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Back in the garden, they sank the blades and the cloaks in a fountain to lie subht and get rid of theone, they all reeked of smoke She hadn&039;t foreseen that either Neither of thestories to the utkhaieave her farewells to Daaya Vaunyogi Adrah walked with her hack through the evening-died struck her as odd She couldn&039;t say what she had expected-what the day&039;s events should have done to the stones, the air-but that it should all be the sa, and dropped a length of silver into the lacquered box at his feet

At the entrance to her rooms, she sent her servants away She did not wish to be attended They would assume she smelled of sex, and best that she let theht She could see the distress in his eyes

"You had to," he said, and she wondered if he meant to coree to embrace her

"Don&039;t touch me," she said, and he stepped hack, paused, lowered his ar die behind his eyes, and felt so wither in her own breast So this is e are, she thought

"Things were good once," he said, as if willing her to say and they will be again The ood once She had wanted and adht love him She wasn&039;t sure

The pain in his expression was unbearable Idaan leaned forward, kissed him briefly on the lips, and went inside to wash the day off her skin She heard his footsteps as he walked away

Her body felt wrung out and e for her, but the thought of food was foreign Gifts had arrived throughout the day-celebrations of her being sold off She ignored the her hair three times before it smelled more of flowers than smoke, that she found the note

It rested on her bed, a square of paper folded in quarters She sat naked beside it, reached out a hand, hesitated, and then plucked it open It was brief, written in an unsteady hand

Daughter, it said I had hoped that you ht be able to spend some part of this happy day with s and such love as a weary old hted me, and I hope for your happiness in thishad exhausted her, Idaan carefully gathered the scraps of the note together and placed theether under her pillow Then she bowed and prayed to all the gods and with all her heart that her father should die, and die quickly That he should die without discovering what she was

MAATI WAS LOST FOR A TIME IN PAIN, THEN DISCOMFORT, AND THEN PAIN again He didn&039;t suffer dreaoal or forh for a time he had the powerful impression that he was on a boat, rocked by waves His mind fell apart and reformed itself at the will of his body

He caht, aware that he had been half awake for some time; that there had been conversations in which he had participated, though he couldn&039;t say hom or on whatthat it belonged to the Khai&039;s palace No fire burned in the grate, but the stone walls ith stored sunlight The ere shuttered with shaped stone, the only light coht candle that had burned almost to its quarter mark Maati pulled back the thin blankets and considered the puckered gray flesh of his wound and the dark silk that laced it closed He pressed his belly gently with his fingertips until he thought he kne delicate he had becoht pot, he found he had underesti that he could not empty his bladder After, he pulled himself back into bed, exhausted He intended only to close his eyes for a th, but when he opened the

He had nearly resolved to walk fro table near the hen a slave entered and announced that the poet Cehmai and the andat Stone-Made-Soft would see him if he wished Maati nodded and sat up carefully

The poet arrived with a wide plate of rice and river fish in a sauce that s of water so cold it made the stone sweat Maati&039;s stoht

"You&039;re looking better, Maati-kvo" the young poet said, putting the plate on the bed The andat pulled two chairs close to the bed and sat in one, its face calm and empty

"I looked worse than this?" Maati asked "I wouldn&039;t have thought that possible How long has it been?"

"Four days The injury brought on a fever But when they poured onion soup down you, the wound didn&039;t sht live after all"

Maati lifted a spoon of fish and rice to his mouth It tasted divine

"I think I have you to thank for that," Maati said "My recollection isn&039;t all it could be, but "

"I was following you," Ceh a pose of contrition "I was curious about your investigations"

"Yes I suppose I should have been more subtle"

"The assassin was killed yesterday"

Maati took another bite of fish

"Executed?"

"Disposed of," the andat said and smiled

Cehmai told the story The fire in the tunnels, the deaths of the guards The other prisoners said that there had been three men in black cloaks, that they had rushed in, killed the assassin, and vanished Two others had choked to death on the s the utkhaiem is that you discovered Utah Machi The Master of Tides&039; assistant said that you&039;d been angry with hi a courier from Udun Then the attack on you, and the fire They say the Khai Machi sent for you to hunt hisson, Utah"

"Part true," Maati said "I was sent to look for Otah I knew hier But I haven&039;t found hi else It wasn&039;t Otah"

"You said that," the andat rumbled "When we found you, you said it was someone else"

"Otah-kvo wouldn&039;t have done it Not that way Hesomeone else to do it? No He wasn&039;t behind that," Maati said, and then the consequence of that fell into place "And so I think he must not have been the one who killed Biitrah"

Ceh poet drew a bowl of water for Maati The water was as good as the food, but Maati could see the unease in the way Cehmai looked at him If he had ached less or been farther froht have been subtle

"What is it?" Maati asked

Cehhed

"You call him Otah-kvo"

"He was my teacher At the school, he was in the black robes when I was new arrived Hehelped ain When you were older"

"Did I?" Maati asked

Cehiveness "The Dai-kvo would hardly have trusted a memory that old You were both children at the school We were all children there You knew him when you were both men, yes?"

"Yes," Maati said "He was in Saraykeht whenwhen Heshai-kvo died"

"And you call him Otah-kvo," Cehmai said "He was a friend of yours, Maati-kvo So your teacher"

"Perhaps But he&039;s stopped being , but it&039;s done"

"I&039;m sorry, Maati-kvo, but are you certain Otah-kvo is innocent because he&039;s innocent, or only because you&039;re certain? It would be hard to accept that an old friend ht wish you ill "

Maati smiled and sipped the water

"Otah Machi may ish me dead I would understand it if he did And he&039;s in the city, or was four days ago But he didn&039;t send the assassin"

"You think he isn&039;t hoping for the Khai&039;s chair?"

"I don&039;t know But I suppose that&039;s so ho it was that killed his brother and started this whole thing rolling"

He took another mouthful of rice and fish, but his mind was elsewhere

"Will you letpoet&039;s face was serious, his hands in a pose of formal supplication It was as if they were back in the school and Ceh a boon of the teachers The andat had its hands folded in its lap, but it seemed mildly amused Before Maati could think of a reply, Cehmai went on

"You aren&039;t well yet, Maati-kvo You&039;re the center of all the court gossip now, and anything you do will be exaht different views before you&039;ve finished doing it I know the city I know the court I can ask questions without arousing suspicion The Dai-kvo didn&039;t choose to take me into his confidence, but now that I knohat&039;s happening-"

"It&039;s too much of a risk," Maati said "The Dal-kvo sent me because I know Otah-kvo, but he also sentYou hold the andat-"

"It&039;s fine with me," Stone-Made-Soft said "Really, don&039;t let me stop you

"If I ask questions without you, I run the same risks, and without the benefits of shared infor me not to wonder would be unrealistic"

"The Khai Machi would expelhis poet," Maati said "And then I wouldn&039;t be of use to anyone

Cehmai&039;s dark eyes were both deadly serious and also, Maati thought, a I&039;ve kept fro poet said "Please, Maati-kvo I want to help"

Maati closed his eyes Having someone to talk with, even if it was only a way to explore what he thought hi The Dai-kvo hadn&039;t expressly forbidden that Cehation had already sent Otah-kvo to flight, so any further subterfuge seemed pointless And the fact was, he likely couldn&039;t find the answers alone

"You have saved ht it would be unfair to point that out," Cehhed, then stopped when the pain in his belly blooain The pillows felt better than they should have He&039;d done so little, and he was already tired He glanced mistrustfully at the andat, then took a pose of acceptance

"Coht, when I&039;ve rested," Maati said "We&039;ll plan our strategy I have to get th hack, but there isn&039;t , Maati-kvo?"

Maati nodded, but his belly seerown more sensitive for the hing wasn&039;t a wise thing for him just now

"Who are Liat and Nayiit?"

"My lover Our son," Maati said "I called out for them, did I? When I had the fever?"

Cehmai nodded

"I do that often," Maati said "Only not usually aloud"

There were four great roads that connected the cities of the Khaiem, one named for each of the cardinal directions The North Road that linked Cetani, Machi, and Amnat-Ian was not the worst, in part because there was no traffic in the winter, when the snows let men make a road wherever desire took theed more by the cycle of thaw and frost that troubled the north only in spring and autuh summer, it rarely froze, and for a third of the year it did not thaw The West Road-far from the sea and not so far south as to keep the winters warm-required the most repair

"They&039;ll have crews of indentured slaves and laborers out in shifts," the old er as if his oratory was on par with the High Emperor&039;s, back when there had been an empire "They start at one end, reset the stones until they reach the other, and begin again It never ends"

Otah glanced across the cart at the young woged so slightly that their orator didn&039;t notice the movement The cart lurched down into and up from another wide hole where the stones had shattered and not yet been replaced

"I have walked theh they&039;ve worn me more than I&039;ve worn them Oh yes, much more than I&039;ve worn them"