Intruder

“Here is the proposal,” Bren said soberly, and signaled Banichi and Jago, who signaled Tano, who signaled the staffer with the cart in the service passage, and in rolled stacks of booklets, three reports for each member of the committeecthank God for the assistance of the clerical staff, who had pulled together historic reference and maps, import and export figures, listings of exporters and trade offices, plus photographs of the Eastern harbors, to go with the maps. There was a volume of history of trade with the Marid going back to the Great Wave and figures on Marid commerce and economy since, with the history of the five clans, plus information on the Marid porcelain industry and the suppliers of raw materials within the aishidi’tat. There was the economic history of the current trade within the Marid, plus photos of typical types, with a

Thank Godfor the clerical staff.

And give the Merchants’ Guild one thing. Like the Assassins’ Guild, the Merchants’ Guild was quite refreshingly easy in the singularity of its purpose.

And they were, in that light, also among the most honest of the guilds: It was very hard to get it to play any politics that ran contrary to that central purpose, since it was dedicated to profit, and its membership was passionately averse to losing money or losing opportunities to make money. Since they thrived best in peace—weaponry fell under another guild—they tended to prefer that condition, another fact in their favor.

There was quickly a proposal on the table to bring in the curator of the Bujavid collections to educate the Guild membership on the worth and technicalities of Marid porcelains compared to those of other regions.

“One may also suggest,” Bren said i

The Guild took notes.

And requested several samples of ordinary commercial craftwork, declaring they would seek expert opinions on that.

There was animated discussion of the opening of the Marid factor’s office and the arrival of the Marid representative in Shejidan—and there was strong interest in the establishment a Merchants’ Guild office down in Tanaja. There followed a motion to bring in the Transport Guild to discuss rail options for increased traffic between Tanaja and Shejidan and one to bring in the Assassins’ Guild to discuss security both in Tanaja, for the proposed office, and in the Marid north, considering the prospect of moving shipments from the Taisigin Marid through the Senjin Marid.

When the Merchants’ Guild moved, it moved on many fronts at once, efficiently and boldly, in areas of endeavor it was confident it knew. And it moved fast, with uncommonly little debate.

The meeting went rather well, in Bren’s estimation.

The Treasurers’ Guild, which was to say the bankers and accountants, had meanwhile, and simultaneously, held its own meeting and invited the paidhi to the summation of the session, again the upper echelon of a Guild with a well-defined objective and a set of simple and predictable requirements. They had heard the business afoot in the Merchants’ Guild pretty well as it transpired, having had a representative present for the presentation, who had kept sending notes by ru

But, even more ambitious than the Merchants, they were particularly interested in the rumored opening of new Eastern ports, a topic the Merchants had not yet raised in more than a passing mention, pending more concrete recommendation from the Treasurers. Several independent banks in that Guild intended to consult with the Merchants’ Guild to talk about an expansion into the East, where a different currency had prevailed from antiquitycand thatwas going to have its own complications, not to mention howls of outrage if western currency started to circulate in the East.

That issue had to be dealt with diplomatically—a note to oneself to urge the Treasurers to come up with a special currency or means of exchange to get value between the East, the Marid, and the main part of the aishidi’tat. The Marid was likely to deal in anything that worked, but there was serious opposition in Shejidan to any fragmentation of the currency, as they called it.

Not to mention—and one had rather notmention, if one could avoid it, but it was inevitable—the side issue that was under discussion in the Treasurers’ Guild: an audit and accounting for the long-tangled affairs in Sarini Province, since it had been determined that Baiji, in his tenure at Kajiminda, had been involved in numerous off-the-books transactions, which needed to be brought ontothe books, involving, potentially, most of the west coast.

The Treasurers took a by-the-book attitude toward any assistance rendered the Edi people in the construction of a new governmental center: they wanted a public record of source and amounts—and such things tended to come back and haunt the donors if there was a tight vote in the legislature and any question of bribery or collusions of an illegal nature. Some exchange of gifts was routine, but it was understood to be a gesture. Extravagance could mean adverse publicity.

That audit was a looming headache that he and Lord Geigi were going to share, not to mention the new lord of the Maschi at Targai, and if Lord Geigi headed back to the space station for somewhat more critical matters there, it was going to be the paidhi-aiji helping the new lord of the Maschi explain it all. There wereno financial records in the Kajiminda affair that they had been able to find, beyond the stash of Baiji’s notes and correspondence, which the scoundrel had probably kept as potential blackmail of his managers—the depth of Baiji’s naïveté and stupidity had not yet been plumbed—and, yes, the paidhi-aiji andLord Geigi would be perfectly happy to provide copies to the Treasurer’s Guild, so long as the investigations did not run counter to the aiji’s current dealings and negotiations with the Taisigin Marid, the Dausigi, and the Sungeni.

If the Treasurers’ Guild wanted to find problems in the accounts of the other two clans in the Marid, they must present those findings directly to Tabini-aiji, and the findings would ultimately be brought onto the books.

But there would be no investigation of the Taisigi and their allies reaching back into a diplomatically sensitive past. That situation, damn it, came under a general amnesty, and he now realized he had to ask for a signed document from Tabini to make that clear before some accountant waded in and tried to raise issues that were covered by the amnesty. Sometimes amnesty had to mean amnesty, or they ended up refighting useless battles, and things went to hell on skids. The Marid had seen two hundred years of almost-progress periodically ended by publicity at the wrong momentca fact that he had tried delicately to point out to the Treasurers’ Guild.

One definitely wanted a stiff brandy and a day to rest after thatmeeting.

The Messengers’ Guild, the guild most notoriously corruptible from antiquity upward, wanted the Assassins’ Guild to protect its crews in repairing and maintaining its phone lines in the more troubled districts of the Marid, and, oh, it was veryinterested in the paidhi’s opinion on the cell phone bill. The rumor that the paidhi had changed his vote on the bill having begun to spread like wildfire, it drew mixed reactions from the Messengers—with, Bren thought, perhaps an automatic suspicion that, from loudly opposing the bill, perhaps they should now vote forit, since they always had opposed the paidhi’s programs.

One hardly gave an effective damn. He would meet with them, he would be courteous, he would bear with i