mistake. Eiah-cha, in her girlish flights of attention, forgot to
arrange for payment. He was sorry to bother me with it, but he hadn't
been sure who I would prefer such issues be taken to and on and on and
on. Gods!"
"How much was it?" Kiyan asked.
""Three lengths of gold," Otah said. "Not that it matters. I've got the
whole city to put on for taxes and half a thousand bits of jewelry in
boxes that no one's worn in lifetimes. It's ... She's a thief! She's
going through the city, taking whatever catches her eye and ..."
Otah ran out of words and had to make do with a rough, frustrated grunt.
He threw himself down on a couch, shaking his head.
"It's my fault," he said. "I've been too busy with the court. I haven't
been a decent father to her. All the time she's spent with the daughters
of the utkhaiem, playing idiot court games about who has the prettiest
dress or the most servants-"
"Or the highest marriage," Kiyan said.
Otah put his hand over his eyes. That was more than he could think about
just now. How to correct his daughter, how to show her what she'd done
wasn't right, how to try to be a father to her; yes, that he could sit
with. '['hat it was too late, that she was already old enough to be
another man's wife; that was too much to bear.
"It's a problem, love, yes," Kiyan said. "But sweet. She's fourteen
summers old. She stole a pretty thing to see if she could. It's not
actually unusual. I was a year older than her when my father caught me
sneaking apples off the back of a farmer's cart."
"And did he marry you off to the farmer in punishment?"
"I'm sorry I brought up the marriage. I only meant that Eiah's world's
no simpler than ours. It only seems that way from here. 'l'o her, it's
just as confused and difficult as anything you deal with. She's only
half a girl, and not quite half a woman."
Kiyan frowned. Her eyes were rueful and resigned, and she stretched her
arms until the elbows cracked.
"My father made me apologize to the farmer and work for the man until
I'd earned back twice the cost of what I'd taken. I don't know that's
much guidance for us, though. I don't think any of these girls could do
work worth three lengths of gold."
"So what do we do?"
"It doesn't matter, love. As long as she's clear that what she did
didn't end the way she'd hoped, we'll have come as close as we can. I'd
say restrict her from seeing "Ialit Radaani for a week's time, but that
hardly seems equal to the stakes."
"She could assist the physicians," Otah said. "Carry out the night pans,
wash dressings for the hurt. A week of that to pay back the city for
what it bought her."
Kiyan chuckled.
"So long as she doesn't start enjoying it. She plays at being repulsed
by blood because it's expected of her. I think at heart, there's nothing
she'd like more than to cut a body apart and see how it's built. She'd
have made a fine physician if she'd been born a bit lower."