“Her name is Phyrea,” Ran Ai Yu said. “She is the daughter of your master builder.”
Osorkon nodded as they strolled, and replied, “Of course. Everyone knows Phyrea, at least, as much as she allows us to know her. No small number of men would like to take her as a mistress if not a wife. There are rumors of a dark side to her, toosome accusations of thievery, even. What interest can she be to Shou Lung?”
“She is of interest to me, Ransar,” Ran Ai Yu said. She didn’t bother to once again correct him, to tell him that she was a merchantmistress of a sailing vessel of her ownand not an official, ambassador, or other sort of representative of her homeland. “Only just before middark last night did I find her standing by the rail of my ship. She had swim… swum… I don’t… but she swam there in the dark of the night at great risk, and with motives I am having trouble understanding.”
“She can’t have been trying to steal from you,” Osorkon said.
“I do not have reason to believe that.”
Ran Ai Yu let her fingertips brush a blooming rose as she strolled past a particularly healthy bush. The ransar’s garden was impressive for a private residence, though the palaces of Shou Lung had gardens far larger. She’d noted the ransar’s gaze darting from bloom to bloom as they walked and could see that he appreciated the foliage and the peacefulness of the place. Somehow, it didn’t match the man.
“She is haunted,” the Shou merchant said. “Phyrea?”
“Spirits have attached themselves to her,” she explained. “One of my men is sensitive to such things. Even without his counsel, I would have seen it in her myself. She speaks to people who can not be seen.”
The ransar shrugged and said, “Maybe she didn’t swim to your ship alone.”
Ran Ai Yu skipped a step. Her hesitation elicited a scant smile from the ransar. She hadn’t considered that possibilitythat Phyrea might have been accompanied by some number of compatriots cloaked in spells of invisibilitybut somehow it simply didn’t ring true.
“Nothing was missing of my cargo or personal items,” she said. “I am sure she was alone.”
“And you have a sensitive man… ”
Ran Ai Yu let that pass.
“Would you like me to inform the master builder?” he asked.
“If you feel that would be proper.”
Ran Ai Yu let her gaze drift up from the flowers to the towering ramparts of the Palace of Many Spires. One tower in particular struck her eye. It was newer than the others and possessed of an ethereal beauty that was out of place in the otherwise underwhelming city of Innarlith.
“I find it difficult, sometimes,” the ransar said, “to determine precisely what is and what isn’t proper. It can plague one, don’t you agree?”
“With all honor and respect, Ransar, but I do not. I have come to know many of the ways of Innarlith, so to me I am not surprised by what you have been so kind to confide in me, but in my realm we are schooled from our youngest agefrom before we can even speakin the ways of polite and civilized society. We are taught always to know what is proper in any situation. It is the blood and sinew of our very culture.”
What she’d said seemed to please him, and he replied, “Well then I guess I will have to rely on you to tell me if it would be proper for a man like me to ask to see a woman like you in a social setting.”
Ran Ai Yu was struck momentarily dumb. She wasn’t even entirely certain what the ransar was asking.
“I am certain we will encounter each other again at receptions and such,” she said. “My business demands that I-“
“Tell me if you are uncomfortable with my advances,
Ran Ai Yu,” he said, his voice sending a chill down the Shou woman’s spine.
“I am uncomfortable only because I have been here so long, and have been unable to unload precious cargo for trade in Innarlith,” she said.
He sighed at the change in subject and said, “There are men in this city who are inflaming the passions of the working class, though I have no idea of the purpose behind it. I strive diligently, I assure you, to take matters in hand. You will unload your cargo when limited resources make it possible.”
“It is warm today,” she said.
Ransar Osorkon grunted in the affirmative.
“I arrived on the twelfth day of Alturiak,” she said. “Though I greatly enjoy your city and its people, now it is four months gone by, the warm winds of summer blow, and still my ship is at anchor in the harbor.”
“Take your complaints to the harbor master,” the ransar replied.
Ran Ai Yu nodded and changed the subject. “I have been to visit the site of the canal that Ivar Devorast constructs in your name. It is of great interest to me, to one day be able to sail into the Sea of Fallen Stars, which I have long heard tell of, but have never seen.”
“Devorast didn’t tell you that he was building it in my name, did he?”
“I only assumed.”
The ransar sighed, and Ran Ai Yu risked a glance at his face. His pinkish skin had turned a deeper red, and she could feel that he was embarrassed by her rebuff.
“It honors you, nonetheless,” she told him.
“Devorast… ” said the ransar. “Now that one is haunted.”
“But not in the same way as the master builder’s unfortunate daughter?”
“No,” Osorkon replied. “Devorast is haunted by his own greatness. If the son of a whore had an once of political ambition I would have had to have him killed a long time ago.”
It was Ran Ai Yu’s turn to be embarrassed. She said, “She knows Ivar Devorast, yes?”
“Phyrea?”
Ran Ai Yu nodded, and the ransar shrugged and said, “I suppose so.”
“I think she came to my ship because he built it.” “Devorast built your ship?”
“He did, yes,” said the Shou merchant, “some three years ago.”
“That’s right,” the ransar said. “He did build ships.”
They went a few slow steps in silence, and Ran Ai Yu could no longer ignore the feeling that he wanted her to leave.
“I will allow you to proceed with your day, Ransar,” she said. “Please accept my most humble thanks for the honor of your time, and your garden.”
He stopped walking and turned to look at her. Though she didn’t want to, etiquette demanded she do the same.
“I will try to convey to the master builder that his daughter is haunted,” he said with a trace of a bow, “by Ivar Devorast, and other ghosts.”
She didn’t believe him, because it was obvious then that he didn’t believe her. Still, she bowed, thanked him, and went back to her ship.
18
11 Kytkorn, the Yearofthe Sword (1365 DR) The Chamber of Law and Civility, Innarlith
Willem Korvan wasn’t drunk, but he had been drinking. He’d come straight from the inn where he’d been with Halina. He still smelled of heror at least he feared he did, but it was the smell of the wine he feared most. The air inside the giant chamber that served as a meeting rooma sort of templefor the senate of Innarlith was dry and hot. Though it was many dozens of times the size of the room in the inn, he felt more closed in by the senate chamber. He found it more difficult to breathe there.
“Do you think it a waste of your time, my boy,” the master builder said, “if I tell you again how proud I am of you?”
Willem couldn’t answer, so he shook his head.
But I can’t believe this, he told himself. She can’t be the one I end up with. My mother is right. Marek Rymiit is right. They’re all right. Halina is wrong.
“You’ve done well these past months, Willem,” Inthelph droned on. “We are all very happy with youall your generous patrons.”
He thought of a dozen sycophantic replies to that but spoke none of them. He couldn’t muster the energy to push that much air out of his lungs.