Mouse and Dragon (10 page)

"Well, younger brother!" Lady Kareen said, not sounding pleased at all, "Your luck holds firm."

"So it would seem," Daav answered cordially. "Who could have looked for such good fortune?"

"And the contract with Bindan? Has your luck stretched to that?"

"Bindan expresses dismay that the clan's daughter Samiv tel'Izak has been exposed to—unsavory elements—while in the company of her affianced husband. It is Bindan's pleasure to suppose that it would tarnish the luster of the clan's jewel to continue the contract, thus it has been rendered null. I expect that Mr. dea'Gauss will be hearing from Bindan's man of business, if he has not already done so."

Lady Kareen was seen to take a deep breath.

Daav held up a hand. "Peace, sister. It is done."

"I see that it is. Has the delm in his wisdom decided to allow yos'Phelium to wither?"

"Perhaps," Daav said, matching her tone for acid. "Certainly it must come under consideration, given the disappointing recent yields."

"Now, that, I cannot allow," Er Thom yos'Galan said, softly. "Pat Rin is growing quite accomplished."

Daav inclined his head gravely. "So he is. Thank you, brother, for reminding me."

"I see." Lady Kareen placed her cup on the table and stood. "I have done my duty, futile as it is. Good-day to you, Pilot-Scholar Caylon. Cousin. Young brother." She bowed to the table in general, and moved across the room, waving Thodelm yos'Galan back to his seat.

"I can find the door, Cousin. Do not trouble yourself."

He followed her, however, leaving Aelliana alone with Daav.

"I—" Unable to restrain herself any longer, she reached out and grasped his hand, immediately receiving a potent stew of irritation and relief, spiced with too many lesser emotions to identify.

"Daav, tell me true—is your clan in danger on my account?"

His fingers tightened on hers and he looked seriously into her face.

"Korval is in no danger on your account. It is true that there will be penalties to pay, though it was Bindan who resigned the contract. I trust that Mr. dea'Gauss will hold us from utter ruin. In any case, that outcome was mine and mine alone."

"Part of your clumsy solving?"

"The greater part, if you will have it."

"Does she mind," Aelliana asked, carefully. "Pilot tel'Izak?"

Puzzlement reached her, followed by a bolt of understanding, and a flitter of amusement.

"Pilot tel'Izak herself said to me that she felt we would not suit. I believe we parted on terms, as we should have, for she is a fine pilot and holds copilot's duty close.

"Now,"—he slipped his hand free, and leaned forward slightly—"do you wish to go to Jelaza Kazone? You may, you know, guest here, with Er Thom and Anne and young Shan, if you think it will suit you better."

"No!" she cried, and bit her lip. "If you please, Daav, I would prefer to stay with you."

He closed his eyes briefly, and inclined his head. "That is what you shall do, then. Come, let us find my brother and make our excuses."

The heart keeps its own Code.
—
Anonymous

Daav's house nestled at the far end of the valley, a hollow square, glimpsed briefly as they crested the hill, with a tree soaring out of the center. Perhaps, Aelliana thought, there was also a garden in that inner court. Korval's Tree was—somewhat taller than she had expected, its arms reaching high and wide across the pale sky.

"I thought you said that your house was less grand than Trealla Fantrol."

"And so it is! Jelaza Kazone is quite old, and while I do not say that the roof leaks, it fails to approach the first level of elegance. Historically, Korval has preferred its comfort, indolent breed that we are."

Aelliana smiled, and hesitated slightly before asking a question that had just lately come to concern her. "Will I meet your sister again at Prime Meal?"

Daav turned his head, both eyebrows up and an expression of nearly comic horror on his face. "Good gods, whyever would you?"

"It is yos'Phelium's house that I am to guest in," she pointed out.

"Ah, I see! Never fear that you will meet Kareen between kitchen and small parlor! She lives in the house at Grand Lake, and ventures out to the country but rarely. I fear that it is only myself, and a few staff, and of course Relchin and Lady Dignity to bear you company. You may find us a bit thin—how could you not? Immediately we are to house we will ask Mr. pel'Kana to assign a car to your exclusive use, so that you are not wingless."

"You must not stint yourself," Aelliana protested. "I—surely there are taxicabs."

"Surely there are," Daav said dryly, "and not the least need for you to summon one. yos'Phelium owns . . . several cars, Aelliana. You need only indicate which one will suit you best. In truth, you will be performing a service for the House. I have my favorite, you see, and do not give the others the attention they deserve."

She considered him. "And if I choose this one?"

"Why, then, I would be obliged to point out that—while it is a satisfactory car in many respects—there's scarcely sufficient room to carry oneself, a passenger, and a very small box. For one who may be expected to visit the city in pursuit of shopping, it may prove to be less than ideal. There is in the garage an extremely nice vehicle, with a larger cargo space, very light and responsive to the stick, which I think you may find more suited to your needs. Though the choice is, of course, entirely your own."

Aelliana bit her lip until the urge to laugh aloud had somewhat subsided.

"That was very well done," she said, when she was certain of her voice.

"Thank you," he answered gravely.

"But I would not dream of depriving you of your favorite car," she said, as he slowed to make the turn into a hedge-lined lane.

"Thank you," he said again, and this time she did laugh.

She had been made known to Mr. pel'Kana, who bowed grandly, and solemnly agreed with Daav's suggestion that the "blue car" be assigned to her use. That detail retired, her hand- and voice-prints were filed with the house, then she followed Daav upstairs and down a hallway to the midpoint, where he paused and stepped back, gesturing that she should precede him.

"I hope that this apartment will win your approval. However! If it does not, please speak out immediately. There are others available."

There was
some
thing in his voice, or in the air between them. She felt her fingers twitch toward him and folded them into her palm, placing the other hand against the plate. The Jump pilot's ring sparkled on her finger in the soft light, then the door opened and she stepped inside.

Her first instinct was to cry out that it was too precious a place to house her. The worth of the rugs alone!—not to say the couches, or the clutter of knickknacks on the mantle. Well into the room and to the left was a closed door, doubtless leading to the bedchamber itself; next to it, a compact kitchen nestled inside an alcove. So much she saw in her first glance.

It was the second glance that taught her that the furniture was, if not precisely shabby as Clan Mizel knew
shabby
, then at least well-used and even worn. The wooden walls were dark, perhaps with age.

The third glance caught the window, and she was lost. Scarcely attending to herself, she crossed the room, light-footed as Daav on the thick carpet, past the desk with its computer and comm unit, and put her nose against the glass, looking out and down into as wild and glorious a tangle of growing things as ever she had seen.

"Do you like it?" Daav's voice breathed into her ear.

"Like it?" she repeated. "
Van'chela
, the little gardens of the city pale."

He laughed softly.

"Tame and civilized has its place," he murmured. "So I am told. We have the front gardens under somewhat more control, for the house's dignity. This . . ." He rapped his knuckles lightly against the glass. "This is
our
garden."

"I like it very much," she said, "and the room—" She turned her head to look into patient black eyes, suddenly and achingly aware of how near he stood, and recalling a slow, growing heat, the feel of his body against hers . . . 

"The room—" she said again, turning away from the garden, and coincidentally putting several steps between Daav and herself, "—is . . . very large,
van'chela
. I daresay I will not do it justice, but the view—that I will not willingly surrender."

He smiled at her from his lean against the window frame.

"It is yours, then, too-large as it is. Though I fear you have not seen the whole of it yet."

Shifting out of his lean, he crossed the room to the closed door, slid it open with a touch and stepped back, bowing her through ahead of him.

The bed alone was larger than her room in Mizel's clanhouse. Heaped with pillows, it sat beneath a ceiling port through which she could see the paling blue-green sky of a fading afternoon. Chest of drawers, wardrobe, and another door, which she opened, revealing a 'fresher big enough to accommodate most of Binjali's regular crew, all at once.

"What are the rescue protocols, should I become lost?" she asked, stepping back into the bedroom. Daav, she noticed, had not followed her within, but stood in the doorway, his hands tucked into his pockets of his jacket, watching her with an intensity that made her shiver.

"Merely call out," he said, and his voice was calm as always. "The house keeps its ear open for certain words—
help
and
thief
among them. There is a complete list in your computer, in the House file."

He tipped his head. "Speaking of which—do you still wish to speak with Clonak? I can make the call from your comm."

"Yes!" she said decisively. "That I must do."

"Very well, then." He disappeared from the doorway.

Aelliana took one more look around the room, touched the pale blue coverlet over the bed, and went out into the parlor.

"She is here now, if you have a moment," Daav was saying into the comm. He paused, then nodded, as if to himself. "The next voice you hear," he said, and held the earpiece out to Aelliana.

She stepped forward and took it from his fingers, looking at the blank screen questioningly.

"He asks for voice only," Daav said.

That was peculiar, but perhaps he was in disarray.

"My thanks," she said to Daav.

"It is no trouble at all. If you have need of anything, only call." He bowed slightly and left her, moving swift and silent across the rugs and out, the door closing gently behind him.

Aelliana bit her lip and brought the earpiece up.

"Clonak?"

"Aelliana, are you well?" His voice was so earnest that she scarcely recognized it.

"I am most wonderfully well," she assured him, walking over to the window and looking down at the magnificent tangle of greenery and color. "The Healers' care was beyond anything I could have imagined, and you have no least cause for concern, or to—to rebuke yourself."

"That I have no cause for concern is welcome news," Clonak said, carefully. "But I do rebuke myself, Goddess. More than you may know."

"That is quite ridiculous," she said sternly, watching a large orange-and-white cat stalk, tigerlike, through a bank of pink-and-white roses. "You could scarcely force your escort on me. If there was error, Clonak, it was mine, in ignoring your very good advice. I should have not, I see now, leaned all of my weight upon custom."

There was an . . . odd . . . silence from Clonak's side, though Aelliana could not have precisely said
how
it was odd.

"Why did you refuse me, Aelliana?" he asked then, his voice low and intent. "Didn't you believe that I would stand between you and danger?"

"I believed it all too well—and that was my reason for denying you! My brother—Clonak, you must understand that, yesterday, all I knew of the world had taught me that my brother would gladly ruin anything I held dear—and that he had the power to do so! I see . . . now that the Healers have someway opened my eyes—now I see that fear had bound and blinded me. It was beyond foolish, to have refused your escort—today, I would have known to do so. Yesterday . . . I acted as best I might, to preserve my friend's honor and his life." She closed her eyes against the garden, and wished that she could see his face. "Please forgive me, Clonak."

There came a sigh, very soft.

"How can I refuse you anything, Goddess? If it is forgiveness you require of me, then of course it is yours." He cleared his throat. "Daav has you under wing, does he?"

"Indeed. I am a guest of Korval for the moment. I need . . . some time to think."

"As who does not?" he returned, with a flicker of his more usual manner. "Well, then.
All's well that ends well
." That was in Terran—a Terran proverb, so he himself had taught her, meaning that, despite the methods, a fortunate outcome was to be celebrated.

"I think that it has ended very well," she told him seriously.

"Then I shall endeavor to think likewise," Clonak said. "Now, of your kindness, Goddess, I must leave you and attend to other matters. If you have any use for me, only tell me so."

"Yes, of course," she said, frowning after a particular note in his voice. It seemed to her, but surely not—

"Clonak, are you well?"

"As well as may be," he answered. "Fair evening to you, Goddess. Until soon."

"Until soon," she whispered, but Clonak had already closed the connection.

* * *

"Bindan asks high," Daav murmured, scanning the document to which Korval's man of business had directed his attention. Indeed, the amount demanded was . . . bracing. They would need to sell stocks, or perhaps one of the lesser houses, though not so much as a ship.

"Too high," Mr. dea'Gauss said dryly. "The next document more accurately illuminates Korval's final accounting in the matter, as adjudicated. It was Bindan, after all, who called the contract void. While there is some recourse under Clause Eighteen, they failed of proving that Samiv tel'Izak has been materially harmed by the event Bindan points to as the breach point. Pilot tel'Izak herself gives as her firm opinion that she stood in less danger from the relevant incident than a pilot may find on any strange port, and further states that your care was in all ways respectful of her
melant'i
."