had done his duty as Emperor, he went back to his rooms. Danat and
Issandra were waiting there.
Otah greeted them both with a single pose appropriate to near family. If
it was still an optimism, the Galtic woman didn't comment on it. She put
down a bowl of tea she'd been drinking from, and Danat rose to his feet.
"Thank you for joining me," Otah said. "I wanted to know the ... the
status of your work."
The pair exchanged glances. Issandra spoke.
"In one respect, I think you could say we're doing quite well. Ana's
request that her father add himself to your naval adventure has caused
something of a strain between her and Hanchat. He seems to think she's
being disloyal to Galt in general and therefore him in particular."
"I can understand that," Otah said, lowering himself to a cushion. "The
gods all know she surprised me with it."
"The problem is that she feels she's cleared all accounts by the
gesture," Issandra said. "Any sense of obligation she might have felt
toward Danat-cha from her misbehavior or his clemency toward Hanchat is
done."
"I see," Otah said.
"There's something else," Danat said. "I think Shija-cha has . .
"The imitation lover has developed ambitions," Issandra said.
"Apparently you've entrusted her uncle with some particularly delicate
task?"
Shija Radaani. Ashua's niece.
"I have," Otah said.
"She's taken that fact and the request that she act as Danat's escort,
and drawn the most remarkable conclusion," Issandra said. "She thinks
that Danat-cha is in love with her, and intends to sabotage his
connection to Ana on her behalf."
"It's not only that," Danat said. "This is my fault. I ... I lost my
perspective. It was ..
"You bedded her," Otah said.
Danat's blush could have lit houses. It was as Otah had feared. Issandra
sighed.
"This Radaani woman," she said. "Can you safely offend her family?"
"At the moment, it would be awkward," Otah said.
"Then I can't see that the girl is that far wrong," Issandra said.
"Danat has sabotaged things."
"I'm very sorry," he said. "It wasn't ... gods."
Danat sat again, his head in his hands.
"What is Ana's opinion of the matter of Shija and Danat?" Otah asked.
"I don't know," Issandra said. Her voice went softer, sorrow creeping in
at the seams. "I believe she's avoiding me."
Otah pressed his fingers against his eyelids until colors swam in the
darkness. No one spoke, and the silence pressed on his shoulder like a hand.
"Well," he said at last, "how do the two of you intend to move forward
from here?"
"She wants to put them together," Danat said. His voice was equal parts
plea and outrage. "She wants Shija and Ana to be seated beside each
other at every dance, every meal ..."
"You can't envy what you don't see," Issandra said. "It's more difficult
if this other girl can't be easily removed, but if Ana's run with her
present lover is nearing an end, and Shija makes it clear that she
considers Ana a threat ..."
Danat yelped and began to spout objections, Issandra pressing on against
him. Otah kept his eyes closed, the paired voices draining each other of
meaning. Instead he imagined the girl to be before him as she had been
the night she came to speak with him. Half-drunk. Too proud to be ruled
by pride.
He took a pose that commanded silence. Danat's words ended at once.
Issandra's took a moment longer to trail off.
"Between the two of you, you'll have to devise something," he said. "I
don't have the time or the resources to fix this for you. But consider
that you might be treating Ana with less respect than she deserves.
Danat-cha, do you intend to build a life with Shija Radaani?"
Danat sobered. He took no pose, spoke no word. Otah nodded.
"Then it would be disrespectful to behave as if you did," Otah said. "Be
honest with her, and if it damages relations with House Radaani, then it
does."
"Yes, Father," Danat said, hesitated, and then took a pose that asked
forgiveness before walking from the room.
Otah's spine ached. His eyes felt gritty with the efforts of the day. It
was all far from over.
"Issandra-cha," he said. "I don't know Ana well, but I lost my own
daughter by treating her as the girl I remembered instead of the woman
she'd become. Don't repeat my mistake. Ana may not be subject to the
manipulations that work on younger girls."
Issandra Dasin's face hardened. For a moment, Otah saw the resemblance
between mother and daughter. She took a pose of acknowledgment. It was
awkward, but her form was correct.
"There is, perhaps, another approach," she said. "I wouldn't have
considered it before, but I've spent a certain number of hours with your
son. He might be able to manage it."
Otah nodded her on.
"He could choose to fall in love with her. Cultivate the feeling within
himself, and then ..." She shrugged. "Let the world take its course. I
haven't known many women who failed to be charmed by an attractive man's
genuine admiration."
"You think he could simply decide to feel what we want him to feel?"
"I've done it every day for nearly thirty years," Issandra said.
"That is either the most romantic thing I've heard or the saddest," Otah
said. And then, "Ana-cha did me a great favor. I'm sorry that Danat
repaid it with an indiscretion."
Issandra waved the apology away.
"I doubt she took offense. I'm sure she assumed Danat and this Radaani
creature were sharing whatever flat surfaces came available. I remember
what it was like at their age. We were all heat and dramatic gestures.
We thought we were the first generation to truly discover love or sex or
betrayal." Her voice softened.
Otah recalled a girl named Liat with skin the brown of eggshell and the
night his one true friend had confessed his affair with her. The night
Maati had confessed. He hadn't seen or spoken to either of them for
years afterward. He had killed a man, in part as a blessing upon them,
Liat and Maati, and the freedom that together they had given him.
All heat and dramatic gestures, he thought. Amusement mixed with sorrow,
the way it always did.
"Still, it is a pity," Issandra said. "The Radaani girl is beautiful,
and vanity is a powerful lever, no matter how sophisticated you take my
daughter to be."
"We may hope for the best," Otah said. "Perhaps Shija-cha will take
Danat's apology in stride and return to only acting the role."
Issandra's gaze told him exactly how likely she thought that was, but