times a day?' She slurped her tea, set down the delicate cup — more fine than anything Avisha had ever handled in her life but everyday ware here — and called out. 'Chief! Another round of interviews now.'
'I'll separate out fourteen, Mistress. No more.'
'You'll need a rest afterward, Mistress,' added Priya.
'I am overwhelmed by superior numbers.' Mai smiled.
In the weeks she had lived in the household of the captain and his wife, Avisha had learned that Mai's smile hid more than it revealed.
Mai continued in a murmur meant only for Avisha's ears. 'Don't they see that the interviews are the worst part? I'd rather have them all done than drawn out over weeks.'
'More will keep coming,' said Avisha. 'Until all the Qin are married. As women hear, or decide to try their luck, or see how bolder women have fared.'
Mai sighed.
Priya leaned over, resting a dark hand on Mai's belly. 'Are you weary, Mistress?'
'Yes, but not tired!'
'Here they come,' said Avisha.
The Qin soldiers were never really off-duty, although as far as Avisha could tell they had a fair bit of leeway in going about their tasks. Rather more than a dozen men filtered into the courtyard, in addition to the guards who were on duty, as a group of hopeful women were herded into the far end of the garden and then cut out in family groups when it was their turn to come forward.
A pair of cousins dressed in gaudy town fashion wanted to know how much coin they would be paid to marry the outlanders. They were dismissed.
A poor widow who would soon be too old to bear children was given a string of vey and sent away.
A nervous girl came forward with her even more nervous uncle, and had little enough to say for herself, but when Avisha questioned her she relaxed enough to admit she could tailor.
'Come back tomorrow with samples of your work,' said Mai. 'If you are willing to set up housekeeping in the settlement we are building in the Barrens on the western shore of the Olo'o Sea, your skills will be useful. Think about it.'
Several of the Qin soldiers marked the girl with interested gazes as she and her uncle left.
A frowning woman strode forward, dragging a young woman pretty enough except for the splotchy red mark across her right cheek. 'This is my daughter. I would be happy to see her wed without any bride-price-'
Tuvi leaned down to speak in Mai's ear. 'With that demon's mark on her face, none of the men will take her.'
The girl saw, and interpreted, his expression, and hid her face with a hand.
'What will happen to her, verea?' Mai asked the mother.
The woman's disappointment was easy to see in the way her hand had tightened on the poor girl's wrist, as if the girl had been rude. 'Some of the clan have suggested selling her labor as a slave, but it would shame our family to have it known we'd been forced to do so. We haven't the dowry for her to go to the temple.'
Mai fished in her sleeve and pressed a gold cheyt into the woman's hand. The woman stared, too shocked to close her hand over it. 'See that she goes to the temple, for the sake of your clan's honor.'
An audible murmuring rose from the crowd of hopeful women. They shifted, moving back as Keshad pushed through and trotted up to the pavilion ahead of the next supplicants. He mounted the steps with a handsome frown on his face as he sketched a greeting to Mai. He did not even look at Avisha, but why should he? She was nothing to him! Nothing at all.
'Greetings of the day, verea.' A woman addressed Mai with the confidence of a person whose position is secure. She was dressed in a taloos of elaborately embroidered silk that proclaimed her wealth and station. 'I am Bettia, of Seven Fans House.'
'Greetings of the day, verea,' said Mai politely. Her gaze drifted to the young women standing behind Mistress Bettia. 'Who are these?'
The prettier girl was staring at the ground, but the other, eyes wide with shock, gaped at Keshad as her lips moved, forming his name. Avisha glanced at him, but he was fiddling with his factor's staff, a short wand about the length of his forearm whose narrow end was crowned with a band of ribbons and a pair of seals fixed to leather cords. He looked like he wanted to lash something, or someone.
'I'm a merchant, as you are, verea,' said Mistress Bettia in the manner of a confidante, 'but in the recent troubles two of my house's warehouses burned down with our stock inside. I find we cannot afford to keep the number of slaves we're accustomed to. I thought you might wish to purchase the remaining debt of these two. They're hard workers. They would make good wives.'
Avisha was pretty sure that Bettia was thinking, 'good wives for outlanders She wanted to knead her heel into that proud merchant's gold-slippered foot until the woman squealed for mercy.
Keshad bent down between them, a faint aroma of cloves wafting from him. Probably he washed and dressed his hair with an infusion of clove oil and other herbs. She wondered what it would be like to wash those lustrous curls.
'Don't take them,' he whispered.
Mai smiled. 'Mistress Bettia, I fear I cannot say yes to such a proposition. I have made a policy not to accept the entanglements of debt. Only free women need apply.'
'Had you advertised that before, and I missed it?' said Bettia with a shake of the head that brought attention to the cunning ornamentation of ivory combs and beaded braids that no doubt took her attendants half the morning to prepare. 'Yet I see here Master Feden's slave, now serving you as factor.' She made a crude show of looking surprised as she addressed the slave who had mouthed Kesh's name. 'Why, Nasia, you came from Feden's house, did you not?'
The slave mumbled something.
Chief Tuvi made a business of coughing, and Mistress Bettia looked at him. She blinked first, smiled as if she was in pain, collected her slaves, and retreated.
'What was meant by that performance?' Mai asked.
'She hopes to set spies in your midst.' Keshad's lovely eyes narrowed as he brooded. 'She's known for trading information as well
as fans, screens, scrolls, and lamp shades. Eyes and ears placed inside the house of the outlanders would be valuable, indeed.'
Mai considered this with no apparent change of expression, stroking the smooth silk that covered her bulging abdomen. Avisha, who knew her own face shouted every least thought and emotion, envied her that smooth countenance. 'Would it not be prudent to accept such a person into the house? Better to know who will be spreading tales than to have one sneak in who we do not know of.'
'There's truth to that,' said Tuvi. 'Let them think we don't know.'
'Maybe so,' said Keshad. 'If we don't give ourselves away. Also, verea, if you hand out charity in such a public way, you'll cause everyone to come just to eat out of your hand.'
'I felt sorry for the girl, knowing no one wanted her.'
'They will take advantage of your good nature, verea,' said Keshad passionately.
Chief Tuvi glanced at Kesh, and made a show of clearing his throat. 'Are you growing tired, Mistress?'
'No. Let's go on with the interviews.'
Jerad crept up to the edge of the pavilion and tugged at Avisha's arm. 'Vish? Can I go to the stables?'
The chief signaled a new family group to come forward. Mai smiled at the party of humble farmers — a father and daughters by the look of them. Keshad was pretending to look at his hands but was in fact studying Mai under lowered eyes.
Did Kesh love Mai? And why wouldn't he? Mai was beautiful, and kind, and well-mannered, and very clever.
'Vish!'
'No!' she whispered, wishing she could tweak one of Jerad's ears to make him stop bothering her at always the wrong moment. 'You'll just get in the way.'
He rolled his eyes as he tugged at a fold in her taloos. 'No, not by myself. Jagi said I could go with him and learn to groom a horse! Please.'
