I disliked the look of the platforms and did not care to attempt their use, therefore I took my nilno, still bloody and nearly raw, and passed the rest to my warriors. Then they followed me to crouch down by the tent side, the cloth at our backs. Nidisar paused in his feeding, his eyes wide and disbelieving, shook his head, as though unclear upon some matter, then returned to his provender.
When the nilno was gone, Binat fetched a water skin which had been tied to her kan, and we all drank from it, while Nidisar stood and drank from his pot till it was emptied. Then he approached us with good humor well restored.
“An excellent meal,” said he in satisfaction, patting his hard, flat middle. “A shame you did not see fit to partake of it. How much of the nilno was edible?”
“All of it,” I said in surprise. “Did you think otherwise?”
His grin disappeared, and again he stared in disbelief. “But the nilno was raw!” he insisted with a small headshake. “I, myself, saw that! What manner of women are you, that you may eat nilno raw?”
“Hungry women,” I said with a smile of amusement. Males must ever have their provender well cooked, else it seems not natural to them. “We would now see what there is to be seen of your city.”
Nidisar frowned. “Your manner is that of one used to command, Jalav,” he said, and then he folded his arms across his chest. “I do not care to be commanded by a wench, not even though she be one who throws a spear with a man’s skill, and eats her nilno as it stands. Should you wish me to guide you, girl, you may ask my aid politely.”
Again Nidisar seemed angered, yet could I see naught which would anger him. Was I not a war leader? “I had not thought my words impolite.” I shrugged, bothered that his aid would not be forthcoming, yet not overly so. “That Nidisar finds them so is unfortunate. We shall see the city ourselves.”
I turned from him then, and led my warriors to our kand. We began walking toward the gap between the tents, which was not far distant.
“Hold!” called a voice, and I turned to see Nidisar hurrying to reach us. He had stood within the tent as we had left. “Jalav, I have changed my mind,” he said as he reached me. “In truth, your words were not as impolite as I had at first thought, and I now recall that the offer to guide you was originally mine.” Then he grinned at me. “Also, I believe I would miss the way you shrug. I have never seen a shrug quite as attractive as yours. ”
“He is pure sthuvad,” said Fayan in disgust. “I believe he would service all of the Hosta just as he is.”
“What is the meaning of ‘sthuvad’?” demanded Nidisar angrily. “Should it be what I believe, there shall be a female among you who is made to regret her words!”
“It merely means male,” said I, showing to Fayan my annoyance.
“I somehow feel the word has other meaning,” Nidisar said. “Yet I shall accept your meaning for the time. Come. There is one other thing I would stop for at the fair, then we may explore the city.”
Nidisar once more led off, and took us past the point where folk entered from the city. We passed many tents, some open, some closed, and finally came to one which was gold and white. Although others of the tents reeked of spoiled vegetables and meat, the dye of cloth, oils and spices, and metal covered in some manner, the gold and white tent gave forth no such odor. Closed it was all about itself, and few entered it.
“I shall be but a moment,” Nidisar informed me, then disappeared within. When Nidisar again appeared, upon his left arm he wore a golden wristlet set with bright stones, and he seemed quite pleased with the acquisition. He rubbed the wristlet against his covering, then held it for me to see.
“I have long wished for one such as this,” said he, deep pleasure in his tone. “Is it not worth whatever price might be asked?”
“It is quite attractive,” said I, wondering at the use of such a thing. Thin was the metal, too thin to turn even the blade of a dagger, and its high shine would betray a warrior’s position in all save full darkness. Perhaps, I thought, it might be used to blind an enemy, so that one’s swordpoint might reach them more easily.
“I have also gotten something for you,” he said, and reached within his covering to withdraw a small, thin comb, seemingly of the same metal from which his wristlet was made. “It will look well against that deep-black mane of yours.”
I looked more closely at the comb, and then smiled. “Nidisar had best keep the comb for his own mane,” I said. “The comb I use each new light is thrice the thickness of that, made of good, strong wood, and still occasionally breaks. One like that would break upon first use.”
“No, no, Jalav,” he laughed, “you misunderstand. This comb is not to be used, it is to be worn. Have you never worn a comb in your hair?”
“Never,” I said noting the passage of the light. “Have you now completed whatever you must do? Time moves away before us.”
“Can nothing distract you from your purpose?” Nidisar asked, annoyed and dismayed. “I would have you see the proper use of a comb such as this, and it will take but a moment. Come with me.”
He then gave to Larid the lead of my kan, and took my arm to propel me toward the large, garish tent that stood to the left of the gold and white one. A number of males had entered that tent, but few had left it, and its interior could not be seen for it had not been opened to sight. I was not sure that I wished to enter it, yet Nidisar urged me within before I was able to voice my doubts, and then I could only stare about me.
The area we stood in measured perhaps ten paces by ten, and was lit softly by many colored small boxes which were open at their tops, so that the heat of the candle flames within might escape. The walls of the tent were hung with orange and pink silk, and soft lenga pelts, shamefully dyed orange and pink lined the floor from wall to wall. Large, tightly stuffed squares of cloth, of a black that stood out sharply against the orange and pink, lay here and there upon the pelts, for what purpose, I knew not. A small, round, black platform stood in the center of the floor, and above that, hanging from the roof, was a strip of silk with rounded bits of metal upon it. Nidisar strode to the hanging bit of silk and shook it, whereupon was produced a number of tiny, tinkling sounds.
We waited but a moment, and then appeared from behind the silk, a slavewoman whose like I had not before seen. She had not my height, yet was tall and slenderly built, and she moved as though she slid on oil, so effortless did it seem. Her body was covered with silks like those of the tent walls, but all of her could be easily seen through them. Beneath the silks, where Midanna displayed their clan colors, this woman wore small, golden-linked chains, arranged, so it seemed, in a manner which would allow a male who used her to guide her movements as he pleased. Should she attempt to deny such a male, the position of the chains would give her much discomfort, if not true pain. She wore nothing upon her feet, and her dark hair was piled high about her head, held here and there with small bits of metal. This slavewoman was fair of face, and she smiled upon seeing Nidisar, and moved slowly toward him. As she approached, a strange odor came with her, an odor at once sweet and heavy, the like of which I had never before encountered. The odor was not at all like that of the eating tent yet it, too, offended my senses.
“My dear Nidisar,” said she, stopping before the male and placing her hand lightly upon his arm. “Have you returned to us so soon? It is ever our pleasure to serve you.”