She paused to sip her wine and continued. "When I heard from my young cousin in the Guard that you were in dire straits, I thought it would be a great pity if no one rewarded your cleverness and tenacity. And I thought it would be even more of a pity if something as utterly ridiculous as the situation you find yourself in forced you into exile. Our land needs more young women like you, not fewer."
Xylina shook her head, deprecatingly. This woman completely befuddled her. That low, soft voice was very hypnotic; it made everything in her want to respond to anything Hypolyta wanted, and it was difficult to keep her instinct of caution to the fore. "I do not know what to tell you, Lady Hypolyta. There are many in this city who would say that all this misfortune comes about because of the curse on my family-and who would remind you that according to that curse, those who aid me are doomed to face ruin themselves." She shrugged. "Given the ill-luck that has pursued me, I would not blame you in the least if you had second thoughts about aiding me. There are many in the city who would think less of your intelligence for even asking me here and risking the curse."
Hypolyta laughed delicately, and put down her goblet on the table beside her. Water droplets ran down the side. Xylina continued to hold her own goblet, to keep her hands from betraying her nervousness. "Anyone who believes in curses is a fool," Hypolyta replied simply. "No Mazonite with any sense would give credence to such a tale. And I think of my offer more as a good investment than a silly indulgence. It was my good investments that brought me to the position where I am today. I think that you will, in time, repay my loan many times over. You will repay the loan itself, and you will become a good source to invest in, for you are clever, you have good sense, and your ability in magic is quite amazing."
"I have yet to think of a practical use for that ability," Xylina pointed out wryly. "Thus far, the only use has been in fighting off ruffians." She took a sip of her own wine; it was cool and slightly sweet, very light, suitable for the warm weather.
"In time, I think that you will," Hypolyta countered comfortably. "Certainly, when our Queen goes to war again, your magic will be of major importance." She leaned forward a little and her demeanor changed subtly. "Now, about this loan. I understand that your current debt is something on the order of fifty gold coronets?"
The coronet was the largest gold piece in circulation in Mazonia. It was stamped with the image of the ruling Queen; the crown controlled the issuance of money. Xylina had tried not to think of the enormous sum, and now, faced with it, she could only nod. "Part of that is in payment for the house that I bought, and the rest is-"
Hypolyta waved a dismissive hand. "That absurd tax. Indeed. Now, if you had only that, you would really be no better off, you know."
That had not occurred to Xylina-she had not even thought past the huge sum of money she owed. It had stood in her mind like a wall she could not possibly climb or see past.
Hypolyta smiled when Xylina widened her eyes with surprise. "Oh, it is true. I have looked over the situation. You would then own a vacant lot, upon which you would still have to pay property tax-you would have nowhere to live-and the city might still levy yet another fine on you for not clearing the ruins of your house! If you tried to camp upon your own property, the city would fine you for not living in a proper dwelling, and if you managed to clear the property with the help of your slave, you would still have to build a dwelling on it that matched the city standards for that area."
Xylina felt the blood draining from her face, for that had not occurred to her, but Hypolyta was not finished. She truly had investigated Xylina's situation thoroughly!
"In addition, if you could actually sell the place, you would then have to pay another sales tax on it. You would lose money on it, as you could only sell it for the value of the land alone. That would not retire the debt, and in the end you would find yourself back in a two- or three-room hovel much like the one you moved out of." Hypolyta shook her head, and reached out her plump, oddly graceful hand to take up her wine-goblet. She took a sip, and Xylina followed suit, her mouth dry. "You would then be in no position to even begin to repay a loan. That would be a very bad investment on my part."
"But-" Xylina began. She did not know what she was going to say, but she got no chance to interrupt.
For all that her voice was soft and shy, when Hypolyta spoke of business, she was impossible to stop. She waved her hand and Xylina held her peace. Clearly, Hypolyta had some ideas of her own.
"If, however, I were to give you a loan of, say, one hundred coronets, you would be able to discharge your debt, have a new house built, and hire more slaves to protect yourself and to develop a proper estate of your own." Hypolyta smiled, a smile of maternal sweetness and pardonable pride. "I can recommend someone who will do the work cheaply and well. You will have a plain house, but it will be a good one. It will cost you much less to build on your own land than to buy another house, and you will be able to tailor it to the type of business you wish to pursue."
"Business?" Xylina said faintly.
"Oh, yes. You should capitalize on that magnificent slave of yours, but not by such paltry means as entertaining at gatherings!" She smiled, making the mild rebuke even milder. "Surely there are many things that boy could teach others, and you should make use of that while he is still notorious for defeating all those ruffians. And you should have your new home built to take care of that. For instance, if you intended to train fighters for the arena, you could have the back garden cleared and the area prepared instead as a training arena."
At Xylina's wince, which she could not quite conceal, Hypolyta added hastily, "I only offer that as a supposition. You could just as easily train slaves to become needle-workers, bakers, or laundry-handlers. Or-surely that slave could train others to repel attackers; with two attacks upon you in the last several days, many older women, no longer able to defend themselves, are becoming nervous about their security. The trade in trained slaves is a good one, and it is one in which I made my fortune."
Xylina looked askance at her. She could not imagine this gentle woman training gladiators. "What did you train your slaves as?"
"Skilled gardeners," was the surprising reply. Or-in view of the way the grounds looked, perhaps she should have anticipated it. "It is more of an art than most realize- until they turn their expensive pleasure-gardens over to the hands of men who cannot tell a rare seedling from a weed. I supply all of the most highly trained gardeners in the country to the wealthy women of Mazonia. My slaves are experts and artists, and when they leave my hands, there is nothing they do not know about growing things."
Xylina smiled, relieved. She did not think she would have been able to accept a loan from a woman who had made the money supplying trained gladiators to the arena. It would have felt too much as if she were betraying Faro by accepting gold tainted with blood. Nor could she even guess how he would have reacted to the discovery.
The notion of training slaves as unarmed bodyguards was a good one, though, provided Faro could be coaxed to do something that would ultimately protect women he hated.
"What would the conditions of this loan be?" Xylina asked cautiously. "How soon would I be expected to repay it, and what kind of payments would they be? How much would the loan cost me?"