me to assume that you will do us a favor, or two.”
The noblewoman seemed impervious to Maia’s stare of unadulterated hatred. “For your first task,” Odo resumed. “I want you to accompany me tonight. We are going to the opera.”
The elegance of it all did not take Maia completely by surprise. She had been to the Capital Theater many times, vicariously, via tele broadcasts and scenes in drama-clips. As a little girl, she had fantasized dressing in the sort of fancy gowns worn by rich clonelings, gliding in to watch magnificent productions while, all around her, the whispered intrigues of great houses went on behind demure smiles and shielding fans.
Fantasies were one thing; it was quite another matter to struggle with unfamiliar fasteners and stays, coping with billowing, impractical acres of drapery that could have no function other than to advertise the wealth and status of the wearer and the wearer’s house. Finally, a pair of young women from Odo’s hive came to help Maia prepare for her first evening of make-believe. They managed to arrange the puffy sleeves and pleated trousers to conceal most of her recent scars, but Maia drew the line at makeup, which she found repulsive. When Odo arrived, the old woman concurred for her own reasons.
“We want the child to be recognized,” she ruled. “A small bruise or two will cause notice. Besides, doesn’t she cut a superb figure, as is?”
Maia turned before a precious, full-length mirror, amazed by what she saw. The outfit emphasized what she had barely noticed till now, that she had a woman’s body. She was four centimeters taller and much fuller than the scrawny, gawky chicken who had shyly stepped out of Port Sanger, months before. Yet it was her own face she found most surprising: from one thin, healing scar under her right ear; to her cheekbones, now entirely free of baby fat; to the sweep of her brown hair, brushed to a fine gloss by one of Odo’s attentive servants. Most astonishing were her eyes. They remained unlined, apparently youthful and innocent, until you took them full on. Slightly narrowed, they seemed at once both skeptical and serene, and from an angle she recognized the brow of her father, master of ships and storms.
It was an image of herself she had never envisioned.
That didn’t seem likely, unfortunately. Leie and Brod relied on her good behavior for their lives. Still, Maia turned away from the mirror with a smile for Odo.
The Great Theater sprawled gaudily a short distance down the acropolis esplanade from the Temple and Library. Horse-drawn carriages, lugar-litters, and more than a few motor-limousines coursed up to the steps, depositing the topmost layer of Caria society for tonight’s revival opening of a classic opera,
Maia watched from the carriage she shared with Odo and a half-dozen older women from various aristocratic clans. It had been a chilly ride. Some of the old trepidation returned under their withering disdain. That enmity was based on a wide range of fanaticisms, but what made these women powerful went far deeper, to the core of the society established by Lysos long ago.
From the moment she stepped down from the carriage, Maia felt eyes turn her way. Whispered comment followed her up the steps, through the ornate portico, and along a sweeping, ceremonial stairway to the box where Odo arranged for her to sit prominently forward, on public display. To Maia’s relief, the house lights soon went down. The conductor raised her baton, and the overture began.
The opera had its points. The musical score was beautiful. Maia hardly paid attention to the libretto, however, which followed a hackneyed theme about the ancient struggle between womanly pragmatism and the spasmodic, dangerous enthusiasms of old-fashioned males. No doubt the drama had been revived at the behest of certain political parties, as part of a propaganda campaign against restored Phylum contact. Her presence was meant to signify approval.
During intermission, Maia’s escorts took her to the sparkling elegance of the lobby, where var waiters circulated with trays of drinks and sweetmeats. Here it would be simple to elude her escorts … if only Leie and Brod weren’t counting on her. Maia choked down her frustration and tried to do as she’d been told. Smiling, she accepted a fizzy beverage from a bowing attendant, a var like her, with eyes lowered deferentially.
Maia’s smile widened in sudden sincerity when she saw, coming toward her, a tight group of figures, two of whom she knew. Shortest, but most intense, strode the detective, Naroin, looking out of place in a simple, dark evening suit. Next to her, and half again as tall, walked Clevin, the frowning, earnest commodore of Pinniped Guild.
Two women accompanied Naroin and Clevin, one of them tall, silver-haired, and elegant. The other was darkly beautiful, with mysterious green eyes. Maia did not know their faces.
Odo slid alongside Maia as the group approached, “Iolanthe, how good to see you back in society. It seemed so dull without you.”
The tall woman nodded her simply-coiffed gray head. Her face was delicately boned, with an air of quiet intelligence. “Nitocris Hold has been mourning its friend, who came so far across the galaxy, only to meet betrayal and untimely death.”
“A death drenched in irony, and by his own hand,” Odo pointed out. “With rescue just meters away, if only he knew it.”
Maia would have gladly, unrepentantly, killed Odo on the spot. She remained rigidly still, save to give one quick nod to Naroin, another to her father.
“So you feel delivered of your crime?” the woman named lolanthe asked, her voice prim, like that of a savant. “We’ll find other witnesses, other testimony. Such a grand cabal of tensely diverse interests cannot hold. You play dangerous games, Odo.”
Odo shrugged. “I may be sacrificed at some point. In Macro Chess, a side may lose many queens, yet still win the game. Such is life.”
It was Clevin who spoke next, to the surprise of both disputing women. “Bad metaphor,” he remarked in a terse, gravelly baritone. “Your game isn’t life.”
Odo stared at the man, as if unable to credit his effrontery. Finally, she broke into derisive laughter. Behind Maia, others of the conspiracy joined in. The Pinniped commodore didn’t blanch. In his stern silence, Maia felt greater weight of argument than all their ridicule. She knew what he meant, and said so with her eyes.
Naroin stepped toward Maia. “Missed ya, varling. Sorry, I didn’t figure on a snatch like that. Underestimated your importance once again.”
That was the part Maia still couldn’t figure out.
“You all right?” Naroin finished. “All right,” Maia answered, almost a whisper. “How about yourself?”
“Fine. Catchin’ hell for lettin’ you get taken. How was
Around them on every side, people were watching. Maia sensed attention not only from stately matrons, but quite a few male onlookers, as well.
Iolanthe spoke again. “It won’t do, Odo. She cannot remain your prisoner.” The savant turned to Maia. “Come with us now, child. They cannot prevent it. We’ll protect you as our own, with powers you cannot imagine.”
Maia somehow doubted that. She had, of late, seen forces beyond anything this pale intellectual could have known. Moreover, like the sword of Lysos breaking symbolic chains on the Lanargh City statuary clock, events had shattered all fetters on Maia’s imagination.
On another level, she felt the offer was doubtless sincere. Though Iolanthe’s side in the political conflict
