Machigi swung around toward a chair and slouched down into it, leaning back and staring up at him like a predator at his prey.
“Throughout my administration we have had at least courteousrelations with Senji Clan and the Dojisigi. Now we do not, and it is not on my timetable.”
He could do one of two things. One was to plead he was innocent, and the otherc
“If one has inadvertently shined a light on something already moving in the shadows, one would not count that a disservice, aiji-ma.”
“Tell me you have nothing of personalbias! The matter of an apartment in the Bujavid, we are told, is well-known in the Marid.”
“The Farai of Senji Clan have offended me, yes, aiji-ma. But an honest person does not advance a personal cause and paint it as advantageous to one’s lord. I have never done so, nor do I now.”
“ Brazenfellow!”
He was directly challenged. He was insulted. His integrity was questioned. All of a sudden he was convinced there was nothing for it but go straight ahead with this no-nonsense young lord. He found his center, win or lose, all or nothing, for all of them. “I am often frank but never shameless, aiji-ma. I will own any action I have taken, personally, to your disadvantage. But I do nottake responsibility for the underlying character of the Farai or for the unfortunate necessity yesterday for an action which I am certain your guard undertook advisedly— and not by myadvice.”
A short breath. That might have been a laugh. Or absolute frustration. “You walk into my city, you lodge under my roof, and in less than two days, you have destabilized a third of the Marid, paidhi. Is this how you usually work?”
“I would rather urge I have only been here two days, and your enemies have lost no time trying to bend yourpolicies in theirfavor. One could have no doubt they are annoyed with me.”
“As are mypeople, seeing one of your agents has attacked them!”
Bren lifted a careful brow. “One of my agents, aiji-ma?”
“That boy you allegedly lost.”
“The lame one.” God, as if he didn’t know. Hell, what hadVeijico’s brother gotten into?
More to the point—had he killed anybody? Shot up a Taisigi village?
“ Thatone, yes, paidhi-aiji. How many agents do you haveloose in our territories?”
“Only that one, that I know, aiji-ma.”
“What are his orders?”
“To find his sister and Barb-daja, aiji-ma. He has evidently not heard they are back safely. If I could reach him, I would convey that news, but unfortunately neither he nor his sister left the house with Guild equipment.”
“Stupid,” Machigi said, “and inconvenient. Are we expected to believethis?”
“Something has happened beyond the incident you name, aiji-ma. Please inform me.”
“You have issued no orders?”
“Unfortunately, no one is in contact with this young man, aiji-ma, not that I am aware, and not that my aishid is aware. He and his partner are young and inexperienced. At one point I had recovered the boy, but I let him off the bus before we entered your land. One hoped he would have the sense to contact senior Guild at Targai. May one inquire the nature of the provocation?”
“He has disrupted a delicate sitution.”
Better and better. And dared one guess it had to do with Machigi’s opening complaint this morning, relations with the Senji—who lay north of Targai and in a geographical line with the road they had taken in here “Unfortunate, aiji-ma.”
“Who isthis fool? What are his orders, nandi?”
“The boy, with his partner, was set to guard Tabini-aiji’s son. He went out with his partner after Barb-daja, and he did report to me at Targai. He was injured, he was on another mission, once I was ordered here, and I put him off the bus before we crossed into your territory—
hoping he would search discreetly and report back to Targai.”
“ Gods less fortunate, paidhi!” Down went Machigi’s arm on the chair arm, and security twitched. Bren didn’t. “The timing of this is all yours! You have stirred up a resting situation, antagonized the Senji and the Dojisigi, and given us a situation far more complex than a search for your missing staff!”
“One has no idea what this boy has done. Might one hear the offense?”
There was a moment of sullen silence. Then Machigi said, “He noisily discovered an outpost we have been attempting to ignore. He escaped. Nowit becomes impossible officially to ignore its presence.”
“Senji?” Bren asked. “The base from which operations have been conducted toward Najida?”
“Do not suppose yourself the sole object of offense, paidhi. Do not be so flattered.”
“Senji. Operating in Taisigi territory. You are uncharacteristically patient with this situation, aiji-ma.”
“And you are impertinent!”
“One merely seeks to understand, aiji-ma. You have observed this situation. You have done nothing against it. One is astonished.”
“Do notbe! You come in under the aiji-dowager’s auspices, bearing a peace flag from the Guild, no less, and loosing a man from your expedition to sabotage an operation, asking meto use forbearance in apprehending him. Oh, I am notpleased, paidhi.”
They were in danger. Serious danger. “One hardly has knowledge what operation this boy may have disrupted, aiji-ma, but there wasno advance knowledge. You were in danger, and the aiji-dowager, notthe Guild, intervened to offer an alliance. In point of fact, you arein a difficult situation or you would not have tolerated Senji intrusion onto your land. You have already moved against potential assassins. Your guard has successfully protected you this far, but they have been unable to rid you of a situation in your territory that has, one takes an unsupported guess, infiltrated your operations at Kajiminda and attempted to put you in the worst possible light. Whoever has done this is not your ally, and yet you have tolerated this presence in your land, observing but not moving to obliterate it. Is it that strong? I would think Senji, rebuked by your destruction of such a base, would simply pretend it had never existedc rather than go to war with you. War was neverSenji’s choice.”
“Speak your mind, paidhi. We invite it. We longfor plain argument.”
“You know that the Guild that came back from Murini’s regime is tending out of control.”
“This theory of yours!”
“You assumed control lay in Senji or Dojisigi. But say it does not. Say control lies within the renegade Guild itself, and you are notcontesting your accustomed rivals. Say it is not a Senji operation this boy has disturbed, and you have, since the events preceding my arrival, begun to suspect the nature of this base. It is no longer your neighborsyou have to deal with, aiji-ma. Another enemy has targeted the Taisigin Marid, on a schedule hastened by my presence on the coast. And why? Because they can manage the leadership of the Senji and the Dojisigi.
But you are far too intelligent, too active in administration, and too little inclined to take orders from anyone.”
Machigi gazed at him, hard-faced but notout of control of his temper. “Go on, paidhi, and cease to flatter me. I am immune.”