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Maati rubbed the point between his eyes with his thu hard to keep his annoyance at bay He shouldn&039;t have spoken to the boy, but now that he had, there was nothing for it
"Your anger-" he began, but Ceh people&039;s lives, Maati-kvo You&039;re hanging the about the upstart"
"Whose lives?"
"The lives of people he would kill"
"&039;There is no risk from Otah-kvo You don&039;t understand"
"&039;T&039;hen teach e Maati felt the blood rising to his cheeks even as histo it, some reason for the violence and frustration of it, that didn&039;te
"I&039;ll ask five days Trust me for five days, and I will show you proof Will that do?"
He saw the struggle in Cehht, to spread the news across the city that Otah Machi lived And then the respect for his elders that had been ground into him from his first day in the school and for all the years since he&039;d taken the brown robes they shared Maati waited, forcing himself to patience And in the end, Cehmai nodded once, turned, and stalked away
Five days, Maati thought, shaking his head I wonder what I thought to e in that time I should have asked for ten
THE RAINS CAME IN THE EARLY EVENING: LIGHTNING AND THE BLUE-GRAY bellies of cloudbank The first few drops sounded like stones, and then the clouds broke with a sudden pounding-thousands of s Otah sat in theand looked out at the courtyard as puddles appeared and danced white and clear The trees twisted and shifted under gusts of wind and the weight of water The little storms rarely lasted more than a hand and a half, but in that ti young, when everything had been full and torrential and brief He wished now that he had the skill to draw this brief landscape before the clouds passed and it was gone There was so
"You&039;re looking better"
Otah shifted, glancing back into the roo hair slicked down by the rain, his robes sodden Otah took a welco pose as the co as he caain One would think you&039;d been eating, perhaps even walking around a bit"
"I feel better," Otah said "That&039;s truth"
"I didn&039;t doubt you would I&039;ve seen h just fine They&039;ve found your corpse, by the way Identified it as you, just as we&039;d hoped There are already half a hundred stories about how that came to be, and none of them near the truth Amiit-cha is quite pleased, I think"
"I suppose it&039;s worth being pleased over," Otah said
"You don&039;t seem overjoyed"
"Someone killed my father and my brothers and placed the blame on me It just seems an odd time to celebrate"
Sinja didn&039;t answer this, and for a moment, the two ain "Who was he? The man with my tattoo? Where did you find him?"
"He wasn&039;t the sort of man the world will miss," Sinja said "Aed to purchase his indenture fro him"
"What had he done?"
"I don&039;t know Killed someone Raped a puppy Whatever soothes your conscience, he did that"
"You really don&039;t care"
"No," Sinja agreed "And perhaps that makes me a bad person, but since I don&039;t care about that, either "
He took a pose of completion, as if he had finished a demonstration Otah nodded, then looked away
"Too many people die over this," Otah said "Too many lives wasted It&039;s an idiot syste You should see a real war There is no bigger waste than that"
"You have? Seen war, I ht in the Westlands Sometiainst the noh to pose a real threat And then when the Galts decide to coh opportunity there"
A distant Hash of lightning lit the trees, and then a breath later, a growl of thunder Otah reached his hand out, letting the cool drops wet his palm
"What&039;s it like?" he asked
"War? Violent Brutish, stupid Unnecessary, as often as not But I like the part where in"
Otah chuckled
"You see at you, but for a man pulled from certain death, you don&039;t see weighing on you?"
"Have you even been to Yalakeht?"
"No, too far east for ates on the mouths of their side streets that they close and lock every night And there&039;s a tower in the harbor with a peruides ships in the darkness In Chaburi-Tan, the street children play a gaet just within shouting distance, strung out all through the streets, and then one will start singing, and the next will call the song on to the next after hier with all thenew They can go on for hours I stayed in a lon halfway between Lachi and Shosheyn-Tan where they served a stew of se and pepper rice that was the best meal I&039;ve ever had And the eastern islands
"I was a fisherman out there for a few years A very bad one, butbut I spent ainst ed color with the day and the weather The salt cracked reased cloth on my hands I think I&039;ll miss that the most"
"Cracked palms?"
"The sea I think that will be the worst of it"
Sinja shifted The rain intensified and then slackened as suddenly as it had cohter The pools of water danced less
"The sea hasn&039;t gone anywhere," Sinja said
"No, but I have I&039;ve gone to the mountains And I don&039;t expect I&039;ll ever leave theer when I became a courier I arned But I hadn&039;t understood it until now It&039;s the proble too much of it You can only live in one place at a time And eventually, you pick your spot, and the hosts"
Sinja nodded, taking a pose that expressed his understanding Otah smiled, and wondered what memories the commander carried with him From the distance in his eyes, it couldn&039;t all have been blood and terror So
"You&039;ve decided, then," Sinja said "A he&039;d need to speak with you about the issue soon Things will be &039;s done"
"I know And yes, I&039;ve decided"
"Would you mind if I asked why you chose to stay?"
Otah turned and let himself down into the room He took tls from the cabinet and poured the deep red wine into both before he answered Sinja took the one he was offered and drank half at a swig Utah sat on the table, his feet on the scat of the bench and swirled the red of the wine against the bone white of the bowl
"Someone killed my father and nay brothers"
"You didn&039;t know them," Sinja said "Don&039;t tell me this is love"
"They killed my old family I)o you think they&039;d hesitate to killhis howl in salute "The gods all knoon&039;t be easy As long as the utkhaic you&039;re accused of, they&039;ll kill you first and crown you after You&039;ll have to find who did the thing and feed them to the crowds, and even then half of theuilty and clever But if you don&039;t do the thingNo, I think you&039;re right The options are live in fear or take the world by the balls You can be the Khai Nlachi, or you can be the Khai Machi&039;s victim I don&039;t see a third way"
"I&039;ll take the first And I&039;ll be glad about it It&039;s only
"Youyour boyhood behind"
"I wouldn&039;t have thought I was still just a boy"
"It doesn&039;t matter what you&039;ve done or seen Every man&039;s a child until he&039;s a father It&039;s the way the world&039;s made"
Otah raised his brows and took a pose of (Iuery only slightly hampered by the bowl of wine
"Oh yes, several," Sinja said "So far the mothers haven&039;t met one another, so that&039;s all for the best But your woman? Kiyan-cha?"
Otah nodded
"I traveled with her for a time," Sinja said "I&039;ve never met another like her, and I&039;ve known more than my share of wo your prick off for half the year up here in the north"
"Are you telling , half serious
"I&039; up the sea for," Sinja said He finished the last of his wine, spun the bowl on the table, and then clapped Otah&039;s shoulder Otah aze for a moment before Sinja turned and strode out Otah looked into the wine bowl again, srapes hot froh, and the green of the trees and blue of the sky where it peeked past the gray and white and yellow clouds showed vibrant as so neashed
Their quarters were down a short corridor, and then through a thin wooden door on leather hinges halfway to wearing through Kiyan lay on the cot, the netting pulled around her to keep the gnats and ently beside her, watching her eyes flutter and her lips take up a s," she said, sleep slurring the words
"Sinja-cha ca," he said, and kissed her te about the sea"
CEHMAI CLOSED THE DOOR OF THE POET&039;S HOUSE AGAIN AND STARTED PACing the length of the room The storm in the back of his mind was hardly aat the empty, cold brazier, looked up Its face showed a mild interest
"Trees still there?" the andat asked