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Maati woke to the sound of driving rain pattering against the shutters The light that pressed in was cloud softened, with neither direction nor strength to tell hiht candle was now only a burnt wick He pushed away the netting, shuddered, and rose When he opened the shutters, it was as if the city was gone, vanished in gray Even the outlines of the palaces were vague, but the surface of the pond was alive and dancing and the leaves of the nearby trees shone with bright wet green just turning to red at the veins The rain against his face and chest was cool Autu to Saraykeht

The days - nearly teeks now - since Otah-kvo had left had taken on a rhytho and speak with Heshai-kvo Soes Others, they would only sit there under the baleful black stare of the andat, silent in his torture box Maati coaxed his ht froar, or rich, soupy bread puddings, or sined to eat a runt, he would turn away, leaving only his wide back as coht of his attention like a hand on the back of his neck

In the afternoon, he would walk in the gardens or read And as sunset cathe night candle lit, Maati would go to his own roo, and will hiain and again, with s of substance changed

He closed the shutters, took a clean robe, washed his face and shaved There was little enough on his cheek for the razor to take, but it was a ritual And it co he had to have Otah-kvo there to talk with

He went down the stairs to the table where the breakfast had been left for him: honey bread and black tea He took the tray and went back up and along the corridor to Heshaikvo&039;s roo open at the touch of his burdened wrist

The bed was e fine as mist was thrown aside, the bedclothes in knots and bundles that didn&039;t hide the depression where the poet&039;s body had lain for days Maati, tre, put down the tray and walked to the abandoned bed There was no note, no unfa to say what had happened, why his teacher was gone Sickening ied at hi to see the torture box empty Seedless&039;s black eyes met his, and Maati let out the breath he hadn&039;t noticed he was holding

The andat laughed

"No such luck, reat poet is, to the best of h to his right mind not to have set me free"

"Where is he?"

"I don&039;t know It isn&039;t as if he asked my permission You know, Maati-kya, it&039;s odd We never seeo? What did he say?"

Seedless sighed

"He didn&039;t say anything He was just his own pathetic self - all the grace and will of a soiled washcloth - and then just after the last ot up like he&039;d remembered an appoint to slow his breath, to order his thoughts There had to be soone, what he would do

"Call out the guards," Seedless said, laughter in his voice "The great poet has slipped his leash"

"Be quiet!" Maati snapped "I have to think"

"Or you&039;ll do what? Punishto me already I can&039;t move I can&039;t stretch If I were ato do but try to push it out withto do?"

"Don&039;t Justdon&039;t talk to me"

"Why not, my dear? What did I do to upset you?"

"You killed a baby!" Maati shouted, shocked at his own anger

In the shadows of his prison, the andat sers wrapped the slats, and the pale flesh shifted an inch

"The baby doesn&039;t e What I did, I did to the woman And to Heshai And you knohy I&039;ve done it"

"You&039;re evil," Maati said

"I&039;ainst my will I&039;m forced to work for my captor hat I want is to be free Free of this box, of this flesh, of this consciousness It&039;s noto breathe You&039;d sacrifice anyone, Maati, if you were drowning"

Maati turned his back, running his hands down the e It was only cloth He had to go He had to alert the Khai Armsmen They had to send ar hi of the rain, he heard the andat shift

"I told you," Seedless said, "that ouldn&039;t always be friends"

And from below them another voice called Maati&039;s naht with distress Maati rushed down the stairs, three at a stride Liat Chokavi stood in theto her and er than she had before She held her hands tight When she saw him, she took two steps forward, and Maati reached out, put his hand on hers

"What is it," he asked "What&039;s happened?"

"The poet Heshai He&039;s at the co, Maati We can&039;t calm him Epani-cha wanted to send for the utkhaieet you He proether they half-walked, half-ran out, across the wooden bridge - its tiardens where the water bowed the liround, and then south, into the city Liat kept hold of his hand, pulling hi, and Maati couldn&039;t iine what he would say if he&039;d been able His mind was too much taken with dread of what he would find when they arrived

If Otah-kvo had been there, there would have been someone to ask, someone ould have knohat to do It struck Maati as he passed through the darkened streets that he&039;d had a teacher with hiuide hi That hat teachers were supposed to be Otah-kvo hadn&039;t even accepted the Dai-kvo and he was strong enough to know the right thing It wasthe same

At the courtyard of the Galtic house, Liat stopped and Maati drew up beside her The scene orse than he had thought The house o stories built around the courtyard with a ay on the second level that looked down on thein the downpour, and between the with his back to the street, his teacher Around hins of conflict - torn papers, spilled food A crowd had gathered, robes in the colors of hosted in the shadows of doorways and on the upper walk, faces blurred by rain

Maati put his hand on Liat&039;s hip and gently pushed her aside The stone of the courtyard was under an inch of water, white foae froh it slowly, his sandals squelching

Heshai looked confused The rain plastered his long, thinning hair to his neck His robe was thin - too thin for the weather - and the unhealthy pink of his skin showed through it Maati squatted beside hihtly, as if whispering Drops of water clung like dew to thea pose of entreaty "Heshai-kvo, we should go back"

The bloodshot eyes hites the color of old ivory turned to hinition slowly lit the poet&039;s face He put his thick-fingered hands on Maati&039;s knee, and shook his head

"She isn&039;t here She&039;s already gone," Heshai said

"Who isn&039;t here, Heshai-kvo?"

"The girl," he snapped "The island girl The one I thought if I could find her, you see, if I could explain e to shake him - take a handful of robe in each fist and rattle the old man until he came to his senses Instead, he put his own hand over Heshai&039;s and kept his voice calo"

"If I could have explained, MaatiIf I could just have explained that it was the andat that did the thing That I would never have - "

"What good would it do?" Maati said, his anger and e out, "Heshai-kvo, there aren&039;t any words you know that would apologize for what happened And sitting here in the rain doesn&039;t help"

Heshai frowned at the words as if confused, then looked down at the floater and up to the half-hidden faces The frog-lips pursed

"I&039;ve made an ass of myself, haven&039;t I?" Heshai asked in a perfectly rational voice

"Yes," Maati said, unable to bring himself to lie "You have"

Heshai nodded, and rose to his feet His robe hung open, exposing his wrinkled breast He took two unsteady steps before Maati moved close and put his arm around the man As they passed into the street, Liat went to Heshai&039;s other side, taking his ar Maati&039;s burden Maati felt Liat&039;s arainst his own behind Heshai&039;s wide back Her hand clasped his forearm, and between them, they made a kind of cradle to lead the poet home

THE ROBE Maati lent her when they arrived back at the poet&039;s house oven cotton and silk, the fabric thicker than her finger and soft as any she&039;d touched in years She changed in his small roo on a stand She wrung the water out of her hair and braided it idly as she waited

It was a simple room - cot, desk, and wardrobe, cloth lantern and candle stand Only the pile of books and scrolls and the quality of the furnishings marked it as different from a cell like her own But then, Maati was only an apprentice His role was much like her oith Ah she found she often forgot that

A murmur of voices reached her - the poet&039;s and Maati&039;s and then the soft, char she couldn&039;thio back to her cell, to be away from the terrible tension in the air of the house But the rain was groorse The pounding of water was joined noith an angry tapping The wind had turned and allowed her to open Maati&039;s shutters without flooding his room, and when she did, the landscape outside looked like it was covered with spiders&039; eggs: Tiny hailstonesas quickly as they fell

"Liat-cha," Maati said

She turned, trying to pull the shutters closed and take a pose of apology at the sa neither

"No, I&039;m sorry," Maati said "I should have kept closer watch on hiet out of his bed,now?"

"Soone to bed at least Seedlessyou know about Seedless&039;s box?"

"I&039;d heard rumor," Liat said

Maati took a pose of confirmation and looked back over his shoulder, his expression troubled and weary His brown poet&039;s robes were still dripping at the sleeves

"I&039;ll go downstairs," she said

"Why?"

"I thought you&039;d want soe," she said slowly, and was rewarded by a fierce blush as Maati took a pose of understanding

"I&039;d forgottenI didn&039;t even notice they et Yes, of course, Liat-cha I&039;ll only be a moment"

She smiled and slapped his shoulder as she&039;d seen Itani&039;s cohort do The gesture felt surprisingly natural to her

"I think we&039;re past calling each other cha," she said

He joined her quickly, changed into a robe of identical brown They sat in the loom of the weather He sat across from her on a loooden divan His face was calht about the mouth, even when he smiled The strain of his master&039;s collapse ritten on his brow

"Have youhave you heard from him?" Maati asked

"No," she said "It&039;s too early He won&039;t have reached Yalakeht by now Soon, but not yet And then it would take as e back to us"

Maati took a pose of understanding, but impatience showed in it She responded with a pose that asked after Maati&039;s well-being In another context, it would have been a formal nicety Here, it seemed sincere

"I&039;ll be fine," he said "It&039;s only difficult not knohat to do When Otah-kvo coht"

"Will it?" Liat said, looking into the candle flaht"

"Of course it will The Dai-kvo knows more than any of us how to proceed He&039;ll pass it to Otah-kvo, and we&039;ll "

The voice with its forced opti forward, rubbing his eyes with his fingers like an old, weary man

"We&039;ll do whatever the Dai-kvo tells us," Liat finished

Maati took a rueful pose of agreereat shuttered walls, and Liat pulled her robe tight around her, as if to protect herself froh the roos well at House Wilsin?"

"I don&039;t know," Liat said "Amat Kyaan&039;s come back, and she tries to use me, but there doesn&039;t seem to be as much to do as there once was I thinkI think she doesn&039;t trust me I can&039;t blame her, after what happened And Wilsin-cha&039;s the sa serious No one&039;s actually told ain, but for how I&039;ve been spending , though It isn&039;t your fault that this happened You should just be - "

"Itani&039;s going to leaveto leave me," she said She hadn&039;tShe stared at her hands and they kept co "I don&039;t think he knows it yet, but when he left, there was so in him In the way he treated me thatHe isn&039;t my first lover, and I&039;ve seen it before It&039;s just a kind of distance, and then it&039;s so," Maati said, and his voice sounded confident for the first time that day "He won&039;t"