"I was walking," he said.
"We may not have the time to prepare you for the audience with the envoy
from Tan-Sadar," the Master of 'rides said.
"Put him off," Otah said, walking through the knot of people to the door
of his apartments. "Reschedule everything you have for me today."
The Master of'I'ides gaped like a trout in air. Otah paused, his hands
in a query that asked if the words bore repeating. The Master of Tides
adopted an acknowledging pose.
"The rest of you," he said, "I would like breakfast served in my
apartments here. And send for my children."
"Eiah-cha's tutors . . ." one of the others began, but Otah looked at
the man and he seemed to forget what he'd been saying.
"I will be taking the day with my family," Otah said.
"You will start rumors, Most High," another said. "They'll say the boy's
cough has grown worse again."
"And I would like black tea with the meal," Otah said. "In fact, bring
the tea first. I'll be in by the fire, warming my feet."
He stepped in, and Kiyan followed, closing the door behind her.
"Bad night?" she asked.
"Sleepless," he said as he sat by the fire grate. "That's all."
Kiyan kissed the top of his head where she assured him that the hair was
thinning and stepped out of the room. He heard the soft rustle of cloth
against stone and Kiyan's low, contented humming, and knew she was
changing her robes. The warmth of the fire pressed against the soles of
his feet like a comforting hand, and he closed his eyes for a moment.
No building stands forever, he thought. Even palaces fall. Even towers.
He wondered what it would have been like to live in a world where Nlachi
didn't exist-who he might have been, what he might have done-and he felt
the weight of stone pressing down upon the air he breathed. What would
he do if the towers fell? Where would he go, if could go anywhere?
"Papa-kya!" Danat's bright voice called. "I was in the Second Palace,
and I found a closet where no one had been in ever, and look what I found!"
Otah opened his eyes, and turned to his son and the wood-and-string
model he'd discovered. Eiah arrived a hand and a half later, when the
thin granite shutters glowed with the sun. For a time, at least, Otah's
own father's tomb lay forgotten.
THE PROBLEM WITH ATHAI-KVO, MAATI DECIDED, WAS THAT HE WAS SIMPIX an
unlikable man. "There was no single thing that he did or said, no single
habit or affect that made him grate on the nerves of all those around
him. Some men were charming, and would be loved however questionable
their behavior. And then on the other end of the balance, there was
Athai. The weeks he had spent with the man had been bearable only
because of the near-constant stream of praise and admiration given to
Nlaati.
"It will change everything," the envoy said as they sat on the steps of
the poet's house-Cehmai's residence. "°I'his is going to begin a new age
to rival the Second Empire."
"Because that ended so well," Stone-Made-Soft rumbled, its tone amused
as always.