him to find a right moment.
Nayiit took a querying pose, and Liat shook herself. She waved his
concern away.
"I'm tired," she said. "I've come all this way back to have my own bed
to myself, and I'm still not in it. I'm too old to sleep in a lover's
arms. They twitch and snore and keep me awake all night."
"They do, don't they?" Nayiit said. "Does it get better, do you think?
With enough time, would you he so accustomed to it, you'd sleep through?"
"I don't know," Liat said. "I've never made the attempt."
"Like mother, like son, I suppose," Nayiit said as he rose. He bent and
kissed the crown of her head before he retreated back into the shadows.
Like mother, like son.
I,iat pulled her robe tighter and sat near the fire, as if touched by a
sudden chill.
7
The jeweler was a small man, squat but broad. To his credit, he seemed
truly ill at ease. It took courage, Otah thought as he listened, to
bring a matter such as this before a Khai. He wondered how many others
had seen something of the sort and looked away. Any merchant has to
expect some losses from theft. And after all, she was the daughter of
the Khai....
When it was over-and it seemed to take half a day, though it couldn't
have lasted more than half a hand-Otah thanked the man, ordered that
payment be made to him, and waited calm and emotionless until the
servants and court followers had gone. Only the body servants remained,
half a dozen men and women of the utkhaiem who dedicated their lives to
bringing him a cracker if he felt like one, or a cup of limed water.
"Find Eiah and take her to the blue chamber. Bring her under guard if
you have to."
"tinder guard?" the eldest of the servants said.
"No, don't. Just bring her. See that she gets there."
"Most High," the man said, taking a pose that accepted the command. Otah
rose and walked out of the room without replying. He stalked the halls
of the palace, ignoring the Master of "fides and his ineffectual
flapping papers, ignoring the poses of obeisance and respect turned to
him wherever he went, looking only for Kiyan. The rest of these people
were unimportant.
He found her in the great kitchens, standing beside the chief cook with
a dead chicken in her hands. The cook, a woman of not less than sixty
summers who had served Otah's father and grandfather, met his eyes and
went pale. Ile wondered belatedly how many times the previous Khaiem of
Machi had visited their kitchens, great or low.
"What's happened?" Kiyan asked instead of a greeting.
"Not here," Otah said. His wife nodded, passed the bird's carcass back
to the cook, and followed Otah to their rooms. As calmly as he could,
Otah related the audience. Eiah and two of her friends-Talit Radaani and
Shoyen Pak-had visited a jeweler's shop in the goldsmiths' quarter. Eiah
had stolen a brooch of emerald and pearl. The jeweler and his boy had
seen it, had come to the court asking for payment.