Diana's hands flew to her cheeks. She had gone suddenly pale.
'It was so good to see you, David,' she said, lowering her hands with conscious embarrassment. 'But I have to go. Please. Please, come and visit me when you come back, or if you see us, if we tour, come and see me backstage.'
'I will. I wish you the best of luck, Diana.'
She kissed him on each cheek, in the formal jaran style, and smiled, and left him.
Thus dismissed, he had no choice but to simply stand there and watch as she ran over toward the small gate and then jerked to a halt at the waist-high wicker fence that blocked off the egress. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, too nervous to stand still.
Passengers streamed out. Diana waited. David watched.
The floor was sloped so that he could see farther into the port tube than Diana could, so he saw the uniformed attendant first, and her companion, a shell-shocked looking young man. Next to the attendant's dark uniform and olive skin and robust build, the young man looked almost fragile, he was so fair and so slight. But he was here.
David felt sick with envy.
It was a little scene, complete in itself. Diana wiped a tear from her face, and then she saw him. The attendant jostled his arm-what need had she to know Diana? It was apparent who was waiting for the young man- and Anatoly looked up and saw Diana.
David turned away. He could not bear to watch any more. It was too painful.
He skirted the sandstone statue and trudged back through Scarab Gate and on down the concourse to the gentler lines of Antelope Gate. Thank the Goddess, there was no delay for his flight. He boarded, found his cabin, locked the door, stowed the precious tube between his leg and the bunk wall, and plugged straight into hibersleep for the voyage.
He had no dreams.
But he did wake up with the usual horrible nausea and vertigo. Maggie was sitting on the pull-down chair, squeezed into the tiny cabin, regarding him with a frown on her face. Her freckles were prominent today for some reason, making her red hair seem all the more red. Or maybe it was just his eyes adjusting to the lights.
'You don't usually do hibersleep, do you, David? I thought it made you sick as a-Aha!' She jerked the siphon out. of the wall and caught most of the phlegm that was all he had to throw up, and then wiped his face with a cool towel.
'You're a peach, Mags,' he said. His mouth felt like it had a thousand-year-old growth of fungus in it. 'I don't dare sit up.'
'No sympathy from me,' she retorted. 'I hate the fumes of that stuff. Here.' She bent over and extracted the tube of maps. 'Do you want me to wait for you to recover, or just take this downside?'
'Maggie!'
'Oh, David.' She sat down beside him and smoothed his hair with a hand. 'You look rotten. Why did you do it?'
'I didn't want to think for that long, cooped up on a ship.'
She regarded him thoughtfully. 'Oh,' she said at last. 'I don't suppose you crossed paths with Diana Brooke- Holt, did you?' He didn't need to reply. Maggie knew him well enough to read his face.
'Poor Diana,' she said.
'Poor Diana!'
'No, you're right. Poor Anatoly's more like it. You know she sent him back a message saying he should stay on Rhui, didn't you?'
'What?' David felt utterly confused. 'But it was already too late. The damned scheming boy had evidently planned it all along. He got himself sent to Jeds and by one means or the other-no one is willing to take responsibility for it-he buffaloed his way onto one of the sloops by claiming he had a dispensation from Tess to go to Erthe, and by the time they realized their mistake, he'd seen a shuttle. So what could they do? They sent him to Odys. We never gave him Diana's message. So maybe it is poor Diana after all. She was wise enough to see that he ought to have stayed on Rhui.' She broke off. 'Oh, David,' she said on a sigh. She bent and kissed him on the cheek. 'David, she never could have left the planet. You know it's true.'
'I know. I know.' But it still hurt. 'Has there ever- been any news of her?'
She opened her mouth and then shut it again. 'Well. We did hear that she had a baby, a daughter, recently. Tess is pregnant again. Did you hear that?'
'No, I–I haven't been much in touch with Rhui lately,' he said, and realized how stupid the comment sounded, considering the maps he carried with him. 'I've tried to put it behind me, that year.' But he thought of Nadine, holding a little child who probably looked like her fair-haired father. 'Damn it,' he murmured. 'It's so stupid to dwell on something that wasn't meant to be.'
'Oh, my dear friend, I didn't know you still missed her that much. Let me get you something to drink to settle that stomach of yours. Charles is waiting for you. And I'm always glad to see you, I missed you.'
David felt comforted, knowing he had the solace of friendship waiting for him here on Odys.
At the palace, Charles sat in conference with Hon Echido Keinaba in the domed audience chamber that overlooked the massive greenhouse wing.
Suzanne, seated next to Charles at the ralewood table, saw David and Maggie at the door and beckoned to them to come in. Evidently Echido was by this time used to the casual way in which humans came and went, although he did stand and acknowledge the new arrivals with a pallid nod.
'… and when I officially open the female wing here on Odys, Hon Echido, I hope your family will be able to provide me with suitable females with whom I can extend my staff. Ah, hello, David. Sit down. Maggie, can you deliver-the gifts-and then go and make sure the reception room is ready? I'm expecting Tai Naroshi Toraokii anytime now.'
'Naroshi?' asked David.
'In response to my summons.'
'It took him long enough,' said Suzanne tartly.
'Only by our standards,' replied Charles. He turned back to the merchant. 'So is it well with you and the Keinaba elders, Hon Echido, that I send twenty-seven apprentices into your service to learn the craft of commerce from your masters?'
'At your command, Tai-en. The proper arrangements have been made. As well, we have chosen three chay- hon, nine sendi-nin, and eighty-one ke di to enter your female house.'
Charles glanced at Suzanne, who said in a low voice, 'Three of the merchant class, nine of the steward, and eighty-one ke, all female.'
'I beg your pardon, Tai-en.' Echido flushed blue about the cheeks.
'It is granted,' said Charles impatiently. He looked at Suzanne, who looked at her slate and shook her head. Charles frowned. 'He's late. Well. Now, Hon Echido, about the other matter.'
'Tai-en. Neither I nor the Keinaba House have the authority to allow these disciplines you call The Arts free movement along transport lines or, indeed, access to ports of call. But if I may be allowed to take an orchestra back with me to Keinaba Mansion on Paladia Major, I would be triply honored by your magnanimity.'
'Umm.' Charles turned to look out at the greenhouse that sparkled in the pale sunlight, a swath of brightness thrust out across the curry-colored massif flats. 'That will do. Perhaps once guests at your mansion hear the orchestra, they, too, will wish such human artisans to grace their homes and mansions.'
'Indeed, Tai-en, if it is considered a sign of ducal pleasure, many will be eager for such a mark of distinction.'
'Aha!' Suzanne jumped to her feet. 'Incoming.'
Hon Echido rose as well, and he bowed to the precise degree due a duke being honored by his least worthy servant. 'I will withdraw, with your permission, Tai Charles.'
'It is granted.'
Hon Echido withdrew.
'You know what I think,' said Suzanne, 'I think he's beginning to read us.'
'Read us?' David asked.
'I think he's beginning to get a sense of how we work, we humans. Frightening thought.'
