“I could send her away, paidhi. I could send her to her father’s house; but thatwould have undesirable consequences. Especially in light of what has happened in the Guild last night. And what has happened within the Guild to bring on such troubles in the aishidi’tat. Of that, I am still convinced she is innocent.”
One hardly knew what to say. And Tabini shifted back in his chair.
“I havein fact gotten you back from my grandmother, have I not?”
“Aiji-ma, I never left your service.”
“You have heard nothing in my grandmother’s confidence last night that you hesitate to report to me—or that you have reserved from reporting to me?”
“No, aiji-ma. I have not.”
“One finds that gratifying,” Tabini said, nodding slowly. “My son, be it noted, is not in my confidence on this matter, nor do I wish him to know what is happening until we have resolved it, one way or the other. Sad to say, he is in his mother’s confidence in nothing. One believes he has perceived this want of attachment. So I am careful what I withhold from him. If he finds himself distressed at us—I take comfort that he has you and his great-grandmother as an immediate recourse. You need not tell me details if he comes to your door. Just take him in. Keep him and notify me.”
“Aiji-ma, without question.” God, he did notwant that to happen. “One wishes you may resolve this somehow.”
“Damiri-daja stands with one foot in her uncle Tatiseigi’s camp, man’chi preserving an Atageini parent she never knew, and with a living Ajuri parent now sitting as lord of the Ajuri. Lord Tatiseigi was not civil to her in her childhood—the man was scarcely civil to me, for that matter, until Damiri and I suddenly connected him to the aijinate. You know Tatiseigi. You know how his opinions stay set and, if ever changed, revert without warning.”
“One does, yes, aiji-ma.”
“One can hardly blame Damiri for her relationship to relatives in the Guild. And when we were fugitives in the hills—when we were fugitives in the hills, Damiri and I, we used to laugh, we used to say that we knew Tatiseigi would remain on our side since he never changed his mind, that we understood that her uncle and her father had to play matters carefully to stay alive, and we dared not go there.
“And when Damiri and I did regain possession of our son, on Atageini land, with Tatiseigi’s help—” Tabini leaned back in his chair. “Oh, that brought the Ajuri running. What I did not approve but did not at the time see as a forecast of worse—they were very quick to drive a wedge between Damiri-daja and her uncle over the usual list of grievances. No courtesy her uncle showed was adequate or sincere. Her uncle endangered her son. And worst of all—they maintained it was through his influence she had lost her son to my grandmother, who is Tatiseigi’s close associate. Adding to the problems of two feuding relatives, once we had our son with us, our son met every correction from her with, ‘Great-grandmother saysc’ ”
Bren let go a breath, beyond words.
“You may imagine, paidhi, that thatdid not sit well with my wife.”
“One can well understand.”
“A child my grandmother reared, moreover, is quite capable of wielding his favor and disfavor as a weapon to get his own way. You may have noticed that in operation.”
“Yes.” Quiet acquiescence was definitely safest. “One has.”
“So our son had returned as a stranger and defied her wish to take him from his great-grandmother. Damiri has been unhappy since. And between you and me, paidhi, this next child is my own folly. This should not have happened at all. It was at a low point in our fortunes in the hills. And you may bear the burden of that knowledge, but it is not for my son to know in depth, for many, many years; and it is not for my grandmother ever to know unless you find it strongly advisable. This new child will certainly be born. Where this child will be born is another matter. Sending Damiri to the Ajuri—is not possible. But this morning I am not sure that she may stay here, under the same roof with our son. She is brave, she is resourceful, and ordinarily she is intelligent. But right now her thinking is not logical. I think she is convinced that Cajeiri will harmthe baby.”
“She cannotbelieve that. That is impossible!”
“Yet I think she does believe it. In the latest upwelling of her family’s influence, one fears, she does not trust Cajeiri. She does not trust my grandmother. She does not trust you. She does not trust me,at this point. One is very glad to have my household out of my grandmother’s apartment, into much less confined circumstances, or I think we two might have come at it with knives last night. Our separate bodyguards have been quite upset—and Damiri’s are Ajuri. The fact is, Damiri’s jealousy of my grandmother has woven itself as warp to the weft of Ajuri’s scheming for influence over her. And it is a damnable situation.”
He had never looked to be taken this far into Tabini’s confidence. He had not understood why Tabini had lately left Cajeiri with him and with the dowager on the peninsula, in a war zone.
Now he had an inkling.
“So.” Tabini pushed back from the table, and Bren must rise, too. “Your bodyguard is now briefed. You are to exempt these matters from Geigi’s knowledge until he is bound back to orbit and safely out of the politics down here. But you should know this: I have let my son invite his associates from the voyage down from the station. There is reason in arranging this distraction. His birthday and his sister’s—it willbe a sister, which he does not yet know—will closely coincide. I wish to have him occupied and on his best behavior, and I wish it to be a happy event in his memory—by whatever means I can engineer it. Once Damiri has her new child in her arms—” Tabini heaved a sigh. “It may mend a great deal. I have promised her she will have this one to bring up as she pleases. And Damiri and I may have better days ahead despite her father’s best efforts. So. Go. Be aware. Keep me advised of the schedule with Machigi. We are at ease with what we hear of that affair—so far. We shall not take up more of your morning.”
“Aiji-ma.” He bowed. He gathered his bodyguard and took his leave. And he hoped to God Geigi had slept very late this morning, so he would not have to answer even casual questions.
14
Geigi hadslept in and was finishing one of Bindanda’s epic breakfasts in the main dining room with his bodyguard and valets for company when Bren got back. Bren simply left him at that activity while he repaired to his office for fast computerized note taking, and his own bodyguard headed for, he supposed, their own breakfast and their own quiet little discussion. Banichi and Jago had heard things Tano and Algini hadn’t, and very likely vice versa.
As he worked, something happened at the front door, mail, likely. There were already committee meetings on his schedule.
And in a fairly short time, Jeladi showed up in the office, quietly delivering a message cylinder that had the green and blue colors of the Marid.
That one couldn’t be ignored. It proved to be from Machigi himself, simply acknowledging receipt of a packet, courteously wishing him well, thanking him for the hospitality shown Lady Siodi. And the fact the cylinder itself had actually come from the Marid meant it had probably been dispatched yesterday.
That one required no answer. He finished his immediate notes, summoned Jeladi to advise him he was now at liberty for visitors, and received word that Geigi had received an invitation to morning tea with the dowager and would be leaving for that appointment.