Darkvision

CHAPTER TEN

"Wake up, Warian! Lost your wits since you left? I asked you what you've got against my squad?" Warian blinked again. His assessment of the situation in Eined's apartment shifted. It was painful making the mental adjustment to reflect his uncle's appearance. "Zel? What're you doing here? Are these your men, ransacking Eined's place? I thought they were burglars." "Eined's missing, Nephew! These fellows are looking for anything we can use to figure out what happened to her.

The family thinks she's been kidnapped." "Kidnapped! By whom?" "Don't know. Some bastard hoping to claim a ransom. Like I told you, if I knew, I wouldn't be tearing apart your sister's apartment." Warian took a deep breath. His strength was trickling back. Calling on his arm's hidden reserve was apparently something he shouldn't do lightly.

He said, "Sorry. I didn't know what they were doing here. It looked like something I should break up. You have to admit-stumbling upon it, it wouldn't look good." Zel just gri

Warian decided to play dumb despite his conversation with the rickshaw driver, who'd told him about the new Datharathi i

Warian filled the subsequent two days dodging various inquiries from his family. Zel was good to his word-he told the others Warian had returned to town. After getting more than two invitations to meet "just you and me" before the family council meeting, he made himself scarce. Warian didn't want to hear the inevitable side proposals or deals. He wanted to see everyone at once and gauge their reactions to his question. His facility with games of chance was more than just luck, after all-he had a knack for reading people's true motives lurking behind whatever their mouths were saying. He rented a flat in the upscale but still shabby Vartown district. There, he wiled away his time catching up on the latest underground, counter-culture art craze of Vaelan- libelous plays decrying the members and policies of every major chaka. The Datharathi family was not spared. Warian did himself a favor by not identifying his lineage to the other tenants.

Indeed, he enjoyed a particular one-man performance that portrayed his Uncle Xaemar in all his overweening confidence, to great comedic effect. In this ma

Warian's senior uncle never made a decision without calculating each and every outcome, moving only when the odds were overwhelmingly in his favor. According to family gossip, Xaemar was celibate, never drank, and on average, got only half a night's sleep each day. The rest of his time was spent at the desk in his study, dreaming up ever more elaborate business ploys. Warian studied him. More wrinkles gouged his face, but the biggest change in Xaemar since Warian had last seen him were several crystal prostheses-Xaemar was a plangent.

As Warian glanced around, he saw that every family member present sported extensive prostheses, save for Zel and himself. To his right was Aunt Sevaera, and next to her, Zeltaebar. Zeltaebar looked half asleep, but Warian doubted that Zel, despite his slouching posture and lazily shuttered eyelids, missed anything Xaemar said. Aunt Sevaera, on the other hand, stared directly at Warian, her eyes alight with supposition. Warian waved at her. She smiled, though her plangent crystal half mask turned her expression into more of a grimace.