None of the families of the utkhaiem would have ties to him. Even if
he's simply never found, the new Khai will always he watching over his
shoulder. It isn't good to have an uncertain line in the Khai's chair.
The best thing that could happen for the city would be to find him and
put a knife through his belly. Him, and any children he's got meantime."
Otah smiled because it was what a courier of House Siyanti would do. The
younger man sniffed and sipped his bowl of tea. The woman shrugged, the
motion setting small waves across the water.
"It might do us well to have someone new running the city," she said.
"It's clear enough that nothing will change with either of the two
choices we have now. Biitrah. He at least was interested in mechanism.
The Galts have been doing more and more with their little devices, and
we'd be fools to ignore what they've managed."
"Children's toys," the older man said, waving the thought away.
"Toys that have made them the greatest threat Eddensea and the Westlands
have seen," the younger man said. "Their armies can move faster than
anyone else's. There isn't a warden who hasn't felt the bite of them. If
they haven't been invaded, they've had to offer tribute to the Lords
Convocate, and that's just as bad."
"The ward being sacked might disagree," Otah said, trying for a joke to
lighten the mood.
"The problem with the Galts," the woman said, "is they can't hold what
they take. Every year it's another raid, another sack, another fleet
carrying slaves and plunder back to Galt. But they never keep the land.
They'd have much more money if they stayed and ruled the Westlands. Or
Eymond. Or Eddensea."
"Then we'd have only them to trade with," the younger man said. "That'd
be ugly."
"The Galts don't have the andat," the older man said, and his tone
carried the rest: they don't have the andat, so they are not worth
considering.
"But if they did," Otah said, hoping to keep the subject away from
himself and his family. "Or if we did not-"
"If the sky dives into the sea, we'll be fishing for birds," the older
man said. "It's this Otah Machi who's uneasing things. I have it on good
authority that Danat and Kaiin have actually called a truce between them
until they can rout out the traitor."
"Traitor?" Otah asked. "I hadn't heard that of him."
"There are stories," the younger man said. "Nothing anyone has proved.
Six years ago, the Khai fell ill, and for a few days, they thought he
might die. Some people suspected poison."
"And hasn't he turned to poison again? Look at Biitrah's death," the
younger man said. "And I tell you the Khai Machi hasn't been himself
since then, not truly. Even if Otah were to claim the chair, it'd be
better to punish him for his crimes and raise up one of the high families."
"It could have been had fish," the woman said. "There was a lot of bad
fish that year."
"No one believes that," the older man said.
"Which of the others would be best for the city now that Biitrah is