spoke again, Idaan was almost startled at the sound.
"It's a blessing," it said.
"WHAT DID HE LOOK LIKE?" MAA'I'I ASKED.
Piyun See, chief assistant to the Master of 'rides, frowned and glanced
out the window. The man sensed that he had done something wrong, even if
he could not say what it had been. It made him reluctant. Maati sipped
tea from a white stone bowl and let the silence stretch.
"A courier. He wore decent robes. He stood half a head taller than you,
and had a good face. Long as a north man's."
"Well, that will help me," Maati said. He couldn't keep his impatience
entirely to himself.
Piyun took a pose of apology formal enough to be utterly insincere.
"He had two eyes and two feet and one nose, Maati-cha. I thought he was
your acquaintance. Shouldn't you know better than I what he looks like?"
"If it is the man."
"He didn't seem pleased to hear you'd been asking after him. He made an
excuse and lit out almost as soon as he heard of you. It isn't as if 1
knew that he wasn't to be told of you. I didn't have orders to hold back
your name."
"Did you have orders to volunteer me to him?" Maati asked.
"No, but ..."
Maati waved the objection away.
"House Siyanti. You're sure of that?"
"Of course I am."
"How do I reach their compound?"
"They don't have one. House Siyanti doesn't trade in the winter cities.
He would be staying at a wayhouse. Or sometimes the houses here will let
couriers take rooms."
"So other than the fact that he came, you can tell me nothing," Maati said.
This time the pose of apology was more sincere. Frustration clamped
Maati's jaw until his teeth hurt, but he forced himself into a pose that
thanked the assistant and ended the interview. Piyun See left the small
meeting room silently, closing the door behind him.
Otah was here, then. He had come back to Machi, using the same name he
had had in Saraykeht. And that meant ... Maati pressed his fingertips to
his eyes. That meant nothing certain. That he was here suggested that
Biitrah's death was his work, but as yet it was only a sug gestion. He
doubted that the Dai-kvo or the Khai Machi would see it that way. His
presence was as much as proof to them, and there was no way to keep it
secret. Piyun See was no doubt spreading the gossip across the palaces
even now-the visiting poet and his mysterious courier. He had to find
Otah himself, and he had to do it now.
He straightened his robes and stalked out to the gardens, and then the
path that would lead him to the heart of the city. He would begin with
the teahouses nearest the forges. It was the sort of place couriers
might go to drink and gossip. There might be someone there who would
know of House Siyanti and its partners. He could discover whether Irani
Noygu had truly been working for Siyanti. That would bring him one step
nearer, at least. And there was nothing more he could think of to do now.