Intruder

“So you assure us.”

“When the agreement is made and signed, nandi, and I am working toward that.”

“You are heading off to Shejidan. Sheis heading for the opposite end of the continent—”

“One would expect she has arrangements to make in the East, particularly involving the agreement. As the highest lord of the East, she will not wish to proceed without at least consulting with her brother lords. She will be quite busy. As will I in Shejidan. And before the legislative session opens, one hopes that there will be a signing.”

“And will she come here? Will she come to Tanaja to sign this agreement?”

“If it is signed here, there will be side issues. Signing in Shejidan will have the full attention of all the provinces; it will have the smell of something the aiji at least countenances, and thatwill be valuable in negotiating our way further.”

“So you are asking me to leave my people in a crisis, occupied by foreigners, and go off to Shejidan for a holiday, in hope the aiji-dowager will see fit to arrive and honor her promises?”

“You will not have to wait that long, nandi. And a face-to-face agreement, with access to the news media in Shejidan, will be seen in every village throughout the aishidi’tat, with the status of fact, not rumor. Television is very powerful in Ragi lands, where most people have access. It is, for situations like this, extremely useful. People will see you. People will see you and the dowager at one place, acting with one accord, and they will watch your expressions and hear your voices, and then they will believe it is a real agreement.”

“I repeat: I have foreign Guild walking the streets of Tanaja. I have country folk afraid to go out into their own fields, believing they may be shot. I have inbound ships querying us about the safety of the ports. Not to mention I have lost two ministers to assassination and have their departments in completely disarray. I ca

“This agreement does not involve the aiji in Shejidan, and absent your request to speak to him, there will be no meeting. But before you arrive, send a proxy to set up an office, manage Marid affairs and arrange things to your satisfaction; come to Shejidan only when he indicates he is satisfied about the situation. You can then return to the Marid as soon as the ink is dry—or stay as long as pleases you. The aiji-dowager is staking her reputation and her political influence on the success of this agreement, far from putting it at a low priority; and in the coming session she means to put this alliance directly in the minds of legislators who will vote to reshape policy in various directions. It willaffect perceptions. It will change the Ragi perception of the Marid. You are young, you are well-favored, and you will televise very, very well. It isimportant you gocand it will be useful, should someone ask, that you personally support the dowager’s plan for the West Coast.”

“Oh, nowwe get to it! My appearance assists her cause, confirms the Edi claim and what does it do for the Marid? I shall be seen as ceding the West Coast, to no profit to my people at all!”

“If you, of all people, back this state for the Edi, then it will pass the legislature despite the central clans’ objection—and there will be some objection, one is sure of it, persons who want to keep the status quo. Your appearance and agreement will shock them into rethinking what they believe of the west and south. Once the west coast plan passes, that will strengthen the dowager’s credit when she puts forward the rest of her program—which directly involves her trade agreement with you, nandi.”

“So far, the advantage and the gain are all hers, since our ships are in this port, a long way from hers, and if I agree, shehas the entire West Coast in her pocket!”

“Hear me out, nandi. Let me say that Lord Dur has guaranteed support on both parts of her proposal, that for the West Coast, and that regarding the Marid. And so has Lord Geigi.”

“ Geigi,do you say?”

“I have his very solemn word on it. For the dowager’s sake, and for mine, he willsupport you and deal with you. He is her firm ally, and mine, and he will not pursue any possible bloodfeud. Let all that business at Kajiminda recede into the past. As he will. The West Coast will have two new lords in the tribal states, and theywill also support you if you support them: I have the word of the Grandmother of the Edi, and Her of the Gan, that if you do support the West Coast plan, and if they get their seats in the legislature, they will vote for the dowager’s agenda despite their past relationships with the Marid.”

“And the moon will turn green. This is a house of glass, paidhi! Every piece of it is poised on spit and promises.”

“It has been difficult to build, nandi, but it stands because the benefit to all parties is clear. Foremost of these promises are yours and the dowager’s. She has staked a great deal on this. And on theirfirmness and fairness, all other things rest.”

“I have staked my life,paidhi, and the lives of my officials—as you well understand. I ca

“As do I,” Bren said, “in coming here, considering the feelings in this region. But I judge the risk of your lifeis not what troubles you, nandi. I do not think you can be frightened by threats. What is at stake is one’s power and reputation. I lay mine on it. The dowager has laid hers on it, no less difficult of recovery, at her age, than is yours, given your region’s situation. We are all at risk. But you are not the man to retreat from a challenge, nandi: I saw that from the first. And I would have advised both sides of this agreement far differently if I in the least doubted your courage or your good sense. By allying with the renegades from the Guild, your neighbors to the north fell into a trap that you were smart enough to avoid. And you have the vision they lacked. Spend a handful of days in Shejidan and sign this agreement, nandi, and you can do more good for the people of the Marid than any leader has done for them in two hundred years. They will protest at first—”

“I shall be lucky if I am not assassinated forthwith!”

“You have now allied with the Guild proper and have their advice and protection. They will defend you with all their resources, nandi, and that includes the law itself. More, I have brought more with me than distant promises. I have brought proposals of a very specific nature, which may help your people understand the safety in this agreement and the prosperity right behind it; I have brought a letter of committment which the aiji-dowager has signed. I have brought a signed statement from Lord Geigi, and a detailed proposal of my own, which the dowager has heard with favor but not yet signed. I have them with me, and I will give them into your possession, for legal record of what we say and do here.”

Machigi regarded him thoughtfully for a moment, then suddenly nodded. “We shall hear them.” He snapped his fingers, and Tema, the head of Machigi’s bodyguard, took a step forward. “The ministers should hear this, Tema-ji.”

“Aiji-ma,” Tema said, and Machigi said to the waiting servants, “More tea.”

Talk was ceremonially ended for a space. Any organization of thoughts had to be suspended in favor of reflection and calm for the space of a pot or two of tea.

Bren drew a slow breath and revised his own notions of how to proceed—calmly, securely, within a hospitality proven reasonable and reasonably generous. Machigi was, he thought, as worried as a man should be with his region fallen into the hands of its longtime adversary, the northern Guild, and someone proposing, as a condition for solving his difficulty, that he come to a city he did not trust, commit himself to the hospitality of the man who had lately Filed Intent on him, and trust that it was not an elaborate plot the aiji-dowager had contrived to embarrass him and his clan in the view of millions.