Intruder

“It is all right now,” he said. “We are safe. We are safe, Boji!”

But just then he heard footsteps outside, and he heard his mother’s guard telling Jegari in harsh tones that Jegari, being only a trainee, was wrong to be standing there and had better leave or get hurt.

And he heard Jegari telling them that they would have to move him, because he would not move.

He went to the door himself and yelled,

“The door is locked, nadiin, and I shall only open it when my fatherinstructs me to open it. Go away, or you will have to break the door and damage the paint, and my father will not approve of that!”

“Young gentleman,” the chief of his mother’s guard shouted back, “you are in the wrong in this matter! Obey your mother and open this door!”

“We shall not,nadiin!” He had never imagined being afraid in his own room. But it occurred to him in a terrible flash that Guild had been fighting Guild in the south, and that uniformed Guild had been shooting at him and at Great-grandmother in the basement of Najida, and who knew? Maybe his mother’s bodyguard were not who they were supposed to be. He was scared, his heart thumping hard, and he desperately wished he had a phone so he could call his father, or call his great-grandmother, or nand’ Bren or someone.He almost expected to hear shots break out, and he moved back from the door in case someone should try to take the lock out. No, he was not going to open that door. He edged aside, then thought of the very heavy table, and got behind it and pushed, struggling to move it across the floor. It screeched on the wood, and might scratch it.

“Young gentleman?” he heard from outside. “What are you doing in there?”

There was silence. He finished moving the table, sweat stinging in the scratches on his neck.

Then came his mother’s voice: “You are to open this door this instant, Cajeiri! I shall not put up with this sort of behavior! You are being disrespectful and disobedient!”

Boji shrieked. Cajeiri flinched and shouted back, “Go away!” and saw that, should the tall adults find a key and open the door, he could duck under the table and maybe get out the door past their feet, and maybe get out the front door of the apartment if he was fast enough and lucky.

But that would leave his bodyguard in trouble—and leave Boji to them, and he no longer believed Boji was safe or that they would not kill him. He had no idea what to do. He had no advice. And he was more and more scared.

“Young gentleman!” one of the bodyguards shouted. “Obey your mother!”

“Not until my father comes!” he said. “Go away! Call my father or call my great-grandmother!”

“Young gentleman,” his mother said, “you are disrespectful!”

“I am careful,” he said, finding his voice shaking a little. “Guild has tried to kill us, when we were out on the coast. So tell them go away. I will open the door and talk to you when my father is here.”

“Your father is in an important meeting right now! You are not permitted to be by yourself in your suite, which is one of the agreements under which you have it at all! And you are notpermitted to have that filthy animal tearing up the furniture!”

“He is safe in his cage again, honored Mother, being quiet and respectful. If someone had not frightened him and then not shut the door when I told her to, he never would have gotten out into the halls! So it is not his fault, and it is not mine! I have had Boji for a long time, and he has bothered no one!”

“Long time! We have only scarcely gotten into this apartment! Is this something you brought back from the coast? Is it the paidhi’s doing?”

“It is not,honored Mother! I have had him since a few days ago. Youlet me have the cage. It is a parid’ja cage. So I got a parid’ja! It is perfectly reasonable, and he is doing no harm!”

“No harm! You have destroyed your sister’s nursery!” Sister? No one had told him it was a sister. It changed all the numbers. Everything. His mother cried, “The whole room will have to be repainted, and Ica

“We are perfectly respectful, honored Mother! Your servantdid this!”

“You listen to me! You are not in the wilds of Najida! You are not in the company of fishermen, farmers, and hunters who come tracking indoors with muddy boots! And you are not living in a stable, whatever your great-grandmother may have allowed! A son of mine will not bed down with filthy animals! That creature does not belong in the city!”

She had spoken ill of Great-grandmother, and of nand’ Bren. If he had been in the least disposed to open the door, that would have changed his mind. He had never suspected such bad opinions existed in his mother. He had no idea what to do, now, or how he was ever going to stay in this apartment and live with someone who was so rude about the people he most respected, and he had never been so angry with his parents in his entire life. He found himself pacing in a circle, he was so mad. It was not fair, and there was nothing he could do about it, because he was a child, and his father wanted him to be here. And he no longer wanted to be. Ever.

“Cajeiri?” his mother called out.

He could go off into his bedroom and ignore her, but he was afraid she would order her bodyguard to break down the door unless he went on talking to her.

And if she broke down the door, there was nothing he could do, short of some action he feared would makehis father take his mother’s side, because whatever his father did, there was politics in it.

His father had married his mother because of politics.

His father had gone on living with his mother because of politics.

He had brought her back with him from exile because of politics.

And—he had forgotten it in the confusion—his grandfather was coming to visit tonight because of politics. And Grandfather could show up at any moment.

There was nothing he could do.

Negotiation,mani had said to him, maintains a state of affairs in which no one is shooting.

It is also an excellent way to play for time.

He went back to the door. “Mother?” he said in a moderate tone.

“Open the door, son of mine.”

“You have frightened Boji, honored Mother. He was doing nothing wrong when he was frightened out the door. Everyone chased him. That scared him worse.”

“And I tell you that animals should not be in a city apartment.”

“He is perfectly clean. He is well ma

“I will not have that filthy animal in this apartment!”

“And I will!” he shouted back, but that was not wise. He was so mad, he thought: I am my father’s heir, and you are not.And that was the truth. It was truth enough to stiffen his back.

But if he said that, things could go very badly very fast. He said instead, quietly, negotiating: “One respects one’s mother, but it is also needful to respect one’s father, and I have gotten both permission and instruction from him regarding Boji. If a servant had not violated orders, he would never gotten loose. Now he is back in his cage and doing no harm. Please accept my apologies, honored Mother, for what was done, but it was done. It will not be done again.”

There was silence from outside, a very long moment of silence.