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"I don&039;t know," Baraath said, his whisper turning peevish "That&039;s what Maati-cha and I are trying to find out"
"Well, once you&039;ve gone through your collection and found nothing, the two of you can coh mine"
"That would take years!"
"I&039;ll make sure they&039;re well kept until then," Cehmai said "Have you spoken with the Khai about his private collection?"
"Who&039;d want that? It&039;s all copies of contracts and agreeo Unless it&039;s the ht Anyone ants that, let theood books The philosophy, the grammars, the studies of the andat"
"It&039;s a hard life you lead," Cehant prig," Baraath said "Everyone knows it, but I&039;e to say it to your face Arrogant and selfish and so over to the library It isn&039;t as if it was that long a walk"
Baraath&039;s face brightened for a moment, then, as the insincerity of the comment came clear, squeezed as if he&039;d taken a bite of fresh lery duck, he rose up and stalked fro
"He&039;s a terrible person," the andat said
"I know But he&039;s a friend of ood ones do," the andat said, its tone an agree of?"
Stone-Made-Soft didn&039;t speak Cehmai let the warer Then he too rose, the water sluicing fro rooms He dried himself with a fresh cloth and found his robes, newly cleaned and dry The other hed Cehmai was reeted him In this quiet season, there was little work for his organized by the young htly of ashes, and the brightest songs seemed tinny and false Somewhere in the city, under her brother&039;s watchful eye, the woman he&039;d sworn to protect was locked away He adjusted his robes in thethe expression like a party ht of his decision
He left the bathhouse, following a broad, low tunnel to the east where it would join a larger passage, one of the midwinter roads, which in turn ran beneath the trees outside the poet&039;s house before it broke into a thousand th of the passage,An old es froirls he&039;d seen in the bathhouse had been joined by youngin the ti by the wall, looking out over all of it, silently judging what it would take to bring the roof down and bury theed at the andat Still s, Stone-Made-Soft rose and a toyou all the time ere in the baths"
"Perhaps it was Baraath she was looking at," Cehmai said
"You think so?" the andat said "I suppose he&039;s a decent looking man And many women are overcoht"
"Don&039;t," Cehain"
So like real syle at the back of Cehmai&039;s mind neither worsened nor diminished as Stone-Made-Soft&039;s broad hand reached out to rest on his shoulder
"Enough," it said "You did what you had to do, and whipping yourself noon&039;t help you or her Let&039;s gosweetcakes Othere&039;ll only go back to the rooht"
Cehirl farthest to the left-her long, dark hair unbound, her robes well cut and the green of jadecaught his eyes, and blushing, looked away He had seen her before, he realized She was beautiful, and he did not know her name
"Perhaps another day," he said
"There are only so entle "I enerations, but you littleyourself It&039;s been months"
"One more day I&039;ll bite myself for one hed and dropped its hand to its side Ceh into the dim tunnels He felt the te his departure and if she hat expression she wore He kept his eyes on the path before him and the moment passed
THE KHAI MACHI HAD NO OTHER NAME NOW THAT HE HAI) TAKEN HIS FAther&039;s office It had been stripped from him in forods and the E beyond this trust hich he had been charged Otah had forced his way through the cere at both the waste of time and the institutional requireu, Otah Machi, and the Khai Machi, the last was the one least in his heart But he illing to pretend to have no other self and the utkhaie to pretend to believe hiame And so when the rare occasion arose when he could do so with consequences, he found hi it more perhaps than it deserved
The e to convince hih," he said, "I came here as soon as our ambassadors sent word that they&039;d been expelled It was a long journey, and winter travel&039;s difficult in the north I had hoped that we could address your concerns and "
Otah took a pose that commanded silence, then sat back on the black lacquer chair that had grown no more comfortable in the months since he&039;d first taken it He switched froue to Galtic It see, to enerals and lords of Gait are so interested inwhat? Addressingso quickly, even when I&039;d made it clear that you were not particularly welcoiven offense"
"Not at all," Otah said, s "Since you&039;ve coh Council how precarious their position is with me The Dai-kvo has been alerted to all I&039;ve learned, and he shares my opinion and my policy"
"But I-"
"I know the role your people played in the succession And more than that, I knohat happened in Saraykeht Your nation survives now on my sufferance If word reaches me of one more intervention in the matters of the cities of the Khaiem or the poets or the andat, I ipe your people from the memory of the world"
The e about as if there was a ritten soates of his diplomacy Otah let the silence press at hied at last
"Then go home," Otah said, "and repeat what I&039;ve told you to your overseer and then to his, and keep doing so until you find soh Council, you&039;ll have gone far enough"
"I&039;m sure if you&039;ll just tell h, there ht"
Otah pressed his steepled fingers to his lips For a moment, he reles tinder his own hand He remei and the screams and cries of his sister as her husband and his father ht," he said, letting his weariness show in his voice "I wish that you could"
"But the contractsI can&039;t go back without soh If you want h credibility that anyone will hear it"
"I can&039;t help you," Otah said "Take the letter I&039;ve given you and go home Now"
As he turned and left the room, the letter in his hand sewn shut and sealed, the Galt esture, the servants followed the ereat bronze doors closed behind the him alone in the audience chaht breath of air The charcoal in the iron braziers glowed, orange within white He pressed his hands to his eyes He was tired, terribly tired And there was so much more to be done
He heard the scrape of the servant&039;s door behind hi ofwith a sound like sand on stone Sinja took a pose of greeting
"You sent for ain," Otah said