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"I can&039;t do this," Liat said over the splash of floater "There&039;s toofloor was outside the barracks: a stone platform with an open pipe above it and a drain below Itani stood naked in the flow, his hair plastered flat, scrubbing his hands and arms with pumice

The sun, still likely three or four hands above the horizon, was nonetheless lost behind the buildings of the warehouse district Now they were in shadow; soon it would be night Liat on her bench leaned against the ivy-covered wall, plucking at the thick, waxy leaves

"A half-done," she went on "The contracts with Old Sanya Hoas I to know they hadn&039;t been returned to him? It isn&039;t as if she told me to run them there And the shipoing to be three weeks with the third warehouse standing half-eoes wrong, Wilsin-chahe doesn&039;t say anything, but he keeps looking atI embarrass him"

Itani stepped out from the artificial waterfall His hands and arms were a dirty blue outlined in red where he had rubbed the skin al dye to the dye yard, and all of them were ernails, she knew from experience, would look as if they were dirty until the dyes wore off Itto you?" Itani asked, wiping the water off his ar A for the audience with the Khai besides"

"Ipoorly? Or is it only your own standards that aren&039;t being met?"

Liat felt herself flush, but took a pose of query Itani frowned and pulled on fresh robes The cloth clung to his legs

"Youbefore the Khai in his naine he&039;d wish for that?"

"I mean, is it possible that your expectations of yourself are higher than his? You&039;ve been put in this position without warning, and without the chance to prepare yourself with Amat-cha Hold that invery well Wilsin-cha knows all that too If he isn&039;t telling you you&039;ve done poorly, perhaps it&039;s not so bad as it see badly," Liat said "That&039;s thin conation as he sat down beside her His hair was still dripping wet, and Liaton her own robes She could see in the way he kept his expression cal unreasonably hard on herself, and her suspicion that he wasn&039;t wholly wrong only made her o to your cell for the evening You can work on whatever it is that needs your attention," he offered

"And ould you do?"

"Be there," he said, simply "The others will understand"

"Yes, lovely," Liat said, sarcasm in her voice "Refuse your cohort&039;s cos than them Let&039;s see what more they can say about hed, leaning back into the ivy until he see into the wall itself The continual slap of water on stone muffled the sounds of the city Any of the others could appear around the corner or from within the barracks at any ether It was usually a feeling Liat enjoyed Just now, it was like a stone in her sandal

"You could tell , if you liked," she said

"No They do think that But we could go anyway What does it matter what they think? They&039;re only jealous of us If we spend the evening preparing everything for Wilsin-cha, then in the- "

"It doesn&039;t work like that I can&039;t just put in an extra half-shift and o away It&039;s not like I&039;s around a warehouse This is co a laborer would understand"

Itani nodded slowly, stirring the leaves that wreathed his head The softness of his mouth went hard for a moment He took a pose that accepted correction, but she could see the fornize it for what it was

"Gods Itani, I didn&039;t s I don&039;t know aboutlifting things Or how to pull a cart But this is hard What Wilsin-cha wants of ht, but didn&039;t say Can&039;t you see I&039;ht," Itani said, standing and offering her his hand There was still a hardness in his eyes, however much he buried it Liat stood but didn&039;t take his hand

"I&039; before the Khai in four days Four days! I&039; about doing this I&039;m not even sure when she&039;ll be back And you think, what? A night out getting drunk with a bunch of laborers at a cheap teahouse is going to et that? Honestly, &039;Tani It&039;s like you&039;re a stone You don&039;t listen"

"I&039;ve been listening to you since you caood it&039;s done Iat you for all you&039;ve understood"

"Liat," Itani said, his voice sharp, and then stopped His face flushed, he stretched out his hands in a gesture of surrender When he went on, his voice huer "I don&039;t knohat you want froht, I&039;ll help you If you want my co "

"Willing? How charan, but Itani wouldn&039;t be interrupted He pressed on, raising his voice over hers

" but if there is so else you want of me, I&039;m afraid this lowly laborer is simply too thick-witted to see it"

Liat felt a knot in her throat, and raised her hands in a pose of withdrawal A thick despair folded her heart She looked at hie He didn&039;t see He didn&039;t understand How hard could it be to see how frightened she was?

"I shoudn&039;t have come," she said Her voice was thick

"Liat"

"No," she said, wiping away tears with the sleeve of her robe as she turned "It was the wrong thing forback to one, but te softer, put a hand on her arms

"I can come with you if you like," he said

For more of this? she didn&039;t say She only shook her head, pulled gently away fro walk up and to the north Back to the compound without him She stopped at a waterseller&039;s cart halfway there and drank cool water, liared, and waited to see whether Itani had followed her He hadn&039;t, and she honestly couldn&039;t say whether she was more disappointed or relieved

THE WOMAN - Anet Nyoa, her na at the sa Maati accepted the fruit for sense of discoardens from his private council with the Khai Saraykeht a half-hand past midday It was almost two hands now, and Maati was still alone on his bench overlooking the tiled roofs of the city and the ardens And to hter of sonize, had stopped to speak with him And offer him fruit And at every moment that it see ," she said "I had pictured a poet as an older man"

"I&039;m only a student, Nyoa-cha," Maati said "I&039;ve only just arrived"

"And how old are you?"

"This is my sixteenth summer," he said

The woman took a pose of appreciation that he didn&039;t entirely understand It was a sirammar, but he didn&039;t see what there was to appreciate about being a particular age And there was so else in the way her eyes met his that made him feel that perhaps she had mistaken hihteenth," she said "My fairl Where are your family?"

"I have none," Maati said "That is, when I was sent to the school, IThey are in Pathai, but I&039;er I&039;ve become a poet now"

A note of sorrow came into her expression, and she leaned forward Her hand touched his wrist

"That aze now veryalone like that"

"Not so bad," Maati said, willing his voice not to squeak There was a scent co enough to catch through the floral riot of gardens "That is, I&039;ve ed quite nicely"

"You&039;re brave to put such a strong face on it"

And like the answer to a prayer, the andat&039;s perfect forarden He wore a black robe shot with crimson and cut in the style of the Old Empire Maati leaped up, tucked the pluies," he said "The andat has co pose that also held a nuance of regret, but Maati turned away and hurried down the path, white gravel crunching under his feet He didn&039;t look back until he&039;d reached Seedless&039; side

"Well, my dear That was a hasty retreat"

"I don&039;t knohat you le black brow, and Maati felt hi But the andat took a pose that dismissed the subject and went on

"Heshai has left for the day He says you&039;re to go back to the poet&039;s house and clean the bookshelves"

"I don&039;t believe you"

"You&039;re getting better then," the andat said with a grin "He&039;s just co, but all the afternoon&039;s plans are still very much in place"

Maati felt himself smile in return Whatever else could be said of the andat, his advice about Heshai-kvo had been true Maati had risen in the , ready to follow Heshai-kvo on whatever errands the Khai had set him that day At first, the old poet had seemed uncomfortable, but by the middle of that first day, Maati found hi what it was that the andat was called upon to do, how it fit with the high etiquette of the utkhaiem and the lesser courts; how, in fact, to conduct the business of the city And in the days that followed, Seedless, watching, had taken a tone that was still sly, still shockingly irreverent, still too clever to trust, but not at all like the malefic prankster that Maati had first feared

"You should really leave the old man behind I&039;irl, for example, I could teach you how to - "

"Thank you, Seedless-cha, but I&039;ll take my lessons from Heshai-kvo"