Bakhtiian rode. The way was straight and clear through the huge camp, angling in to the center where lay the Sakhalin encampment and a broad empty field reserved for the Orzhekov tribe. Sonia had sent a wagon ahead in the night, with Aleksi and Ursula, containing the great tent. Now it stood alone in the center of the field. Ilya was glad enough to dismount and recline on the pillows lying there for his use. He was tired, but not as tired as he had been, and his face shone. Tess sank down beside him. They watched as the wagons trundled in and made their spiraling ring around the central tent. The camp grew up around them.
Mitya and Galina brought them food and drink. Ilya dozed a little. When he woke, he gazed at Tess with a quizzical look in his eyes.
'What is it?' she asked. She smiled. She felt deliriously happy. She had gambled, and it had paid off. It made her feel reckless. He looked stronger already. In another ten or twenty days, it would seem as if the entire episode had not happened at all.
'I haven't seen you wear jahar clothes since-' He shrugged. 'Since I don't know when.'
'Men's clothes don't fit a pregnant belly.'
He smiled suddenly, 'A child, Tess. Think of it.'
'My bladder thinks of it constantly. We need better plumbing.'
'What you wish, you shall have, my wife. But, ah, do you have any designs in mind?''
'I wish David was here. He's the engineer. He could design something simple and efficient.'
His eyes narrowed. 'David ben Unbutu. Tess.' He hesitated.
'Yes?'
'Never mind.' He shook his head. 'I'm hungry.'
'Still?'
But his expression changed, and an entirely new gleam lit his eyes as he examined her. 'Just now.' He reached out to take her hand, caught it up, and hastily dropped it again. 'Tess. We'll go to our bed early tonight.'
Demurely, she straightened out the folds in her tunic so that the brocade lay smooth over her crossed legs. 'Whatever you say, my husband,' she replied, smiling. 'Are you sure you won't have some important audience to attend?'
'Quite sure.' He propped himself up on one elbow. 'There is Mother Sakhalin. You see, after I've seen her, then there's no one else I need see, no one but you.' He got to his feet carefully and walked across to greet Mother Sakhalin and to escort her to a pillow next to him. She came attended by a huge retinue: etsanas, dyans, ambassadors, and even, to Tess's surprise, several members of the acting troupe.
'Bakhtiian,' said Mother Sakhalin, acknowledging him. 'Well met. It is with joy that I greet you this day.'
He accepted her benediction with becoming modesty. Pleasantries, sweet cakes, and tea were passed around. 'Most of the news of the army I have heard,' he said, after a decent interval had passed. 'Is there other news I ought to hear?'
Tess enjoyed watching Mother Sakhalin and Ilya together. They respected each other, and yet they remained wary, too, of the power the other one wielded. Mother Sakhalin had a vicious sense of humor and Ilya enough aplomb to match her. Tess suspected that they were the kind of pair who, had they been of an age, might have been lovers but never, ever, husband and wife. Sakhalin presented Ilya with various events, and he exclaimed over her wisdom and adroitness in handling them.
'The barbarian ambassador, the one with the slave, may yet learn wisdom,' she said finally. 'He has asked that his guardsmen be allowed to marry khaja women and bring them into camp.'
'Has he, indeed?'
She considered him with amusement. 'Of course, that is not how he asked, but he did his best to bring the matter forward modestly and with good manners. I told him that as long as they treated the women as they would treat their own wives, I might allow it.'
'That was generous of you, Mother Sakhalin. But can you be sure they treat their own wives well?''
She looked affronted. 'Surely any wife is treated with respect? Even savages must know such simple courtesies.'
'Is this all that has happened in camp in my absence, Mother Sakhalin?'
For an instant, and no longer than that, the old woman hesitated. Then she went on. 'There is nothing more that needs to be brought to your attention. Six horses were stolen. We have sent out a jahar to look for the thieves.'
'Horses stolen? In the midst of this army? The thieves must be desperate souls, indeed.'
But instead of answering, Mother Sakhalin took her leave, and her retinue departed with her. Except for the actors. They tarried. Tess waved them forward: an embassy of four, Ginny Arbha, Yomi Applegate-Hito, Diana Brooke-Holt, and Gwyn Jones.
'Well met,' Tess rose to greet them, but their sober faces told her immediately that all was not well. 'What's wrong? Has something happened?'
'Mother Sakhalin didn't tell you?' began Diana, and then broke off, looking embarrassed.
'Is something wrong?' asked Ilya in Rhuian. 'May I help?'
Ginny turned to Tess. 'There's been a disaster,' she said in Anglais. 'Hyacinth has run off with a man and his sister, and he stole things from our camp.'
'Oh, God,' said Tess. 'What did he take?'
'His own gear, which included a little solar-celled heating unit and his computer slate, a thermal blanket, some other things.' She faltered and looked to Yomi.
'A water purifier. A frying pan. Some rope. A tent, which has heating coils in the fabric, as you know. One hundred bags of tea. A lantern, solar-celled. A medical kit. A permanent match.' Yomi faltered as well.
'And a knife,' finished Ginny, 'with an emergency transmitter and broad field stun capability built in.'
'Oh, God,' repeated Tess. 'Have you let my brother know?''
'Immediately.'
'What did he say?'
'He said to contain the damage, if we could. He said to leave the problem in your hands for now.''
'I'll have to thank him,' said Tess wryly, 'when I see him again.' She glanced down and surprised a peculiar expression on Ilya's face. 'I beg your pardon,' she said in Rhuian, and immediately all the actors begged pardon as well.
'Not at all,' said Ilya, so softly and politely that she knew he was furious. 'I beg your pardon for disturbing your reunion.'
'One of the actors has run off,' Tess explained. 'But you never did explain why,' she added, glancing at Ginny.
'Tess,' said Ginny, again in Anglais, 'evidently they have some kind of taboo on same-sex relationships in this culture. Poor stupid Hyacinth was caught with one of the young men, the young man was exiled, and his sister and Hyacinth ran off with him, to share his exile, no doubt. The Goddess knows, the only thing they'll share is an ugly death. We're heartsick about it, but what can we say? It's their taboo. Perhaps you would like to explain this story to your husband. Evidently Mother Sakhalin did not.'
Tess said, 'You'd better go. Let me know if you hear anything. I'll have to think about this.'
They made polite farewells and hurried away.
'It is one thing,' said Ilya in a low, taut voice, 'to go to their tents and speak with them in their own tongue. It is quite another to speak it in front of me so that I can't understand what you're saying. Couldn't you have been more discreet? At least gone aside. Gods, Tess! How do you think I felt sitting here like a damned idiot? I'll thank you to treat me with more respect in the future.'
'Ilya.' She sat down. 'Now listen. You must recall that they come from another land, and they didn't know whether what we were discussing might embarrass or offend you.'
'Well? Surely Mother Sakhalin gave me the entire report. There was nothing offensive there. Why did the actor run off?'
She hesitated. 'He was caught with another man.'
Ilya went red with anger. 'So Mother Sakhalin has yet to forgive me for Vasil. We will see about this. I suppose they're the ones who stole the horses.' He struggled to his feet.
'Ilya, I don't think-'
