Reclamation

9—Amaiar Division, Kethran Colony, Hour 06:20:34, City Time

“They asked specifically to be allowed to deal with you.” Shim, the Third in the Emissary Voice, stretched both secondary arms toward Kiv.

Kiv rippled and sagged and wished for his siblings. He’d thought himself ready for the isolation of off-planet work, but it was not so. The old-timers had warned him. The comfort of his children was not the same as having his siblings and nieces and cousins around him. Even with Ere draped around his shoulders, he still felt alone. Shim, a grounded priest, was a fifth cousin Kiv had never met until he had volunteered to hatch out his children on Kethran Colony. The relationship was not close enough to provide any security. It was frightening to realize he knew Human Perivar better than he knew the cousin in front of him.

We serve, and service has never needed the weak, he reminded himself. My daughters will understand these humans who live like priests and act like madmen, even if I never do. They will carve out lives safe from the possibility of bondage with them.

Among the human enclaves, the Rhudolant Vitae were particularly insane. The thought of them wanting to meet with him specifically was nerve-racking. The embassy environment, lovingly designed with its arched ceilings and varying textures in subtle shadings of blue and violet, was not relaxing him at all, because he kept thinking about Aria Stone, and about Perivar’s impossible promise that nothing would touch Kiv or his family.

“We have been in touch with our embassies on Kethre and on seven of the stations,” Shim was saying. “The Rhudolant Vitae are withdrawing everywhere. The matter of this planet is of the greatest import to them. We need to understand how it will shift the power balances of their ‘family.’ You may be able to garner some information about this.”

“I will…”

“Do my best,” finished Ere for him.

Shim withdrew three of his eyes. “That is all we ask, Kivere. They are waiting in the visitor’s chamber.”

Ere tightened her grip with her feet on Kiv’s back as he bunched his muscles against his inner trembling. They moved through the series of bubble-shaped rooms that linked the audience chamber with the visitor’s chamber. Perivar had once expressed his surprise at the fact that the Shessel, with their horizontal torsos, did not like long corridors, until Kiv pointed out to him that humans, in general, did not live in high-ceilinged closets.

Ere’s hands kneaded Kiv’s shoulders. She was plainly excited by this new game. Kiv worried sometimes that Ere loved intrigue a little too much, especially for someone who had not even started her second growth yet.

The visitor’s chamber had been placed under one of the largest domes. The room was framed with interlocked hexagons of steel struts. Between the struts hung membranes like the one that separated Kiv’s room from Perivar’s. The inside of it held human-style amenities and the outside held the Shessel.

Under the membranes waited two Vitae. Kiv blinked all his eyes and Ere’s grip tightened. Two red-and-white children, bald as the adults, flanked the Vitae. The children stood as close to their chaperones as they could. Their eyes were wide and round, a sign of Human fear, Kiv knew.

“What game do they play, Father?” murmured Ere. “Humans do not bring their children to transact businesses.”

Kiv stroked her back. “Thank you for the reminder, my first named. What game is an excellent question.”

Kiv extended himself all the way; eyes, ears, and head alert and towering over the visitors. The Vitae made no move.

“I am Kivererishakadene. With me is my first named, Ere. I say you welcome and ask to what end you have come?” The construction was formal in the extreme, but the Vitae were not to be greeted lightly.

“I am Ambassador Ordeth and here stands Ambassador Paral. With us are our children Iolphian and Tala. We are come to offer payment for a service you can provide us.”

“If you need some communications work done…” began Kiv.

“My partner and I have an office…” Ere finished for him. Kiv laid one of his primary hands on Ere’s mouth. This was not Perivar they dealt with. They would act in the Human fashion here, with either the parent or the child speaking the thought. Not both,

“It is not communications support we need,” said Paral. “It is a separate service, and we will pay twice the amount of your average annual income for it.”

Nervousness closed down Kiv’s ears. He forced them open and whistled. “So much? For what service?”

“You have heard our announcement of claim to the world designated MG49 sub 1?”

“We have.”

“On that world there are artifacts which endangered our Ancestors and finally forced them to flee their home. It is imperative that we know all we can of them before our children walk on the Home Ground. Otherwise, the danger will be the same for us as it was for our Ancestors. To mitigate this, we took one of the artifacts to a ship for study. It was stolen from us. We now know that your partner Yul Gan Perivar assisted in the marketing of the artifact…”

“You are speaking of Aria Stone?” Kiv shrank back, sheltering Ere a little in the curve of his neck.

“I speak of an artifact,” said Ambassador Paral. “One that might come once again into Perivar’s hands. If this is the case, we ask that you return it to us.” Paral laid a hand on Tala’s shoulder. The child jerked reflexively, but the adult held on. “Two years’ pay is a small thing compared to giving my child a safe home. As soon as you agree to the service, you will receive a year’s pay. If you enact this service, you will receive another year’s pay, which will be given directly to your children if you so wish.”

“Why are you not speaking to Yul Gan Perivar?” Kiv asked.

“He has worked against the Vitae in the past,” said Paral, without even pausing to consider the question. “We have no reason to expect him to do differently now. Your contract of service will mean that you are ready to respect the laws of the world where you do business, where your partner is not.”

“It will mean more yet,” said Iolphian. Under the voice of the translator, Kiv heard the piping of an immature human and, against his will, something inside him softened. “It will tell the Vitae that the Shessel are better allies than many of those who call themselves human. Once grounded, the Vitae will have to build a new life and we will need a great deal of help.”

“Singsong,” Ere buzzed in Kiv’s hindmost ear. “The speech patterns are wrong. That one has memorized this speech. They are trying to relax our spines with this.”

Kiv winked one eye briefly to indicate he had heard. In his mind, he had his own suspicions. You would bribe my entire people? For possession of one parent?

“And if I do not give my agreement?” Kiv asked.

“Then we will take our leave and thank you for your honesty and no Shessel shall again be troubled by a Vitae request,” said Ordeth.

Kiv did not even need Ere’s anxious buzzing to recognize the threat. He retracted his neck and secondary arms, sinking below the Vitae’s eye level. It was a stance that never failed to make Perivar uneasy. There was no reaction from the Vitae.

“Because you are bringing the welfare of all the Shessel into this,” Kiv said, “you force me to consult the Emissary Voices before I take what you offer.”

Whatever Ordeth said to Paral, it didn’t translate. All Kiv heard was “Navin uary ketket ti.” Whatever that meant. Paral replied “Iveth mikhain.” The children stood like dolls and said nothing at all.

Ordeth faced Kiv again. “Please consult the Voice then. We can wait a short time only.”

Kiv had been dismissed by humans before, but seldom so abruptly. Why would they bribe an entire people? he thought as he turned on his own length and left the room. Because they can.

“It’s a charade,” said Ere eagerly. “Father Kiv, it IS a game. Those children were props and…”

“Yes, Ere, yes.” Kiv stroked his daughter’s feet with his secondary hands. “Now we have to hope the Voice will let us make a worthy countermove.”

The Emissary Voice waited in the audience chamber. Ere shifted her grip on Kiv so that she hung on with only her legs and could fold her arms in respectful greeting. Kiv did the same even as a spasm of uneasiness ran through him. The Voice was composed of strangers. Shim carried Kiv’s skin tones because he was a cousin, but only the Sky Fathers knew where his enclave was. Ji was a loose-skinned northerner with great gaps artificially carved in his scales. Gov smelled familiar, but the familiarity was not an easy one.

Kiv accepted the need of union. With the skies crowded with humans, the Shessel could not be divided. There could be no room left in the Voice, or in the offworld residents for the makings of feuds. It was right that if the Voice had no siblings, no close cousins on this world, that he should not either.

It was right, but it was not easy. Kiv drew a great deal of calm from the fact that Ere saw them only as Shessel. Which is what they were. Only Shessel, like he was.

The Voice had, of course, already heard what had passed between Kiv and the Vitae. It was too important a conversation to have gone unmonitored.

Gov extended himself fully. “You will give them your promise to deal with their property as they require.”

Kiv knelt, lowering his torso defiantly to the floor. “There is more here than is immediately obvious, Emissary. What they call an artifact…”

“Is also a parent with living children.” Ere leaned herself over the top of Kiv’s head. “Four of them.”

“To which the Vitae have laid claim,” said Gov. “If they own the children, they own the parent.”

Which answered the question about where Gov came from. The Si-Tuk peninsula had practiced slavery right up to the tune the Unity Laws had been laid down. Right up to the time Kiv’s parent had dropped her eggs.

“But how have they laid claim?” asked Kiv. “All they say is that their ancestors came from this place. Well, my ancestors came from the Si-Tuk province.” He stretched all his eyes directly toward Gov. “Yet for three-quarters of a century, the Si-Tuk vigorously contested our enclave’s right to return there, and enslaved those who disagreed with them.”

Gov hissed and Ji retracted himself. “Kivere, now is a very bad time to bring up old wars.” He peeled open three eyes. “The Vitae have always been very precise in their dealings with us. If their representatives say that we will have no more dealings with them, we must accept that at face value. Remember, the humans can afford not to care about us, but we must care about them. There are too many of them. They are everywhere.”

“How much of what you say is influenced by your partnership with Yul Gan Perivar?” asked Shim abruptly.

Ere hissed. Shocked, Kiv squeezed her mouth closed. What’s she thinking? Sneering at the Emissary Voice because of a remark about a human…

No, she is sneering at three strangers because of a remark about Perivar. The realization hit Kiv hard. He was not the only one who knew Perivar better than a cousin.

“A fair question,” he said, more to Ere than to the Voice. “I would say a great deal is influenced by it. I thought that was the point of the Voice and the Enclave licensing my partnership, so that I and my children could be influenced by humans.

“It is worth remembering, Emissary Voice, that humans are not all Vitae,” said Kiv. “Many of them do not even like the Vitae.”

“And many of them do not even like us,” Shim reminded him. “The Vitae, unlike the Unifiers, are at least indifferent to our biology.” He raised himself up until he was the tallest in the room.

Before any of the Voice could speak, Kiv extended his neck. Ere laid all her hands on the top of his head and extended herself as well to add weight to what he said. “Yes, sirs, I agree, we must be careful of the Unifiers. But there are more than those two choices for us. As you said, the humans are everywhere…”

“But not everywhere do they agree, or even speak with each other,” finished Ere.

Ji retracted even farther. “I do not clearly hear what you are saying, Kivere.”

“The Vitae are retreating. We see this everywhere. Even if it is only a partial retreat, a temporary retreat, a weakness will be created when they leave. The humans will be scrambling to rebalance themselves.” He felt Ere’s feet shift and knew she was extending herself to her absolute limits.

“Why should the Shessel not be part of the new balance?” Ere whistled triumphantly. “We have resources, we need business. If we become a prop to the humans, they will fear to lose us as they fear to lose the Vitae.”

Shim retracted his snout thoughtfully several times. The others remained ominously still.

“What is the sudden eloquence that has come upon you, Kivere?” asked Gov.

Kiv extended his arms and Ere swarmed down them so that she was presented to the Voice. “I have staked the lives of all my children on the idea that we will be able to find some way to coexist with the humans that does not compromise the Shessels’ future.”

It was totally unfair and he knew it. Only business operators were allowed to hatch their children offworld. Emissaries had to drop their eggs unfertilized or leave them in stasis. It was as unfair as the Vitae bringing their own offspring into the visitor’s chamber.

Gov retracted his secondary arms. “However intriguing this possibility is, it would call for a change in official policy. Therefore, we cannot act on it.”

“We could if the Emissary’s council changed the policy,” suggested Ji, and Kiv wondered how united the Voice really was.

“We must not overreach ourselves,” said Shim reluctantly. “We are emissaries to the Kethran Diet, not the Vitae.”

“We need to know if the Emissary’s Council has been approached by the Vitae and what their decision is before we do anything in this matter,” agreed Ji.

Gov pressed his primary arms against his sides. “The Vitae have already made their policy clear. Even should there be merit in Kivere’s proposed risk, we do not have the time to dither about.”

“The Vitae cannot deny our need to consult with the Emissary’s Council,” said Ji. “They are a highly organized political body, they understand the concept of service and supervisors.”

“Perivar and I can open a channel for you in an hour.” Ere took her old position on Kiv’s shoulders. Frustration squirmed through Kiv. Of course Ere would bring Perivar into this. She didn’t understand that this whole bizarre situation was caused by him.

Gov snorted. “It will take the embassy staff three hours.”

“Perivar and I can open a channel for you in one hour,” said Kiv. I will talk to Ere, but not in front of a Si-Tuk.

Gov swung four eyes toward Kiv and Kiv saw the tremor in the stalks and the way his teeth showed through this slit of his open mouth. Gov did not like the mention of Perivar. He did not like Kiv. He did not forget that Kiv should have been his property and his anger burned to see Kiv acting independently with the support of his free children. Kiv knew it with a searing certainty, and found time to wonder if Ere had known it too.

“You have bought time, Kivere,” said Gov. “What do you intend to do with it?”

Kiv stiffened his spine. “Find out if Perivar is willing to come work in our home,” said Kiv. “We need human contacts. Perhaps it is time we hired some.”

Gov closed his eyes. “We could never give your kind a finger’s length.”

“No,” agreed Kiv quietly.

“Go open the channel then,” said Ji, and there was a hint of approval in his voice. “We will be ready in one hour. The Voice will tell the Vitae that they will have to wait until we have official word from the Emissary’s Council to make this contract with you.”

“Thank you, Emissaries all.” Kiv folded his arms respectfully and turned himself and Ere all the way around to leave the room.

You can give my kind a finger’s length, just be careful which finger’s length it is.

Frustration seethed inside Paral as he climbed back into the transport. Ordeth wasn’t even looking at him, and he was glad, because he knew his face betrayed his mood. She was speaking softly into her torque. Her disk was still in place in her ear, so the signal wasn’t going very far. The children waited in the side seats, doing very good imitations of Ambassadors. Paral didn’t know how she got them off her ship, and he didn’t really want to. All he wanted to know was how he was going to be able to tell Caril something other than that he had failed.

“Thanks for the news,” Ordeth said. She tapped her disk twice and turned to Paral. The transport’s internal lights turned her skin a sickly yellow. “You’re going to have to get online to Basq. The station’s pinpointed Stone in the Wall.”

“Then we should go after her.” Paral reached for the control boards.

Ordeth snatched at his hand. “With the children? It’s bad enough we risked them away from the ship. You’re being too open, Paral.”

He yanked his hand away, amazed and infuriated by the affront. “Too open to whom? Monsters and babies! It’s time to stop hiding ourselves.” He rubbed his wrist where she’d grabbed it. “Isn’t that what the Imperialists are all about?”

“The Imperialists have only made it this far by slipping through the cracks,” she hissed at him. “When we have a stable power base of our own, then you can play petty dictator to your heart’s content!” She stopped and visibly pulled herself back. Whether from her own sense of propriety or from what she saw in his eyes, Paral couldn’t tell. “Let Basq pick the artifacts up. Uary will get a chance to study them and we’ll know what we need.”

“And so will the Assembly.” He stared at the blackened windscreen. “No.”

“And if you don’t report in, you’re going to have the Witness really wondering about you,” she pointed out coolly. “You can’t tell me she doesn’t already have the satellite data.”

Paral was silent for a moment. “All right.” He bowed his head and stared at his hands on his lap.

Think, he ordered himself. There’s still got to be a chance.

“It’s possible that Basq won’t be able to hold on to Stone in the Wall,” he said, looking up at Ordeth again. “She has a resistance to confinement, and he doesn’t know where she’s headed yet…” He waited for confirmation.

“Not unless you tell him,” replied Ordeth.

“All right. We’ll send him after her, but we’ll make sure that there’s no one to receive her if she reaches her destination.”

Ordeth squinted like she was trying to see through his skull. “What are you thinking?”

“I am thinking it is not right that the Shessel can block the Reclamation. Is there anyone else here who can help us?”

“Maybe five in the division, if I ask them.” Ordeth sat very still, just as she was supposed to. “Paral…you are not thinking with care here.”

He matched her properly immobile expression. “The time for caution is past, Ordeth. Long past.”

For the thousandth time, Aria’s hand strayed to the mouth of her belt pouch and for the thousandth time she forced it away.

I know enough. Nameless Powers preserve me, I know enough to read a sign and get off a bus.

But thinking was hard and reading was slow and the stones would make it so much easier. She’d been using them to arrange her thoughts every single night since she got to the labs.

Which was the problem. She’d gotten used to their help. She’d gotten to like it. She leaned her cheek against the cool window and watched the strange, patchwork city pass. Clusters of buildings squatted in a spread of untamed meadow, or towered over groves of tangled trees. Only the razor-straight roads and their flanking walkways connected the knots of habitation.

Her mother had warned her that if she defied the injunction to reserve the stones for the needs of the Nameless or the Servant, the Powers would reclaim her name and with it her will and free mind.

Iyal and her friends would have called it assimilation and addiction. Aria simply called it dangerous, because what it was really stealing was her confidence. If she lost that now, she lost everything.

Did I type the destination in right? Should check. Her hand dropped onto the pouch. Should check the sign, not the stones! She peered at the display that took the place of a window in a hand-navigated vehicle. The third stop on the list was 32-35 Old Quarter. Yes. That was Perivar’s home. She sat back in the cradling seat and tried to relax. She was on her way. Wherever the Vitae were, they were not here.

Yet.

She rubbed the backs of her hands. I should have known the Nameless would never let me get away with this so easily. They will not tolerate their people abandoning their Realm. However it came to be, we are not like the Skymen. We are not free like they are.

But this doesn’t mean I surrender, do you hear? I don’t. She felt her muscles begin to sag as for a moment her weariness overwhelmed her. But it does mean that once I get home I have a whole new fight on these hands.

The bus eased itself to a halt. Aria shifted impatiently in her seat. Skymen, who didn’t have to worry about night storms and cold, never seemed to go to sleep. The sun was poised to vanish under the low, straight horizon, and the bus was still almost full of travelers. No wonder they used so many different tricks to divide their days up. They didn’t care about the rhythm of the world around them.

The bus raised the doors nearest the small block of empty seats and Aria automatically looked to see who was getting on. Her heartbeat skipped wildly. A pair of Vitae climbed aboard. Somebody gagged. Somebody spit and somebody else started murmuring as if in awe. Aria could not take her eyes off the scarlet-and-white figures, even to bow her head and scrunch backward in her seat.

The Vitae did not take the nearest empty seats. Instead they picked their way down the central aisle until they stood beside her. The sound of rustling cloth and shifting weight came from all directions, but not from the Vitae. They simply stood in the aisle with their attention fastened on Aria. Their bodies didn’t even sway as the bus started into motion again.

One of the two was her original captor, the one Eric called Basq. The second was rounder and shorter. The round one might even have been a woman, but there was no way to be sure, even though she was close enough for Aria to see the open pores under her eyes.

Basq took one of the empty seats and keyed a new destination into the bus’s list. Aria didn’t recognize the address. It showed up between the seventh and eighth stop on the list, which only meant it was on the way to somewhere else.

“The laws of this planet have acknowledged our ownership of your body,” said Basq. He said it evenly and with no effort to keep his voice down. Aria’s throat tightened. It didn’t matter what anybody else heard. Even without her help, the Vitae had learned the language of the Realm. With a garbled accent and mangled tenses, but there was no mistaking it.

“Wherever Zur-Iyal has sent you will not receive you.”

Aria said nothing. They were the center of attention for all the other passengers, but none of them had moved. The Vitae could pick her up bodily and haul her out of the bus and they still wouldn’t move. Here, the Vitae were the Nobles and, like them or hate them, very few would be seen to act openly against them. Aria could not look for help from any of these strangers. Then she remembered the sound of spitting from the back of the bus.

But neither can they.

“Wipe your destination from the list, Aria Stone,” said the Round One.

Aria spread her hands flat on her thighs. “Maybe you can take me away with you,” she said. “Maybe you can destroy those the Nameless have sent to rule the Notouch and claim the Realm for yourselves, but I’ll be dead and drowned before I’ll help you do it.”

The Vitae stayed silent for a moment. Aria saw Round One’s lips move minutely, as if she were working out what Aria had just said. When she finally got it, her mouth stiffened into a straight line. Aria felt her own mouth twist into a smile.

The destination at the top of the list flashed and a chime sounded. The bus slowed to a halt. The doors opened.

Aria yanked the cattle prod off her belt and shoved the tip against the Round One’s hand. The Vitae screamed as the shock hit. Aria dived out the open door.

“Aunorante Sangh!” Basq snarled.

Her shoes hit the pavement at the same time the words hit her ears and she nearly fell. The strange feel of this place could still rob her of her balance all too easily. She started to run. If she could keep upright, she could nearly outpace the bus itself.

The artificial lights the Kethran loved robbed the evening of its sheltering shadows and turned it gold and scarlet, pink and grey. Her only chance at safety was distance between her and the Vitae. Blurred faces jumped in and out of her line of vision. The weird light confused her eyes. A shoulder banged against her and she toppled to the ground. Hands touched her and she jabbed the prod at them. Shouts and curses she didn’t have time to understand whirled around her.

Aria scrambled to her feet and staggered into a fresh run. Already her lungs burned from trying to suck down enough thin air to keep her going. Her muscles barely noticed the effort of running now, but they would when she stopped.

Aria ducked around a corner, and then another, not trying to maintain any kind of sense of direction, just trying to get out of sight.

Stars swam in front of her vision and solid blackness began to creep in around the edges. Aria stumbled to a halt and leaned against a carved stone fence that bordered a flower bed. She wheezed and gasped, trying to drag enough air into her dry lungs to clear her vision.

Blast Kethran. Blast the Vitae. Blast my ambitions and blast the Nameless for forcing them on me.

When her head stopped spinning, Aria raised her eyes. The bright white lights and red-and-gold street signs proclaimed that this was one of the quarters where the First Families lived. In the middle of the Amaiar Division, it was close enough to the entertainment and stores that they didn’t have to take buses to get out and busy themselves with their fellows. In her work-stained clothes, she’d quickly be spotted and told to prove she had a need or a right to be here.

Already, faces were turning toward her with quizzical and hostile glances. But there were no Vitae either in front of her or behind her.

They’re not quite ready to chase me through the streets yet, obviously. Aria knuckled her bleary eyes.

“All right now, Stranger.”

Aria jerked her hands away from her eyes. A yellow-jacketed man walked through the gate in the fence and approached her until she could smell the stink of peppers on his breath and see the glint of authority in his brown eyes.

Aria levered herself away from the fence and had to stop herself from dropping reflexively onto her knees.

“You sick?” he asked. “Been robbed?”

“No, sir,” she croaked, trying to stand up straight. “Just lost.”

“Then you get yourself found.” He pointed toward the octagonal pillar of a public communications console, “Or I’m calling a security team down here to clean you off my street.” He tapped his ear meaningfully.

Aria licked her dry lips. “Yessir.”

When you can’t go back, you must go forward. Aria shuffled forward and peered into the gaudy twilight, trying to find a sign or a monument she recognized. If you can tell which is which.

The comm console loomed across her path. Aria teetered up to it and rested her weight against its smooth side. She stared at the blank screen and gently lit keyboard.

Aria’s hand trembled as she reached for the keys. She’d seen a lab assistant use one of these when he was going out for the evening. He’d called up the public system with a special nonsecured code…

I know the code, I know the code. But it would not come to the front of her mind where she needed it.

Oh, blast. Her hand dug into her pouch and closed around the smooth skin of the stone.

The boundaries of her memory burst with a rush of sensation that left her knees weak. She knew the code in an instant. She clung to the stone, savoring the freedom, and it was only with a wrenching effort that she made herself let go.

It felt like a massive hand pressed against her mind, squashing all her thoughts flat. She blinked stupidly at her fingers and wondered what they were for. The pillar squeaked against her skin as she slid closer to the ground. The hand pressed harder. Exhaustion helped it. Her fingers flexed idly, and she remembered. Slowly, one key at a time, she typed the code in.

The black screen brightened and showed a man with clear eyes and an angled jaw. “This is a special notice for all voting members of the First Families. Report to your section hall immediately for a special vote.”

What does it mean? She wondered. The hand was reluctantly lifting away, sparing her room to think, and just enough strength to straighten up again.

The man’s face faded away, leaving Aria staring at a black screen again. She hadn’t done enough. Her hand dropped to her pouch and her head started to swim.

No. She gritted her teeth. Not again. I won’t have any strength left. Hunger began to gnaw at her. She struggled with her unaided memory. Her fingers clutched the leather pouch and squeezed until her fingernails began to bend. With her free hand she touched the keys. Nothing happened. She tried a new sequence.

This time the screen lit up with the stylized lines and patterns that made up the city map. A crooked red line worked its way from where she stood to Perivar’s home. She found a key marked PRINT. A paper copy of the map slid out from the slot above the board.

For the briefest moment, Aria wished she was in Narroways. No one could have followed her there, never mind found her. She knew the alleys and the catwalks better than the rats. The Notouch would have sheltered her without question and given her any help she needed, knowing she would do the same for them one day. She would have had no fear of spies or betrayal, and if the night was cold and unpredictable, at least she could breathe the air and keep her balance as she ran through the streets. She could have told her direction by the placement of the walls and wouldn’t have needed to hunt around for street markers and struggle over their meanings.

Iyal had been wrong about that much. She couldn’t read very well. She just looked and saw and let the stones sort it out for her later. Except now there was no time for that.

With the map gripped in her fingers, Aria staggered forward.

Back home, the children swarmed all over Kiv, demanding the news. He deposited Ere in their midst to let her relay it.

“Perivar?” he tapped his translator. “I need to open the housing.”

“Sure, fine, go ahead.” The tone of the live voice under the translation was furious.

Kiv slid the housing back. On the other side, Perivar paced back and forth, kicking his chair when it rolled in his path.

Kiv retracted his neck at the sight. “What’s happened?”

“The Vitae have gone gods-high crazy, that’s what’s happened!” Perivar kicked the chair. It ricocheted off the map table and toppled over, its wheels trying helplessly to get purchase on thin air. “They’ve kidnapped Eric Born!”

“What?” Kiv all but pressed his snout against the membrane.

“I just got a message from Dorias…from an AI Dorias created…” He stopped and knotted his fingers in his hair. “They didn’t even arrest him; they just took him. And now I got word from Iyal they want Aria Stone, too…what is with them?”

“I don’t know,” said Kiv. “They just tried to bribe me to deliver Aria Stone to them if she ends up back here.”

Perivar froze. “What did you tell them?” he croaked at last.

“There was not much I could say.” Kiv related what had happened at the Embassy. At his knees, he could hear Ere giving the same story to her siblings, almost syllable for syllable. Kiv dropped a hand onto the back of Ere’s neck. “Into the other room, all of you. I’ll be in in a moment.”

Ere whistled quizzically, but Kiv shook her neck. Ri and Sha wrapped their arms around her, dragging her with them in a complex knot. Dene and Ka bounded along behind them and made a great show of shutting the door.

Kiv wrinkled his snout and turned his attention back to his partner. Carefully, Kiv told how he had suggested that Perivar might come work for the Shessel, leaving out Gov’s origin and his smell.

“What do you say, my partner? There’s good money to be had from the Shessel.”

For a moment the tension in Perivar eased. “That sounds good, Kiv. Let the Vitae and the Unifiers and the Diet fight this out on their own.” He picked the chair up and set it back on its wheels. “But I can’t just leave Eric…” He leaned heavily on the chair back. “I don’t owe him anything, but I do,” he said to the floor. “He could have used me a thousand times over, but he didn’t. We agreed to keep quiet and we did until the Vitae decided they could start playing games.” Perivar looked at Kiv from under his fringe of disheveled hair. “I’ve got to at least find out if there’s something I can do. It’s my responsibility. The U-Kenai’s coming into port and I’ve got to meet it. Can you open the channel yourself?”

Kiv extended his arms all the way. “I can. Then I think you had better meet us at the Embassy.” Uneasiness crept over him. “Humans do war over ground, don’t they?”

“Frequently,” muttered Perivar. “I was caught in one of those wars back home.”

“Is it possible the Vitae are readying for war?”

“It’s possible,” he said. “I’ve never heard of them doing it, but I’ve never heard of them acting like this, either.”

And I may have just denied them what they want, Kiv glanced back at his children. Yes. We need to get to the Embassy. All of us.

Perivar hit the CALL key for a bus and slid into his outdoor jacket. “Just let them know I’m coming. I’ll be as quick as I can, but a lot depends on what this Adu’s got to say.”

Perivar left and Kiv closed the membrane housing.

“Ererishakadene,” he called as he ambled into the living rooms. The children swarmed out of their sleeping holes and twined around and over him. “We’ve got to get ready for a trip to the Embassy. We may be staying for several days. So we have to pack what we’ll need. Ereri, unhook the capsules. Shakadene, come show me what you’ll want to take.”

And after that, I’ll need to get a download of…

The lights went out.

“Father Kiv?” called Ere. Sha, then Dene echoed her. “Father Kiv?”

Kiv dropped his secondary hands to hold the two of them. “Hold still, now. It’s a power failure. I’ll set it right.” He whistled calmly, but his skin felt dry and loose from reasonless fear.

With all four hands feeling his way along the walls, Kiv stepped into the workroom and tried to remember where the emergency power switches were.

The membrane housing slid back. White light dazzled his eyes. His open eyes recoiled and his closed set pushed forward. Kiv made out two human silhouettes illuminated by the bare light from the hall. One of them raised a box and there was a hiss. Kiv felt all his eyes try to retract.

The membrane began to shrivel.

Kiv lunged toward the doorway and slammed the housing closed. He hit the emergency seal. Nothing happened. The power was gone and there was no light and already he could feel the burn in his veins as too much oxygen shoved through his pores. The housing slid back. The light fell across him. A round Vitae and a tall Vitae stepped across the empty threshold.

Dene whimpered. Ka and Sha twined around his ankles. Kiv snatched them into his arms. They were too light. The air burned his skin, too hot and too cold at the same time. His children shuddered.

“Murderers!” Kiv backed away from the pair, who stood there like statues, doing nothing but blocking the housing. He forced himself to think. Get the children to the capsules. Now! Move! Move! Move…

His terminal legs gave out. His children bleated and wailed his name and the burning cold air pressed against his ears and his whole skin and bore him to the ground.

“Ererish…” And he couldn’t remember the rest of what he wanted to say.

Aria drank in the sight of the brown, brick walls of Perivar’s home and she sighed with relief. Several times she had made a wrong turn and been forced to double back and try again. Sometime during the march, the sun had gone all the way down. The crowds thinned around her and the buses that passed were full of people with their heads lolling. So Aria guessed it was getting relatively late. There was no way to judge by the unchanging lights that decked the buildings. Her joints told her she’d been walking a long time and they were reminding her she’d run too hard, as she’d known they would. Despite all that, fresh air and time had given her an internal balance that using the stones had removed. She could think clearly on her own again.

She shoved the map into her pocket as she crossed the empty street. The building’s main door opened under the touch of her fingers. Unaided, she remembered that Eric had pressed the top key on the destination list for the elevator when he had brought her here before, how long ago? Three weeks or a hundred years? She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall as the elevator lifted her up to Perivar’s floor. Well, with Perivar she’d have some direct and solid help, for Iyal’s sake, if not for her own.

The elevator door dragged itself open and let her into the simulated daylight of the corridor. She blinked hard and rubbed her eyes. Perivar’s door stood open at the end of the hall. The gesture of welcome where he came from. She smiled and strode toward it with something like relaxation in her movements.

But as she approached the open doorway, the air filled with the smell of ozone and rot. The doorway was dark and the place beyond was silent. Nothing hummed or buzzed or clinked.

Aria hesitated. Run, said part of her mind. Get out of here now.

Run where? Iyal won’t be at the lab now, or maybe ever again. I can find the port all right, but what’ll I do once I’m there? She set her jaw and unhooked the cattle prod from her belt, wishing she’d thought to steal a couple of knives from the lab.

Aria stole forward, placing each step silently on the tiled floor. A glance into the dim room showed no movement. She slipped across the threshold and pressed her back against the wall, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness.

All the machines that filled the space were quite dead. No one moved between them. The door to Perivar’s living rooms hung open. No sight or sound of movement came from in there either.

Her gaze tracked across the silent machinery to the portal that divided Perivar’s home from Kiv’s. Its door was also open and the threshold was draped in grey rags left from whatever substance had kept their atmospheres free of each other. Beyond it waited nothing but shadows and pale, grey light spilling in from the windows.

Aria gasped and swore and backed toward the door to the hall. The sudden breeze and the firm click told her it had shut before she could even whirl around and see it for herself.

She pressed her palm against the smooth surface of the reader. Nothing. Aria cursed bitterly. It was locked and she couldn’t do anything. She’d never seen how the door opened without the reader. She cursed again, this time for not being bright enough to realize that all the Vitae had to do was look at the destination list for the bus to find out where she had been planning to go.

She bit her lip, bothered. Why weren’t they here already? She looked at the remains of the inner portal. Maybe this was supposed to look like an accident. If the authorities arrived before she had entered the trap and they found the Vitae there, their presence would be difficult to explain. Now, though, the Vitae would know she was here. They’d have some Skyman’s trick. They’d be on their way for her.

Hide, Aria. Where? Near the door? Assault them as they enter? Too obvious. They’ll be ready. Hide in the corners. Make them come digging for me. She glanced around. Perivar’s private quarters were small and nearly useless. She remembered that. Maybe Kiv’s.

Hide in the darkness, maybe even find a weapon and a defensible position. Keep your back to a wall and at least they can’t sneak up on you.

With one eye toward the hallway door, she sidestepped through the inner doorway into the shadows. The room was nothing but knobs and bumps and mounds of blackness. She slid between them carefully, making sure her feet were flat on the floor and her balance was sound at each step. She could not afford to be shocked into falling over.

The main walls of Kiv’s room were set in a mirror configuration of Perivar’s with the door to the private section in the far wall. When Aria reached it, she froze.

Draped across the threshold lay Kiv’s long corpse. His arms lay wrapped around three smaller corpses. Three of his daughters lay dead with him.

Aria swallowed hard. Horror and fear took her over as a wretched thought reminded her how the Vitae came to find this place. Anger came fast on their heels.

You don’t do this to the children. If your quarrel is with the parents, you bring it to the parents. You do not claim the lives of the children. The Nameless forbid it. Expressly, firmly, with every breath.

You are not in the Realm of the Nameless. The Skymen may do what they please.

But not this! There is no power that can excuse them for this!

She steeled herself and climbed around Kiv’s cold body.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to the little corpses as she stepped around them. “Nameless Powers preserve me, I truly am.”

Her foot kicked something and it screamed. She jumped backward, missed her footing, and fell against Kiv’s clammy hide. With a screech of disgust, she scrabbled across the tacky floor. The thing on the floor screamed and whistled and buzzed, but didn’t move. Aria peered at it. It was about the size of her torso and it…writhed.

The capsule. It was the capsule that had dangled from the overhead cables and carried Kiv’s children between the rooms. Inside huddled one…no, two of the children.

They screamed at her. She rumbled with the disk in her ear. “Come on, you fool thing, work!” She tapped it impatiently.

“Murderer!” she heard abruptly. “You killed them! You killed them!”

The little one clawed at the sides of the capsule, its snout opening and closing maniacally as if it would bite its way through to get to her. The other grabbed at it with all four hands and twined their long bodies together until her sister was smothered into silence and could only lie still, with her sides trembling.

“Help us,” she pleaded. “I know it’s not your fault, but she’s going crazy. Please help us.”

“Oh, little ones,” Aria laid her hands on the capsule. “We’re trapped together unless you can you show me how to open the doors.”

“I can.”

“Then we’re gone.” Aria hefted the capsule. It weighed less than she thought it would. She balanced it on one shoulder. “Close your eyes,” she told them, and hoped they obeyed as she stepped over the remains of their family. Her stomach roiled and heaved and she forced her gorge back down. She had to get out of here. She had to get them out of here. She could hear one of them keening in a sound that she couldn’t imagine meant anything but pain.

Under the child’s instructions, she punched in the override code for the door lock. Aria had them all out in the hallway before the door had opened all the way. She avoided the elevators. Machines were the enemy now. Any or all of them might be in the hands of the Vitae. But the doors to the stairs were open and the stairway was clear.

“What are your names?” Aria asked as she negotiated the doorway with her cargo.

“I’m…I will be Kiv when we get back home, but until then, I’m named Ere,” said the one who was trying to calm her sister. “And Ri is my…my…” Whatever it was, Ere didn’t seem able to finish her sentence.

“Ere.” The stairs turned a corner and Aria had to juggle the capsule to keep from standing the children on their heads. “Is there a safe place I can take you?”

“The Embassy,” Ere said immediately. “They can…take care of us and…”

“Good.” Aria cut her off before she had to try to finish that sentence. “How far is it?”

“Across the city. I know the address. We all knew, in case of emergencies and…”

“And this is one, yes. I tell you what we’ll do. We’ll go to a public terminal and put in a call, let them know we’re coming…” She stopped. The Vitae might be listening to the lines and a call from her to the Shessel would let them know where she was going.

After another three flights of stairs, they came to a door labeled EXIT. Aria backed against the door to open it. The portal led straight out onto the main street, which was good, because it also led straight into a pair of Vitae. A young one and a tall one stood frozen in mid-stride, heading for the door.

Aria froze too, but her heart pounded. Backing up was no good, they’d hunt her like a rat. There was no way she could hide with the children in her arms. Running was already no good; they’d spread apart in front of her, ready to spring.

The weird scene was attracting attention. Passersby, probably on their way to warehouses or ship docks, turned their heads to see what was going to happen next. A few of them actually stopped dead.

The children also got a look at who blocked their way.

“Murderers!” screeched Ri. The capsule shuddered in Aria’s arms as Ri threw herself against the side. This time her sister made no move to stop her. “Murderers!”

Some people in the gathering crowd must have had translator disks, judging from their expressions.

“These children seem to have a grievance against you,” remarked Aria slowly.

“Your body is Vitae property,” said Young One. “You have no legal recourse to grievance committee or to council.”

Aria shook her head. “I am not making a grievance. These two of the Shessel race are.”

It was an old trick. Hide behind a superior rank whenever you could.

“You killed our parent!” Ri’s voice rose so high Aria’s eardrums responded with pain. “You slashed the membrane, shut the power, you left our sisters for dead, you suffocated our family, you…”

“Ere, calm her!” ordered Aria. Ri was going to hurt herself if she kept up her pounding. Worse, her shuddering would make Aria drop the capsule.

Ere wound herself around her sister again, but with less success. The capsule shook in Aria’s arms and she began to feel the strain of holding it.

“I am going to take these children to the Shessel Embassy.” She shifted her grip on the capsule. “You are welcome to come along and make whatever claim you have in there. If I don’t get them there, there will be two more deaths, this time in front of witnesses, because I can’t hold them much longer and if I drop them, and if this casing cracks, they’ll smother.”

The Vitae said nothing.

“Or we can just start shouting for a security patrol and I can tell my story to them and then you can tell yours and the Shessel can add whatever they feel necessary.” I am not a Notouch here, you bald, blind children, however hard you try to make me one. Then, a strange thought struck her. But you run this world, why isn’t security here already, by your orders ? A tart, satisfied feeling warmed her stomach. You’re doing something illegal, aren’t you? You CAN’T call security, can you?

Whatever it was the Vitae said to each other, the translator did not make any sense out of it. Aria watched the crowd behind the Vitae, and it was a real crowd now. They stood and stared. They said nothing. They didn’t move. They waited. These were the ones who ran their world and the crowd waited to see what they’d do.

Aria decided not to wait until the Vitae called her bluff. “Somebody get security!” she shouted to the crowd. “It’s a diplomatic incident and a murder call against the Vitae! Somebody get security!”

“Got it!” shouted a voice from the back of the gathering. “On the way! Five minutes!”

Aria smiled grimly. Some of these silent watchers wanted to rebel, all right, whether it meant the end of the world or not. Some of them were just waiting for the chance. Let the bald ones remember that!

“The Shessel will be taken to their Embassy,” said Tall One, “but you are our property. You will be taken by us.”

“Tell the patrol that. Tell them all about why these two are scared stiff of you.”

“They are children. They cannot give witness.”

“I can by Shessel law.” Ere pressed all her hands against the capsule side. “Our parent is dead. I am first-named and that makes me the voice of my family. I can give witness and name protectorates. I name Aria Stone.” She spread her mouth wide. Aria, for the first time, saw her needle-sharp teeth. “If we do not arrive at the Embassy in her hands, you are in violation of the treaty between the Shessel and this world and that is compounded on the crime of murder.”

“Murderers, murderers, murderers,” hissed Ri like she couldn’t make herself stop. By now, she probably couldn’t. “Murderers, murderers, murderers.”

“So, unless we all want to report to the patrol, you’re going to let me take these children out of here.” Aria shouldered the capsule again, grateful for the fact that Ri was confining herself to hissing and buzzing.

Aria started forward, right past the taller Vitae. He, she, or it, was speaking in the untranslated language, but she couldn’t tell to whom or what. They made no move to stop her, though, and she was glad. She was fairly sure the patrol would be on her side, but there would be endless Skyman formalities, and she had already lost too much time. “Ere, I am going to need your help.” Aria walked through the crowd. The bodies parted for her.

“Ah…all right. I’ll try.” The capsule wobbled precariously as Ere squirmed.

“I need you to keep me on the right path to the Embassy. We need crowded streets and residential areas. We can’t stay too long in deserted areas. We’re going to walk from here.”

“Walk!” whistled Ere. “But it’s miles and miles!”

“Any public transport we use might be rerouted by the Vitae,” Aria reminded her, “and I’m used to walking miles and miles.” She smiled and, with a patience that came from long necessity, stifled the pain in her aching knees and ankles. “Which is more than I’d say for those two behind us. They are behind us, aren’t they?” She felt the capsule shift again.

“Yes,” said Ere.

So, NOW they’re ready to chase me through the streets. “Well, well, strangest caravan I’ve ever been a part of but we’re lucky, little ones, though you might not believe it. There are lines they are not quite ready to cross yet. We have a chance to get you home still.”

And to get me out of here, if your people will help someone who helped some of their own.

“We can follow this street for a long time,” said Ere. “Until it gets to the New Crescent Quarter Way.”

“Good.” Aria shifted her pace to a slower one, the ground-covering pace she could maintain for almost as long as she could keep breathing, even carrying a heavy load in a high wind. She’d walked like this for most of her life. Let the Vitae with their machines and their shuttles tag along behind.

“They’re still back there.”

“Of course they are,” said Aria. “And as long as they stay back there, we’re fine. It means they haven’t been told what else to do.” I hope.

“Can you tell me what happened to you?” she said, partly to keep Ere from dwelling too long on the Vitae behind them, and partly to keep herself from doing the same.

She listened, all the while trying to bury her horror in anger. What right? What right do these people have? If they were the Nameless Powers with the Servant at their side, they would still have no right!

“…but the air was gone and he fell and Sha and Dene were already down and Ri was screaming and the Vitae were gone and…and…”

“Shhh, all right. It’s all right,” Aria wished she could touch her. She didn’t even know if the Shessel could tolerate the touch of human beings, but she still wished it. “Are they still back there?”

“Yes.”

“All right. Try to rest. We’re on our way to safety.”

As fast as I can get us there, she lengthened her stride.

The walkway crossed into one of the wild areas. The trees, too tall and too straight, swallowed the light and the weeds ate up the city sounds. Aria strained her ears. Traffic noise faded farther away with each step, except for the slow, steady hum from the Vitae’s transport. Aria risked a glance at the little patch of wilderness, wondering how much shelter it would afford if she had to run.

Maybe it won’t come to that. Maybe word will reach the Shessel and they’ll come looking for the children. Maybe…

Bracken rustled. The children whimpered, and Aria’s arm tightened around the capsule. She threw her gaze in every direction, trying to find the source of the new noise. The rustling increased. Aria forced herself to keep moving. About a half mile ahead, another inhabited stretch glowed like a beacon.

Behind and to the left, weeds and scrub parted and a sedan chair, one of the few private vehicles authorized for off-road travel, climbed gingerly out of the underbrush and with high-legged steps started angling toward Aria and her charges.

Aria watched the insectlike vehicle out of the comer of her eye, but kept on walking. It had its windscreen up and its weather hood down, so there was no telling who was in there. She tried to think what to do. The drone of the Vitae car wasn’t getting nearer, but the chair was. Fatigue clouded the edges of her mind and fear did nothing to clear it.

Abruptly, the chair halted and folded its legs. A human head and torso stuck out the side door.

“Aria!” shouted Perivar.

Relief sent Aria sprinting across the field before she remembered she was risking a huge fine for disturbance of a wilderness zone.

She skidded to a stop beside the chair, gouging the soil with her heels and doubling her fine. Iyal leaned out the driver’s side window and stared along with Perivar.

“What are you doing…” she began, but Perivar had seen the capsule and the Shessel children huddled inside.

“Murderer!” squeaked Ri.

What color he had drained out of Perivar’s face. “Where’s Kiv? The other kids?”

Aria glanced toward the road. The Vitae had stopped their vehicle, too, and one of them had poked a bald head out the window to get a clearer view of the field.

“No…” breathed Perivar.

“They’re dead,” said Aria. “The children say the Vitae are responsible. I see no reason to say otherwise.”

Perivar hit the door key, scrambling to get out before the door was even halfway open. Iyal touched the override control on her panel and it slid shut again.

“Perivar,” Iyal laid a big hand on his arm. “Don’t even think about it.”

Perivar pressed the key again, and again. “They killed…they took…they…”

“We’re in public, Perivar,” said Iyal.

“And we need to get these children to their people,” said Aria.

“Yeah, yeah.” He shook himself. “You’re right,” he looked at the children. “Gods, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know this would happen.”

“I know,” said Ere. “I don’t know about Ri, though.”

Perivar insisted on putting himself and the capsule on the luggage rack on the back of the chair. Aria, her arms aching, did not object, and neither did the children.

As soon as Aria strapped herself into the passenger’s seat, Iyal touched a series of controls. The chair stood up again. She steered it into the street. The speed of its stride rocked them back and forth. Aria looked behind them. The Vitae transport was still standing in the middle of the street.

“I guess they did not feel ready to explain themselves to the Shessel after all,” she murmured to Iyal.

“Well, they’d better be ready to explain themselves to the Diet. A lot of people are not happy.” Iyal spoke with a kind of quiet satisfaction and Aria wondered what had been happening to her since she had left the lab, what, four hours ago? Five?

Iyal must have seen the puzzled expression on her face. “Electronic communications, Aria, are wonderful things.”

In response to Iyal’s prodding, Aria related what had happened since she’d left the labs. In return, Iyal told her how she had woken up the Diet members who knew her family and had gotten enough votes together to call a counterdebate on the Vitae resolution. Then, when Perivar had called her from the docks where the U-Kenai was coming in with still more news, she had gone to meet him.

“Then Eric Born is here,” said Aria.

“No, he isn’t.” Iyal stared out the windscreen. “The Vitae got him.”

Aria felt like the ground had dropped away from her. All she could do was hang on to the door handle and listen to her own harsh breathing.

At last, Iyal walked them through the arched gates of the Shessel Embassy. She explained their reason for petitioning entry to the automated security system in a few shockingly blunt words. The gates opened to let them into the inner courtyard and white lines lit up along the pavement to guide them to the squared-off doors reserved for human entrance.

Perivar, his arms wrapped possessively around the capsule led them into the reception chamber and showed Aria and Iyal how how to put on the oxygen tanks. Then he led them through the shimmering membrane that was the real entrance to the Embassy.

As soon as they crossed the threshold, Ere opened the capsule and lifted herself halfway out, sucking great long breaths of air. An inner door folded back and three Shessel flowed into the room, ringing the humans. Perivar set the capsule on the floor. Ri shoved past her sister and swarmed up into the arms of the smooth-skinned, earth-toned Shessel and clung there, shivering and keening.

“Can you help her?” pleaded Ere, climbing all the way out of the capsule.

“We’ll sedate her,” said the Shessel. “That’s all we can do for now.”

Ere shivered along the entire length of her body. “I need to talk to somebody. The Emissary Voice. I need…”

“We’re here.” Three more Shessel entered from one of the corridors and Ere made a beeline for the earth-toned one. He embraced her with all his arms.

“Kiv is with the Sky Fathers now and your sisters are waiting to be reborn,” he said. “I feel them. They wait and say how brave their sister is to go on. She will live for us until we can live again.”

“I know, I know.” Ere burrowed under the crook of his neck.

“Emissary,” said Perivar. “Ere says that it was murder, done by the Rhudolant Vitae.”

“There are two of their Ambassadors here,” said the squat, greenish Shessel. “They will answer.” He looked toward the Shessel who held Ri.

“Are you ready to speak with the voice of your family, Ere?” he asked. “The Vitae are already here.”

Ere nodded and let herself be put on the floor. She extended her neck to stretch herself as tall as possible.

The greenish one extended his neck toward the cluster of humans. “The Vitae claim property rights over Aria Stone. She will come with us so we can determine the legalities involved here.”

Aria swallowed and glanced around her. Nowhere to run. She would simply have to brave this out for now.

“I can add my witness to Ere’s,” said Perivar.

The greenish one retracted himself until his eyes were level with Perivar’s. “That is not permitted. You will be shown where you can wait with Sar fa Maliad.”

Aria kept her eyes straight ahead as she followed the Shessel through the domed rooms. The oxygen pack dragged at her sore shoulders and the breathing mask itched where it pressed against her temples, and she wanted to tear the gel off her skin. Ere kept swiveling her eyes back toward Aria in a manner Aria could have sworn was furtive, but she couldn’t tell who the child was afraid for, Aria or herself.

They reached the chamber where the Vitae waited. It was Basq again, and Round One from the bus. The webwork of steel and gel that housed the two Vitae made them look for all the world like they were in a cage. The sight gave Aria some slim measure of satisfaction.

Basq stood near the membrane and his eyes glittered as he saw Aria move to stand beside the Shessel.

“Thank you for bringing our artifact, Sar Gov,” said Basq. “The Vitae will remember that the Shessel honored and respected the process of reclamation.”

“That has not yet been determined,” said Gov. “There are conflicting legalities and there is a charge to be leveled.” He dropped one of his lower hands and stroked Ere’s neck. “There have been numerous developments since your delegation spoke to us this morning.”

“This morning?” Basq repeated. “No delegation was sent this morning.”

“But we received one,” said Gov. “Two Vitae and their children, asking for custody of the parent Aria Stone. Since then, Kivshakadene has died. Ereri claims it was murder and lays responsibility at the door of the Rhudolant Vitae. Our laws are clear. No business can be done with any corporation or individual who endangers or injures the child of a Shessel parent.” He paused. “This includes the exchange of property.”

Basq stiffened minutely. “No Vitae delegation was sent. I am set to oversee this matter. If members of the Rhudolant Vitae have violated Shessel life or tew, they will be brought to trial and conviction. We will investigate this matter as far as we can. I am sure we both need to contact our voices within the Kethran Diet. What we ask in return is good faith from you, that you return our property.”

Ere whistled sharply and grabbed Gov’s secondary arm with three of hers. “But how have they laid claim?” she demanded, pointing toward the Vitae with her free hand. “All they say is that their ancestors came from this place. Well, my ancestors came from the Si-Tuk province, yet for three-quarters of a century, they vigorously contested our enclave’s right to return there.” She extended herself to her fullest height and turned all her eyes towards the Vitae. “I have named Aria Stone my protector, in front of witnesses, and unless you can lay claim to me, too, you cannot have her.”

Basq looked down at the child and then up at the full-grown Shessel. “This is a matter beyond personal…”

“It was,” said Gov. “Kivshakadene’s death drops it to exactly a personal grievance and Ere is her family’s voice. When we have established communications with the Emissary’s Council, we may all be ordered to do differently, but that is hours away yet. Your good faith would be best indicated if you began these investigations you insist will occur.”

“Our Ambassadors are already conferring with your enclave,” said Basq, staring straight at Aria. “The countermand may come at any time.”

“Then you will find we are obedient to the judgment of the Enclave of the World,” said Gov. “Until then, to the Shessel Aria Stone is a free parent of free children.

“We ask you to leave our Embassy.”

Basq did not incline his head or make any other gesture of respect, he just turned and left. Aria heard her own breathing through the mask, harsh and heavy.

The Shessel was studying her.

She shifted her weight and tried not to scratch at the gel pressing into her pores.

Nameless Powers preserve me, I should be used to this. Enough people have stared at me since I left home.

“What will you do if I leave?” Aria asked.

Gov’s whole body rippled. “We are not the ones who have claim upon you. We could make you stay, I suppose, but not legally, according to the legalities of the moment, unless Ereri keeps you protectorate-bound for that.” His back two eyes retracted. “I personally would be glad to see you gone, just because those murderers want you here.”

Ere tilted her head and eyes to look directly at Aria. “Where would you go if I broke bond?”

“Home, to my family and my own children. We have the Unifiers and the Vitae going to war over us. We need to make a stand against them.”

Ere extended herself, arms, legs, eyes, and neck. “Then I release you. You are no more protector.”

Aria smiled and knelt in front of Ere. “I hope that is not true, Little One.” She stroked the child’s neck briefly and felt the living flesh ripple under her hand. Her mind didn’t see Ere’s alien shape. She saw Little Eye and Storm Water and Roof Beam and Hill Shadow. It hurt to make herself stand up and shake clear that vision.

“I need to speak with Perivar and Iyal,” she said to Gov.

“Of course.”

The humans had been put in a little room separated from the Embassy proper by one of the membrane thresholds. Aria all but leapt through it and reveled in the sensation of the gel peeling away to let plain, dry air touch her skin. She lifted away the faceplate and rumbled with her tank’s straps. Iyal got up and helped her get the weighty thing off. Perivar remained sitting in an overstuffed chair, staring at the wall.

“It went all right, I take it?” said Iyal as she hung Aria’s gear on a rack beside the door.

Aria shrugged. “In its way, but I need to leave here, and I need to find Eric Born.”

“Good luck,” muttered Perivar. “Adu doesn’t even know where the Vitae took him.” He combed both hands through his hair.

“I need him,” said Aria. “I need to get back to the Realm. I need a ship to take me there and once I am there I need someone who can make the Teachers and the Nobles listen.”

“I told you,” snapped Perivar. “We don’t know where he is!”

“And even if we did,” said Iyal, “you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near a Vitae encampment.”

“You don’t think so?” Aria folded her arms. “They want me in there badly. You think they wouldn’t take me in if someone offered to hand me over?”

Perivar raised his head slowly. “You haven’t got any idea what you’re up against.”

Aria felt her temper snap. “You have no idea what I know, Skyman! I know your partner is dead and your friend is imprisoned and I know who has done these things. I also know you are sitting there, just sitting there, willing to let these…things…rule the places you and your children and your children’s children will have to live in!” She threw up both hands. “What is the matter with you people? You’re worse than most of the Notouch! They at least follow the words of the Nameless. You, you just follow the words of a bunch of bloody-handed strangers!”

For a moment, Aria thought Perivar was going to hit her. His fist curled and cocked itself. Iyal didn’t even move.

“Let me tell you something, Notouch,” he sneered. “I was fighting my battles while you were pissing your diapers!”

Perivar let his hand drop. He looked at the floor, at the ceiling and the walls. Aria said nothing. If he needed to collect himself, let him. Iyal put her hand on his shoulder.

“Assuming we can get them to take the bait,” said Iyal, “are you willing to help haul him out of there?”

“Where my cousin’s blood has been spilled,” Perivar said, “there will always be revolution.” He looked up at Iyal. “What about Killian?”

She smiled softly. “He’s still at the docks, booking us passage to New Dawn. I’m inclined to go out with a bang.”

Perivar squeezed Iyal’s hand tightly and nodded to Aria. “Come on. I’m inclined to show the Vitae who they’re really up against.”