"Of course it does," he said. "But I can't allow that to stop me. The
stakes are too high."
Cehmai seemed to collapse on himself. The dark eyes flickered,
searching, \Iaati thought, for some other path. But in the end, the man
only sighed.
"I think you've found the thing, \laati-kvo. There are some passages I'd
want to think about. 'T'here might be ways we can refine it. But I think
we'll he ready to try it well before the thaw."
A tension that Nlaati hadn't known he was carrying released, and he
grinned like a boy. Ile could imagine himself as the controller of the
only andat in the world. He and Cehmai would become the new teachers,
and under their protection, they would raise up a new generation of
poets to hind more of the andat. The cities would be safe again. Nlaati
could feel it in his bones.
The rest of the meeting went quickly, as if Cehmai wanted to be away
from the library as quickly as lie could. \laati supposed the prospect
of binding Sterile was more disturbing to Cehmai than to him. lie hoped,
as he walked back tip the stairways and corridors to his rooms, that
Cchmai would be able to adjust to the new way of things. It couldn't be
easy for him. lie was at heart a gentle man, and the world was a darker
place than it had been.
\Iaati's mind was still involved in its contemplation of darkness when
he stepped into his room. At first, he didn't notice that Liat was
there, seated on his bed. She coughed-a wet, close sound close to a sob.
lie looked up.
"What's the matter, sweet?" he asked, hurrying to her. "What's happened?"
In the steady glow of the lantern, Liat's face seemed veiled by shadows.
Her eyes were reddened and swollen, her skin flushed with recent tears.
She attempted a smile.
"I need something, Nlaati-kya. I need you to speak with Nayiit."
"Of course. Of course. What's happened?"
"He's ..." Liat stopped, took a deep breath, and began again. "He isn't
leaving with me. Whatever happens, he's decided to stay here and guard
her children."
"What?"
"Kiyan," Liat said. "She set him to watch over Danat and Eiah, and now
he's decided to keep to it. To stay in the North and watch over them
instead of going home with me. He has a wife and a child, and Otah's
family is more important to him than his own. And what if they see that
he's ... what if they see whose blood he is? What if he and Danat have
to kill each other?"
Maati sat beside Liat and folded her hand in his. The corners of her
mouth twitched down, a mask of sorrow. lie kissed her palm.
"He's said this? That tic's staying in \Iachi?"
"I Ic doesn't have to," Liat said. "I've seen the way he looks at them.
Whenever I talk about the spring and the South, he smiles that false,
charming way he always smiles and changes the subject."
Nlaati nodded. The lantern flame hissed and shuddered, setting the
shadows to sway.