IX. ARTISTE
…Its mysteries were intended for more discerning eyes than hers.
And so, after some deliberation, Lady Esseker paid a visit to the quarters of her new Navigator. The man belonged to a family that, even though small by Navis Nobilite standards, was famed across the oversector for their prowess and mastery of difficult, long-haul warp flights – and the lady strongly suspected that soon her voidship would need as long a flight as they got.
The Navigator was currently resting between transits in his private suite aboard the Syberi, listening to prerecorded music and sipping honey wine, but he agreed to accompany Lady Esseker into the chamber dominated by that strangely mysterious painting kept in store there with all the other souvenirs from her travels.
"Whenever I behold it, you know," she told the Navigator when they stood before the picture side by side, "I experience fascination and unease in equal parts, but I cannot for the life of me guess the reason for such feelings. Please tell me, Luigi Sforza... What do you see in this painting?"
He studied the large, perfectly square canvas for a long minute, his concealed warp eye moving under the finely made headband in concert with his two normal eyes as they traced the intricate web, or coil, or maze, or whatever it was that all those monochrome abstract lines and shapes must represent. For a moment, the Navigator widened his eyes as if entranced. Then he frowned. And then, somewhat unwillingly but hastily, he looked back at her.
More than a full head taller than Lady Esseker, gracefully thin, young and still pretty good-looking which was uncommon among his breed, Luigi fixed his employer with a calm yet icy stare.
"I am sorry but... I cannot say anything, madam."
She turned from the canvas then and frowned, too.
"You cannot, sir..." She looked at him askance, "or you will not?"
Luigi's expression was unchanged, yet she thought she saw a small silvery glimmer in his olive-black gaze. He took care not to look back at the painting.
"What do you think, Alin Esseker?" Now his aristocratic features formed a slight smirk, not altogether unappealing. "Have you ever wondered when and where the previous owner had gotten this particular... work of art himself? Or who exactly might have produced it – and, most importantly, why?"
Lady Esseker slowly shook her head. She'd pondered these very questions quite a few times of course, but there had been no one to answer them.
"Alas, I had no way of learning it yet, oh my steersman," she replied with a laugh.
Luigi Sforza chuckled, but not derogatorily.
"If so, I am afraid that anything I can share, dear madam, of my own... suppositions... concerning this will just seem utter drivel to you."
She glanced at him again, and this time there was a new look in her eyes – not the polite, reserved respect mixed with aversion that Navigators were used to from common humans but something bold, something suggestive. His own wife would look at him like this now and then, when the time to create another little heir to her bloodline was due. But recently that woman rather bored Luigi, to be honest; this noble female rogue trader, though...
No matter the circumstances, he did believe it never hurt to make useful acquaintances in this too short and fleeting a life.
"Well then, dear sir..." Lady Esseker drawled, clearly sensing his rising interest as well. "Maybe I could try to persuade your lordship by other means."