But Jago opened the bedroom door and Banichi waved a hand toward it, Tano nudged his elbow, and the lot of them took him to the bedroom and took his coat and the vest, made him sit down and took off his boots, and there was nothing for it. With the support of the vest gone, he did feel exhaustion piling up.
Boots went into the closet. He gave up the rest of the clothes, and they tucked him into bed like a five-year-old and turned out the lights.
“It’s not dark out, nadiin-ji,” he said.
“So,” Banichi said. “But it will be.”
It was conspiracy. They left, except Jago, who leaned very close to his ear, set her hand on his bare shoulder, and whispered, “Man’chi stands, Bren-ji.”
He was quite moved, but he had no time to enjoy that sensation because she tipped him backward into the covers and threw the blanket over him.
And walked out and shut the door behind her.
His aishid was out there discussing the problems he’d made them. He needed to get his wits about him.
But the bed was soft. He found it possible to relax. His aishid was still taking care of him.
Having said what he’d said, he had to deliver and just shut up and trust them. He was so used to thinking in huge territories, in planetary terms and centuries. His area of acute concern had gotten down to one set of rooms, four people, and himself. Five. And a finite number of hours.
Machigi had tested them. But Machigi had seen, and his guard had seen, with clearer sight than a human could, that that relationship stood.
If Machigi thought he’d fractured them, if Machigi’d imagined he’d panic or that there could be any distance between him and his bodyguard, Machigi was obliged to revise his expectations. Considering that Machigi’s own aishid had stuck fast to him under pressure, that said maybe they had something unexpected in common.
He used that thought for a pillow. And his mind focused down to a single sharp point.
Machigi and I have thatin common. If we didn’t, his aishid wouldn’t have taken the action they did this morning.
9
« ^ »
It was a lot better, Cajeiri thought, to have Barb-daja back. Barb-daja took over watching nand’ Toby, and that meant Cajeiri could go back to his own suite.
And first of all, he just wanted to go to bed early, in his own soft bed. It was embarrassing.
There were so many things one coulddo, and he simply went to his suite with his aishid, well, with the two he wanted, and fell into bed and slept in his clothes and all.
But when he waked up, realized it was after dark, and walked into his sitting room to find out what time it was and if there was any supper at all, Veijico had come in. She was just sitting there alone at the table, with Antaro and Jegari across the room in chairs by the fireside.
He was a mess and caught at disadvantage, with his shirt and trousers wrinkled and his hair falling into his face.
“What time is it, nadiin?” he asked, looking at Antaro and Jegari.
“Midnight, nandi,” Antaro said.
“Did you get any sleep?” he asked.
“Some, nandi,” Jegari said, with a little move of his eyes toward their interloper, over at the table.
It was that bad, the feeling in the room.
Veijico had a right, one supposed, to come here, but theywere not sleeping and letting her be here unsupervised, with, by now, the whole estate abed. They had all probably missed supper.
And Jegari and Antaro had been at least as tired as he was.
He had slept right into dark and wasted all his chance to know what was going on in the house, was what.
“I shall have a bath,” he said, never mind the hour, which meant Jegari, and only Jegari, would attend him.
And that served two purposes, only one of which was a quick, hot bath.
The other was getting Jegari alone and finding out when Veijico had come back and had she said anything.
“An hour ago, nandi.” They shared the ample bathtub, both in water up to their chins, although Cajeiri had to sit up more and half-float, balanced on his heels. “We were not yet in bed. And she has apologized to you and to us.”
“Apologized.” That was certainly an improvement.
“She has been under the direction of nand’ Bren’s aishid,” Jegari said with a little look under the brows. “She tasted their food for them. She stood guard at night. She cared for Barb-daja.
She said they were very hard on her, but she agreed they were fair.”
“Ha.” That was good. But it was very sad about her brother, and he remembered her sitting alone at the table, only looking up when he had come into the room. “Has she any news of Lucasi?”
“No. Nand’ Bren has people looking, but it is Taisigi that are doing the looking.”
“That is by no means the best thing, Gari-ji!”
“No, it is not, nandi.”
“Do you suppose they are even doing it?”
Jegari shrugged and made ripples. “One is sure they are looking, nandi, if they know he is in their territory, but how they will deal with him, one hardly knows. Except if Lord Bren says they are looking to recover him—one would think that was true.”
“She must be worried.”
“One would think she is very worried. This is more than her brother, nandi. This is her partnerthat is missing. Within the Guild—that is—very difficult.”
“I shall speak to her,” Cajeiri said. He did not look forward to it. It was serious, grown-up business. It was the sort of thing he preferred grown-ups to do. But Veijico had come back to him, to his rooms, so she still thought she was his.
So he supposed he had to do it. It was what mani would expect. And what mani would expect—well, that was just what he had to do.
So with Jegari’s help he dressed and put himself in order, with a crisp ironed shirt and a fresh coat and trousers despite the late hour, and then he agreed with Jegari that Jegari would leave him alone. He had no private place to talk, just three rooms, so he found something for Jegari to do—going out to find out how nand’ Toby was getting along and what was happening in the house, and maybe to get them supper. And in the meantime Antaro was to have her bath.
So that would leave him only with Veijico for a guard.
That was a little scary, considering she had done things that put her on the wrong side not just of Cenedi and mani but of the Guild, and she had not been a reliable person. She was tall and strong and she was real Guild, and she could kill people faster than you could see it happen.
But Cenedi would not have let her come back into his rooms if she had not satisfied Cenedi and mani about her behavior. That gave him confidence. And he was absolutely sure Cenedi even if he was asleep was aware where she was.
So Jegari went out, Antaro went to the bath, and he went back into the sitting room where Veijico was.
Veijico stood up, properly and politely, finding herself the object of his attention. That, in itself, was an improvement. She looked very tired, and thinner, and just worn down.
“One is very sorry to hear your partner is still missing, nadi,” he said.
A quiet little bow. “Thank you, nandi. One is gratified by your expression.”
A textbook answer, mani would call it.
“Did you want to come back to us?” he asked.
“If nand’ Bren had wished it, nandi, one would have stayed there. They needed me. But they sent me with Barb-daja. Now I am here. If you wish me to leave—”
“Are you sorry to be here, nadi?”
She bowed her head. “One regrets the difficulties, nandi.”
“You left without calling the security office.”