"Not me," Whandall said. "Morth."
"He didn't seem that old."
"He can get older fast."
"Oh. Aunt Shanda says she's known you a long time," Sandry said.
"Yes, more than thirty years." He looked at Sandry and made a decision. "Did you ever know of a servant girl named Dream-Lotus? Kinless, from the Ropewalk area."
"No, but I can ask," Sandry said. "Is it important?"
"Not very. I'd just like to know. Turn right just ahead there."
The streets were in worse repair, and there were more burned buildings than Whandall remembered. "Now left." Ahead lay the Serpent's Walk meetinghouse. Curse, it had a roof now! And a new fence. Oversize cactus plants grew against the fence. Two kinless were raking the yard, although it didn't appear to need raking. Neat, Whandall thought. Wanshig always was neat after he came back from the sea.
The Placehold looked neat too. In Whandall's time there was a half-ruined house down the block. That was gone, its lot planted with what looked like cabbages tended by kinless, and a small cottage stood behind the cabbage patch.
Whandall pointed to the front door of the Placehold. "Stop just there and wait for me. You won't be allowed inside."
Sandry nodded. He looked glad of the armor he wore. "Sure you'll be welcome?"
"No," Whandall said.
"What's the best way out of here?" Sandry asked.
Whandall chuckled. "Straight ahead, left at the end of the block. And stay in the middle of the street."
"You know it."
Boys lounged at the doorway. That hadn't changed. "Tell Lord Wanshig that Whandall wishes to speak with him." He lowered his voice so that Sandry wouldn't be able to hear. "Whandall Placehold."
Two of the boys ran inside. Another stayed in the door staring at Whandall's tattoo.
The doorway stood invitingly open. Whandall grinned to himself. At least one, probably several armed Lordkin adults would be in there, one behind the door waiting for anyone to come in uninvited-
A girl about fifteen came to the door. She wore a bright dress, too fancy for housework. "Be welcome, Whandall," she said, loud enough that everyone near would hear.
"Thank you-"
"I'm Firegift, Uncle Whandall. My mother is Wess."
And calling me Uncle says I'm accepted as one of the men of the Place-hold, not that she's Wanshig 's daughter, Whandall thought. She could be, but she won't claim that. Just her mother. The Lordkin ways were coming back to him, but as a half-remembered dream.
"Lord Wanshig is waiting upstairs."
Wanshig sat at one end of the big meeting hall. It seemed full of people, none Whandall could recognize. Except Wess. She stood in the doorway of the corner room. The room that was his, with her, for a while, when Whandall Placehold was the eldest man in the Placehold. A lifetime ago.
She was still pretty. Not as pretty as Willow, but to Whandall no woman ever had been. But Wess was a fine woman still! Firegift went to stand by her mother. They looked more alike, side by side, than they had when they were apart.
"Hail, brother," Wanshig said.
"Lord Wanshig."
Wanshig laughed hard. Then he got up and came to Whandall, slapped hands, hugged him in a wiry embrace that showed Wanshig hadn't lost his strength. Neither had Whandall, and they stood half embracing and half testing for a minute.
"Been a long time," Wanshig said.
"That it has. You've come up in the world."
Wanshig looked at the ornate knife Whandall wore. "So have you."
"That's nothing," Whandall said. He took off the knife and sheath, revealing a plainer and more functional blade underneath. "A present," Whandall said, and held out the ornately decorated knife. "Among others. I'm rich, brother."
"That's nice-"
"I can make the Placehold rich," Whandall said. "I'll need help doing it. Actually, I'll need Placehold and Serpent's Walk together."
"After lunch you'll tell me," Wanshig said. He gestured, dismissing the men and women who had crowded around. "You'll all meet Whandall later," he said. "Give me time to talk with my brother."
Brother. We had the same mother. Not necessarily the same father, and in our case certainly not the same. Lordkin!
The others went away or settled in corners of the big room.
"We'll eat in here," Wanshig said. He led Whandall into the big corner
room. A table had been set up, and Firegift was bringing food and tea. "You'll remember Wess. She's my lady now. First lady of the Placehold," Wanshig said.
Whandall didn't say anything.
"What? Ah. That's right; you'll remember Elriss," Wanshig said.
"And Mother."
Wanshig nodded. "Dead, brother. Dead together, with Shastern. Fifteen years ago-"
"Sixteen," Wess said. "Firegift is fifteen."
"Sixteen years ago. The Burning started by Tarnisos."
"Tarnisos killed our family?"
"No, he started the Burning. It was a Mother's Day; the women had gone to Peacegiven Square. The Lords still gave Mother's Day presents there. You remember?"
"Yes."
"Shastern went with them. They had collected the gifts, were coming back, when the Burning started." Wanshig shook his head. "We went looking for them. Found them dead, two Bull Fizzles dead with them. Everything they had was gathered, of course. Later Pelzed and Freethspat went looking for Pizzles to settle the score, but the Fizzles claimed their people were killed helping Shastern. Could have been, even. Could have been."
"Who did they say?" Whandall demanded.
Wanshig's expression was bleak. "You think you'll get even, now, after sixteen years when you weren't here, little brother? You think I haven't tried?"
"Sorry. Of course you did."
Wanshig nodded grimly.
"What happened to Freethspat?"
"He tried too. Mother was his woman; he was really close to her. Closer than I was to Elriss by then, I think. He went looking one day. Never came back."
"And Wanshig became eldest in the Placehold," Wess said. And didn't say that Firegift was born a few months later, but that was clear enough.
"So. How can we help you, little brother?" Wanshig asked.
"Two ways, if you can work with me," Whandall said.
"It's possible," Wanshig admitted. "What two ways?"
"First, burn out the Wolverines."
"That's hard, little brother. Hard. You know who they are?"
"I hope I do. I've got no quarrel with the Wolverines. But Alferth says they're the Toronexti. I have reasons to think he's right."
"So do I," Wanshig said. "And the Toronexti work for the Lords." He looked thoughtful. "And you? You have u chariot and a Lordsman driver. Have the Lords told you can burn out the Toronexti?"
"Pretty close," Whandall said. "They won't help, but if it happens they'll be happy enough to take credit. There won't be a blood war. If there's a blood price, I can give it back to you."
"I need to think on this. What's your other task?"
"Morth of Atlantis needs help. We'll explain later. But it needs reliable
people. He needs a truce with Sea Cliffs, at least to take a chariot there.
And Wanshig, I can use some help outside, out of Tep's Town, if there's
anyone who wants to go."
Wanshig stared at him. "Out?"
"There's a whole world out there."
"Twenty years ago I'd have come with you," he said. "Not now, and I need all the men I have, in Placehold and in Serpent's Walk. These are hard times, little brother."