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"I know The midwife offered them to me Would youI mean, is that what you would have wanted?"

"No! Only II&039;d thought you wouldn&039;t give up what you had Your father&039;s wayhouse I don&039;t know that I have ive you I was a dead man until a little before dawn today But if you want "

"I wouldn&039;t have left the wayhouse for you, &039;Tani It&039;s where I grew up It&039;s ive it up for a ht you told me who your father was But for the both of you Or really, even just for her That&039;s a harder question"

"Her?"

"Or him," Kiyan said "Whichever But I suppose that puts the decision in your hands now The last time I saw you, I turned you out ofyou into so you&039;d rather not I&039;ve ue or the wine, but it took Otah the space of two or three breaths to understand what she was saying lie felt the grin draw hack the corners of his mouth until they nearly ached

"I want you to be with me, Kiyan-kya I want you to always be with me And the baby too If I have to flee to the Westlands and herd sheep, I want you both with me"

Kiyan breathed in deeply, and let the breath out with a rough stutter He hadn&039;t seen how unsure she&039;d been until nohen the relief relaxed her face She took his hand and squeezed it until he thought both of their bones were creaking

"That&039;s good That&039;s very good I would have been" laughter entered her voice "very disappointed"

A knock at the door startled thelanced fro pair to the other His face took a stern expression

"You told him," Sinja said "You should at least let the s like that He&039;s had a hard day"

"He&039;s been up to the task," Kiyan said

"Well, I&039;ve cos worse We&039;ve just had a runner from the city, Otah-cha It appears you&039;ve murdered your father in his sleep Your brother Danat led a hunting party bent on bringing back your head on a stick, but apparently you&039;ve killed hi out of family, Otah-cha"

"Ah," Otah said, and then a moment later "I think perhaps I should lie do"

They burned the Khai Machi and his son together in the yard outside the temple The head priest wore his hale robes, the hood pulled low over his eyes in respect, and tended the flames Thick, black sh above the city A~Iachi had woken froun, and Cehmai saw it in every face he passed A thousand of them at least stood in the afternoon sun Shock and sorrow, confusion and fear

And exciteht eyes and sharp ears oftheh the funereal throng for the one familiar face ldaan had to be there, but he could not find her

The lower priests also passed through the crowds, singing dirges and beating the dry notes of drums Slaves in ceremonially torn robes passed out tin cups of bittcrcd water (,&039;China] ignored theht until the ashes of the uishable And then a week&039;s rim or secretly pleased, would meet and decide which of their nu on the dead fa the hunt for the man who had murdered his own father Cehmai found himself unable to care particularly on or lost, whether the upstart was caught or escaped So all these mourners was the woman he&039;d come to love, in more pain than she had ever been in since he&039;d known her And he-he who could topple towers at a whim and make mountains flow like floodwater-couldn&039;t find her

Instead, he found Maati in brown poet&039;s robes standing on a raised ay that overlooked the e of the cere in Maati&039;s fixed eyes Cehmai almost didn&039;t approach him, almost didn&039;t speak &039;T&039;here was a darkness wrapped around the poet But it was possible he had been there froht knohere Idaan was Ceh which Maati did not return

"Maati-kvo?"

Maati looked over first at Cehain at the fire After a ust

"Not kvo Never kvo I haven&039;t taught you anything, so don&039;t address "

"Otah was very convincing," Cehht he would-"

"Not about that He didn&039;t do this BaarathGods, why did it have to be Baarath that saw it? Prancing, self-i "

Maati fu deep, joyless drink from it He wiped his mouth with the back of a hand, then held the skin out in offering Cehmai declined Maati offered it to the andat, but Stone-blade-Soft only sht it was someone in the family One of his brothers It had to be Who else would benefit? I was stupid"

"Forgive me, N,laati-kvo But no one did benefit"

"One of the out at theto he the new Khai He&039;ll tell you what to do, and you&039;ll do it He&039;ll live in the high palaces, and everyone else in the city will lick his ass if he tells them to That&039;s what it&039;s all about Who has to lick whose ass And there&039;s blood enough to fill a river answering that" He took another long pull froround at his feet "I hate all of theht and conversational

"You&039;re drunk, Maati-kvo"

"Not half enough Here, look at this You knohat this is?"

Cehlanced at the object Maati had pulled from his sleeve

"A book"

"This is my teacher&039;s masterwork Heshai-kvo, poet of Saraykeht The Dai-kvo sent oing to study under hi-the-Part-ihat-Continues We called him Seedless This is Heshai-kvo&039;s exa Every i, if he&039;d had it to do over again It&039;s brilliant"

"But it can&039;t work, can it?" Cehmai said "It would he too close"

"Of course not, it&039;s a refineain It&039;s a record of his failure I)o you understand what I&039;ht answer to the question and ended with honesty

"No," he said

"Heshai-kvo was a drunkard He was a failure He was haunted his whole life by the woman he loved and the child he lost, and everyI Ic iined the andat as the perfect ined such a h to look his h to sit with it and catalog it and understand And the I)ai-kvo sent ht I would understand hih to stand in his place"

"Nlaati-kvo, I&039; the question as he swayed slightly and frowned at the crowd "I can face my stupidities just as well as he did The I)ai-kvo wants to knoho killed Biitrah? I&039;ll find out He can tell me it&039;s too late and he can tellWhoever gets that chairwhoever gets it "

Maati frowned, confused for asob shook him He leaned forward Cehmai moved to him, certain for a moment that Maati was about to pitch off the ay and down to the distant ground, but instead the older poet gathered hi an ass of "

Cehmai was torn for a moment He could see the red that lined Maati&039;s eyes, could smell the sick reek of distilled wine on his breath and so mixed with the wine Someone needed to see Maati back to his apartht, Cehmai would have done it

"Idaan," he said "Sheher brother and her father She had to attend the cerereed "I saw her"

"Where&039;s she gone?"

"With her man, I think He was there beside her," Maati said "I don&039;t knohere they went"

"Are you going to he all right, Maati-kvo?"

Nlaati seemed to think about this, then nodded once and turned hack to watch the pyre burning The brown leather hook had fallen to the ground by the wineskin, and the andat retrieved it and put it back in Maati&039;s sleeve As they walked away, Cehmai took a pose of query

"I didn&039;t think he&039;d want to lose it," the andat said

"So that was a favor to him?" Cehmai said Stone-Made-Soft didn&039;t reply They walked toward the women&039;s quarters and Idaan&039;s aparti&039;s palace He would say he was there to offer condolences to Idaan-cha That it was his duty as poet and representative of the Dai-kvo to offer condolences to Idaan Machi on this i would be chewing their own livers out They&039;d contracted to marry their son to the Khai 1MIachi&039;s sister Now she was no one&039;s faement," Stone-Made-Soft said "It isn&039;t as if anyone would blame them She could come live with us"

"You can be quiet now," Cehmai said

At Idaan&039;s quarters, the servant boy reported that Idaan-cha had been there, but had gone Yes, Adrah-cha had been there as well, but he had also gone The unease in the boy&039;s manner hting, those two It was despicable, but it was there: the desire that he and not Adrah Vaunyogi be the one to coi A servant led hi cloth fragrant from the cedar chests in which it had been stored The chairs and statuary, s and floors were all swathed in white rags that candlelightout at the courtyard while Cehmai sat on the front handspan of a seat Every breath he took herehad been a i stepped in His shoulders rode high and tight, his lips thin as a line drawn on paper Ceh which Adrah mirrored before he closed the door

"I&039; forward slowly, as if unsure what precisely he was approaching Ceh "My father is occupied But perhaps I ht be able to help you?"

"You&039;re most kind I came to offer my sympathies to ldaan-cha I had heard she ith you, and so "

"No She was, but she&039;s left Perhaps she went back to the ceremony" Adrah&039;s voice was distant, as if only half his attention was on the conversation His eyes, however, were fixed on Cehmai like a snake on a mouse, only Cehmai wasn&039;t sure which of them would be the mouse, which the serpent

"I will look there," Cehmai said "I didn&039;t mean to disturb you"

"We are always pleased by an audience with the poet of Machi Wait Don&039;tdon&039;t go Sit with me a moment"

Stone-Made-Soft didn&039;t shift, but Cehmai could feel its interest and a-covered chair Adrah pulled a stool near to him, nearer than custom required It was as if Adrah wanted to ether Cehmai kept his face as placid as the andat&039;s

"The city is in terrible trouble, Cehet When it&039;s only the three sons of the Khai, it&039;s bad enough But with all the utkhaice to the city

"I&039;d thought about that," Cehh in truth he caredweeks would bring "And there&039;s still the problem of Otah He has a claim "

"He&039;s murdered his own father"

"Have we proven that?"

"You doubt that he did the thing?"

"No," Cehmai said after a moment&039;s pause "No, I don&039;t" Rrit,lfaati- kt o still does

"It would be best to end this quickly To naet out of control You are a man of tremendous power I know the Dai-kvo takes no sides in matters of succession But if you were to let it be known that you favored so any fors easier"

"Only if I backed a house that was prepared to win," Cehmai said "If I chose poorly, I&039;d throw some poor unprepared family in with the pit hounds"

"My family is ready We are well respected, we have partners in all the great trading houses, and the silversmiths and ironworkers are closer to us than to any other fa in the city Her brothers will never be Khai Machi, but soht"

Ceh for political backing, unaware that Cehmai knew the shape and taste of his lover&039;s body as well as he did It likely was in his power to elevate Adrah Vaunyogi to the ranks of the Khaiem He wondered if it hat Idaan would want

"That may be wise," Cehmai said "I would need to think about it, of course, before I could act"

Adrah put his hand on Cehmai&039;s knee, familiar as if they were brothers The andattoward the door, and then Ceh The ahter that only Cehmai could hear