Read Online Irona 700 by Dave Duncan - Free Book Online Page B

you, and so far you look most promising.”
    Komev’s flush turned as red as his hair. He began loading food into a silver bowl with both hands. His idea of what he would need was astounding.
    â€œThey’re starting,” Irona said from the window as the first brass disk went slithering away down the chute. “Does the goddess ever choose one of the early birds?”
    â€œShe is reputed to have chosen the very first in line a century or so ago,” Ledacos said.
    Whether that was true or not, Komev believed him. Grabbing up his bowl and the 702 collar, he tore out of the room to wait downstairs for the next Chosen.
    â€œCome and eat,” Ledacos said. “Our young friend overlooked a few scraps. We may be here for hours. You kept us waiting long enough.”
    â€œMe?” She returned to the table.
    â€œTwo years ago. I was here with Trodelat all day.”
    He did not quite roll his eyes, but she pretended that he had.
    â€œMy tutor, or former tutor, is not a stuffed walrus! I am quite certain of that, because I have helped skin walruses.”
    He laughed. “Goddess preserve us, what a horrible thought! No, but she does pall after a few hours. By the way, I have never seen anyone look more surprised than you did when you were Chosen.”
    â€œLikely not,” she said carefully.
    He studied her for a moment, that clever-clever mind analyzing. “You thought that the Dvure boy was supposed to be the one and the girl fainting spoiled the plot. But what plot, Irona? How could they rig the choosing?”
    â€œI have no idea.” To put her suspicions into words would accuse her own father of using a fix.
    Ledacos shrugged. “One day I hope you will trust me enough to tell me.”
    â€œOne day I may understand why the goddess wanted an ignorant girl for her Seventy.”
    â€œTo sit on her Navy Board. I was elected to Navy two years ago because my father was a sailor who earned distinction in the Battle of Byakal-Krida. But he had been a rower in a galley, and when I knew him, he was a mere carpenter. Still is, by the way. Have you been home yet?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œSend someone to make inquiries first. Otherwise you may be shocked by the changes. Or more shocked by what hasn’t changed. And don’t make the mistake some Chosen make, of snatching their families up from poverty and installing them in mansions. Better just to send them regular money so they can live where they’ve always lived and lord it over their neighbors.”
    Irona thought her family would much rather not remind any of their neighbors that they had a daughter among the Seventy. The Seventy collected taxes.
    â€œTalking of mansions,” Ledacos remarked, “you need a home of your own now.”
    â€œI know I do.” As long as she lived with Trodelat, Trodelat would try to manage her. Now her new patron was starting to do so.
    â€œAnd a staff to run it. Even the most junior member of the Navy Board is expected to do some entertaining.”
    Horror upon horror! Already she worried about the workload she had taken on and all the preparatory learning it would need. She was appalled to think of the labor involved in choosing a home, hiring servants, training them. She would need a majordomo to run the place, and the thought of someone like Captain Jamarko in her bed made her feel physically sick. She rose from the table and went over to the windows to stare down unseeing at the boys and girls filing by, and the new-fledged citizens running to the exit stairs.
    Ledacos had followed her, for his voice came from close behind.
    â€œPodnelbi 681 is dying. Source Water does nothing for him now. His tide will ebb before tomorrow’s dawn.”
    â€œThat’s very sad,” she muttered, not looking around. What was her patron hinting at?
    â€œHis home and all its contents revert to the Property Commission. The Sebrat House—do you know it? The