sober. Now, with him half-maudlin, half-contemptuous, and reeking of
wine, it was worse. Maati's frustration peaked, and his voice, when he
spoke, was louder and angrier than he'd intended.
"Because Otah didn t, and Kaiin didn't, and Danat didn't, and there's no
one else who's looking to sit on the chair. Is there some fifth brother
I haven't been told about?"
Baarath raised his hands in a pose of a tutor posing an instructive
question to a pupil. The effect was undercut by the slight weaving of
his hands.
"What would happen if all three brothers died?"
"Otah would be Khai."
"Four. I meant four. What if they all die? What if none of them takes
the chair?"
"']'he utkhaiem would fight over it like very polite pit dogs, and
whichever one ended with the most blood on its muzzle would be elevated
as the new Khai."
"So someone else might benefit from this yet, you see? They would have
to hide it because having slaughtered the whole family of the previous
Khai wouldn't help their family prestige, seeing as all their heads
would be hanging from poles. But it would be about your precious
succession, and there would be someone besides the three ... four
brothers with reason to do the thing."
"Except that Danat's alive and about to be named Khai Machi, it's a
pretty story."
Baarath sneered and made a grand gesture at the world in general.
"What is there but pretty stories? What is history but the accumulation
of plausible speculation and successful lies? You're a scholar,
Maati-kya, you should enjoy them more."
Baarath chuckled drunkenly, and Maati rose to his feet. Outside,
something cracked with a report like a stone slab broken or a roof tile
dropped from a great height. A moment later, laughter followed it. Maati
leaned against the table, his arms folded and each hand tucked into the
opposite sleeve. Baarath shifted, lay back on the bench, and sighed.
"You don't think it's true," Maati said. "You don't think it's one of
the high families plotting to be Khai."
"Of course not," Baarath said. "It's an idiot plan. If you were to start
something like that, you'd need to be certain you'd win it, and that
would take more money and influence than any one family could gather.
Even the Radaani don't have that much gold, and they've got more than
the Khai."
"Then you think I'm chasing mist," Maati said.
"I think the upstart is behind all of it, and that you're too much in
awe of him to see it. Everyone knows he was your teacher when you were a
boy. You still think he's twice what you are. Who knows, maybe he is."
His anger gave Maati the illusion of calm, and a steadiness to his
voice. He took a pose of correction.
"That was rude, Baarath-cha. I'd thank you not to say it again."
"Oh, don't be ashamed of it," Baarath said. "There are any number of
boys who have those sorts of little infatuations with-"