were naturally released from their contracts, and of the slaves, some were sold to pay for maintenance expenses.' Frowning, he glanced at Priya and O'eki.
'Hu! That's one way to rid yourself of business competition. What merchandise did the House of the Embers Moon deal in?'
'Oil, of course. For as the moon wanes, you've more need of lamps, do you not?'
She smiled. She liked Eliar. He had a mind like hers in many ways, he treated her with a respect she'd never experienced in the house where she had growp up, and of course his clan had shown her nothing but gracious generosity. Most importantly, he was Miravia's beloved brother.
And he was still talking. 'Cooking oils, spiced oils.'
'Rose oil? Other perfumed oils?'
'I suppose so.'
'Oil of naya?'
'They would have had access to the trade route, since seeps lie in the western Barrens beyond the Olo'o Sea.'
'Nut oils? Thatch-tree oil? Mu oil?'
He smiled. 'Oil is not my specialty, so I don't know. This particular warehouse is set up to store their stock in storerooms depending on type and grade.'
She counted the narrow cubicles, opening doors and testing latches. 'Each of these can be separately locked shut.'
'Mistress, I'll check the rooms, take a count, and measure space,' said O'eki.
'Yes.' At the far end of the warehouse a single room ran the width of the space, with heavy braces and tripods for lamps and a pair of elaborately carved low writing desks beside two wide cabinets with numerous small sliding drawers to store parchment and scrolls. 'The main office. What is through those doors?'
'The public receiving rooms of the house. There are private living rooms as well, accessible through a hidden door. This was the clan's headquarters, their main compound in Olossi, so it's an elaborate compound. They own two warehouses in the outer city and a small
estate on West Spur where they grow olives. They stored their best product here, under the watchful eye of loyal guards. The head of the household lived here while residing in the city.'
Mai was tired, her feet hurt, and she had constantly a bad taste in her mouth. She touched her belly, and with a blush drew her hand away in the hope no one had noticed.
Priya was there in an instant, hand under her elbow. 'Mistress, do you need to sit down? I saw trees beyond the walls of the main courtyard. Perhaps there is a garden where you might rest.' The slave looked at their escort.
Eliar nodded. 'I have the keys to the living quarters and gardens as well. Shall we go in?'
A pall of dust had settled over the living quarters. Mai shuddered, finding the vacant quarters eerie in neglect with the furniture left neatly in place and one cabinet door ajar as though someone had meant to get something and then left before closing the door. She kept expecting a stranger — or a ghost — to walk into the chambers.
The compound included two gardens, one an intimate herb and flower garden and the other a larger enclosure with a dozen fruit and nut trees ranked on either side of a pair of tiled basins filled with water and the scattered debris of fallen leaves and withered petals. Priya brushed windblown scraps off a bench under an octagonal pavilion sited between the long pools. Mai sank down gratefully. Several roof tiles had smashed on the paving, and an iron lamp stand listed on one broken leg.
'This is very pretty,' she said, because when she talked she could ignore the bile creeping up the back of her throat.
'It hasn't been maintained.' Eliar surveyed the garden with a critical eye while Chief Tuvi paced the length of the basins and back, counting steps under his breath.
Mai coughed, and swallowed.
'Mistress?' Priya knelt beside her.
'Nothing I shouldn't have expected.'
'Would you like to go back to my family's compound?' Eliar asked, looking pink and embarrassed.
'No.' Louder and more firmly, she repeated herself. 'No. If there are no adults remaining, then who can negotiate for use rights for this compound?'
'The council has appointed a temporary factor to oversee the clan's interests. Usually in such matters a hierophant from one of the temples of Sapanasu is hired until the estate is settled or a child reaches legal age. In this case, as I happen to know…'
Mai pressed a hand to her collarbone as Eliar's words blurred away into meaningless noise.
Chief Tuvi trotted back. 'Mistress?' he asked.
Priya said, matter-of-factly, 'Just the usual sick.'
Mai said, 'Oh, no.'
She stumbled down off the pavilion and made it to a patch of bare earth before vomiting. The wet soil stained the fabric of her gown, and her hands came up dripping crumbs of earth. Yet even with the taste of vomit in her mouth, she felt better.
'Grandmother would say, 'Now you have fertilized the garden, you must plant in it.'' She wiped her mouth with the back of a hand.
Eliar flushed as though he'd been burned. Tuvi laughed.
A door slammed shut with a sharp report. Footsteps raced on stone flooring.
Tuvi drew his sword, swearing under his breath. 'Move behind me,' said the chief.
Mai had never forgotten the armed men who had burst into her private chamber in an inn in Sirniaka. She could still see their pragmatic expressions, men bent on killing with no feeling but of business that needed to be concluded. Not again! She ran over to the grizzled soldier, while Priya placed herself between Mai and the house.
Mai's young uncle barged out into the garden. A pair of Qin soldiers followed, not hiding their grins.
'Shai!' cried Mai on a burst of expelled air. 'You frightened me!'
'What's this, Seren? Tarn?' Tuvi's glare jolted all three young men to a halt. 'With all your clattering, I thought the Red Hounds had found this house.'
Shai said nothing, as usual.
Seren was first to speak. 'This one' — he gestured to Shai — 'was in a hurry. Sorry, Chief. Captain Anji is in the warehouse talking to Mountain.'
'His name is O'eki,' said Mai, more curtly than she intended, still panting from the scare.
'Shai calls him Mountain,' said Seren with a shrug.
'I'm going after Hari,' said Shai.
Now that Mai's heart could slow down and with her stomach settling, she saw that Shai was holding his entire body as though ready to leap. 'Uncle Hari? He's dead.'
He hauled her out of earshot of the others. Tuvi grunted, but did not otherwise react.
Shai bent close, whispering in an urgent voice. 'It's my chance to prove myself, Mai. They're letting me go on a scouting expedition into the north, with Tohon and some others.'
'How many of you?'
'Seven.'
Seven sent to scout the trail of a marauding army now in retreat! Already she imagined their violent deaths, just like in the tales, cut to ribbons and the pieces dropped into a dry ravine.
Shai was still talking. 'Father Mei sent me to find Hari's bones and return them to the family. Now I have a chance.'
He glanced over his shoulder toward the waiting Qin as they both heard voices from the inner rooms. His hand tightened on her wrist. She gritted her teeth because he was strong from years of carpentry, and he was anyway more passionate now than she had ever seen him in all the years they had grown up together in the same clan house in faraway Kartu, where she had been everyone's favorite child and Shai had been the youngest and least-favored of Grandmother's seven sons, only two years older than she was. They had played together more like siblings than niece and uncle, and she knew him as well as anyone did.
His round face glowed, and maybe it was sweat but maybe it was determination that animated him. 'I have a
