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Authors: J.S. Bangs
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the south side of the city. Twenty-seven years old, unmarried, of a pristine and pious Uluriya family. I wished to invite him to the estate in the next week, though you’re leaving now…. Perhaps I will invite him anyway.”
“Father, please don’t compel me—”
“Compel you?” He laughed. “Mandhi, I lost the power to compel you when you were still a girl. No, no, I would merely present you with the chance to meet him. But you were so eager to marry earlier.”
“I… I was. I mean, I am. But I was afraid, that you had arranged something, or would arrange something while I am gone.”
“I will arrange nothing without your consent. You have borne more than half of the burden of being Heir for years, and I owe you at least that respect. And there is the matter of my identity. Any man who would marry you would have to know that I am the Heir, and would respect the star-iron ring on your finger. Should Navran fail to fulfill his duties as Heir, the next Heir might come through you anyway. This man obviously knows none of this, and I would need to examine him more closely myself before telling him. But still, would you meet with him when you return?”
Her tongue felt like a serpent in her mouth, unwilling to bend itself to form words. She couldn’t say
yes
, but what pretext did she have to say no?
Navran
, she thought bitterly. If only he were a competent Heir, her marriage to Taleg might be forgiven. But if not… perhaps she could hope, along with her father, that seeing Sadja and Gocam would change him. “When I return, we’ll see,” she said.
An idea sparked in her mind: “Perhaps you could arrange for this man to meet with Srithi. She knows me, and she could at least give an impression, both to you and to me. And perhaps when we have heard from Sadja in Davrakhanda things will change.” And this way Srithi would be able to manufacture some excuse to reject the man with less loss of face than Mandhi would endure. She might not appreciate being put upon in this way, but it would do.
“I don’t see how Sadja-dar’s invitation could change anything, unless you expect him to marry you.” Cauratha looked at Mandhi with an expectant expression, then shook his head. “Ah, that was meant to be a joke, but I see from your face that it has failed. I lack Taleg’s talent for them. You always laugh at his.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. And don’t worry. I’ll go no farther with matchmaking until you return from Davrakhanda. But as for Navran—here, let me give you the letter from Gocam that first sent us looking for him. Perhaps he would like to read it. I want you to consider whether we should reveal the truth of his inheritance to him.”
Mandhi pursed her lips. “I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“Navran
must
know before he meets Sadja-dar. I must assume that Sadja-dar knows, somehow, and that the meeting will hinge on this knowledge, so Navran cannot go into it with less knowledge than you and Taleg have. Do you understand?”
She had not considered the consequences of the meeting with Sadja, though once her father said it, the necessity was obvious. “I’ll tell him,” she said. “Before we get to Davrakhanda. I’m not happy about it, because I don’t think he’s to be trusted, but I’ll do it.”
5
The city of Jaitha clung like a barnacle to the south shore of the Amsadhu river. From atop the river bluffs, the entire city stretched before them, running from the black marshy shores of the river to the feet of the bluffs and beginning to climb the slopes. In its center, hidden behind red stone walls, clustered the old city’s houses, markets, wharves, and temples, which stood on stilts to save themselves from the annual flooding. Encrustations of slums and warehouses and markets accumulated around the walls. Near the eastern tip of the city, at the farthest point from them, the Emperor’s Bridge stretched like a chain of white marble across the wide, shallow
“Father, please don’t compel me—”
“Compel you?” He laughed. “Mandhi, I lost the power to compel you when you were still a girl. No, no, I would merely present you with the chance to meet him. But you were so eager to marry earlier.”
“I… I was. I mean, I am. But I was afraid, that you had arranged something, or would arrange something while I am gone.”
“I will arrange nothing without your consent. You have borne more than half of the burden of being Heir for years, and I owe you at least that respect. And there is the matter of my identity. Any man who would marry you would have to know that I am the Heir, and would respect the star-iron ring on your finger. Should Navran fail to fulfill his duties as Heir, the next Heir might come through you anyway. This man obviously knows none of this, and I would need to examine him more closely myself before telling him. But still, would you meet with him when you return?”
Her tongue felt like a serpent in her mouth, unwilling to bend itself to form words. She couldn’t say
yes
, but what pretext did she have to say no?
Navran
, she thought bitterly. If only he were a competent Heir, her marriage to Taleg might be forgiven. But if not… perhaps she could hope, along with her father, that seeing Sadja and Gocam would change him. “When I return, we’ll see,” she said.
An idea sparked in her mind: “Perhaps you could arrange for this man to meet with Srithi. She knows me, and she could at least give an impression, both to you and to me. And perhaps when we have heard from Sadja in Davrakhanda things will change.” And this way Srithi would be able to manufacture some excuse to reject the man with less loss of face than Mandhi would endure. She might not appreciate being put upon in this way, but it would do.
“I don’t see how Sadja-dar’s invitation could change anything, unless you expect him to marry you.” Cauratha looked at Mandhi with an expectant expression, then shook his head. “Ah, that was meant to be a joke, but I see from your face that it has failed. I lack Taleg’s talent for them. You always laugh at his.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. And don’t worry. I’ll go no farther with matchmaking until you return from Davrakhanda. But as for Navran—here, let me give you the letter from Gocam that first sent us looking for him. Perhaps he would like to read it. I want you to consider whether we should reveal the truth of his inheritance to him.”
Mandhi pursed her lips. “I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“Navran
must
know before he meets Sadja-dar. I must assume that Sadja-dar knows, somehow, and that the meeting will hinge on this knowledge, so Navran cannot go into it with less knowledge than you and Taleg have. Do you understand?”
She had not considered the consequences of the meeting with Sadja, though once her father said it, the necessity was obvious. “I’ll tell him,” she said. “Before we get to Davrakhanda. I’m not happy about it, because I don’t think he’s to be trusted, but I’ll do it.”
5
The city of Jaitha clung like a barnacle to the south shore of the Amsadhu river. From atop the river bluffs, the entire city stretched before them, running from the black marshy shores of the river to the feet of the bluffs and beginning to climb the slopes. In its center, hidden behind red stone walls, clustered the old city’s houses, markets, wharves, and temples, which stood on stilts to save themselves from the annual flooding. Encrustations of slums and warehouses and markets accumulated around the walls. Near the eastern tip of the city, at the farthest point from them, the Emperor’s Bridge stretched like a chain of white marble across the wide, shallow
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