'I need to see Master O'eki,' said Keshad. A guard twitched back one curtain.
He walked down a corridor between tents screened by hangings and past more guards into a separate tent. This space was much cooler because the inner walls and the flaps cut into the canvas roof had been rolled up to allow a breeze through. Pallets lay rolled up on one side, seating pillows heaped around them. Outside, a square of bare ground was shaded not by a canvas roof but by the high sides of other tents; here a hearth fire burned and the kitchen women had already set to work brewing khaif and pouring cordial. Mai was seated on a pillow on a plank porch, nursing the baby; Miravia sat beside her, whispering in her ear in an affectionate way that stabbed Kesh with envy. Would she ever lean against him so lovingly? Did she care about him at all?
Sheyshi, standing unremarked in a corner, was also staring, her eyes as unfocused as if she were — as she likely was — a bit lack-witted. Perhaps she, too, was jealous of the attention her mistress was receiving from the interloper. Sometimes slaves developed an infatuation with their masters, perhaps only to deflect the degradation of their own condition.
As sharply as if they had appeared out of the air to regard him with fear and reproach, he remembered the two girls he had sold to Master Calon, the young sisters who had clutched at each other for comfort. Calon had intended to train one as a jarya in expectation of gaining a greater price for her later. Had the other girl been sold to pay for her sister's training and upkeep? Where were those girls now?
Why should he even care? If he had not bought them in Mariha, someone else would have. A jarya's life and training was
nothing to scorn. Certainly their lives would be better in the Hundred than they would have been in Mariha.
His lips were dry.
'Is Master O'eki here?' he croaked.
Miravia stiffened, without turning to look. After a moment's hesitation, Mai smiled in that pretty way she had that could as well kill a man as reassure him. The baby suckled noisily. Miravia acknowledged his presence with an awkward nod.
'Master Keshad?' O'eki emerged from yet another hidden chamber; this cursed place was full of little antechambers walled off by hangings and canvas and woven curtains. 'Here I am.'
Kesh kept trying not to stare at Miravia; he knew he was making a fool of himself, but she was so close and alive, and looking at him because she was free to do so. If she were free to look at him, then he was free to look at her. He ventured a smile, and knew at once how clumsy it must appear because Sheyshi snickered as Miravia flushed and looked away.
The hells!
'Master Keshad?' The big man loomed beside him. 'How can I help you?'
'Er, ah, yes, we're to supervise the loading of a ship with oil of nay a.'
'Oil of naya?' asked Mai. The baby let go of the nipple and reared back to look at his mother, caught by her tone, which Kesh could not interpret. She quickly covered her exposed breast with her taloos. 'Merciful One! To bring oil of naya again to battle. A cruel weapon. But effective.'
'Better this way than drawn out long, Mistress,' said O'eki with a slow shake of his head.
'It was just so awful to see,' said Mai. 'Never mind it. I'd rather win with oil of naya than lose by refraining. I'll come with you. I'd like to see how much oil has been stored up, and I want to check the accounts books. Sheyshi, could you bring me the sling?'
'I can carry the baby, Mistress.' Sheyshi's wheedling tone made Keshad wince. Did he sound like that when he spoke to Miravia? Not that he had ever spoken to her except that one time in the market.
'I've been doing the accounts for the naya storehouses,' said Miravia. 'We've been shipping lots to Argent Hall for the last month. Just a few days ago two flights of reeves flew vessels out, although I wasn't told where they were headed.'
'You've been my trusted eyes and ears here in Astafero for the last months.' She kissed Miravia on the cheek. Kesh licked his lips, wishing they were his lips on that delicate skin. How envy stabbed! Was Mai taunting him on purpose? 'Indeed, I can scarcely bear to be separated from you, now we are together again,' she went on, and perhaps her gaze slid sidelong to pinion him, reminding him that he was the outsider. Or perhaps he was just imagining things.
As she wrapped Atani in the sling, the curtain was swept aside and Anji walked in accompanied by Tuvi. 'Mai, you'll attend me.'
Chief Tuvi looked up at the rippling ceiling and down again. 'Captain? Did I not recommend prudence?'
Tuvi-lo.' Anji's tone ended the conversation. 'Mai, I must absorb a full complement of Qin soldiers into my command. It is necessary for me to make them understand that you hold the position of my consort under Qin custom. For them to accept my command, as Commander Beje has ordered them to do, they must recognize and respect my chosen wife.'
'Is this about your mother, Anji?' his chosen wife asked tartly.
Tuvi sighed gustily. 'I recommend banking this fire rather than fanning it-'
'I haven't finished,' said the captain, glancing once around the chamber, marking who was listening and who was absent. He raised a hand and pointed a finger at O'eki so rudely that Mai flinched and Miravia looked away. But he was just gesturing in the outlander style, making an emphatic point. 'You understand me, Master O'eki? We spoke of this when I came to your house.'
The big man inclined his head, but Kesh noted a difference in how he addressed the captain now. He was respectful, even cautious, but not subservient. 'Priya and I both understand you.'
'What is there to understand?' demanded Mai. 'What aren't you telling me, Anji?'
Something in the look he gave her stopped her before she could go on with her questions and demands. Her lips thinned. Her gaze sparked.
Eihi!
Was she angry?
She raised her chin proudly, touched her hair as if to make sure the hair-sticks and combs were all in place, not that any man ever looked beyond her remarkable beauty to find fault in the details, and swept grandly off the porch and over to Anji's side. The baby
wanted his father; he always did; but for once Anji did not cater to his infant whims. He led Mai, with the baby, to the curtain.
'Can't I go with you, Mistress?' sniveled Sheyshi.
Ignoring Sheyshi, Mai turned to Tuvi with a parting blow. Tuvi-lo, please accompany Master O'eki, Master Keshad, and Miravia to the naya storehouses. I thank you.'
Cursed woman!
Priya came out from the antechamber. 'Ah, Sheyshi, just who I was looking for. There is no hand for mending as clever as yours, Sheyshi. You have the neatest stitch of anyone in the household. One of the master's robes has a tear right where a perfect butterfly is embroidered. Can you fix it?' She led Sheyshi away on this innocuous errand.
'Do we need the clerks?' asked the chief as O'eki fetched the accounts books. He indicated the young ones, who were sitting in the shade near the kitchen women and sipping cordial.
'I am competent to deal with the books,' said Miravia. 'I go the warehouses every day to discuss household requirements and cross-check the accounts books in Mai's name.'
The chief nodded at her. Did his gaze linger? Did she look at him a moment longer than was entirely necessary?
They walked, Chief Tuvi at the van, Master O'eki and Miravia in the middle, and Kesh fuming at the rear, to the warehouse complex built adjacent to the militia encampment and ringed by the same earthen walls. A level road had been cleared from the complex down to the strand, to make it easy to move supplies up or the volatile oil of naya down. The warehouse factor's greeting made it clear Miravia was not only familiar to him but had ingratiated herself. He was a middle-aged man. Did he admire her, too?
His counting room sat in the center of the warehouse complex. He took books from a chained cabinet and escorted them to a pair of low storehouses dug into the earth so that, in case of accident, fire could not spread. Guards stood outside the double-chained and bolted gates, which the factor unlocked. They descended an earthen ramp to a musty dirt floor; a wide corridor extended into darkness. Each brick-walled storage chamber had a
