“I’m very pleased to meet you, Madame D’Shendael,” offered Seliora.
“Juniae, please…”
“I heard so much about your books from Rhenn’s sister, and she would be so pleased to know that you are as gracious-and imposing-as your writings.”
Juniae D’Shendael laughed. “Imposing? That sounds like a statue. I hope I’m not quite that stiff and formal.” She looked to me. “Does your sister still retain her affection for my work, Maitre Rhennthyl, or was that a passing fashion of youth?”
“She still holds the deepest respect for you and your writing, Madame.”
A card appeared in the gloved hand of Juniae D’Shendael. “I’ve written the name of the latest book on the back. With fortune, it should be printed in the next month or so.”
I took the card. “Thank you. I’m certain she will get it. I will have to post the card and information to her, though. She is now running the Alusine Wool factorage in Kherseilles. She’s made it quite profitable, and as I told you years ago, she credits some of that to you.”
“You are both kind, but I’m certain it was mainly through her own ability. She’s a full factoria now, isn’t she?”
“That she is. One of the few.” I didn’t want to go into all the difficulties that had created.
“Good for her…and for your father in supporting her.” She smiled warmly, then inclined her head to the young-faced, but red-and-silver-haired man in the uniform of a Navy Sea-Marshal. “I did want you to meet Assistant Sea-Marshal Geuffryt. His official title is Director of Internal Operations.”
I inclined my head to the marshal. “I’m pleased to meet you. Might I present my wife Seliora?”
“Madame Rhennthyl, I’m delighted to meet you.” After bowing his head slightly to Seliora he straightened and said with a smile, “It’s always a pleasure to meet people who take their obligations seriously, but not themselves. You both have that reputation.”
“So does the Navy,” I replied.
“We try,” he replied with a laugh.
“If you will excuse us?” Juniae D’Shendael smiled again. “I see my husband beckoning.”
After she and the Sea-Marshal turned away, I read what she had written on the back of the card-“The Art of Conversation.” The writing looked familiar, near-perfect, so much so that it might have been calligraphy. I’d seen it before. I knew I had. Then I almost froze, realizing that the script well might be identical to the message I’d been given at the banque. I’d have to check, but I was certain that the writing was identical.
“What is it?” asked Seliora, leaning close to me and murmuring her words.
“Trouble…” The Assistant Sea-Marshal was clearly the head of Naval intelligence-spying, or the like, although I’d have to check with Dichartyn-and the entire purpose of the meeting and the card was obvious. What I didn’t understand was why Marshal Geuffryt couldn’t have acted on the information I’d been provided in the note at the banque. “I’ll have to tell you later.”
I half-turned and smiled as Iryela and Kandryl approached.
“There you are!” offered Iryela warmly. “We did want to join you, but Madame D’Shendael and that Navy officer were taking your time.”
“She was giving me a card with the title of her new book so that I could tell Khethila. It’s called ‘The Art of Conversation.’ I imagine it will be more than that. Her books go beyond the titles.”
Iryela smiled. “You’d never mentioned you’d read her books.”
“I haven’t read them all-just two, and not all of one of them,” I admitted. “It’s not that they’re not good… but…there’s never enough time.”
“With all that you two do, I’m not surprised.” Iryela’s eyes flicked to Kandryl.
Kandryl looked to Seliora. “I understand you’re a marvelous dancer. If you wouldn’t mind…” He looked to me.
Seliora offered a smile. “I’d love to, and Rhenn can’t tell me no.”
I shrugged helplessly, then turned to Iryela. “I fear you’re getting the worse of this, but might I have the dance?”
She smiled broadly. “That you may.”
As we slipped onto the dance floor, I murmured, “Nicely done. I take it you have a concern.”
“I do. It’s not something I’d want anyone else to know, except Seliora, of course. There are golds missing from a private contingency account, several thousand. It’s a coded account in the Banque D’Rivages. So far as I know, only my father had the codes until…. Mother didn’t even know about them, and she’s stayed on the lands ever since. They were always sealed, and the seals weren’t broken when…after things happened.”
“Can’t you change the codes?”
“Oh, we did, and that stopped the losses. We can handle a few thousand golds…but it’s still worrisome.”
A few thousand golds, and she could handle it? After five years as a Maitre D’Structure, I made three golds a week. That was more than all but a few people in a hundred made in L’Excelsis-and we did get a good-sized house as well. Even if I counted in the monetary value of the house, my annual earnings were probably less than four hundred golds a year. All that just illustrated the enormous gap in wealth between the High Holders and the rest of Solidar, except perhaps for a few handfuls of freeholders or factors like Broussard. “Maybe someone in one of the banques just guessed.”
“It’s possible, but we have our doubts. I thought you, in your present position, might keep an eye or ear open, just in case you find something that might shed some light on how it could have occurred.”
“I honestly don’t know of anything like that, but I’d be pleased to watch for anything bearing on it.” I could tell that the possibility of a lack of control bothered Iryela more than did the loss of the golds. That…I understood all too well.
“I do appreciate it, Rhenn.”
“Frydryk had a talk with his father.”
“He always does. That’s the burden of being the heir.”
“Kandryl should be thankful to you…in many ways.”
“He is most grateful…and attentive.” After the slightest pause, she added, “At times, things do turn out for the best. They have for both of us, I think.”
She wasn’t talking about herself and Kandryl, and I just said, “Yes, they do, and at times, they even lead to happiness amid the disruptions.” I paused. “I never thanked you for selling that land to Khethila.”
Her eyes sparkled for a moment. “I didn’t even know we had it. When I found out, I thought it was the right thing to do. So did Kandryl. We offered it for less than my father paid for it.”
I understood. Iryela had made the offer at fair market value. Her father had bought it at a premium so that he could use it against me and my family, but Iryela also knew that outright charity would rankle Khethila.
After a time of silence, she said, “You have improved since the first time we danced. That has to be your wife’s influence.”
“She’s been a good influence.”
As the music of that dance died away, I escorted Iryela back to the edge of the dance floor, where Kandryl and Seliora were already waiting.
“If you will excuse us…” offered Iryela.
“Of course,” Seliora replied.
I just nodded.
“What did she want?” asked Seliora with a smile.
“Besides a dance?” I grinned. “Did you think-”
“I carry the pistol everywhere,” she whispered.
“You’re a hard woman.”
“But I’m yours…if you behave.”
“As if I had any choice.” I laughed, then, after a moment, explained. “Someone withdrew funds from a coded account. She said the amount didn’t bother her so much as that no one else knew the codes. It was only several thousand golds.” A touch of irony crept into my voice.
“Who would have known the codes? Her mother? She and Johanyr are the only ones left alive besides Iryela.”
