Read Online A Feast in Exile by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - Free Book Online
Authors: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Ads: Link
offer him some protection, but the routes there lay through disputed territory, and he had no wish to become embroiled in local wars; the south was filled with rivalries and machinations that exhausted the peoples and led the lords to see enemies at every turn. "So Delhi it is, for now," he said to the empty air.
A moment later a servant appeared in the outer doorway. "Did you summon me, my master?"
Sanat Ji Mani looked up from his place in the pool. "No, Hirsuma, I did not. But thank you for being so alert."
Hirsuma bowed and closed the door.
This time Sanat Ji Mani kept his thoughts to himself; when he rose from the tub a short while later, he had made up his mind on severalpoints and was preparing to put these decisions into action. He used a drying-cloth, pulled on his dalmatica once more, then went to his own rooms to get his sandals with the earth-filled soles and to drop a silver chain studded with rubies around his neck before going to the library to meet with Avasa Dani.
She was seated on a low rosewood chair piled with silken cushions; in her hands she held an open scroll, and she studied it with singular intensity, her concentration so intent that she did not hear him enter the library. When he spoke her name, she looked up sharply, her face darkening slightly. "I'm sorry, Sanat Ji Mani. I did not know you—"
"You have nothing to apologize for, Avasa Dani," he replied as he went to her side. "I did not mean to interrupt you."
She smiled up at him. "Still, I must thank you for your kindness to me, and not just for allowing me to study with you. You are a most generous man. So many would chastise me for failing to do them honor at once." Today she was dressed in gauzy silks the color of Egyptian lapis lazuli, and she wore silver rings on her fingers and had three of them hanging from both of her earlobes.
"So you have told me," he said, returning her smile fleetingly. "Yet you are the more generous of the two of us, I think."
Closing the scroll, she regarded him in bemused satisfaction. "We are not going to argue about this, are we?"
"If it would please you," he replied, and sank down on his knees at her side.
"Oh, my foreign friend, you are much too good to me," she said, a bit of regret in her voice.
"And how can that be?" he asked gently.
"My father would say you have indulged me beyond all reason, if he still lived. I have heard my half-sisters say it." She ran her finger along the edge of the scroll. "You have let me learn anything I wanted to learn."
He rested his hand on her arm. "Why should I not?"
"Because most men would not; it is not seemly for a woman to learn too much," she said, more abruptly than she had intended. "My husband was not entirely pleased when he discovered I was literate and had a gift for numbers. His family is very traditional, and they did not bargain on such a bride for him. But my connections were suchthat they could not refuse the match, and so, we were married." She shrugged. "When he decided to become a monk, a few of his relatives said I had driven him to it."
"Do you think you did?" Sanat Ji Mani could see the trouble in her eyes; he waited for her answer with no sign of impatience.
"Sometimes I do," she admitted. "But mostly I believe it is his Path to be a monk, his karma, and I do not challenge his inclinations, though I do not entirely understand them." She put the scroll aside, onto a table ornamented with lavish inlays of wood making a pattern of flying birds. "He would have liked me to withdraw from the world, but I am no Buddhist, and such an act would have been unacceptable to the Buddhists."
"You say he is amenable to our arrangement," Sanat Ji Mani prompted her.
"Yes. You do not compromise his family or mine. You do not offend those who worship the traditional gods, nor do you offend the Buddhists." She turned her arm
A moment later a servant appeared in the outer doorway. "Did you summon me, my master?"
Sanat Ji Mani looked up from his place in the pool. "No, Hirsuma, I did not. But thank you for being so alert."
Hirsuma bowed and closed the door.
This time Sanat Ji Mani kept his thoughts to himself; when he rose from the tub a short while later, he had made up his mind on severalpoints and was preparing to put these decisions into action. He used a drying-cloth, pulled on his dalmatica once more, then went to his own rooms to get his sandals with the earth-filled soles and to drop a silver chain studded with rubies around his neck before going to the library to meet with Avasa Dani.
She was seated on a low rosewood chair piled with silken cushions; in her hands she held an open scroll, and she studied it with singular intensity, her concentration so intent that she did not hear him enter the library. When he spoke her name, she looked up sharply, her face darkening slightly. "I'm sorry, Sanat Ji Mani. I did not know you—"
"You have nothing to apologize for, Avasa Dani," he replied as he went to her side. "I did not mean to interrupt you."
She smiled up at him. "Still, I must thank you for your kindness to me, and not just for allowing me to study with you. You are a most generous man. So many would chastise me for failing to do them honor at once." Today she was dressed in gauzy silks the color of Egyptian lapis lazuli, and she wore silver rings on her fingers and had three of them hanging from both of her earlobes.
"So you have told me," he said, returning her smile fleetingly. "Yet you are the more generous of the two of us, I think."
Closing the scroll, she regarded him in bemused satisfaction. "We are not going to argue about this, are we?"
"If it would please you," he replied, and sank down on his knees at her side.
"Oh, my foreign friend, you are much too good to me," she said, a bit of regret in her voice.
"And how can that be?" he asked gently.
"My father would say you have indulged me beyond all reason, if he still lived. I have heard my half-sisters say it." She ran her finger along the edge of the scroll. "You have let me learn anything I wanted to learn."
He rested his hand on her arm. "Why should I not?"
"Because most men would not; it is not seemly for a woman to learn too much," she said, more abruptly than she had intended. "My husband was not entirely pleased when he discovered I was literate and had a gift for numbers. His family is very traditional, and they did not bargain on such a bride for him. But my connections were suchthat they could not refuse the match, and so, we were married." She shrugged. "When he decided to become a monk, a few of his relatives said I had driven him to it."
"Do you think you did?" Sanat Ji Mani could see the trouble in her eyes; he waited for her answer with no sign of impatience.
"Sometimes I do," she admitted. "But mostly I believe it is his Path to be a monk, his karma, and I do not challenge his inclinations, though I do not entirely understand them." She put the scroll aside, onto a table ornamented with lavish inlays of wood making a pattern of flying birds. "He would have liked me to withdraw from the world, but I am no Buddhist, and such an act would have been unacceptable to the Buddhists."
"You say he is amenable to our arrangement," Sanat Ji Mani prompted her.
"Yes. You do not compromise his family or mine. You do not offend those who worship the traditional gods, nor do you offend the Buddhists." She turned her arm
Similar Books
