew yourself off-balance. My strike would probably have gone high, or glanced off your helmet, and then I'd have been left wide open to a bite, if nothing else."
Appreciation flickered in his eyes. "Perhaps. Though that is not an element of our fighting-style the Temple has yet endorsed."
She grinned. "I imagine not, though that wouldn't matter in a real fight."
"True. But I believe we must continue this most interesting conversation another time, Protector. You have attracted some attention, for you are the first to beat me, or any of us, since we came here."
Abruptly Kel became aware of the silence surrounding them, and the very many pop-eyed Yamani stares that disappeared as they offered deep bows and reappeared little changed. Thayet, Shinko, and her Mama had stopped their own sparring to watch, as had Roald, Alanna, Dom, and Tobe, and the look even in Dom's eyes made emotions flare and shudder.
"Oh glory."
But Hayato was coming forward, the glint in her eye at odds with her own formal bow.
"Keladry -sensei, my congratulations on a most astonishing exhibition, defying every rule to exquisite purpose. May I ask how you came to such one-handed mastery of your glaive?"
She returned the bow, seeking calm. "I learned to use it from horseback, Hayato-sensei. Though better equipped and mounted, we were often outnumbered during the Scanran war and the greater reach and economy of strike was an advantage I could not forego."
"Ah. Hisashi-sensei wins our bet. He saw that in your movement to suggest familiarity with a greater advantage of height even than your own stature allows."
"He is here?" Kel felt herself blush and the glint in Hayato's eyes deepened.
"He is. Please, come and allow me to introduce you."
Kravimal followed them across. The great sensei, now white-haired though still clearly very fit, was amid a group of elders, and there were other names Kel recognised, but her attention was on the old man, and offering greetings in apprentice to master she gave him the deep bow acknowledging absolute respect .
"Wrong mode entirely, Blessed Protector-sensei." He sounded cheerful. "Even in my prime I could not have done what you have just made look straightforward."
"Forgive contradiction, Hisashi-sensei, but it was entirely the correct mode. I saw you defeat Kenta-sensei here in the Year of the Horse, and have never seen the like."
That bout was still widely remembered, for after five interminable minutes of the perfect state Hisashi had somehow — and Kel still didn't have a clue — fooled his younger, larger opponent
and slithered the point of his glaive through a perfect defence — something that to the best of her knowledge had not then been done in living memory, nor again since. The old man's eyes lit up while a slight frown appeared.
"You saw that, Protector-sensei? Yet I do not … unless — in company with Princess Shinkokami and in face-paint?"
Kel grinned. "Exactly so, sensei. I couldn't have sneaked in as one of her retinue otherwise. It was the first time I understood what true mastery meant, and I am still groping towards it."
He quirked a white eyebrow. "Striding past it would seem more accurate, Protector-sensei. Besides the deep unorthodoxy of your chosen weapons mix, I saw two complete sequences invented in a first practice, one turning an attack none had yet defeated into a wholly unexpected counter-strike that would have worked against any lesser opponent, and the other most ruthlessly letting Kravimal-sama throw himself to defeat with his own weight and speed."
"Just so, Hisashi-sensei." Kravimal tilted his head eloquently. "We have been thinking in terms of two katanas to restore symmetry, but it seems we must think more inventively. The Protector not only negated the disadvantage of the asymmetry but turned it against me — blocking katana and ko-wazikashi are not so different, but blocking naginata and katana are significantly unalike."
"So I saw, Kravimal-sama." Hayato nodded. "Few, though, have such precise and light deflections as the Protector, even among sensei. I have noted it in sparring with her. Do you believe fighting from horseback has aided that mastery?"
Kel coloured again at the open praise, but made herself consider. "To some degree, sensei. In a mêlée, with hostile blades all around, one cannot afford to do more than the minimum to deflect or kill, or the next opponent will find one an easy mark. But my instruction in the sword also stressed economy and that the least deflection was just as useful as the loudest block, so I've always incorporated that into my naginata-work."
"You had some wise instructors, Protector-sensei. And yet none in the naginata, I understand, since you left Yaman?"
"There were then none in Tortall, Hisashi-sensei, and no place in the pages' training schedule for the naginata at all, though that has changed, of course."
"Most admirable. You used the Moonlight Dances?" "Every day, sensei."
"And yet were not constrained by them, as any student here would have been. All our new contacts bring much interesting instruction." His look became more serious. "None more so than your also most admirable 'Note', Protector-sensei, which I had the great pleasure and wonder of reading last night. May I ask frankly what you believe Lord Sakuyo's purpose to be in so, ah, appending himself?"
Despite her continuing embarrassment at praise from a man she revered, Kel found herself appreciating both his directness and his phrasing, and tried to answer briskly.
"I remain unsure of much, Hisashi-sensei, but Her Majesty saw quickly that his intervention makes the 'Note' not only a weapon but a practice of spiritual warfare as well as an attempt to explain it. So the question becomes the target for which that weapon and practice have been contrived — and great caution is needed, for such a practice only incidentally defeats a man. Its virtue lies in the sphere of beliefs and attitudes." He nodded and she took a breath, thinking about
the Temple of Weapons. "And though it is perhaps imprudent, to you, sensei, I will say that it seems Lord Sakuyo is not happy about the state of his kamunushi. So it might be he is concerned with what has brought them to that state, there being a limited value in treating symptoms rather than causes."
"Mmm. Interesting instruction indeed, Protector-sensei." He turned the conversation. "Tell me, if you will, were you aware of your mighty jest against the Scanrans as a form of the perfect state?"
"Gods, no." Kel was quite shocked. "It was a calculated gamble. I had to change the odds somehow."
"And yet it dismissed more than half your enemy's forces without striking any blow with steel."
"Not so, sensei. The spidrens and centaurs who took out the loyalist perimeter overnight struck many blows. They merely did so silently."
"Ah yes. And yet so many leaving the field alive has perfection in it."
"Very many others did not leave it alive, sensei. And the most of that was mechanical butchery — blazebalm, pit-traps, rotating volleys, and at the last dragonfire."
"So I understand, sensei. I did not believe your words to Lord Shoji, as they were reported to me, an exaggeration."
"Alas, no. My hands alone were on mage-keys and dragonscale, and the killing-field my cold design. I had no choice and in the same circumstances would do it again, but there was no perfection."
"I sympathise, sensei, yet you now must brook my contradiction. A siege of less than one thousand by more than seven thousands that ends in the aggressors' utter defeat, the death of their king, and the stabilisation of a long and long-violent frontier is no mere butchery."
"It felt like it, sensei, and still does, often enough. It was war, not chivalry."
"Both, I think." He was obviously aware of her discomfort and turned the conversation again. "But we keep Her Majesty and your esteemed mother waiting. Will you do me the honour of introducing me?"
Her Mama at least was sensible of that honour, and as they eventually made their way back to their quarters in search of breakfast Kel described, with Shinko's help, the profound respect all felt for Hisashi-sensei. Thayet had seen and done enough glaive-work to appreciate the tale, but still shook her head.
"It does sound astonishing, Kel, but so were you. My heart was in my mouth."
"Mine too, sweeting, though I'm coming to trust Kravimal-sama and I've seen how hard you've worked with the double swords. It was all so fast."
"And mine three, Kel, though I could just about follow what you were doing, if I squinted." Alanna clapped her cheerfully on the shoulder. "Greased lightning came in a poor second. What did … Hisashi, was it? want when you were steered over there?"
"My take on the 'Note', mostly, which he said he read last night, and what he called Lord Sakuyo's reasons for appending himself."
Alanna grinned. "Nice one. And you told him?"
"Only what I've said to you, Thayet, and the King, but boiled down. His Nibs must be after causes, not symptoms, but who knows how exactly, even if the who seems clear."
Thayet shook her head again. "Oddly, I followed that, Kel, but I have a sense you are acting, even if you say you aren't."
"In small, clear things, Thayet — stopping interference with his book is plain enough, and though this morning went better that I'd expected, so is practical help in getting people more at ease with the spidrens."
"Practical …. If you say so, Kel, though I doubt that's what people are busy reporting just now.
Had you practiced using your glaive like that?"
"Not really, but the ko -wazikashi was hopeless so I had to try something. And it is practical, Thayet — the Temple of Weapons was already trying two katanas, so it's not that much odder."
"Especially when it worked so well." Alanna grinned. "But Thayet's right too, Kel. Even with all these Yamani masks you could tell people were shocked silly when you scored on Kravimal, so they'll all be left very thoughtful at least."
Kel shrugged. "Can't help that, Alanna. And it seems about time someone was."
Back in their private room, Kel found she had some soothing to do, Dom having been more exercised than he'd let on in public by the speed of her exchanges with Kravimal and the risk of using live blades without armour. He blew out a long breath and mimed a palpitating heart.
"I know you do it with your glaive all the time, love, but not against such a skilled opponent, and you say yourself you're only a novice with the katana. But skilled or no, if I saw any men of ours pushing it that hard without armour I'd have them scouring it for a week. Not that any of them could move half as fast."
Kel squirmed, thinking she might well do as much herself. "Maybe. Alright, yes. But I was feeling good, I saw Kravimal sparring yesterday, and you could see for yourself just how fine his control is against the mortal samurai. I am sorry for worrying you, though."
Dom nodded. "Just be careful, love, please. The other thing is that Button says the gods were watching."
"Gods plural? Not just Lord Sakuyo?"
Button extruded its head. "Laughing god, also war god."
"And blind god," Ebony added.
"Huh. I suppose if some change is due Shakith would be interested, though I'd rather discounted that when Irnai chose not to come, but I don't know why Lord Mithros should care. Unless he was just enjoying the fight."
Dom expression was pained, but Tobe, who had been listening quietly, distracted them both by giving her one of his old-man looks. "You did it because you wanted a proper work-out, didn't you, Ma? In case you have to fight someone for real."
She sighed. "Yes, partly, Tobe. I'm happier for one, certainly. But I also hoped doing well against Kravimal might make a real fight less likely."
"Warning off would-be challengers, you mean?"
"Yes. But I have a bad feeling Lord Fujiwara's been pushed so deep into his corner he's determined to reassert himself somehow, and no amount of warning will help. And there's nothing I can do about that, so I'd really like to concentrate on the pickles today, for Yuki's sake as well as the trade value."
"Good luck with that, love. But I'm game to try."
Dom's irony was borne out at breakfast, where Kel's nephew Katsumi and nieces Akemi and Akiko, bracketing him in age, seemed unable to stop staring at her. Toshuro and Patricine had had an elder son who had died of a childhood fever, and Kel thought the responsibility thrust on Katsumi as the heir had weighed him down. She'd barely had a chance to talk to him on this visit, but he seemed an overly solemn child ; her nieces, though, were in her limited experience inveterate chatterboxes, and their silent, wide-eyed regard was disconcerting.
"What is it, Akemi-chan? You all look like owls." She received only flushes, and Toshuro sighed.
"I apologise for them, Keladry-sensei, but I must say I have some sympathy. We have just heard that you defeated Kravimal-sama this morning, and having seen him in action we cannot quite take it in."
"It was only sparring."
"But the spidrens are so fast, Blessed Aunt."
Kel just managed not to laugh, though her Mama's twitching lips did not help. "Mmmm. I really don't think I can be a blessed aunt, Katsumi-chan. Keladry-oba is fine, or obasan in public, if you must."
"Obasensei would be more accurate, Kel." Patricine's eyes were bright, and Kel flapped a hand at her.
"And more ridiculous than ever. In any case, Katsumi-chan, yes, spidrens are fast, but many sensei could match them for speed. And if you've seen them sparring with the guards, you know it was imbalance of blades that was the real problem." He nodded, cautiously. "So I fought with katana and naginata to get round that, and Kravimal-sama had to deal with a new weapons mix. I doubt I'd be so lucky again."
"You used your naginata one-handed?" Akemi's eyes were even wider, shock breaking her unaccustomed silence. "Our teacher says we must never release our grips."
"Your teacher is wise, but has perhaps not considered fighting with the naginata on horseback. And even on foot, Akemi-chan , there are times when one-handed can mean greater reach than an opponent expects. You need to be strong, though."
"Can you show us?"
At least the honorifics were being abated. "Surely. Be ready tomorrow before dawn and come with me for training at the Guards' Compound. Have you met Kravimal-sama properly? Then we can do that too." They all looked uneasy at the idea, and Kel wagged a mild finger. "I know spidrens make people uneasy, but have you considered how they feel about it? For Kravimal-sama and his troop, until less than a year ago meeting a mortal meant a fight to the
death. Now they dwell here, the only spidrens among a hundred thousand mortals. How would you feel among a hundred thousand spidrens?"
Eyes went even wider at the thought.
"But they have all those blades!"
"And you can have your naginata among the spidrens, Akiko-chan. Does it make you feel so very much safer?" She let them think about it. "All I'm saying is that in dealing with immortals do try to consider their point of view. If you can endure his accent and ignore his mode, Neal-sama can tell you about our first meeting with Quenuresh-sensei, who is much larger and older than Kravimal-sama, and a mage. Most terrifying, I assure you. Yet she has become a good friend, and sits on my council at New Hope. She also saved my life, so while my stomach still finds her appearance unsettling, it would be too rude of me to let it show."
Patricine grinned at her. "Easier said than done, Kel. Though I have to say having met Quenuresh-sensei at your wedding was a great help when Kravimal-sama and his troop arrived." Her look became both rueful and thoughtful. "And all your advice seems sound, however unorthodox. When we got back here, you know, New Hope seemed a fantastic dream we'd woken up from, and you could see people not really believing the stories we had to tell. But I hadn't quite realised how much of it is you, rather than the place. It's extremely impressive."
"It's just common sense to me, Patricine." Kel shrugged uneasily. "Immortals are here to stay, and besides it being ever so much easier getting along with them than fighting them, they're extremely useful allies and most of them very pleasant and interesting beings. What are you all doing today?"
"Toshuro and I must attend Their Majesties, who are visiting the Imperial Armoury and Samurai Training School. The children can come if they wish, or stay within the Daidairi."
"I was thinking they might come with us to suzukema-ichi, if they liked. Kitten's coming, and she's persuaded Amiir'aan and Ventriaju. Perhaps Amourta too, though she and Cloestra had flying plans."
Patricine looked at Toshuro, who shrugged delicately.
"But you have business, I thought, Keladry-sensei?"
"I do, Toshuro-sama, but with Tobe and the immortal younglings coming, it's no problem to take them."
"Well, if you're sure, Kel." Patricine eyed her children. "Katsumi's usually good, but the girls can be a handful."
"I imagine I'll cope."
It was nevertheless a larger party that set out than Kel had quite anticipated. Yuki had persuaded Keiichi to come (though Kel suspected an imperial command also), while St'aara, Var'istaan, and Kuriaju were sticking close to their younglings, or just interested, and Cloestra and Amourta had promised to meet them there after exercising, so the footmen with their perch were tagging along ; there were also two Tortallan servants carrying samples Kel would need. With nine adults and four children as well as six immortals they made quite a convoy, and not entirely to Kel's surprise Kravimal and five of his troop were waiting in the First Court.
"Given the observers yesterday, Protector, it seems wiser to be safe than sorry."
"Of course, Kravimal. Thank you." She introduced Neal and Yuki, and then, not letting them
hang back, Katsumi, Akemi, and Akiko, who made nervous bows. She rested a hand on Akiko's trembling shoulder, squeezing approval.
"They'll all be with me tomorrow morning, as they don't entirely believe me about using the naginata one-handed."
"You are in good company, younglings. I was most surprised myself, and some of the sensei are still in shock, I believe." He gave Kel a dry look. "And their teacher of the naginata may have many things to say about the idea."
Kel grinned. "I bet. But I was going to ask Hayato-sensei if she might have a word. All else aside, if you're learning the naginata and to ride, there's no reason not to combine them."
Their way lay straight down Suzaku -ojialmost to the city gate, and once they left the Daidairi the spidrens took flanking positions and became watchfully silent. Kitten's cheerful stream of chatter, with Tobe's friendly questions to Katsumi, drew all the younglings into a group, and ignoring Yuki's look Kel and Dom took a moment to thank the trailing footmen carrying the stormwings' perch, who both seemed shocked and dropped their eyes. Kel sighed.
"May I ask how you came to be chosen for this?"
After a mutual stare one nervously took the lead. "We were deemed strong enough, Blessed Protector-sensei."
"And brave enough? Stormwings can come as a shock."
"Duty is duty, Blessed."
"Always. But it has struck me how well you have done. Having them clean does help, of course."
It took a moment, but curiosity won.
"Clean, Blessed?"
"Oh yes. They are making a great effort to live with mortals."
A condensed explanation took them several hundred yards down Suzaku-oji despite their slow progress, and intrigued both footmen enough to put them a little more at their ease. Besides the courtesy that satisfied Kel the more for its unorthodoxy here, the story was sure to be passed on, and had at least the virtue of accuracy — not a negligible thing, as the bolder footman showed when he hesitantly asked Dom if he did not resent the immortals for his injured leg. Dom blinked, and spoke carefully.
"Forgive me, I may have misunderstood. Why should I resent any immortal for my injury?"
"Was it not an immortal that … ?"
"Certainly not. Whoever told you immortals had anything to do with it?"
There didn't seem to be any clear answer, but when Dom had been seen to limp and use a cane the rumour had apparently circulated at such speed that Kel suspected malicious intent, and felt a new spark of irritation. Dom must too, but his voice didn't show it.
"Well, it's not true at all. I was wounded by a Scanran axe — a fallen man I thought was dead, and foolishly stepped over — a year before I ever went to New Hope. And I'd count many of our immortals as good friends, I assure you, and all as most helpful residents."
"Perhaps you might both ensure truth is circulated as much as false rumour?" Kel chose words carefully. "It may be overheated imagination, of course, but such lies are often born of unfounded fear. And you have seen for yourselves that if caution and courtesy are needed — most properly for beings who have lived for centuries — there is nothing to fear."
Kel didn't know how much good it might do, but was certain ignoring servants as if they weren't there was as silly and dangerous as it was rude. She was telling a mildly perturbed Yuki so, not for the first time, Keiichi listening with a wry look, when Kravimal called, voice wary but not alarmed.
"Protector, there is one who asks to speak with you."
She went forward past the knot of children, Dom at her side with Keiichi behind, and saw an elderly kamunushi in Sakuyan white. From his dusty robes and stout staff she thought he must be rural, either from one of the villages down river that supplied Heian-Kyó with rice and vegetables or on a longer pilgrimage, but he had been in the city long enough to have acquired what looked horribly like a copy of her book, tucked under his arm. She offered a short bow.
"How may I assist you, Reverence?"
Deepset eyes considered her with uncertainty. "Forgive me, my Lady, I hoped to speak to the one whose book Lord Sakuyo so strangely blesses."
"You do so, Reverence."
Uncertainty bloomed into shocked surprise, and to her annoyed distress he dropped to his knees.
"Forgive me, Blessed. I did not know you were so young."
"There is nothing to forgive, Reverence. And please rise." Ignoring Kravimal's slight hiss, she stepped forward and more or less hauled the old man to his feet. "To enjoy his favour is not to deserve his dignities, Reverence. What would you say?"
Visibly disconcerted by her strangeness, he nevertheless pulled himself together, holding out the book, and spoke with plaintive simplicity.
"I am Katashi, Blessed, who has served him as best I can all my life, yet seen his First Temple lose its way, putting pride and fear before laughter. Now he names you his favourite daughter, Blessed, though you are of another people. Tell me, I beg you, how we may regain his favour?"
Suddenly aware of just how many ears were straining to listen, Kel knew in a heartbeat both that an amused Lord Sakuyo was among them, and that direct appeal was not what was needed.
"I cannot believe you have ever lost it, Reverence, however his Temple may fare." And yet. "But tell me, what did you feel when you read Lord Sakuyo's words?"
"Great amazement, Blessed, and great wonder."
"Which is all very well, Reverence, but what of great laughter? For all the lives that rode on it, what we did at New Hope was a jest, and besides lending us his aid he blessed the account of it with another, most exquisite jest of his own. Respect must be proper, but solemnity cannot be so. And it is but wisdom to laugh at his jests, as well as our pleasure when they are so fine."
His expression made her grin.
"I know, Reverence. I wasn't too amused at the time, either, I do assure you. But he has since
taught me better, so let your devotions be crowned with laughter at his most consummate skill in placing cats among pigeons."
He might be solemn but he was no fool, and his eyes glinted.
"Easier when you are the cat, Blessed, than when you feel yourself a frightened pigeon."
Many listeners murmured understanding agreement, and Kel grinned again.
"Better, Reverence, much better. And truly, whatever he may be about, it will have the form of a great jest in which we are all most satisfactorily like pigeons. Yet as Honoured Kumo knew, still we must laugh, if we would laugh with him."
He nodded ruefully. "Wisdom, Blessed, wisdom. You are gracious to an old man."
"He too has that form, Reverence. How should I be less? But I must excuse myself now, for we have business at suzukema-ichi, and many wait on me."
Kel wouldn't have minded having a stormwing handy to tell her what the crowd was feeling, but a glance showed them still circling high above and she thought on the whole her auditors had approved of her words. When they rejoined the other adults, a suspiciously demure Keiichi agreed.
"That was well judged, Blessed obasensei."
Kel stifled a snort and replied in Tortallan. "You dare, Keiichi. Me giving anyone advice about laughing is a divine irony in itself."
"Or the point, Keladry-chan." Yuki also spoke in Tortallan, but her voice was shaded with seriousness. "When we arrived Domitan-chan felt the tension in the city, but already that is changing — expectation and worry, yes, but also a more joyous waiting for his jest to break upon us. Do you not sense it?"
"I don't know that I do, Yuki. Dom?"
"Hard to say, love." He looked around. "This crowd's so different from the one on that first day. What are you thinking, Yuki?"
"That Keladry-chan was his jest in Tortall, and still is."
Kel rolled her eyes at Dom. "Meaning what, Yuki?"
"Carry on."
"Gah."
"But she's exactly right, Kel." Neal had been stressed by such alien surroundings, and even, Kel thought, slightly abashed to realise his Yamani accent really was as horrible as Yuki had told him, but the sound of Tortallan seemed to have revived him and his eyes were teasing. "The last thing Tortall thought it wanted or needed was a lady knight, but they had to lump it and soon came to like it. And the last thing most Yamanis think they want or need is a Tortallan Blessed to make them sort themselves out, but …"
"Mmph. So you think I'm supposed to lead you all off a cliff in the fog, again?" "Yes."
Neil and Yuki spoke in chorus, and half-way through their hasty and embarrassing explanation to Keiichi, Kel threw up her hands.
"Well, right now I'm leading you to the pickle market, Neal, which is a temple of vegetables, so maybe there's justice in all this somewhere, after all."
Their laughter sparked smiles in the crowd, and drew Kitten, asking what the joke was. While Dom tried to explain, Kel found Keiichi murmuring at her side.
"I believe I agree with my sister, Keladry-sensei. You modestly claim ignorance and uncertainty, but your response to any event is very sure-footed, with high and low, hostile and kindly. And she is certainly right that the atmosphere has changed in the days you have been here, as deep fear tips into high anticipation."
"But what was so feared, Keiichi-sama?"
He shrugged minutely, hands opening. "At worst, open warfare between Imperial and Fujiwara forces, for defiance is reaching a point His Imperial Majesty cannot long allow to continue. He would almost certainly win, but it would be bad."
At least someone was speaking openly, and thoughts turned in Kel's head. "Is that why he is keeping so aloof, Keiichi-sama? Letting me take point?"
"In part, I think, but no-one is entirely sure, Keladry-sensei. Certainly he is enjoying Lord Fujiwara's discomfiture, and was greatly pleased by events yesterday. Had he moved against the errant kamunushi directly, Lord Fujiwara would have had to defend his control or concede a further substantial diminution. But you, with Lord Sakuyo's compliance, have delivered a bloodless victory."
"Compliance!"
"So I saw. You asked, and he granted, most definitively. As that venerable kamunushi just now understood very clearly." He gave her a sly glance. "Neal-chan was not speaking idly. He has a theory, you know."
"Neal has any number of theories, most of them absurd." Kel sighed. "Though not quite all. What's this one?"
"Mmm. He was not entirely concise in expressing it, but what it comes down to, I believe, is that he thinks Lord Sakuyo has found in you not merely a tool but a partner in great jesting, and is the more amused by your understandable exasperation."
Kel was silent for a moment, digesting this, and blew out a breath. "Perhaps. But what exasperates me, Keiichi-sama , is being kept in the dark. I dare say he has his reasons, as His Imperial Majesty must, but it's all a bit too like what the King kept doing, expecting me to play the goat and spring his ambushes without ever giving me a decent brief." Her voice flattened. "And putting the least capable in the greatest danger."
He followed her gaze to the children and immortal younglings.
"Yet they are strong and well-defended, Keladry-sensei."
"And children, Keiichi. For all their immortal precocity, neither Kitten nor Amourta is yet one hundredth of their parents' age. Think about that. And you can tell the Emperor that if there is any threat to them, all bets are off. Do you know about the men who were shadowing the immortals yesterday?"
"I do. One was an imperial observer, the other remains unknown. But we have a welcoming party, I see."
They had walked almost the whole length of Suzaku-oji, turning onto Hachijo-oji, the last cross-street before the city gate, where the pickle market occupied the whole block between Mibu-oji and Omiya-oji. Kel had explained in her letter that she would be wanting to show kin and friends the market's splendours before conducting business, and her appointment with the Master of the Market and representatives of some of the great trading concerns wasn't for more than an hour yet
— but Keiichi was right that a substantial delegation was waiting, led by what must be the Master himself. Though smells were stirring memories and the additional formalities were a bore, she let her polite Yamani mask drop into place and went forward with Dom and Tobe.
The Master's speech of welcome was fulsome but not obsequious, and though nerves showed in his eyes he coped quite well with the various immortals, even when Cloestra and Amourta glided into land on the perch the footmen held. Not entirely mischievously, Kel added Kravimal and his troop to her roster of introductions, and saw the Master's relief when it became clear only Kravimal himself would accompany them inside, the others being posted at the various entrances to ensure that none bearing weapons entered while the visitors were there.
Then it was time for a guided tour, and though she would have liked just to wander with family and friends the Master's exact knowledge was helpful. Though it went against common sense, the market was not divided by merchant but by type of pickle, with parallel aisles devoted to salt, vinegar, sugar, vinegar and sugar, sake, sake lees, mirin, soy, miso, beers, malted rice, rice bran, and hot mustard ; each aisle progressing from the common greens, roots, and fruit, through pickles with dried fish and tentacle-fish, or roe, to the expensive specialties with unusual combinations or rare ingredients. With the help of bread and water to clear the mouth between times there was a lot of sampling, even by an eye-rolling Neal, and if Kitten's interest in the hot-mustard pickles was predictable, the ogres' unanimous approval of red ginger in sake lees was an interesting surprise. New Hope didn't produce enough sake for Yuki to have made any such pickles, but here it was a practical use of a plentiful by-product and among the cheapest, which was handy.
Kel herself was pleased to try different merchants' umeboshi, having always loved the tart sweetness of the pickled plums, and mentally marked two as especially good. Akemi and Akiko were helpful, and clearly already knowledgeable cooks, with pithy comments about one merchant's use of cheap oil. Kel's business interest, though, was largely in the expensive specialities : New Hope could not hope to export in volume, having limited supplies, but with the way the food they grew was blessed by the Green Lady, and Yuki's gift for combinations, the pickles she did make were exceptional, and Kel was honest enough to know that there was curiosity value to factor in as well. But the prices startled her, for the finest rare pickles were selling for entirely exorbitant sums, and she expressed surprise to the Master.
"Most buyers are high nobles, of course, Blessed Protector-sensei, but as it is also they who produce and control the rare ingredients, it is quite a circular trade. And lesser families will indulge occasionally, when there is something special to celebrate, or a great gift is needed."
That was worth knowing, and she thanked him politely. Given the prices she wouldn't have dared to ask for samples, but the vendors were so eager to offer them to the Blessed and her entourage that they were able to try quite a few, to the children's delight, and she caught Yuki's eye with a very satisfied feeling. They were all interesting, and some were very good indeed, but rarity and fancy reputation didn't always mean true quality, and there wasn't one she would have traded for Yuki's best. This bit of her schedule at least was going to work out nicely, which made a pleasant change, but she schooled herself to her blandest calm before asking Neal what it felt like to have a gold noble's worth of vegetables in his mouth. Yuki's shukusen had snapped up long before he had finished spluttering.
"Mockery! Is there no end on it? You did warn me, Kel, but this place is a madness all the same. And what in Tortall is daikon anyway?"
"Winter radish. Very tasty. And it may be madness but it's going to make Yuki a lot richer."
"It is?"
"Oh yes. And it's time to set about it."
Unsurprisingly, even the Master had no office big enough for the whole party, but he did have an official residence, only a few minutes' walk away, with a pleasant garden into which they could squeeze. Tea was served, and after polite small-talk and more curious conversation with immortals, the Master, flanked by the heads of three great merchant houses, asked how they might further serve the Blessed.
"There are two matters, Master, kind sirs. You will be aware, I hope, that some Yamani pilgrims have already visited New Hope and Drachifethe? Well, even before yesterday's happy events we had anticipated that more will come, and have plans to establish wayhouses along the route from Mindelan, as well as congenial quarters at New Hope and Dragontown. But with the considerable differences between Yaman and Tortall, some flavour of home would doubtless be welcome to weary travellers. And as you have seen, our immortals greatly appreciate some of your products, so it seems we should be planning a considerable increase in our imports."
Serious new customers were a joy to any merchant, and if pilgrim numbers could not be predicted with any certainty they had no more doubt than Kel that very many would wish to come, and a fair few do so. The quantities ogres and apprentice dragons could consume were also music to their ears, and her income from her Maids and silver mines already sufficient, even with the other needs of New Hope, for Kel to be able to agree without blinking to a substantial supply. And having got them all into a relieved and satisfied mood, she could move on.
"The other thing is our own pickles. You may know that our soil has a divine blessing, but not what that does to the taste of the vegetables we grow, the oils we press, and the sake Lady Yukimi distils. Nor of what happens when she combines those vegetables with specifically Tortallan ingredients, especially some of our wild berries and hard fruits."
Kel could see Yuki was nervous, but her presentation was smooth and to Kel's amusement she had recruited all the younglings, mortal and immortal. The servants brought forward the carefully made cases of finely petrified wood, each containing half-a-dozen matching sample jars, and Yuki solemnly explained the ingredients as she invited the Master and merchants to try each one — red cabbage and apple in sake, winter potatoes and ginger in a light oil pressed from a northern variety of wild nut, a truly surprising combination of river-fish and cabbage in the lightly fermented juice of a rather astringent dark red berry, and more. Children and immortal younglings took turns proffering open jars, and if Katsumi, Akemi, and Akiko looked more than a little taken aback to find themselves at work with immortals, they had also overcome their earlier unease. The culmination was a mix Yuki had only thought of just before leaving New Hope for Queenscove, and had had to leave to Kel and Fanche to oversee — onion and ginger in fermented honey — and long before that the Master and the merchants had passed through astonishment to bewildered culinary bliss.
"We lack the facilities to produce in any great quantity, and some of what we do make will of course be for our own use or sale to pilgrims. But we wondered if there might perhaps be a market here for such surplus as we may have."
After a long moment in which the Yamanis stared at one another, the Master met her gaze and to
her surprised delight broke into an admiring laugh.
"If there might perhaps — you have a gift for understatement, Blessed Protector-sensei. And whatever the divine aid, Blessed Lady Yukimi has a gift for pickling to make us all blush. Not a one that is not superb." He gave Yuki a seated bow, others following suit, and she went so red she had to whip up her shukusen, making him smile some more. "Your modesty is misplaced, my Lady. And this puts our agreement about the bulk trade in a very different light. What had you in mind, Blessed?"
The two trades might be offset, and there were potential advantages to that, but Kel also wanted income for New Hope, and for Yuki, saw no reason Yamani purchasers wealthy enough to pay the existing prices for specialities shouldn't provide it, and said so. But she also had a curious condition.
"Let us be very clear, Master, kind sirs. Truly, Lady Yukimi's pickles are superb, and will command their prices, yet some of the interest will not be from those with discriminating tastes but on account of Lord Sakuyo's and the Green Lady's dealings with New Hope — and I do not care to trade on any god's favour without due care. So for every nine jars you buy, we will give you a tenth ; and for every nine you sell, one must be given away in Lord Sakuyo's name to a family that could not afford it, drawn randomly by lot. Call it his tithe, if you will, bringing joy that cannot be expected. The administrative costs of that you will absorb, and for our part, if His Imperial Majesty has no objection, I will sponsor a shrine to the Green Lady, whose blessing our soil enjoys, here, in the lower city, as her tithe."
As she was speaking Kel had a sense that she had for once perhaps managed to surprise Lord Sakuyo, but if so he remained silent. She had certainly surprised the Master and merchants, but after a long moment he nodded thoughtfully.
"A most interesting condition, Blessed, with commerce as well as piety to recommend it. If the total supply can reach three to four thousand jars, a daily draw for that tithe will attract many people." The merchants were nodding vigorously but the Master moved his hands ambiguously. "I must wonder, though, if Lord Sakuyo's high kamunushi might be concerned by such an innovation."
Kel kept her smile austere. "Just now I doubt they would say so, Master, but should such a concern be expressed later I would suggest you refer the matter directly to the High One, and invite him to make his pleasure known. He has, I believe, run a trifle short of patience with those who do not care to hear his laughter. Which reminds me …"
She had not wanted to start the meeting with such a blunt reminder, but now presented the Master with one of the copies of her book that she'd carried off from the printers yesterday, in another beautifully petrified box from the variety she'd brought with her against just such needs. Once he realised what it was he gave her a wondering look, and she returned a fuller but rueful smile.
"You'll find what you want at the very end, Master, but do please take time to read the whole of the 'Note', for Lord Sakuyo's words are specific to their context, and a joke on me as well as everyone else. And I think you are a man to appreciate his last line."
"I shall of course read all, Blessed."
"Then you will learn a great deal I hope you will never need to know about defensive fortification, Master, and how it may be improved with immortal aid. It is spiritual warfare that Lord Sakuyo seems to have adopted with some relish, though to what end exactly none yet know."
She waited while he found and read the divine paragraph, the merchants leaning in to read it too,
then nodded to Kitten. The dragonet was inordinately proud of her own paragraph, and delighted to point it out, along with Diamondflame's, but was also scrupulous in pointing out those by Dom, Neal, Yuki, and Kuriaju. Kel had found it useful to underline the multiple authorship of the 'Note', and though she disliked the way she had to be central to the story she was grateful to Yuki and the immortals for their willingness to field inevitable questions. All had seen as well as heard his public manifestations, and if Yuki was reverent, immortals were wonderfully matter-of-fact. Kitten also had her usual disapproving commentary on foolish beliefs about dragons, but added a twist.
When Kel and Dom and I went to the Dragonlands to arrange for the other dragons to come as apprentices, all thought her dragon joke very funny as well as just, and it was. I wish I had seen it, and not just the laughing god's painting of it, though I must say that is very good. But it worked so well because Scanrans had such silly ideas, while here many people seem surprised that dragons really exist at all. It is very odd, and mortal beliefs very confusing.
"Ah, yes, indeed." The Master took a deep breath. "They do tend to be, even for mortals, Lady Skysong. And it is many lives of men since any of your kind honoured us by visiting as you do."
But you remember us more accurately than Scanrans, as the ryuujin shows. I still cannot decide what that dragon should be called.
She lapsed into a thoughtful silence, distracted by the problem, and the Master's wide eyes met Kel's.
"You visited the Dragonlands, Blessed?"
"Dom and I did, yes. On our honeymoon, actually, though as Kit says there was some Guild business to fit in as well." It was too good an exit-line to pass up, and Kel smiled, gathering herself. "But we have taken up too much of your time and hospitality already. Do please keep the sample cases. And may I expect your agents at New Hope soon after our return?"
She could, and they took their leave amid far too much bowing.
Deaf to protests that there were more important things they should be doing, Kel and Dom spent the afternoon looking after the twins and listening to children's wide-ranging and increasingly easy conversations with immortals. The lack of politics was delightful, but couldn't last, for the evening agenda was a private dinner at which Jonathan and Thayet were the hosts, and the imperial family their guests. It was a peculiar arrangement, given that the guests' staff were cooking and serving, but it was a convention of diplomacy during such visits ; Kel herself had arranged for the Council of Eight (as it then was) to do as much during the negotiations at New Hope. It would also have given His Imperial Majesty ample opportunity to speak to her discreetly, had he so wished, but by this stage Kel didn't expect him to do anything of the sort, and she wasn't disappointed.
Prince Taikyuu's presence, though, meant he and Tobe could resume their conversation about horses, beginning with the Emperor's pangare bays and the Prince's own mounts but soon extending to Peachblossom, Alder, and Hoshi. Horse terminology had been one of the ways Kel had first taught Tobe Yamani, while they groomed Peachblossom together, and after listening for a moment she was happy to leave them to it, but found herself politely cornered by Empress Reiko and a brace of attendant ladies.
Although it had all happened before Kel first came to Yaman with her parents, there had been many admiring stories of Lady Reiko noh Minamoto's resilience and general conduct when the
Emperor's pointed choice of her as a bride had convulsed society and politics. Since then she had been, while not secluded, distinctly reclusive, and Kel could only remember even seeing her twice before tonight ; certainly they had only ever spoken when her Mama had been honoured for her defence of the swords, and that no more than the briefest formal exchange. But the woman who faced Kel now had sharp intelligence and wry humour in her eyes, and despite the rice-powder mask it was clear that standing firmly back from disputatious politics did not mean any lack of understanding. She had evidently also been listening to her son's conversation, and there was pleased approval in her voice at Kel's similar care as well as surprisingly direct address in the intimate mode.
"Taikyuu often lacks companionship, inevitably, so it is nice for him to have someone to whom he can speak less guardedly."
The absence of any honorific was a pleasant change, and Kel nodded.
"And for Tobe, my Empress, though with all the orphans at New Hope he hasn't lacked peers in the same way. It is not only war that is hardest on children."
"No indeed, though it is my most earnest hope Taikyuu will be spared that, as I have been but you and your son have not. Have the children recovered from the terrors of the siege?"
That was a question very few people ever thought to ask, and Kel's opinion of the Empress rose further.
"Mostly, I'm glad to say. All were of course refugees, and more than half survivors of Blayce's kidnap, so they were already most resilient children, and all under twelve were confined to the cave system during the action." Kel sighed. "I did what I could to spare them, but they still saw far too much, including the killing field of the roadway before it was cleared, so we have our share of nightmares to contend with. Peace and hard work have helped, and I believe Lord Gainel sometimes causes them to wake when their dreams are too full of memories, as he once did for me."
Eyes widened slightly. "He did? That is not in any tale I have heard."
"Few know, it not being a tale I much care to tell, but yes, after … I first met the Black God."
"First met?"
That wasn't the usual response either, and despite the vileness of her memories, even now, Kel found herself again impressed.
"Yes. He also attended the treaty dedication, and the gods' crossing of Drachifethe."
"Ah. I had heard of the dedication, but the accounts Eitaro brought back of what happened at the bridge were most confusing."
"As events were when they happened, my Empress. But then, they were not mortal business, and our presence during them incidental."
"Hmm. Except that, forgive me, without you there would have been no bridge for dragons to help build or gods to cross."
"Even so." Kel shrugged. "The Graveyard Hag said the bridge wasn't even in the mortal realms when they all crossed it, however it might have seemed to be. Or perhaps we were all somewhere else for a bit. I confess I've given up worrying about things like that. It gets one nowhere."
She was actually enjoying this conversation, though the subject usually bored her, because very few interlocutors ever just accepted what she said — let alone what she didn't ; the Empress did both.
"I imagine not, Keladry-chan. Yet you seem quite at ease with very many gods."
That chan was interesting, and a delicate invitation. Kel considered the Empress, and decided she didn't mind being franker than usual.
"I wasn't for a long time, my Empress, as I'm sure you can imagine. But the Godborn has become a close friend, and though she of course honours her parents she not unreasonably draws the line at worshipping them." Imperial lips quirked and Kel let a smile show. "Quite so. Our Mithran priests find her attitude most unsettling, but as Lord Weiryn and the Green Lady don't care in the least worrying about it seems entirely pointless. I've also come to find it quite refreshing, I must confess. And while I was of course entirely astonished and most unsettled myself when gods first began to manifest at New Hope, one must be practical. My brother Anders thought last year that I'd been pushed about by them so much I'd gained a sense of their rhythm, and perhaps that was true." Kel spread her hands in the universal gesture. "But what they — or just Lord Sakuyo — want now, my Empress, I have no idea beyond the obvious, that he was unhappy to find his fine jest so slighted by his own kamunushi."
That received a sharp nod. "Indeed. They were extremely impious, but you have taken most wonderful care of that, Keladry-chan, as my husband and I were delighted to learn." The painted face somehow became blander. "Lord Hidetaki has somewhat recovered, I understand, but still keeps to his house while he digests his shock."
"Or confronts his conscience, yes. But hiding won't help him, my Empress, however understandable, though penitence might. I believe, though I cannot know, that Lord Sakuyo is more exasperated with a foolish lack of humour than angry with impiety."
The Empress took a deep breath and lowered her voice.
"Let us hope so. Forgive my bluntness, Keladry-chan, but has the High One spoken to you?"
"Not lately, nor about this. Nor to your husband, I take it, save perhaps in the rumoured dream?"
"Just so. We have prayed much, but to no avail. If we only knew what he wanted. It is most vexing."
"Tell me, my Empress. I believe it amuses the gods to see us all blundering about in the dark, and resenting it does no good at all. But I imagine we'll get there in the end, at Edo if not before."
"You believe he will manifest?"
"It seems likely. Still …" Kel hesitated. This was dangerous territory, but if the gods left you to make the running it was wise to do so, up to a point, at least. "Forgive presumption, my Empress, but my experience is that mortals must deal with mortal problems. What drew the gods to New Hope was remnants of Uusoae's chaos and the Timeway. I just managed to make an answer to our Scanran problem a part of events in a way they were willing to endorse. The dragons too, whose elders see the Timeway as clearly as gods. But I know of nothing here to prompt such interventions, so unless that is merely gaijin ignorance … ?" If it was the Empress wasn't saying, and Kel shrugged. "Then it is, I fear, up to us to find a way forward of which the gods approve, to amuse Lord Sakuyo on his feast-day."
"I hear you, Keladry-chan, though I cannot see how any jest can help where two lifetimes of
effort have yet to succeed."
Kel thought the Empress might have said more, but an attendant touched her hand.
"Food is to be served and you are waited on, my Lady."
Of necessity she went, and Kel in turn extricated Dom from a conversation with Yuki's parents, receiving a grateful squeeze of the hand.
"In your debt, love. Keiichi was helping translate for us but got commandeered by Alanna." Dom blew out a breath. "Yuki's parents seem as nice as you'd expect, and delighted about her pickles, but my Yamani is not up to detailed tales of Neal's childhood."
"They won't have minded. Your accent's much better than his." "Not hard."
Kel's grin faded as they came to the elaborately laid and decorated table. The Emperor's Tortallan was as thin as Jonathan's and Thayet's Yamani, so they had to get by in Common which, however useful, lacked nuance ; and which the Emperor in any case understood better than he spoke, unified Yaman not having had much need of it outside trade and diplomacy. Her parents had been facilitating translation when needed, but as Jonathan had wanted her in range they'd been shifted sideways and the burden now fell to her. For a while she had little to do, save an occasional word, while they discussed the Copper Isles and information Alanna had been able to add to the report the new Yamani ambassador had sent ; the detail was new to Kel, and the account of the war against the Rittevons that Alianne had helped co -ordinate was fascinating — but inevitably included darkings, which intrigued the Emperor, and Jonathan gave her a sly look.
"It was how we knew about poor Dunevon's murder so quickly, Daichi. I didn't know young Alianne had any darkings, but Keladry did, somehow or other, and when she heard from Eitaro and Takemahou about those mage-meddled winds she used her own darkings to get a direct report."
"I see. But …" He switched to Yamani. "I confess, Protector, I am most curious as to how you came by these so useful creatures."
The Emperor was maintaining his polite distance, and much as she respected him, Kel had no illusions that he would use darkings any more responsibly than Jonathan. She kept her voice bland, exploiting the very flatness of Common and forcing him back to it.
"Some volunteered, my Emperor, having heard of New Hope through Lady Skysong. They were bored in the Dragonlands, and the dragons would not hold them against their will."
"So I heard, though to be bored in the Dragonlands seems … I don't mean rude. Okogamashii."
Kel flicked into Tortallan for Jonathan and Thayet before reverting to Common. "Presumptuous with a sense of absurdity, sire. And having visited them, not really, my Emperor. I may not describe them in any detail, but they are a place more of thought than action, and darkings are young beings. They wanted more doing and less talking."
"And they remain with you."
"Say rather they have stayed with the Guild. We find them interesting things to do."
Very conscious of Ebony hidden on her collar and Button on Dom's, she explained how darkings were working to link Guild branches and with the Mindelan fishing fleet as well as merchants
carrying the Carthaki trade in old spidren webbing and icelights. Dom, who shared her protective feelings towards darkings, followed smoothly with an account of the internal benefits for New Hope, principally in linking ogres while they had set the silver mines to rights and began opening new coal and iron-ore mines surveying had identified.
"Useful, no doubt, Blessed Domitan-sama, but it seems … less than such creatures might achieve."
Kel decided bluntness was in order, and switched to Yamani herself. "Because they might spy for kings, my Emperor? And even emperors? Please, do not think it. They are very young beings, created as slaves and, though the dragons taught them much, still finding their way in the mortal realms. And they remain volunteers, not subjects or liegers, while the Guild extends complete protection, ultimately guaranteed by the dragons. Even you may only invite, not command."
Jonathan quirked eyebrows, unerstanding her tone if not the words. "The usual warning, Keladry? I've had it too, Daichi, twice, once from the Godborn and once from Keladry, and it amounts to 'hands off'." He shook his head. "The Godborn was especially scathing about rulers, so be grateful you only get the polite version."
The Emperor cocked his head, considering. "Do you not command the Godborn, then, Jonathan? Or the Protector?"
"Both, Daichi, but within limits. They will serve me with honour, but neither will dishonour themselves at my command. Unless I'm very cross indeed I find I appreciate it more than I don't."
Kel thought about it over a mouthful while both men looked at her. Thayet and Dom were waiting on her reply too, with some trepidation.
"Good to know, sire, but you're wrong. I can't speak for Daine, but I've accepted dishonour at your hands several times." Jonathan winced and Thayet visibly suppressed a smile Kel thought would have been more acidic than jovial. "What we won't do is dishonour others by command, when they are under our protection. It's why I disobeyed Wyldon — of Cavall, my Emperor — to pursue those kidnapped from Haven, and why Daine will only magic animals smarter for those she trusts not to abuse them. Ever, and under any circumstances. And the burden of rule is too great for such promises."
Jonathan huffed, then shrugged. "I can't disagree, Keladry. And I've told you straightly I know I made mistakes with you ; serious mistakes, and for bad reasons as well as good. But please understand that for anyone with a kingdom round their necks being told an obvious and helpful course is immoral is not easy to accept."
"Oh, I do, sire. It is always better not to tempt kings, and I try hard not to."
It took Jonathan a second to identify her reference, and Thayet was there first, leaning forward to speak across him to the Emperor. The Empress, Prince Taikyuu, and Tobe were also listening.
"When Kel killed Blayce the necromancer he tried to bribe her for his life with an offer of working for Tortall rather than Scanra, saying Jon would want it, and after beheading him she said to the corpse that he was wrong but it was better we never be tempted. It was in the vision the Elemental of the Chamber showed Jon when she came back. And you know, Daichii, I have since given thanks to the Goddess, often, for her wisdom. Blayce in our dungeons, offering to make us killing devices of our own, would have been a fearsome thing."
"But it shouldn't have been, Thayet. A temporary military advantage at the cost of children's lives and the gods' eternal loathing?" Kel offered a shrug though it belied her feelings. "Maggur
claimed needs of state, and you heard from Lord Mithros's own lips what he thought of that excuse. But we were talking of darkings, and while only they and the Godborn know the full story, I understand that while they could rebel against their creator because Ozorne created them in the Divine Realms, they did so because the orders he gave them became hateful to them. They are immortals, and like most simply will not do what they do not wish to do. And you should be grateful for that, my Emperor, for if you could command them, so could others — Lord Fujiwara, say. Or Jindazhen raiders."
As she had half-expected, Fujiwara's name, though drawing a sharp glance from Empress Reiko, made the Emperor veer off, turning the conversation back to the Copper Isles and Queen Dovasary, and then to Tortallan affairs in the wake of the Scanran treaty. Jonathan had in the end largely taken Kel's advice about the vacant fiefs created by the traitors' deaths, disallowing the claims of collateral lines and awarding them to fresh blood — primarily military. Sir Douglas of Voeldine had been ennobled to take over Torhelm permanently, and the southern army commander, Alan of Pearlmouth, who had done very well against pirates and slavers despite resources greatly reduced by the northern war, now held Runnerspring ; Genlith, though, remained in royal administration while His Grace of Wellam's searching investigation of its former lord's dealings and trades continued.
"You take some high risks, Jonathan, so to dispossess ancient families." The Emperor had a very thoughtful look. "Are they not incensed against you?"
"Mostly, Daichi." Jonathan's smile was predatory. "But as the fiefs were legally forfeit in their entirety, meaning all their existing grants were void unless and until reconfirmed, those complaining most intemperately no longer have the resources or positions to do much about it. And the traitors having been active participants in the attack on New Hope, not merely complicit, they enjoy very little general sympathy. I'm not entirely sure how the treachery and maladministration connect, but it's clear most commoners in those fiefs are increasingly pleased with the changes, even though my tax revenues have gone up."
He sat back, steepling fingers.
"And however unnerving at the time, it wasn't that hard a decision. If I'd had to face a whole string of treason trials, with lawyers over everything and time for waters to be muddied, it would be another story." He gave Kel a glance she read as apologetic, in a royal way, and mentally braced herself. "But Keladry's pure ruthlessness — and the traitors' own military stupidity — gave me an opportunity beyond hoping for, and I'd have been a fool not to take it. They openly took arms against me, and all but one were dead within a few hours, while he died in the sally that ended it. The broom swept clean, you might say."
Kel didn't much care for the joke, there having been nothing of the glaive's elegant beauty in the butchery to which she'd been forced, but Jonathan was trying, and faced again with two enquiring looks she picked out what he still seemed not to understand.
"I believe the treason and maladministration connect, sire, because they had the same root. Numair calls it 'egotism'." She had to use the Tortallan word, Common lacking anything beyond 'selfishness'. "Jibunhoni, my Emperor, or gashuu. As those men broke their oaths to you, sire, so they broke those to their liegers and people, caring for nothing but their own desires."
"You thought them … kuchisakidake, Protector?"
"Insincere? Utterly so."
Jonathan frowned. "Yet Runnerspring spoke from his heart that day, Keladry, however vilely."
"And what did he say, sire? We must have a Tortall cleansed of all foreign influence and immortals, with women reduced to slavery — as if it were possible. It was an absurd fantasy of imposing his own prejudices. And all the traitors together didn't have the mother wit to realise they had made themselves Maggur's expendable pawns. Even desperation can't explain such sheer stupidity, but utter selfishness can, and does. Not one of them ever dreamed he might be held personally accountable for his actions, any more than Tirrsmont when he stood there repeatedly lying to you, believing he need only say it to make it so."
She would have liked to ask if Lord Fujiwara was cast in the same mould, and how his people fared as his political influence declined, but stored the question away as Jonathan's look became wry.
"You do cut to the bone, Keladry, and I agree they were fooling themselves. But as they supposed your experiences to be fantasies, despite all evidence to the contrary, I can't help seeing the … 'ironies'."
"Hiniku. And that's more of the gods' laughter, sire." Struck by a thought, Kel had to suppress a grin. "It's even worse in Yamani, you know, because hiniku is literally 'skin muscle', what you can see and the power underneath, so the gods' hiniku, which is what really cuts to the bone, is rather a marvellous contradiction."
Whether Jonathan agreed was moot, but Emperor and Empress obviously appreciated the idea ; she leaned forward.
"You should compose another haiku, Keladry-chan."
The look Kel sent back made her smile, and after a brief interruption as further courses were served a welcome distraction presented itself.
"Whereas what you should do, my Empress, is try this marvellous pickle of Yuki-chan's. The Master of suzukema-ichi was most astonished."
It was the fermented honey, and produced delighted imperial astonishment too. The praise sent Yuki very pink, and the catalogue of her other creations, with samples brought in, generated many Yamani exclamations. Kel was happy to stay silent, but did quietly explain to the Emperor her notion of Lord Sakuyo's tithe and requested permission for the shrine to the Green Lady.
"But of course, Blessed Protector-sensei. It seems only proper. And my kitchens will be an eager customer." He took more red cabbage and apple. "Superb. How long before these are available?"
"The Master and merchants promised agents would be at New Hope soon after my return, my Emperor. But you need not wait."
The presentation case she had had made for him was even finer than the one for the Master, carved with its matching bowls from the Islands' distinctive kaya wood ; the lidded bowls were so thin they were translucent, the perfectly concentric growth-rings serving as measures of how full each jar was, and basilisks had petrified them with great care to retain the beautiful golden colour for which the wood was prized. The Emperor examined it reverently, watched by the whole table, and gave Kel a genuine smile as he passed it to his wife.
"A most exquisite gift, Protector. Is there no end to your surprises?"
"Not that I've discovered, Daichi." Jonathan was obviously pleased at the impression the gift had made, but appreciation of irony was still possessing him. "And when you think there really can't be any more, watch out."
Dom smiled ruefully, and Kel wisely said nothing.