Geigi listened through all of this and finally drew a deep breath. “You have spent considerable thought on this, ’Sidi-ji. Your solution, an Eastern tie, will shake Maschi clan to the roots.”
“Do not be modest. It will shake the aishidi’tat itself, linking the west coast with the East. Your Maschi clan has occupied a delicate position, poised between the Marid and the west coast. They were dutiful enough, and they have paid all courtesies to my grandson on his resumption of power. But we have remarked their curious silence regarding your nephew’s flirtation with the Marid. Not a word of warning came from them—and we assume they were surely not ignorant of the situation. Or should not have been.”
“This has indeed crossed my mind, aiji-ma.”
“Then we agree on that suspicion.”
“One cannot say with any certainty. I have no current knowledge of my own clan, embarrassing as it is to say so. First my long absence, then the year without communication with the world at all, and all the changes sincec”
“Do not apologize. It was incumbent on themto approach you. Let them feel the weight of your hand, Geigi-ji. We greatly suspect the quality of their leadership and we suspect the head of Maschi clan of doing much what your nephew has done, neither joining the Marid in its schemes nor reporting them to my grandson. If you wish to know the realfault that allowed your scoundrel of a nephew to continue his flirtations with the Marid, look to the failure of Pairuti of Maschi clan to be forthcoming to my grandson.”
Thatwas news. So communication in the southwest had broken down in a major way. The old web of information had not totally reintegrated after Tabini’s return to power. That was a fact. Maschi clan leadership sat poised between the Marid and the coast, supposedly communicating with the capital. And had Tabini been getting noalarms from them?
A thump of the cane on the floor punctuated the dowager’s assessment. “The aishidi’tat has neversolved its problems in this district. Your leadership, Geigi-ji, your personal efforts, brought peace and laid the foundations for an association on this coast. And the world may have urgently needed your talents on the station, where you have done remarkable things for us all; but with your departure to that effort—a keystone fell out of the association here. Your own clan has grown weak, at best, and we fear, at worst, quite as much as your nephew, Maschi clan has been playing both sides of the recent civil disturbance.”
My God, Bren thought, and two and three pieces of the situation clicked into place. Not just the nephew. The clanseatc poised physically between Kajiminda and Marid territory.
“One is appalled,” Geigi said somberly. “Their communications to me have been routine.”
“So have their communications to my grandson in the capital. It does not say those communications have been truthful.”
“Aiji-ma!”
“Pish, Geigi-ji. Where is ’Sidi-ji?”
“ ’Sidi-ji, forgive me. But one is—appalled, entirely. Thunderstruck. Embarrassed, extremely. Pairuti—before the Troubles, he was a dull fellow. He collected sisuifigures. That is absolutely the only distinction he had. He kept meticulous books. He—”
“—is absolutely dutiful in attending court sessions, for both Murini andmy grandson, of course. Whoever has been in power, yes, Pairuti has been obedient and attended court. But his proximity to the Marid during such uneasy times has required more talents than collecting porcelain miniatures. And what troubles me, Geigi-ji, is that he has notdistinguished himself lately in providing information. Cenedi-ji?”
Cenedi said, “Nandiin, a query to Shejidan has notproduced any but routine, formal communications of a mundane nature from Lord Pairuti to the aiji since his return. Guild communications are equally sterile, reporting everything in the district tranquil, and the district prosperous throughout. There is nofluctuation in the provincial tax records, be it Murini or Tabini-aiji in Shejidan.”
“One would expect something more of disturbance,” Ilisidi said in a low voice. “Considering the situation in this district of the province, which wehave turned up inside only a few days’ residence, its mundane character becomes entirely damning.”
“Gods,” Geigi said. Geigi, the Rational Determinist, who relied on reason. “Gods. I know the tone of his letters, up and down. Pairuti discusses his acquisitions. His figurines. He offers his felicitations on whatever good fortune has attended, his sorrow for any ill—of course his willingness to be of service, when he is so remote he knows he will never be called upon in the least. I have dealt with him for years. He is the most boring man in the aishidi’tat.”
“He surely called you on the station, once my grandson returned to power.”
“He did. He did. Never an indication of Marid pressure on Sarini Province, no hint of the nest of Marid lurking in Separti. He offered condolences for my sister’s death—he promised to look in on my nephew. I took it in the way of every promise from him, something one means very well, but one never intends to get around toc unless he should extend his travel a little on his way to the airport, for winter court. And one was all but certain he never would actually do it. Those are my correspondences with Pairuti. But his people thrive. He has been a decent administrator. His extravagances are all for his collections.”
“And he has written faithfully to Tabini-aiji,” Cenedi said. “Nothing suspicious at all—except weknow situations in thisdistrict that the lord of the Maschi should have known.”
“The Edi did not inform him,” Banichi said, “that we know. But he did not inform himself of the situation at Kajiminda and at Separti and Dalaigi? With whom is the man trading?”
“With whom, indeed?” Ilisidi muttered. “Is this the pattern of a man who keeps good books and succeeds in the markets? He was atwinter court, making excuses for your nephew, Geigi-ji. He was either ignorant, or complicitous in the situation here, nandi, forgive my bluntness.”
Damn, Bren said to himself. He hated surprises. And surelythe lord of Maschi clan had not been under suspicion when he came here: he could not—
Not until the paidhi-aiji encountered the local situation and stirred up a nest of trouble, which, in turn, proved the aiji’s information had been lacking.
The dowager had applied directly to Shejidan for her information, been told wrong in a way that had nearly gotten them all killed, and now had narrowed down the logical source of misinformation inside the province.
Damned right the dowager had had her staff asking questions, direct ones, ever since Tabini’s visit yesterday, when staff had met staff and information had passed—to her people, and to his. In Banichi’s eye he caught an indefinable glint of expression. Banichi hadbeen on it, or at least Tano and Algini, left behind today, had been briefing themselves.
“One had no idea,” he murmured to Geigi, chagrined, “or one surely would have said something of it on the bus. I would personally have trustedPairuti.”
“So would we all,” Ilisidi said grimly. “So didwe all, until it came clear to us that if my grandson lacked facts, it might not be that he has failed to gather information from Sarini Provincec but that those who should be advising him—have directly lied.”