Missing Elements (The Lament Book 3) (9 page)

Pran winked, and led Brown to a
chair.

"I didn't. She just needed a
reason to keep an eye on things, and here I am, so she sent her man here to do
the task. That's all." The odd thing there was that the Judge nodded when
she spoke.

"True." That was all he
said.

It was a bit spooky.

There was a decently large
surprise then, as Clarice looked out the wall of windows to the right of the
room.

"It looks like it's about
time to go home then. We can just leave the fire. The floor boy will see to
putting it out for us. Judge..." She looked at the older man, who was
about her own age, and floundered for a bit. Pran saw that and stepped in,
since it was probably her job anyway.

"Brown. We should get you back
to your room first." Her plan was to learn where it was, but the man
simply stood up and seemed ready to try going on his own.

"I got here well enough, and
can again in the morning. If I don't wait too long I should be fine. I'm afraid
my night vision isn't up to the task of taking moonlit strolls right now."
He didn't explain the whole thing, so Pran did, just short handing the real
story for him. They could go over it all the next day, except that Bard Clarice
seemed to already know that part of the story. It made sense, given her job.

"I'd heard. You're
recovering from your ordeal?" The concern in her voice seemed real, and
she glanced at the man, who really was looking right at her face, even in the
dim room. That probably meant he was doing better than he'd been letting on.

That was probably habit and fear,
as opposed to lying on his part. It was scary being blind, even for a little
bit. She could see him doing that. Still, not letting everyone in on that fact
made sense to her.

In fact, she let her voice rise a
bit, when she spoke, so that anyone out in the hall could make out her words,
and went over to the door, to open it.

"The Doctors say that Judge
Brown might be fit for work again in four months, if all goes well. He's
staying with us here though, so that I can use him as a model for that statue
you wanted me to sculpt. We'll start in the morning, but we need to take him to
his room now, since his vision is too damaged for things like that. The dark
will steal it all, I fear." It was a bit over the top, but that sounded
real enough to get the word out. Or would, if anyone was listening.

Clarice got the idea it seemed,
and nodded to her, projecting well herself. Probably better than Pran had,
honestly. Her voice was less strained and just as loud.

"That won't be a problem. In
fact, if you'd like, Judge Brown, Pran and I will do that right now? Are you
staying in the commons quarter?"

It turned out he was, but he
seemed embarrassed, either by that fact, or that he was being delivered home,
like an invalid. Pran went to get her things, since she'd need them, if she
wasn't supposed to sleep in the office. When they were out the front door of
the building, after a slow climb down the stairs, she looked at her Master, who
had the Judge holding on to her arm, not needing to carry as much with her. She
had a small folio porter with her, which was a strange case that only artists
used, with hard wood sides inside a canvas bag. It was meant to keep papers
from being crumpled, while not being too heavy to travel around with. Normally
they were used for drawings and paintings, but apparently High Bards used them
for notes and things like that, too.

The commons quarter was nice
enough that Pran doubted the Judge would feel embarrassed about his
accommodations. The two story high buildings were almost right across the
street, and were similar to one another, but had different decorations on the
outside and took up several rows, if what she were told was right. The traffic
bustled through the whole city, compared to what she was used to seeing, most
of the people going to their homes or rooms. She could tell based on what they
were carrying, which wasn't enough to be out making deliveries for most of
them. They did pass Donal, the cart man who was clearly finishing his own day.

She called out.

"Hello! Did the day go
well?"

"Aye! The horses did their
job and carried people, and I did mine, making the streets here a wonder to
behold. How did you find your new Master, boy?" He winked at the others,
clearly
understanding who Clarice was, and recognizing a Judge in robes when he saw
one. He was a city man, and had seen it all before, most likely. Really, that
probably meant he'd be a good contact for her, didn't it?

"Not
too
poorly. I
managed to get a bit of work, in two days, playing for a wedding. Twyla and
Paul... Um, Twyla is the daughter of the High Airship Councilor. Do you know
him?" It probably seemed an insane thing to say, but oddly enough the man
smiled and gave a nod.

"I do indeed! I'd heard that
little Twyla was to wed, just last week. I should see if Riley can wrangle us
an invitation. Are you going, Clarice?" The cart fellow looked over at the
High Bard and addressed her casually enough that it was clear they'd met before,
and more than once. Which was really just
bizarre
. After all, most
people didn't stop and talk to the men and women that kept the streets clean,
did they?

Then, how would she know that?
The places that she'd been hadn't really had anyone to do that kind of thing.
Maybe it
was
what you were supposed to do? Check in with each of them as
you walked down their street? It would be a great way to make certain you were
keeping tabs on everyone, wouldn't it?

Clarice smiled and let her head
nod a few times.

"Oh, indeed. Kabrin and I
got an invitation the other day. I wasn't aware that Bard Pran would be playing
for it, but that's something to hear. She's
brilliant
. Also a girl, if
you can see past the short hair. There's a real story to that though, which I
bet Riley can fill you in on. It's one of those kinds of things, and best not
spoken of in public." She turned to look at Pran and winked, pretending to
be playful, but holding something under that. "There are art supplies in
it if you can work out who Riley is in the next week. I wager you won't."

Pran looked at the woman, and
wanted to roll her eyes. The whole thing practically
screamed
what the
situation was, didn't it? Why even play a game with it, if Pran could just go
in the next day and ask a floor boy about it? That meant it was something that
the woman next to her didn't think one of
them
would know, and that few
others did, for some reason. Probably because the man went by his last name at
work.

She nodded though, needing the
supplies, if that was real. It wasn't like she was being paid for her work at
the wedding. That was all just part of the deal to make the special shipment
work. Of course if she
really
managed to pocket forty percent of whatever
the Energy Councilor shipped... That would be something.

"The man who runs the
basement?" It wasn't clear how much she was supposed to mention about
things, after all. Brown didn't so much as blink, and Clarice smiled, but Donal
actually chuckled out loud.

"Ah! You're a smart one
then, aren't you girl? I feel bad about that now, calling you a boy, earlier. I
guess I'll have to make that up to you. Later, however, given that I see more
work opening up ahead. Well, some jobs are never done." There was a step then
a pause and a happy grin from the old man. "Ah! I know, maybe you could
come along to dinner in a week or so? I'm sure Riley would love to meet a clever
young lady like yourself." He glanced at Bard Clarice, as if asking
permission, but Pran answered for herself.

Like she had a right to, or
something.

"That sounds fun. Tell you
what, I'll go and beg Twyla for that invitation for you and Riley, and deliver
that to him tomorrow. I think I have some ideas he might like anyway. Or not. I
can play for the people in his office or something?" Because,
Bard
.
It made sense, didn't it?

For some reason the man laughed,
but didn't comment on what she'd said, clearly thinking it was a joke. Probably
thinking that she wouldn't be able to do it. If it had been more serious than
that, he would have warned her. Maybe. They'd only met twice now, and that
didn't mean too much in this place, she bet.

After that they walked for a bit,
but halfway down the street Brown pointed at a pathway.

"Through here. It isn't far.
Thank you both for walking me home, but I would have managed." Then he
stepped off the path, missing the stones and nearly tripped.

It was
perfect
, since Clarice
had to hold him up. It wasn't dark yet, but a nice twilight, and while she
could see her way, the man with them was clearly moving more than a bit on
faith and hope. Trying not to look weak.

That was always a good plan.

She giggled, and spoke a bit louder
than needed.

"All right, I admit it, I
made the whole thing up so that I could find where your room was, in case I
want to come for a visit? You
did
say you were single, didn't you?"

The man rolled his eyes, but
found the path and started walking, pretending that there was no problem with
his vision.

He also didn't answer, which was
a bit strange, but not too much so. She was being heavy handed. Besides, maybe
he wanted to be the one to make the first move? It was also possible that he
didn't think she was cute enough, being that people called her boy all the time
lately, and meant it.

Except for Lyse from Pumpkin
Hollow, and the floor boy in the stairwell.

She hadn't forgotten about that
thought, though she didn't have much to go on at the moment. The floor boy
could have just noticed that she had breasts, if small ones and the right hip
structure. Lyse... Now that she thought about it, that one was funny, wasn't
it? The woman, clearly slow, had seen what no one else in her small village
could. That Pran wasn't a boy, but a girl.

Come to think of it, so had Zeke.

She couldn't remember if Will
Butcher had too, because he'd been pretty banged up when they met, but
Zeke
had clearly gotten that she was a female, even though she'd been wearing heavy
clothing and pants, instead of a dress or skirt, when they'd met. It was like
the people from her own world, the outer, real one, just saw certain things and
made assumptions, but the old people, the downloads, didn't.

Not that she knew that. Or that
anyone except Will and Zeke were downloads. Doctor Millis, of course, but he'd
seen her with longer hair first. Not
long
, but enough that she'd seemed
like what she was.

Lyse... Well, she kind of made
sense. She was slow enough that she might just be able to pull off living in
the town she'd grown up in, if she were replaced with someone smart that knew
to act the part carefully. Will Butcher had a basement full of cages and
equipment to do that with too, not a hundred meters from the woman's home.

Of course, if that had happened,
then the man had lied about it, even to the people on his own side. Why would
he have? To hide it from
her
? That might make sense, she supposed. Pran
was an unknown to him and could have been someone simply claiming to be on his
side. Which
had
really been the case, so it made sense.

It made her wonder if the gear
would still be there, then? If the Techs had an agent still in the village,
then they hadn't really lost anything, had they? It was something she needed to
learn, if she could.

That got her to shake her head
again, and on an impulse, hug Brown as he moved to the door of his building.

"Please come tomorrow? It
means a lot to me. I don't have any friends here yet." She sounded young,
and plaintive. Also incredibly manipulative. Like her goal really
was
to
get the poor man into her bed.

Which reminded her to ask about
that. So far she didn't have one. She could probably scramble something up, but
it would be easier if she knew what the score was that way. If The Lament was
still there, which it would be for a few days, she could probably share her old
room with Apprentice Roy. At least while she worked out what else she was going
to do.

The man managed to escape, but
didn't struggle out of her arms too hard, and once they were walking away, Clarice
started chattering before she could ask about it. She walked firmly and quickly
too, since the night air was starting to get cool. Not truly cold, but her
breath showed in it as she spoke.

"Kabrin is my husband. Bard
Kabrin Smith. If you feel up to it, I'd love for you to play for him soon. His
instrumentals are legendary. He mainly does composition now, and directs the
orchestra here in Lincoln." She walked along for a bit before continuing.
"I'll warn you though, he might try to bed you. If you don't want to,
simply tell him no.
Unless
you want a place in his orchestra, that is.
In that case you probably should. I'm not that pleased about his sleeping
around, but Bards... Well,
you
know how they are. He is very talented
however, and charming enough. Not too hard on the eyes either. It's simply that
having you in the house like this will probably be too much for him, and he'll
mess up,
again
. Normally it isn't too bad, because he keeps that kind of
thing at work."

Pran nodded, getting a lot from
what had been said. Including the important portion of it.

"I get a room? Or a cot at
least? I don't need much."

Bard Clarice smiled kindly, her
soft slipper like shoes barely making a sound, compared to Pran's work boots.

"A room, only, but it has
its own bath. Also the radio is in it, which means I can put you on the night
duty, listening. There normally isn't much traffic on it, so it won't be too
bad. Plus, if they bother you too much, you can just turn it off. It's really
only supposed to be used for Bard related business, the one I have, but that
doesn't actually come up much, so I tend to use it for currying favor with the
others. That's why I'm in charge of the Investigation, really. The fact that
I'm considered harmless and not that important. Before you ask, yes, that
does
hurt the ego, more than a bit. When I was elected it was at the height of my
fame, and I figured it would be all about people showering me with gifts and
accolades. They used to you know, when I was on the stage each night. I was
wrong on that score. The other Councilors don't care much about that. Not
unless they're having a party.
Then
I'm popular enough."