“No,” she said. “Don’t worry about it. This old woman’s continued health is now my business.”
Hwdfr’ jaanci looked up and said, “What was that? My health?”
“Never mind,” I said.
She looked at the three of us one at a time, harrumphed softly, and went back to reading the deed to her land.
“Okay,” I said. “I trust you.”
“So do I,” said Vlad. “Only ...”
“Yes?”
“Do me a favor, and don’t tell anyone how you found me. I don’t think the Jhereg would figure it out on their own in a million years, but—”
“Right,” she said. “Don’t worry.” She stood up. “I think that’s it, then.”
“Yes,” said Vlad. “Good luck.”
“And to you,” she said. She looked at me and we nodded to each other, then she turned and left and it was over.
“It’s over,” said Vlad.
“Not quite,” I said.
“Oh?”
“Care to take a walk with me?”
He frowned, then he shrugged and stood up. We stepped outside. Buddy followed us, and Loiosh was on Vlad’s shoulder, but there was no one else there. We walked into the woods near the house. “What is it, Kiera?” he said.
“How long have you known?”
“Know what?”
“I’m not stupid, Vlad, and I don’t think you are, either.”
“Vlad, how long have you known?”
“I hadn’t been planning on talking about it,” he said. “What gave me away?”
“That’s my question.”
He laughed. “I suppose it is. But you go first. When did you know that I knew?”
I shrugged. “Just now, a few minutes ago. You’re sometimes very careless with your life, Vlad—especially when you’re annoyed. But you’re never careless with other people’s. Even when you were in the Jhereg—”
“Who’s life was I careless with?”
“No one’s. That’s the point.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you? Think about it.”
He did, and I could see him going back over the last hour in his mind; then he nodded. “I see.”
“Yes. You told me to get the boy and the woman somewhere safe. You asked me to, uh, stash them somewhere. Where could Kiera the Thief stash anyone that would be safe? It didn’t occur to you to ask if there was a teleport block up, you just assumed there was, because the Jhereg, or the Empire, was coming to get you, and you can’t tell if there is one or not with the Phoenix Stone you wear. So how could Kiera the Thief break through a teleport block?”
“Right,” he said. “I was scared—”
“Sure. For Savn and Hwdfrjaanci. And then there was the remark about the knife, which is what really convinced me.”
“Yeah. I was panicking, I guess.”
“I guess. So, your turn. How did you find out, when did you find out, and who have you told?”
“I haven’t told anyone, Kiera.”
“You may as well call me by my real name.”
“All right, Sethra. I haven’t told anyone. You should know that.”
I nodded. “Yes, I guess I know that. When did you figure it out?”
He shrugged. “I’ve known you in both guises, you know—I mean, known you well. And there can’t be many of us who have.”
“No one. Only you.”
He bowed his head as if he felt he had been honored; which he had been, of course.
“How long have you known?”
“Not long. Since yesterday. No, today, I guess. I don’t know.”
“What did I do yesterday?”
He shrugged. “It was an accumulation of little things.”
“What? I’m curious. You know, I never cheat. I mean, when I’m Kiera, I only do Kiera things—”
“You almost cheated tonight.”
“Oh, you noticed that?”
“I sort of guessed, at any rate—just before we realized there was only one person coming, I was expecting to see Iceflame in your hand.”
I nodded. “And you almost did, especially since I knew that you knew. Which brings us back to the question: how did you know? What were these little things that accumulated?”
He spread his hands. “I’m not sure if I can even identify them all, Kie—Sethra.”
“No, call me Kiera. It’ll make it easier.”
“Are you trying to confuse me? Don’t answer that. Kiera. Yes. As I say, it was a lot of little things. This is the first time we’ve worked this closely together, but we’ve known each other for a long time, and I’ve always wondered why you gave a damn for a little Easterner kid. Now I know, of course.”
“Of course.”
“And I’m still grateful. Only ...”
“Yes?”
“I don’t know. I keep thinking of things, like the way you recruited me to find Aliera.”
“There was no other way, Vlad.”
“I understand that, but still. And what was that whole business with the blood of the goddess? Not that I haven’t figured out who the goddess is.”
“I can’t tell you that, Vlad. She said it was important for you to have that vial, and that she, herself, didn’t know why.”
“The ways of the gods are mysterious.”
“Don’t be sarcastic.”
“Why not?”
I shrugged. “I want to know what gave me away, Vlad.”
“It was simple, really. You see, I’ve known you and Sethra for a long time, but I’ve never seen you at the same time or in the same—”
“Cut it out. I’m serious. This matters to me. I want to know.”
He nodded. “All right.” He got his considering look on his face and said, “Well, for one thing, you got upset once, when you were talking about how we’d been fooled, and your speech patterns changed. Come to think of it, that happened more than once. I remember when I first told you things that implied that the Empire was involved, you, uh, you talked different.”
“My speech patterns slipped,” I said, shaking my head.
He nodded. “Not very often, or for very long, but it was one of the things that got me thinking.”
“I suppose it would be. Damn. After two thousand years, you’d think ... never mind. What else?”
“What else? Oh, how little you ate was probably part of it, though by itself it didn’t mean anything. But I know that Sethra is undead, and lives on, well, on other things, so she doesn’t eat much. And, by the same token, there was the way the dog reacted to you, and—how did you fool Loiosh, by the way? He can usually tell the undead with one sniff.”
“He’s not as good at it as Buddy, apparently,” Loiosh hissed and I heard myself chuckle and I suspected that Vlad was never going to let Loiosh forget that. “But,” I continued, “there are ways to conceal the fact that one is undead. It’s difficult, but—”
“But you’re Sethra Lavode. Right. I keep forgetting that.”
“How else did I give myself away?”
“I heard you muttering something about battle shock when you first saw Savn, and I thought it was odd that Kiera would recognize battle shock.”
“Cracks and shards. I’m an idiot.”
“No, I just know you well.”
“Okay, keep going.”
“Well, you knew stuff that I couldn’t see how Kiera knew.”
“Like what?”
“Like what ‘he didn’t break the stick’ meant, and, more than that, what it feels like to have a spell-stick discharge in your hand. And you knew more about Imperial Signets and secret Imperial organizations than seemed reasonable for your basic thief. Or even your extraordinary thief.”
“Oh.” I shook my head. “It’s starting to sound like a miracle that no one else has figured it out. That must have been what you meant when you said you got more than you wanted.”
“Did I say that?” He shrugged. “But remember: no one else knows both of you. And you are a very effective Jhereg—I’ve known you since I was a child, and I never suspected that you were anything but what you seemed to be. But then, as I said, we’ve never worked together before. You, Kiera, have never worked closely with anyone, have you? And that’s the reason, isn’t it?”