71: A VISIT FROM KEMBRI

Next morning Kembri, having apparently come on foot and alone, found Maia in the company of Nennaunir and Otavis, whom he immediately asked, not discourteously but nevertheless without apology, to leave. He refused wine and, Ogma having characteristically left the parlor door ajar, told Maia to shut it.

"Now, Maia, perhaps you'll tell me a little more about how you came to be on the Scales last night and exactly what you thought you were doing."

Haltingly, and with several pauses (for what had happened was not entirely what she was saying had happened: for example, she had no wish to involve Sarget's man, who should by now be well on his way to Serrelind), Maia spoke of how she had seen the comet, how she had heard and felt the general dismay in the lower city and decided to set out with the idea of raising public confidence by showing herself unafraid.

"The truth is, my lord, when I first saw the star I was as much afraid as the rest, but then I got to thinking that as they all knew me and liked me, p'raps I could cheer them up a bit—that was about the size of it."

"I see. But I'm told that you said, publicly, that you'd had a dream—that Lespa had spoken to you about the star."

"That's right, my lord." (There could be no denying this now.)

"What was the dream?"

"Why, my lord, I simply saw the goddess. She was— well, she was walking in a wood, like in the Shakkarn story, only it was night, and she—er—pointed up at the stars and said 'Don't be afraid: it's good and not bad.' That was all." (It was the best she could do, anyway.)

"When did you have this dream?"

"Night before last, my lord."

"And yet you say that when you saw the star last night you were afraid?"

"Yes, my lord, I was. See, I only remembered the dream after a minute or two; then it all came back to me, like."

"But if you thought the dream was so important, why didn't you take it to the proper place; to the temple?"

" 'Cos I never thought of it, my lord."

"I see. But I'm also told that you said, before you got up on the Scales, that you'd had a dream in Suba and that that was how you got to know about Karnat's plan. If that's true, it's more than you ever said to Sendekar or to me. To the best of my knowledge you've never spoken of how you came to learn Karnat's plan, and as you evidently didn't wish to tell us, I respected your wish and refrained from asking you. Yet now you've been out telling workmen and laborers in the lower city that you dreamt it. Are you setting up to be a visionary, or what?"

"No, my lord: 'twas nothing o' that sort, really. I just got a bit carried away, that's all. It was all along of arguing, like, with some of those armourer chaps. Truth is, I never meant to get up on the Scales at all. I only meant to go down to the lower city and let people see as I wasn't afraid, whoever else might be. I meant to do good, my lord, and I can't for the life of me see as I've done any harm."

"Can'tyou?" And as he said this the Lord General looked so dire and baleful that poor Maia felt positively appalled.

"My lord, if you're angry, then all I got to say is I don't deserve it! It was you as sent me to Suba with Bayub-Otal, and that very near cost me my life. I done everything you wanted and more. I've got nothing against you nor anyone in the city. I only want to be let to live in peace and quiet."

"I should like to feel sure of that, Maia." He had been sitting on a high-backed, carved chair—a gift to the Serrelinda from the citizens of Thettit—but now he stood up and began pacing slowly up and down the room. "I know, of course, that at the barrarz you sold yourself for nine thousand meld, which my son gave out was to go towards the cost of the expedition."

"I never kept a meld of it, my lord."

"Then where did it go, Maia? For it won't surprise you that I happen to know it never reached the army."

"It went to the Sacred Queen, my lord. I thought Lord Elvair-ka-Virrion would have told you."

"Why were you getting money for Fornis under a lying pretense of helping the expedition?"

She reminded him of how she had come to him to plead for Tharrin, only to be referred to the Sacred Queen; and then, restraining her tears as best she could, went on to recount how Elvair-ka-Virrion had suggested the auction and how she had found Tharrin dead next morning; only omitting, for Pokada's sake, what he had told her of Ashaktis's visit to the jail.

"I see," he said yet again. She was expecting him at least to express some pity for Tharrin and sympathy for herself, but he was evidently preoccupied with more important considerations.

"Well, that explains a certain amount. But I'm still wondering, Maia, what your real purpose may have been in going down to the lower city last night and speaking from the Scales."

"It was like I've said, my lord; that and nothing else. I wish you'd tell me straight out what's on your mind."

"I will, then. In a few months' time the Sacred Queen's four-year reign is due to end. It's the wish of Lord Durakkon, as well as of the Council and the army, that she should be succeeded by the lady Milvushina. They have excellent reasons, with which I entirely agree."

"Well, I c'n promise you, my lord, I don't wish it no different, that I don't."

He continued as if she had not spoken. "But the Sacred Queen, by ancient custom, is chosen by acclamation of the people of Bekla. Now, Maia, if the people were called upon tomorrow, whom do you think they'd acclaim?"

She was silent.

"And if that girl goes about the lower city telling tales about Lespa revealing Karnat's plans to her in dreams, and claiming to know the meaning of the star before the priests have had time to utter a word, what am I and the Council to think?"

"My lord, I never give it a thought! 'Tweren't like that, not a bit! Honest, I give you my word I don't want to be Sacred Queen!"

"No? Then I'm puzzled, Maia. The night of the barrarz you spent with Randronoth, didn't you?"

"Yes, my lord. And as for why, I've just told you."

"I can understand you not particularly wanting to be-come a shearna—you've got money enough without—but I find it puzzling that apparently—I say apparently —you've taken no lover since you came back from Suba. I'm not the only person to think that strange."

Yet even he could never guess about Zen-Kurel, she felt sure. She need only decline to offer any explanation.

"Well, after all, that's my own affair, my lord, if I just don't feel inclined. It's of no importance to anyone else as I can see."

"I'm afraid that's where you're wrong, Maia. If you were a nobody, it would be different; but you're not, as you're perfectly well aware yourself. I want to know—is Randronoth your lover?"

"No, he's not, my lord! I only ever went to bed with Lord Randronoth the twice: once was last year, when I was still a slave at the High Counselor's and he told me to, and the other was at the barrarz, because he was the one as bid the most."

The Lord General sat down again and faced her. "Yet not long ago he sent one of his young noblemen from Lapan—a man called Count Seekron—to visit you here, didn't he?"

Maia colored, and saw that this was not lost upon Kem-bri. He had taken her unawares. After a few moments, however, it dawned on her that Randronoth had forethought that Kembri would be bound to learn of Seekron's visit and had already put her in the clear.

"Yes, certainly, my lord. He came to bring me a present from Lord Randronoth. P'raps you'd like to see it: here it is."

Kembri examined the carved miniature cabinet carefully, opening and shutting it and turning it over in his huge hands.

"Very pretty. Very valuable, too, I should imagine. Hardly the kind of present a man gives a girl for a casual night's pleasure, do you think?"

"My lord, men send me presents from all over—men I've never even seen, some of thenv The house is full of presents."

"Hardly of this quality, perhaps. Was there a letter with it?"

"Yes, my lord; but I get dozens of letters no different. I never answer them; I throw them away. Lord Randronoth may fancy himself in love, but that's nothing to me, I can assure you."

There was a long silence. Maia began to be filled with a certain sense of having kept the water out. It occurred to her, however, that many people buried valuables under their cellar floors and that she would not put it entirely past Kembri to have hers dug up. She had better find somewhere else: quickly, too.

At length the Lord General stood up, took a step forward and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Maia, you won't have forgotten the day when we talked about adventurers. There's only one touchstone an adventurer's judged by: success or failure. I'll be frank with you. I respect you because you've been extraordinarily successful. I have two reasons for not doing away with you—"

"Doing away with me, my lord?" She stared at him aghast.

"Just that. Pull yourself together: this is the real world, Maia. One reason's personal and the other's—well, public. First, even a man like me's not entirely devoid of human feelings. I admire what you achieved in Suba and I feel as grateful to you as anyone else in Bekla. But just supposing, Maia, that there was someone in Bekla who didn't feel in the least grateful to you, who hated you and wanted to do away with you, they'd still find that very difficult and even dangerous, because of your enormous popularity. There are many people in the lower city who believe you're more-or-less divine. It's no exaggeration to say that if you were thought to have been murdered, it would probably be very hard to keep the people under control. That's the real reason why you haven't been. By Fornis, I mean," he added, as she remained looking incredulously up at him.

She answered never a word. His talk of murder—and her realization that he was speaking of it as matter-of-factly as he might have spoken of repairing a highway or collecting a provincial tax—had numbed her.

"So you're the people's pretty mascot. There's no real harm in that, unless— unless, Maia, you let yourself be-come an implement in the hands of unscrupulous people who try to make use of you for subversive ends. Are you quite sure that you didn't go down to the Scales last night with the idea of increasing your personal influence in the city?"

This, at least, she could answer with truth and conviction. "Absolutely certain, my lord."

"Well, take care you're not misunderstood again, Maia, that's all. I'll say this much: I believe you when you say you don't want to be Sacred Queen. I don't see you as—" he paused, then shrugged—"ambitious. There are people to whom the possession of real and actual power's worth more than anything else—more than money, health, friends, peace of mind. To certain people nothing outweighs the possession of power. Fornis is that sort of person. So was that black girl-friend of yours, in her own way. That's why I still believe she probably had some sort of hand in Sen-cho's murder: she was the sort of person who would. You're not." For the first time he smiled, though somewhat constrainedly. "But people who don't live for power, Maia, are usually people who want to lead normal lives and gratify normal appetites and desires. If you don't want to be misunderstood and fall under suspicion, why don't you find yourself a rich, noble husband and settle down to the sort of life and position most girls would give their eyes for? You could have virtually anyone you like; you must know that. I strongly suggest you get on with it, do you see?"

She could not answer him. Nor could such a conversation, now clearly ended, be convincingly followed by any polite small talk.

"I'll think over your lordship's advice very carefully," she said.

Ten minutes later, having walked with him as far as her gate, she was down in the cellar, removing Randronoth's money to a less conjecturable hiding-place.