Missing Elements (The Lament Book 3) (11 page)

"That's right. You two
should meet and discuss what the Bards can do to aid the medical health system.
No one ever thinks to seek us out for such things, but we're a major part of
communicating facts directly to the people."

That was both true, and a thing
she hadn't thought of before. People remembered songs and plays, didn't they?
They had history songs, that went over the founding and cautioned people
against becoming lazy with their use of energy and power, but almost nothing
ever spoke of medicine.

Doctor Soros smiled at the High
Bard.

"Oh? Do you think you could
do something that would remind people to simply wash their hands? That alone
could cut winter illness by a third. Cleanliness in general is incredibly
important." He didn't look at her, but she suddenly felt a bit grubby.
She'd been playing and hadn't had a chance to clean up before sitting down. It
took an act of will not to look at her fingers, but thankfully the man kept
talking. "We almost lost a whole town a month ago, to a flea infestation.
Plague, but the fleas carried it. The situation was saved by copious washing,
and a judicious use of antibiotics. Why..."

Kabrin cleared his throat, and
looked away, pointedly.

The Doctor chuckled, "sorry.
Sorry. I do get carried away with my passions. As Bards I'm certain
you'd
know nothing about that, of course." There was a bit of telling sarcasm in
the words, which she took to mean that the man had more than a passing
familiarity with their kind of person indeed. It was cute, in a way. Like he
was trying to be inclusive and polite at the same time.

Pran smiled at him, her unmade-up
face lean enough that the man should have thought of her as a boy, but that
hadn't happened. That, plus the strange neck ribbon, probably meant he was a
download.
If
that wasn't just a thing that old Doctors liked to do.

The man confirmed the truth of
her suspicion with his next breath. It didn't even seem aimed at any of them,
just like he'd forgotten where he was. In the house of the woman responsible
for finding his people out. It was either an extreme lapse, or he just didn't
think anyone would recognize things like that as odd. She certainly did.

"Well, we don't have the
web, anymore, so I guess promoting that kind of thing using Bards would be a
good plan. How would... Well, I'll set up a meeting with you, Bard Pran.
Perhaps next week? Tuesday at nine?" He seemed surprised when she nodded,
clearly knowing that the household schedule tended to run late.

"I'll make a note of it and
try to have some things worked up for you to look at. I can't promise much, not
knowing my current plans. I mean, I spent most of
today
working on
setting up air shipments." That let her steer the conversation toward that
topic for a while, which eventually got to the High Energy Councilor's
daughter, which turned the discussion to what they were all doing for the
holidays. Since the government essentially shut down for a month, around then.

That was news to her. Thankfully
the others were carrying the conversation about then, so she was able to simply
eat the salad that had been placed in front of her by a man in a nice outfit. A
servant. They had several in the huge house, it seemed. He wasn't introduced to
her or anything, but she tried to memorize the face.

Clarice shrugged.

"We only take a month here,
since governing can't really be suspended for too long. Most will take all of
the cold months off in smaller places. Here the shops tend to stay open
however, in case you need to do some shopping. Most services are a bit spotty
however, so it's best to do things in the fall, if possible. You mentioned
needing some new clothing, Bard Pran? We should see to that. I have some
costumes for the wedding you're playing at, since there won't be time to make
anything." Then she explained how that was part of her shipping
arrangements, which got her back into the conversation.

Then, about an hour into the
meal, which came very slowly, Clarice mentioned that Pran was staying there,
which got her to glance at Kabrin. The man actually smiled though, and brought
his hands together in front of him.

"Ah!
Excellent
! I can
introduce you to some friends of mine then. I was worried about that. Now...
the High Airships' daughter is getting married? Did we get an invitation to
that, love?"

They had, and Clarice pointed
that out instantly, as the man discussed a fascinating array of things that
she'd never even heard of. Like who had been left off that list, or likely had
and
why
. Clarice mentioned Riley and Donal, but had to remind her
husband who they were. He made a face, but then nodded.

"I can see that. No one
wants a spy at the wedding, do they? Bad enough they live together as man and
wife, they don't need to parade around in public that way, do they?"

There was a snort then and an eye
roll, from the Doctor.

"Oh, come now, Kabrin. As
long as what they do isn't harming you, or anyone else, why should it be
our
concern? Besides, it seems to me that having the Master of Spies at your
wedding, to watch over your child on her special day is
exactly
the kind
of thing one would want. If the man is there himself, then you know that no one
too bad will be. They'll all stay away, to avoid him." That got a laugh,
and Pran filed the idea away, since it seemed like one that was legitimate
enough to get Jacques and Twyla to allow it. Even if only as a joke.

The meal took a very long time,
and it was about ten when Pran was allowed to go to her room. Not that
permission was given, but everyone else was retiring to discuss things, and
they expected guests. At that time of night. It would have made sense if... No,
traveling around at night in the cold and dark just didn't, if you had any
choice at all. It seemed to be a normal thing, too, not just a one off occasion
that she happened to be around for. It wasn't even a party, Clarice assured
her, walking her to her room. Just what normally took place.

Pran didn't judge, but did grab
the woman's arm before she could leave, so that the radio controls could be
explained. There were special energy collectors on the roof, as well as an
antenna of great size, as it turned out.

"You can hear people from
all over the world if you listen long enough. Right now you can just keep it on
channel eight. At this time of day nothing much will be happening. It's the
emergency channel though, so if something does, come get me, even if it means
waking me up. Just start yelling and a servant will see that I'm found. My
rooms are on the other side of the house." Then she patted Pran on the
arm, as the device was set up. There was a gas lamp in the corner, tied into
the house line, which made a clean blue glow, like what was used on The Lament.

Hydrogen gas. It had to be
handled carefully, but was allowed, and even preferred, for use as a fuel by
the Guardians. Mara had mentioned it to her once, in passing.

That got turned down, but not all
the way off, in case she needed to hop up and answer the radio for some reason.
True to what she'd been told that didn't happen. It meant that Pran just got to
sleep for an entire night, in a giant and very soft bed. She didn't get up
until light started to come through the window, which wasn't all that early
given the time of year and the fact that she was on the north side of the
place.

The water in the shower was warm,
almost to the point of being too hot, but she was able to add some cool to the
stream by turning a second faucet on. Not knowing how the tanks were set up, or
if they had to ration water, she just did, meaning she didn't linger under the
warm curtain, just getting wet and then soaping up fast. It didn't take long,
so she was out the front door just as the big bell in the city chimed seven.
That had to be early enough that no one would think she was lazy. If not, then
she'd just point out that being a Bard meant keeping whatever hours she wanted.
That wasn't really true, but it was close enough to be the legend everyone knew.

Pran didn't bring her back pack
this time, but did carry both her lute and guitar, since she wanted to cover
the musical arrangements with Twyla and Paul, if it was at all possible. If not
she still needed to get things set up for it, as well as start work on a few
songs for Doctor Soros. The download. Sometime that day she was going to have
to find Guardian Clark too, since they were
supposed
to be working
together.

Not that she thought he was off
playing around. Guardians just didn't do that.
Ever
, as far as she could
tell. It was the right way to live, if you wanted to make anything of yourself.
She was thinking that after her half mile long walk, to find the same guardian
on the door as the day before. Hopefully this time she'd get through without
having a weapon pointed at her. Or at least a different one. Doing the same
thing twice would be a bit too predictable for the man in black.

"Good morning Guardian
Salle. How are you faring today?"

The man stared at her, then gave
a single, if cold, nod.

"Nothing to report, in
particular. About a third of the staff is in already. Why people keep waiting
for daylight to come in, I don't understand. Even the Bards are starting to
come in early now. It makes everyone else seem a bit lazy. You might need to
watch that. You'll get a bad reputation. Hard working and diligent... Does that
sound like a proper Bard to you?" There was a head shake to go along with
it, but also a grin.

"Nope. But since when have I
been proper about anything? Oh, say, have you seen Guardian Clark around? I
don't know if you know him. Big, cute scar on his face? Sexy behind?" She
drew a line on her left cheek, but the man rolled his eyes at her, like she was
being silly.

"I once carried him seven
miles in a wind storm, so
yes
, I know him. Haven't seen him yet today,
but if he's in town, he'll be around. Why, looking for a date?" That
wasn't
said with the knowing look and smarm it should have been. It was just words.
Blank, and a little bland, considering the rest of what he'd said to her. Like
he really thought that might be the case.

"Possibly. I need to work on
my fighting and meditation, and he's supposed to be helping me with that. If
you see him first, remind him for me? I'll get all lazy otherwise."

The man blinked, then looked up,
toward where someone else was coming from. This was an older gentleman, who
stomped a bit, his heavy middle weighing him down. His clothing was rich, and
dark colored, or at least the heavy coat he had on over it all was. He wore
boots instead of shoes however, and he had a frown on his face. He glared at
her, but just seemed to want to get inside, where it was warmer. His lips
weren't blue, but his face was pale, except for two perfect rosy circles on his
cheeks.

Salle straightened and got the
door open.

"Good day, Councilor. Is all
well?"

That got the Guardian a rough
look too, but not for long, since the man was evidently not a moron, just
upset.

"Other than having to get
out of bed before the sun, and then come here to listen to reports from all
over the place about how winter has come early? You can't tell from here, but
there is snow on
all
of the major shipping routes. It's
gutting
our fall transport season. That means putting things on airships, which is
fine, but they
already
have their normal winter routines. We can add a
lot, but they also only take things directly to the port cities. If nothing can
move into the countryside there's little point in getting it to the major
hubs."

Salle seemed to be ignoring the
man, but Pran thought about it and nodded.

"Do you have anything that
needs to go from near Gladstone to O'Brien in about three days? Near that route
I mean? The Sorrow is making a special trip, to take some dyeing chemicals, for
High Councilor Times, but will need a full shipment to make it worth doing. The
rates are a little higher than normal, but I can probably get you a deal, if
you have something. Say ten percent over the standard rate?" It had worked
the day before, but this man stopped dead and snorted at her.

"I
don't
pay
standard. Seventy percent of that, at the most. I could see about that however,
if they're willing to be flexible as to the route? Weather permitting of
course."

She grinned.

"Ooh, that was good. Going
way
too low so that I'll have to meet you half way? I won't though, since this
isn't up to me. Standard plus ten for this trip. If you have high value cargos
or perishables, it's worth it. The Sorrow is a tight ship, too. I've only ever
heard good things about them." Which was basically just a list of ships
with someone mentioning that they were all good. Most of the crews weren't too
bad. Some drunkenness, but as long as they got the job done, no one cared too
much except their crewmates that had to work twice as hard to cover for the
drunks.

The man, who had seemed a bit
angry before, looked so ready to hit her that his fist, which had a nice
leather glove on it, clenched. She could use a pair of those, or at least some
mittens, to keep her fingers warm.

Then the man shook his head.

"Ninety percent of standard.
I won't go higher than that. I never do. As it stands I should just have you
arrested for robbery. Are you the new air shipping clerk then? Trying for a
promotion already, in your first year?" He seemed a tiny bit snotty about
it, but she nodded.

"Something like that,
Councilor. How about this. I'll set that up for ninety percent of standard, but
I want options to set up at least three more trips at the same rate. It sounds
like you'll want the help anyway. They might be last minute, but we should have
some things coming up." Then she stuck her hand out, as if the deal was
already made. That had nearly worked on her once, after all. She'd caught it in
time and so did this man, except that he actually seemed to think her offer was
good enough.