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Years fell away, the events of Otah&039;s life taking on a sudden unreality at the sound of his name The hot, thick days he had worked the seafront of Saraykeht, the grubbing for food and shelter, the nights spent hungry sleeping by the roadside The life he had built as Itani Noyga All of it fell away, and he rehteous fire trudging across cold spring fields to the high road It was like being there again, and the strength of thepoet ith hiether, they found an empty room, and Otah shut the door behind the roo into a recessed courtyard filled with ba - drops tapping against the leaves outside the- the rooht Otah sat on the table, his hands pressed to his er by perhaps four summers - older than Otah had been when he&039;d invented his new name, his new history, and taken indenture with House Wilsin He had a round, open face and a firm chin and hands that hadn&039;t known hard labor inthan that, there was pleasure in his expression, like someone who&039;d just found a treasure
Otah didn&039;t knohere to start
"Youyou were at the school, then?"
"Maati Vaupathai," the poet said "I was in one of the youngest cohorts just before youbefore you left You took us out to turn the gardens, but we didn&039;t do very well My hands were blistered "
The face became suddenly familiar
"Gods," Otah said "You? That was you?"
Maati Vaupathai, whom Otah had once forced to eat dirt, took a pose of confir remembered Otah leaned back
"Please You can&039;t tell anyone about me I never took the brand If my brothers found me "
"They&039;d try to kill you," Maati said "I knoon&039;t tell anyone ButOtah-kvo"
"Itani," Otah said "My name&039;s Itani now"
Maati took a pose of acceptance, but still one appropriate for a student to a teacher Still the sort that Otah had seen presented when he wore the black robes of the school
"Itani, then I didn&039;t think Ihere?"
"I&039;m indentured to House Wilsin I&039; pose The poet blinked, as if trying to ain, his voice was troubled Perhaps disappointed
"They said that the Dai-kvo accepted you That you refused hiht A feords that held the shape his life had taken It had seemed both clearer and more complex at the time - it still seemed that way in his ive me, Otah-kvo, but what happened?"
"I left I went south, and found work I knew that I needed a new name, so I chose one Andand that&039;s all, I suppose I&039;ve taken indenture with House Wilsin It&039;s nearly up, and I&039;m not sure what I&039;ll do after that"
Maati took a pose of understanding, but Otah could see frohed and leaned forward, searching for so else to say, some way to explain the life he&039;d chosen On top of all the other shocks of the day, he was disturbed to find that words failed him In the years since he had walked away, he had never tried to explain the decision There had never been anyone to explain it to
"And you?" Otah asked "He took you on, I see"
"The old Dai-kvo died After you left, before I even took the black Tahi-kvo took his place, and a new teacher came to the school Naani-kvo He was harder than Tahi-kvo I think he enjoyed it more"
"It&039;s a sick business," Otah said
"No," Maati said "Only hard And cruel But it has to be The stakes are so high"
There was a strength in Maati&039;s voice that, Otah thought, didn&039;t coreement, but he could see that Maati knew he didn&039;t ed it away
"What did you do to earn the black?" Otah asked
Maati blushed and looked away In the corridor, so He&039;d spent so little time with this boy whootten where they were, and that there were people all around them
"I asked Naani-kvo about you," Maati said "He took it poorly I had to wash the floors in the ain It was the saht when I cleaned the floors without being told Milah-kvo askedto ask again in the , so I wanted to have some of the work done beforehand He askedstones Then he offered me the robes"
"And you took the ht, perhaps, he saw regret in the boy&039;s face Or if not that, at least doubt
"You can&039;t tell anyone about me," Otah said
"I won&039;t I swear I won&039;t"
Otah took a pose that witnessed an oath, and Maati responded in kind They both started when someone rattled the door
"Who&039;s in there?" a man&039;s voice deo," Maati said "I&039;otiation withLiat You said you aiting for Liat Chokavi, didn&039;t you?"
"Unlatch the door!" the voice outside the door insisted "This is our roo "Coo for the Khai"
Therobes and expensive sandals of the utkhaieer on their faces when Otah - a mere laborer, and for a Galtic house at that - opened the door faded to impatience when they saw Maati in his poet&039;s robes Otah and Maati walked out to the ether
"Otah-kvo," Maati said as they reached the still-bustling space
"Itani"
Maati took a pose of apology that sees I would like to discuss with you, and we "
"I&039;ll find you," Otah pro of this Not to anyone Especially not to the poet"
"No one"
"I&039;ll find you Now go"
Maati took a pose of farewell more formal than any poet had ever offered a laborer, and, reluctance showing in every movement, walked away Otah saw an older wo him, her expression curious He took a pose of obeisance toward her, turned, and walked out The rain was breaking now, sunlight pressing down like a hand on his shoulder The other servants who had borne gifts or poles for the canopy waited now in a garden set aside for them Epani-cha, houseThe forht hearted Tuui Anagath, an older man who had known Otah since almost before he had become Itani, for almost his whole false life, took a pose of welcome
"Did you hear?" he asked as Otah drew close
"Hear what? No"
"The Khai is inviting a crew to hunt down Udun&039;s son, the poisoner Half the utkhaie to join it They&039;ll be on the little bastard like lice on a lohore"
Otah took a pose of delight because he kneas expected of him, then sat under a tree laden with tiny sweet-scented orna with the prospect, all of them These were men he knew, h none so far as to tell them the truth No one that far They spoke of the death of the Khai Udun&039;s son like a pit fight They didn&039;t care that the boy had been born into it Otah knew that they couldn&039;t see the injustice For ths of copper to buy tea and soup and sour-bread, the Khaiem were to be envied, not pitied and not loved They would each of theo back to quarters shared with otherwith thearden, the songs of slaves There was no room in their minds for sympathy for the faht sourly, like hi Otah with the toe of his shoe "What did you s, Itani? You look sorry"
Otah forced a s Being char the tone?" he asked "I just got thrown out of the palace That&039;s all"
"Thrown out?" Tuui Anagath asked, and the others turned, suddenly interested
"I was just there,after Liat," one of the others laughed
"And apparently I attracted some attention One of the women from House Tiyaan came to me and asked whether I was a factor for House Wilsin I told her I wasn&039;t but for so with me She was very pleasant And apparently her lover took some offense to the conversation and spoke to the palace servants "
Otah took a pose of innocent confusion that ath said "Can&039;t keep the woer You should let us do you a favor, my boy We could tell all the women you broke out in sores down there and had to spend three days a hed with theain He was one of them, just a man like them in no way special The jokes and stories went on for half a hand, then Otah stood, stretched, and turned to Epani-cha
"Will you have further need of me, Epani-cha?"
The thin ation Otah&039;s relationship with Liat was no secret, but living in the compound itself, Epani understood the extent of it better than the others When Otah shifted to a pose of farewell, he matched it
"But Liat should be done with the poets shortly," Epani said "You don&039;t want to wait for her?"
"No," Otah said, and smiled
AMAT LEARNED She learned first about the fine workings of a coahter and whore, the rhythm that the business developed like the beat of a heart or the flow of a river She learned, h it like blood And so, she understood better what it was she was searching for in the crabbed scripts and obscure receipts She also learned to fear Ovi Niit
She had seen what happened when one of the other women displeased him They were owned by the house, and so the watch extended no protection to them They, unlike her, were easily replaced She would not have taken their places for her weight in silver
Teeks from four Or five Two more, or three, before Marchat&039;s pro; the papers stood in piles Her days were filled with the scratch of pen on paper, the distant voices of the soft quarter, the sht froh, thin
The knock, when it came, was soft Tentative Auards wouldn&039;t have bothered Amat jabbed her pen into its inkblock and stretched Her joints cracked
"Coirl before, but hadn&039;t heard her na, with a birth of tears When she took a pose of apology, Amat saw half-healed marks on her wrists She wondered which of the payers matched those small wounds
"Grandmother?" It was the name by which they all called her
"What do you want," Amat asked, sorry for the harshness of her voice as she heard it She ed her hands
"I know you aren&039;t to be interrupted," the girl said Her voice was nervous, but not, Aht, from fear of an old woiven orders to leave her be "But there&039;s afor you"
"For irl shifted to a pose of affirmation Amat leaned back Kirath It could be Kirath Or it could be one of the moon-faced Oshai&039;s ht already be spending the gold lengths he&039;d earned for her death Airl
"What does he look like?"
"Young Handso a confidence
Handsoain This was not hi She wasn&039;t strong enough now to run, even if her aching hip would have allowed it There was no fleeing, but she couldit, until she was able to think a little; to speak without a tremble in her voice
"What&039;s your nairl said
"Good Ibris Listen very closely Go out the front - not the back, the front Find the watch Tell the a client"
"But he "
"Don&039;t question me," Amat said "Go Now!"
Years of comirl went, and when the door was closed behind her, Amat pushed the desk to block it It was a sad, thin little barricade She sat on it, adding her weight in hopes of slowing the man for the duration of a few extra heartbeats If the watch came, they would stop him
Or they wouldn&039;t Likely they wouldn&039;t She was a coht and sold And there was no one to say otherwise She balled her swollen fists around her cane Dignity be da to take her down, she&039;d go doinging
Outside, she heard voices raised in anger Ibris&039;s was a man shouted And then the fire
The torch spun like soh theopposite her Ah the air, strike the wall and bounce back, falling Falling on papers The flaes took fire
She didn&039;t re at the flames, the torch held above her, away froave little protection, but she kept on So open the door, hardly slowed by her little barrier
"Sand!" Ah with panic, called out, but A e The air see like fireflies A to stop it, to put it out One particularly large fragbreath that her robe had caught fire
The door burst open Ibris and a red-haired westland whore - Menat? Mitat? - burst in with pans of water in their hands