Tobo was clad as a budding young woman, Minh Subredil's daughter, and I hoped we could get him back inside the warehouse unnoticed by Goblin and One-Eye, because they would ride him mercilessly. With the investment of a little artifice on his mother's part, Tobo made a very attractive young woman.
Jaul Barundandi thought so, too. Minh Subredil was the first worker called forward and Barundandi never bothered with his customary grumble about taking Sawa as part of the package.
Sawa had trouble keeping a straight face later when we found Barundandi's wife Narita waiting to pick women to work for her. One glance at Shiki was enough. Minh Subredil's family definitely belonged under her direct supervision.
Minh Subredil had done a good job of ingratiating herself with Narita. For the very good reason that Narita was in charge of cleaning those parts of the Palace of most immediate interest to us.
Sawa had not worked for Narita in the past. Subredil explained Sawa to Narita, who seemed more patient than she had the few times I had seen her before. Narita said, "I understand. There're plenty of simple things that need doing. The Radisha was particularly restless last night. These days when she has trouble sleeping, she breaks things and makes messes."
The woman actually sounded sympathetic. But the Taglian people loved their ruling family and seemed to feel that they deserved more room than the man on the street. Perhaps because of the burdens they bore, always in the past with maximum respect for Rajadharma.
Subredil maneuvered me into a spot whence I could observe well without being noticed. She and Narita brought me several brass treasures that needed cleaning. The ruling family had to be very fond of brass. Sawa cleaned tons of it. But Sawa could be trusted not to damage anything.
Shiki came to me and asked, "Will you take care of my flute for me, Aunt Sawa?" I took the instrument, studied it briefly, pasted on an idiot grin and tooted on the thing a few times. Just so everybody would know it was a real flute and not imagine that it might be a small fireball thrower, capable of making life both brief and painful for the first half-dozen people who got too close to a flautist in a bad temper.
Barundandi's wife asked Shiki, "You play the flute?"
"Yes, ma'am. But not very well."
"I was quite a skilled player when I was a girl... " She noticed her husband peeking in for the second time this morning and began to suspect he was interested in more than just the progress of the day's work. "Subredil, I don't think it's wise for you to bring your daughter here." And a moment later, she growled, "I'll be back in a minute. I have to talk to that man. I have to straighten him out."
The moment she stepped out, Minh Subredil moved with startling rapidity. She vanished into the Radisha's Anger Chamber. I had to admire her. Her mind never seemed clearer than when she was in a dangerous position. I suspected she actually enjoyed her role as a Palace menial. And the more dangerous the times, the more effective she seemed.
Despite a massive workload and Narita's frequent trips away to sabotage her husband's efforts to weasel in close to Shikhandini, or to draft Shiki into a different working group, in mid-afternoon we left the Radisha's personal suite for the gloomy chambers where the Privy Council assembled. There was a rumor that the Bhodi disciples were about to send another suicidal goof to the gateway. The Radisha wanted to forestall that somehow.
We were supposed to get the place ready for a Council session.
The Bhodi rumor had had its birth in the mind of Ky Sahra. It was supposed to be the device by which we could bring Shikhandini face-to-face with Chandra Gokhale.
We had almost two hours before the staffers appeared, the quiet little men who wrote everything down. Then the Purohita arrived, accompanied by the ecclesiastical members of the Privy Council. The Purohita did not deign to note our existence even though Shiki mistook him for Gokhale and batted her eyes till Subredil signed her off. I could hear the excuse that would come later: All old men looked alike.
Neither Arjuna Drupada nor Chandra Gokhale considered themselves old.
We continued our work, ignored. The folk of the Palace, particularly the inner circle, were lucky we had other things we wanted to do with our lives. Had we not cared about our own survival, we could have slaughtered scores of them. But getting rid of the Purohita would not mean much in the grand scheme. The senior priests would replace him with another old man just as nasty and narrow of mind before Drupada's bones got cold.
Chandra Gokhale came in and he did not overlook the help. Sahra must have gleaned a few suggestions from Willow Swan about what the old pervert liked, because he stopped dead, staring at Shikhandini like somebody had clubbed him between the eyes. Shiki had the role down perfectly. She was a shy virgin and a flirt at the same time, as though her maidenly heart had been smitten instantly. God apparently fashioned men so that they would swallow that sort of bait ninety-nine times out of ten.
Barundandi's timing was good. He came to move us out of the meeting chamber just as the Protector swooped in like some dark, angry eagle. Gokhale watched our departure with moon eyes. Before we completed our evacuation, he was whispering to one of his scribes.
Jaul Barundandi, unfortunately, had a sharp eye for some things. "Minh Subredil, I believe your daughter has charmed the Inspector-General of the Records."
Subredil appeared surprised. "Sir? No. That can't be. I won't let my child stumble into the trap that destroyed my mother and condemned me to this cruel life."
Sawa caught Subredil's arm. Apparently she had become frightened by that intense outburst, but in reality she squeezed, warning Subredil not to say anything that Barundandi might remember if Chandra Gokhale disappeared.
We might want to consider a change of plan. We did not want anyone to have any reason to connect anything outside with any of us.
Subredil's outburst faded. She became embarrassed and anxious to be elsewhere. "Shiki. Come on."
I was ready to kick Shikhandini's bottom myself. She was being a positive slut. But she did respond to her mother's command.
Sawa sort of settled down out of the way with the last of her dirty brass, in hopes of being overlooked while the Privy Council convened, but Jaul Barundandi was alert. "Minh Subredil. Bring your sister-in-law." He tried to flirt with Shikhandini. He got a look of disgust for his trouble.
Minh Subredil got me going, then went after her daughter. "What did you think you were doing in there?"
"I was just having fun. The man is a disgusting old pervert."
Softly, as though not meant for Barundandi's ears while the words really were, Subredil said. "Don't ever have fun like that again. Men like that will do whatever they like with you and there isn't anything anybody can do about it."
That warning was not all acting. The last thing we needed was one of the mighty dragging Shikhandini into a dark corner to do a little groping.
That was not supposed to happen. It was unthinkable, supposedly. And for ordinary people that was mostly true. But not so at a level where men began to believe that they existed outside the usual rules.
"Narita!" Barundandi called. "Where have you gotten to? That damned woman. She's slipped off to the kitchen again. Or she's gone somewhere to sneak a nap."