While his own tea steeped, Tycho poured the rest of the boiling water into a large basin to cool and laid out his razor and a cake of soap. Veseene's eyebrows rose gently. "What's the occasion?"
"It's an alternate fifth-day," Tycho told her. He opened the door of the second room of their little home. During the warm seasons, it was his bedroom, but in the winter, they closed it off to keep the main room warmer. Just inside the door was a chest; he opened it and took out a clean shirt, doublet, and breeches, snapping out the wrinkles with a flourish. "Laera Dantakain takes her lessons this morning and I'll be bait myself before I let an ill-mannered Shou put me off that!"
Veseene gave him a look of caution. "Tycho…"
He smiled at her. "Don't worry, Veseene. Everything is perfectly proper." Her eyebrows managed to rise even higher. "Really," Tycho assured her. "They're only music lessons."
"That's very good, but you're still holding it wrong." Tycho slid in behind Laera, correcting her posture withhis own body. He stretched his arms around hers, moved her elbows, and reached forward to loosen stiff fingers. "And be gentle with the strings. Caress them when you pluck." His breath whispered across the side of her neck. "This is a harp, not a bow. You can pull the strings-" Tycho drew one back sharply and the muscles of his arm pressed against Laera's. "-but if you do, they'll break." He eased the string back into place. Laera gave a tiny sigh.
Out of her eyesight, Tycho allowed himself a grin. "That's good," he said, untwining himself from her. "Now play for me."
Laera tossed back long, glossy brown hair, narrowed her eyes in concentration, and began to play-quite prettily-The King of Pirates.
Tycho's grin turned into a choke. All they needed was the crowd from the Ease there to sing along! He was lucky that Laera's lessons took place in the library of the Dantakain home, where book-lined walls and thick doors muffled all sound. Back in dockside, the music would have carried through an entire flimsy building! He put a hand hastily over the strings of the harp, stilling them. Laera blinked and stopped. "Ah, Laera," Tycho said, "I know your father is a stern man-"
"Tycho, you have no idea. He's been trying for eighteen years to keep me from growing up!" Laera pouted up at him with pretty brown eyes. "I swear he still thinks of me as a little girl."
It was hard to see how anyone could think of Laera Dantakain as a little girl. "I was going to say that surely he must make you practice your lessons." Tycho brushed Laera's hands away from the strings. "That isn't one of the songs I told you to practice."
"I heard some of the city guard singing it. Isn't it romantic? A pure-hearted maid swept away by the king of pirates to be his outlaw queen…"
Her fingers tangled for a moment with his. Tycho gave her a soft smile. "That's not… exactly what it's about, Laera. You probably shouldn't play it anymore. It's a very low-class song and not appropriate for a fine lady." Laera made a distinctly unladylike noise. "Your father wouldn't approve," Tycho added.
Laera's face screwed up. "My father is completely tone-deaf. He's the Captain of the Guard. The only tunes he can recognize are trumpet commands in battle. You know he couldn't give fish-guts about-" Tycho cleared his throat. Laera glowered and corrected herself archly. "You know he has no particular interest in whether I learn the skills of a lady."
"I'm sure he wants you to be attractive to any potential suitors."
"In Spandeliyon? In Altumbel? There aren't any."
"Aglarond?"
Laera made a noise again. "Live with the elves? I don't think so." She swung the harp aside roughly-Tycho winced as the strings jangled-and bounced to her feet. "I don't see why I need to learn the harp either. I like your strilling better." She went over to where the instrument lay on a table. Tycho moved to intercept her before she could give it the same rough treatment as her harp, but she just put the tip of a finger on the chunky sound box and ran it along the curved body. "That was all you needed to charm your way around the Sea of Fallen Stars, wasn't it?" She picked up the strilling and gave him a lingering look before turning her back to him. "Can you show me the proper way to hold it?" she asked over her shoulder.
Tycho's smile grew a little wider and he stepped up behind her. Before he could put his arms around her, though, the library doors opened and a lean man with carefully dressed hair walked in. Tycho hastily turned right around Laera and began correcting the position of the strilling briskly. "… and, of course, the strilling is the traditional instrument of Altumbel. You won't find it played anywhere else." He blinked and looked up at the lean man with an innocent gaze. "Olore, Jacerryl. Come for a recitation?"
"Tycho was just telling me about his strilling, uncle," added Laera.
Jacerryl Dantakain raised an eyebrow in polite disbelief. "Was he now?" His eye fell on the abandoned harp then darted back to Laera. She flushed and returned the strilling to the table. Jacerryl nodded. "It was hard enough to talk my brother into letting you take music lessons at all," he said. "You might want to keep your attention focused on the harp. It's a far more suitable instrument for a young lady than something vulgar like a screeching strilling."
"Vulgar? "Tycho felt himself flush as well. "Screeching?
A strilling has more expression than any tinkling, bloody harp. There's nothing vulgar-"
"The harp," said Jacerryl coolly, "is the only thing my brother wants you teaching Laera. The only thing. Could I have a word with you in private?" He gestured for Tycho to follow him and went back out through the doors. Tycho glanced at Laera. She grimaced and stuck out her tongue at her uncle's back then winked at Tycho. He grinned but quickly suppressed it and went after Jacerryl.
The library opened off the rather grand entrance hall of the Dantakain house, a tall space of light and great pots sporting arrangements of evergreen boughs in pale imitation of summer greenery. Jacerryl said nothing as he closed the library doors behind them and nodded Tycho into the shadow of one of the potted arrangements. "I mean that, you know," he whispered. "I got you this job by assuring Mard that you were completely trustworthy and nothing untoward would happen with Laera."
"You said you wanted her taught worldly manners," Tycho shot back. "And she's going to come off as a backwater bumpkin if she doesn't know how to flirt. All she knew before I started teaching her she had learned from bad ballads and silly tales of chivalry." He jerked his head toward the library's closed doors. "She's got talent, but she just tried to play The Pirate King as if it were a romance!"
Jacerryl's eyes went wide. He just barely managed to turn a chuckle into an indignant cough. Tycho crossed his arms and gave him a glare. "I didn't teach her that."
"I don't think you did." Jacerryl wiped his eyes. "You better not let Mard catch you giving Laera such personal instruction, though. He's not a forgiving soul."
"Trust me, I won't. Don't worry, I have everything with Laera completely under control. Nothing will get out of hand. This job has too many benefits." Tycho looked Jacerryl over. "You didn't bring me out here just to talk tome, did you?"
Jacerryl reached inside the doublet that he wore and pulled out a small tin tube about a handspan in length. The top of it was capped with a plug; a green cord wrapped lengthwise around the whole tube held it firmly in place. "For delivery to our mutual friend," he said quietly. "As soon as possible. I believe he has buyers already waiting."