Lee, Sharon - Liaden 11 - Mouse and Dragon

He hesitated. “Any number of things, since last evening, and been joyously proved wrong in most.” He took a breath. “May I ask that we pursue this topic . . . later, after we have made you known to my cha'leket, gained his smile, and seen you comfortably settled? It may be that a few hours more will illuminate that which is presently obscure.”

After a moment, she nodded. “That may be wisest. Tell me about your brother.”

Encapsulate Er Thom? Almost, he laughed again, but—no. Aelliana was tentative among strangers. Her manner was—or had been, he corrected himself—self-effacing, and her manners, while not boorish, were . . . unpolished. Well she might be shy of meeting a High Clan lordling in his own house. Especially with the example of her own brother before her.

“Er Thom is . . . very dear to me. And you must forgive me for miring you immediately in another of Korval's muddles.”

“Is he not your brother, then?” Aelliana teased.

“Ah, you think it a simple question! We are the children of identical twins, near enough to the brothers our hearts believe us to be. However, Er Thom was born to Petrella yos'Galan, and I to Chi yos'Phelium. More! The delm ordered our births, and thereafter took both of us into her care and training. We were two seeds in one pod, you understand, neither one greater nor lesser than the other, until we came halfling. At that point, the delm decreed that I be sent to the Scouts, as the children of yos'Phelium often are, and that Er Thom join his mother aboard Dutiful Passage, there to learn all he might of the mysteries of trade.”

“It must have been very hard,” Aelliana said softly. “To have grown so near, then parted so sternly.”

Daav sighed. “Certainly, it seemed so at the time. But, Delm's Wisdom will out, you know, and in the end we both saw that it had been no random cruelty. Er Thom now stands as Korval's master trader, thodelm of Line yos'Galan, and heir to the delm. I trust him with my life—indeed, I trust him with Korval! And that was wisdom—to weave us together, so that either might become what the other is, at need, for the profit and the strength of the clan.”

“Your delm was . . . farseeing,” Aelliana murmured.

“She did her best, which is all any of us may do. Even those of us doomed as delm.” He gave her a swift smile. “But of Er Thom! He is lifemated to Honored Scholar of Linguistics Anne Davis, and his heir, young Shan, is a joy and a terror to all.”

“Scholar Davis?” Aelliana sat up straighter. “I have not yet read her book!”

He gave her an amused glance. “She would scarcely have expected it.”

“Truly? I have read reviews in the journals, and seen discussions among the scholarly forums—indeed, the scholar's work seems to me to be at least as weighty as you would have me believe the Revisions to be. Perhaps more! Jon had said he would lend me his copy, when he was done.”

“I am certain Anne will be happy to give you a copy of her book, if you truly wish to read it, though I warn you, she may seem bemused. She had expected, you see, that the work would be of interest to perhaps another dozen scholars in her immediate field. The excitement that it has caused among—shall we say, among those who are not scholars?—has quite taken her by surprise.”

“Shall I not mention her work?” Aelliana asked worriedly. “I would not wish to offend—and it is true that a mathematician is not a linguist.”

“As you have an interest in the work—and an opinion!—I believe you will not offend. And, you know—Anne is a native speaker of Terran.”

Her eyes widened. “Of course she is! Would she care, do you think, if I were to practice my Terran against her?”

“I think she would be delighted,” Daav said truthfully. “And now, Pilot—are your straps secure?”

She touched the shoulder harness and the lap strap.

“They are. May I know why the pilot asks this question?”

“Because now that we are out of the city, I intend—very much—to give over holding down my speed.”

Aelliana smiled, and settled back into her seat, moving her hand from his knee to her own.

“Good,” she said.

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Liaden 11 - Mouse and Dragon

Chapter Eight

Each clan is independent and each delm law within his House. Thus, one goes gently into the House of another clan. One speaks soft and bows low. It is not amiss to bear a gift.

—Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct

The wind roared, yanking her hair hard enough to bring tears. Aelliana recalled that she had used to be frightened of speed; certainly the blurred countryside through which they pelted—houses, trees, flowers, and fields smeared into the abstract—ought to sent her curling into the corner of the seat, face hidden behind her arms.

Instead, she laughed, and sat forward, giddy with sensation. Drunk with speed. Drunk, indeed, with Daav's joy and a sort of feral alertness, so potent that there was no need to touch him in order to clarify what he felt.

The car swooped to the top of a hill, spun into a thin lane and dashed downward. Stomach in free fall, Aelliana laughed again, and heard Daav laugh, too.

At the base of the hill, he downshifted, and followed the lane to the left, through a series of twists and turns, slowing almost imperceptibly as they negotiated each until, by the time they passed beneath an archway thick with flowers, the car was proceeding very nearly at a stately pace.

Colmeno bushes lined the lane on both sides, their lemony scent cleansing away the sweet breath of the flowers. At the end of the line of bushes, the lane intersected another. Aelliana caught a glimpse of a stairway, a glitter that was perhaps a window, then Daav turned the little car left, then right, going quite slowly now, and pulled into a 'crete apron between a building that might have been a garage, and a pleasant lawn.

“And so we arrive,” Daav said, shutting the car down. He raised his hands and smoothed them over his head, utterly failing to tame his wind-snarled hair.

“That did no good whatsoever, if you were trying for decorum,” she told him, her voice effervescent in her own ears.

“Now, have I ever tried for decorum?” Daav said musingly, looking down at her from snapping black eyes. “I must have done, mustn't I? Once or twice?”

“Surely, Korval must be decorous!” she returned.

He moved his shoulders. “Korval of course must be decorous, lest society fail. Daav rarely has such calls upon him. However, you are correct! One's brother has endured an unsettling morning, and very likely a less-than-amusing afternoon. He deserves better than to be treated to the spectacle of the two of us, with the dust of the port—and half the valley!—on us and our hair in matching mares' nests.” He raised an eyebrow.

“There ought to be a comb or three in the drawer under your seat.”

There were, she found, exactly three—disposables, each sealed into a transparent envelope. She handed him one and took another for herself, reaching behind her head to open the silver clasp.

“Ouch!” Biting her lip, she worked the comb carefully through the knotted mass of her hair, and after a time was able to once again snap the hair clasp into place.

“Behold us,” Daav said gaily as she slipped the comb into the pocket of her jacket, “respectable!”

“If your brother's day has been distressing,” Aelliana said, frowning up at him, “ought we to disturb him with a stranger's affairs?”

“We ought by all means make him aware of the clan's obligations, and immediately. He stands as nadelm, recall. If aught were to happen to me, it is Er Thom who will continue those arrangements guaranteed by Korval. You may be sure he would ring a peal over me the like of which you have never heard if I failed to acquaint him with one who stands within Korval's protection.”