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“Of course I do,” he confessed cheerfully. “It’s one of the few small pleasures I can allow myself, especially now. But my real reason for dropping by to see you is to ask you exactly what you expect Dame Kaeritha to do when she returns to Kalatha?”
“Do?” Dahlaha turned from the mirror to look at him with obvious surprise. “She’s going to reexamine their documents, exactly as she told Trisu she would.”
“I meant after that,” Varnaythus explained in the voice of someone manifestly asking his deity for strength. Dahlaha’s eyes hardened again, and he shrugged. “We both know what she’s going to find when she compares the documents,” he pointed out. “Even They can’t—or, at least, haven’t—told me whether or not she’ll be able to determine which of them are false, but even if she can’t, she’s going to confirm that they disagree with one another. So, what will she do then?”
“I don’t know,” Dahlaha said irritably. She twitched her shoulders again. “Probably she’ll decide to go to Sothofalas and the Royal Archives in order to see what the Crown’s copy of the original says.”
“Dahlaha,” he said wearily, “I don’t think it’s very wise to make any assumption of that nature. Or to assume Kaeritha is a fool who can’t see beyond the point of her own sword, just because she follows Tomanak.”
Dahlaha glared at him, and he sighed.
“You yourself just pointed out to me that in a very real sense, it doesn’t matter for your Lady’s plans which side she accuses of committing the forgery. Hasn’t it occurred to you that the same thought might cross her mind? Or that she might wonder whether or not the forgery is the work of a third party out to damage both the war maids and the kingdom at large?”
“Well, of course she might,” Dahlaha said, her glare fading just a bit as her mind—which, Varnaythus was forced to admit, was actually quite a good one … when she chose to use it—began to consider his point.
“In that case,” Varnaythus continued patiently, “isn’t it possible that instead of simply haring off to Sothofalas to confirm, as well as she can, which document was forged, she might decide to concentrate on who did the forging? After all, if it was a third party and she can unmask whoever actually did it, then she can avoid issuing a ruling which is bound to ignite a firestorm by accusing either Trisu or Kalatha. If she could demonstrate that both of them were the victims of someone else’s plot, wouldn’t that change the entire focus of their confrontation?”
“Yes, she might do that,” Dahlaha conceded in a tone which was becoming steadily more thoughtful. “But in that case—”
“In that case, she’s going to spend some additional time poking around in Kalatha, exactly as she did here,” Varnaythus pointed out. “And she’s going to be looking very hard for any clue which might point to that hypothetical third party’s identity. And she’s a champion of Tomanak, Dahlaha. Whatever else you may think of them, you have to admit they have the instincts of a bloodhound once they start nosing around.”
“Yes, they do, the Spider take them,” Dahlaha growled.
“So I’d say it’s entirely possible that she’s going to ask a lot of questions in Kalatha, and that after she’s asked them, she’s going to continue on not to Sothofalas, but to Quaysar. After all, if she’s wondering about those sorts of questions, then she’s going to need to talk to the only other real authority involved in the dispute. And that’s the Quaysar Voice.”
“Yes. Yes, it is,” Dahlaha said, blue eyes narrow and intent as the keen brain Varnaythus had—finally!—goaded into action went to work.
“I realize there are already contingency plans in place to deal with that possibility,” he said. Actually, he knew there were supposed to be contingency plans in place, but he had a less than lively faith that Dahlaha had really given them the attention they required. “Nonetheless, I thought it would be worth my time to drop in on you to remind you that they might be needed. And,” he held her eyes very steadily, “to suggest that They might feel that it was time you double-checked your plans … just in case.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Welcome back to Kalatha, Dame Kaeritha.” Mayor Yalith’s voice was much warmer than it had been the first time Kaeritha entered her office, and her smile was broad. “How may we serve you this time?”
“Actually, I’m more or less just passing through on my way to Quaysar,” Kaeritha replied, watching the mayor’s expression with carefully hidden attentiveness. “I’ve spoken to you, and to Lord Trisu. Now I think it would be just as well for me to speak to the Voice and get her perspective on the disputes between your town and Trisu. Not to mention her temple’s own … difficulties with him.” It seemed to her watchful eyes that Yalith’s quick nod of approval for her last comment was automatic, almost unconscious. “I hadn’t realized from our previous discussion that she was also the secular head of the Quaysar community. The fact that she is means she’s probably had much more direct contact with him than I’d previously assumed.”
“I’m sure she has,” Yalith said a bit sourly. “I doubt she’s enjoyed it any more than I have, though.” The mayor shook her head. “I realize that the Voice is Lillinara’s personal servant, but it would take a saint, not merely a priestess, to endure that man as her liege.”
“He can certainly be one of the most irritating people I’ve ever met,” Kaeritha acknowledged even as she mentally filed away Yalith’s tone and body language. Clearly, the mayor, at least, had no reservations about the Voice. Kaeritha wished the same were true for her.
“If he’s irritating to a visiting champion of Tomanak, you can probably begin to imagine how ’irritating’ he can be as a permanent, inescapable neighbor!” The mayor shook her head again, with a grimace.
“I doubt that proximity makes him any easier to deal with, anyway,” Kaeritha agreed. The mayor snorted a laugh and waved for Kaeritha to take one of the chairs facing her desk.
The knight seated herself in the indicated chair and leaned back, crossing her legs.
“Before I move on to Quaysar,” she said in a tone which was as everyday-sounding as she could keep it, “I wonder if you could tell me a little more about the Voice.” Yalith’s eyebrows rose, and Kaeritha shrugged. “I understand she’s almost as new to her office as Trisu is to his lord wardenship,” she explained, “and I’d like to have a little bit better feel for her position and personality before I walk into her temple and start asking questions some priestesses might consider impertinent or even insulting. Especially coming from a champion of someone else’s god. “
“I see.” Yalith rested her elbows on the arms of her chair and leaned back comfortably, steepling her fingers under her chin. She pursed her lips for several seconds, clearly marshaling her thoughts, but Kaeritha saw no evidence of any uneasiness or misgivings.
“The present Voice is younger than the last one,” the mayor said finally. “To be honest, when I first met her, I thought she might be too young for the post, but I was wrong. Now that she’s been in it for a while, and I’ve had a chance to see her in action, as it were, I think she may seem to be younger than she truly is.”
“You do? Why?” Kaeritha asked.
“She’s an extraordinarily attractive woman, Dame Kaeritha, but she has one of those faces that will look young until she’s at least eighty.” The mayor smiled. “When I was younger myself, I would have cheerfully traded two or three fingers from my left hand for her bone structure and coloring. Now I just envy them.”
“Oh.” Kaeritha smiled back. “One of those.”
“Definitely one of those,” Yalith agreed. Then she shook her head. “But she doesn’t really seem aware of it herself,” the mayor continued more seriously. “I sometimes wonder if her appearance was an obstacle for her in her pursuit of her calling, but her vocation is obvious once you’ve spent even a very few minutes with her. There’s a … a presence to her I’ve never experienced with any other Voice. Once you’ve met her, I think you’ll understand why the Church assigned her to Quaysar.”