Intruder

Then: “We shall have a word with your father. You were wrong to have sent to him.”

“I believe I was not, honored Mother.”

“You are being unreasonable.”

“I believe I am not unreasonable, honored Mother.”

“Your grandfather is arriving this evening. I had intended to show him the nursery. I am quite, quite upset about this, son of mine.”

“One is very, very sorry about the nursery, honored Mother. And one promises it will not happen again.”

“We shall be sureit will not happen again,” his mother said, and then she went away. He heard the footsteps retreating, and his bodyguard was still out there, or might be.

“Jegari?” he asked. “Antaro?”

“I am here,” Jegari said. “Antaro is here. Lucasi and Veijico are down the hall in the security corridor.”

“Is it safe for me to open the door right now?”

“Yes,” Jegari said, and with several efforts he hauled the table out of the way, unlatched the door and let Jegari and Antaro in.

They both looked worried, as well they might.

Jegari said: “That was not a good situation, nandi.”

“Not ‘nandi!’” he said, vexed. He so envied nand’ Bren right now, the way he managed his bodyguard, the good feeling there always was in that household. It had been very much lacking in his father’s house. He was sure of that now. He had thought it was that they had all been crammed up together in Great-grandmother’s apartment. But now he knew that that feeling had been there for as long as he had been home. “Especially now, nadiin-ji! I shall be called Jeri today, if you please. I wish to be called Jeri.”

“Jeri-ji,” Jegari amended himself, and after a deep breath: “Lucasi and Veijico did report to your father’s security staff, and one of them has left; the other is maintaining silence, and his only instruction is to wait. Your mother’s guard is with her. Your mother’s bodyguard has ordered us to stand down or be arrested and reported to Guild; Lucasi and Veijico have refused on grounds of security, and they recommend to us to take orders only from you until there is some other order. We are trainees. We two are safe from Guild action. But they are not.”

“And,” Antaro said, “they recommend that should there be violence offered by your mother’s bodyguard, we resist and make an extreme issue of it. They are not armed. But they will resist. Extremely.”

“One is very grateful,” he muttered. “It is brave. One is very glad you are not hurt.”

“Your mother’s guard is more than upset with us,” Antaro said. “Your honored mother is not at all in a good mood, and they feel it personally.”

“Nadiin-ji, this is serious, and one is worried. Where is my father? Do you know? Why will he not come here?”

“He is downstairs. He is in a meeting.”

“Are you sureof it?”

Antaro said, “Your father’s guard is talking to him. The senior aishid is with him.”

He let go a breath then. He wanted that to be so.

“And mani and nand’ Bren are all right?” he asked.

“They are all right. Lord Machigi is arriving this evening to sign the agreement with your great-grandmother, and the whole Bujavid is under special rules right now. Your father and his aishid are in a meeting with Lord Tatiseigi, going over the agreement your great-grandmother is offering to Lord Machigi.”

“He is going to be so mad at me.”

“You toldthe servant to shut the door, nandi,” Jegari said.

“I did,” he said. “I did tell her. Why was she here? Why was she here in the first place?”

“We have no idea, nandi. Jeri-ji.”

“Do you know when my grandfather is coming?”

“Kitchen is preparing a big di

“One suspects,” Jegari said, “your esteemed grandfather may have decided to come visit because of Lord Machigi. But he is not invited to the signing. Veijico found that out. Only invited people can get in. So he is definitely supposed to be here all evening.”

“So my grandfather is a—” He was not sure he had a word for his grandfather. Coming here to throw salt in the pot,was what Great-grandmother would say he was doing, meaning trying to take over without consulting the other cooks in the kitchen. Or in this case, coming to visit to get right in the middle of things without an invitation.

“My grandfather is not here to help,” he said. “He always shows up when things are going on. But he is not an ally of my great-grandmother.”

“The young lord of Dur is coming in,” Antaro said. “If he is not already here. So is the new lord of the Maschi. All sorts of people who areallies of your great-grandmother are coming.”

“Lord Tatiseigi is a close ally of my great-grandmother. But he does not approve of the Marid. And heis downstairs with my father.”

“One has no idea,” Antaro said. “He is head of the conservatives.”

“Except my grandfather. My grandfather is a conservative. But one does not have him and Uncle in the same room. Do you think Grandfather coming here might be because of that meeting my father is having with Uncle?”

There was a moment’s silence. “It could be,” Antaro said. “It actually could be. Your great-uncle has an invitation. Your grandfather, nandi, does not.”

“Grandfather will not be happy at that,” he said. “And my mother—” Mother was all upset with the baby coming. Everything was the baby. And Grandfather was supposedly all excited about the new baby, and calling Mother a lot. And ordinarily Mother had no patience with Grandfather. But now she was defending him and anxious to show him the new nursery and invite him to di

And Uncle Tatiseigi was in residence again and making up to Great-grandmother, and making peace with Lord Geigi, and both of them sitting drinking brandy with Great-grandmother and nand’ Bren, and all interested in Lord Machigi coming in, and this new agreement that was supposed to stop wars with the Maridc

So Grandfather was coming for supper, and Grandfather had no invitation to the big event this evening.

He wished he could ask Great-grandmother what his grandfather was up to. Or why Mother was being nicer to him than to Uncle. It had a very upsetting feeling.

And maybe it was not all about Boji.

And now Mother was mad—and upset. The pretty yellow and white nursery was destroyed—though all he had been able to see was one curtain a little askew and an unfortunate accident on the wall, and he did not think Mother really had to repaint the whole nursery or throw out all the lace curtains and all.

But Mother was upset: that was what he had heard in her voice. She was very, very unhappy, and he was not that sure now that it was all about Boji at all.

And his mother was sounding more and more like Grandfather. That upset him. Mother was not behaving well at all lately. Not since the baby. Not since—well, Mother had not been wholly nice to him since he had gotten back from space.

And there was nobody more grownup to make grownups behave.

But—there were people. There were people who were downright scary and other grownups were scared of them for very good reasons.

He had an idea. He had a very good idea. It was scary. But in his opinion, certain people, particularly his grandfather, deserved it.

He went back into the hall, to his desk, sat down, and laid out a sheet of formal note paper, shaking the lace of his cuff out of the way as he took pen, dipped it in ink, and wrote.

Esteemed Great-uncle Tatiseigi, Lord of the Atageini and Tirnamardi, I believe that my grandfather, the Lord of the Ajuri, is on his way to Shejidan.

I do not think he meant to come this soon. I think he knows Lord Machigi is on his way here, and I think he is very much against Great-grandmother in everything. Mother has just complained of Great-grandmother very unfairly. She says Great-grandmother has been a bad influence on me. Grandfather is certainly going to take her side. Please come visit and rescue me.