but its hand-rubbed finish gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight. 'He requested,' she continued, 'that a portion of his remains be given to you.'
Honor's eyes widened, and she reached out to take the box.
'I'm deeply honored,' she said, after a moment. 'I never expected....'
'My Lady,' Bethany said, looking her in the eyes, 'as far as Howard-and my sisters and I-were concerned, you truly were the daughter you called yourself today. When you established the Harrington Garden for the armsmen who fell in your service, Howard was more pleased than he ever told you. We've always respected your integrity in refusing to profess faith in Father Church for political advantage, yet you've always demonstrated a personal sensitivity to and respect for our religion no Steadholder could have bettered. I think Howard hoped that one day you would embrace Father Church, if you should decide it was truly what the Tester called you to do. But whether that day ever comes or not, he wanted to be a part of the Harrington Garden.' She smiled mistily. 'He said that maybe that way he could 'hold your place in line' until you catch up with him.'
Honor blinked stinging eyes and smiled down at the shorter, older woman.
'If the day ever comes that I do join the Church of Humanity Unchained, it will be because of the example of people like you and Howard, Bethany,' she said. 'And whether that day ever comes or not, I will be honored and deeply, deeply pleased to do as Howard asked.'
'Thank you, My lady.' Bethany and her sister wives curtsied formally, but Honor shook her head.
'No, thank you, Bethany,' she said. 'The Clinkscales Clan has served me personally and this Steading with a devotion and a skill far beyond anything I might reasonably have expected. My family and my people are deeply in your debt-in all of your debts-' she raised her eyes to look at Austen and Carson, as well, 'and as Howard served me so well, and as Austen has agreed to serve me in his stead, so you've made yourselves family, not simply servants or even merely friends. My sword is your sword. Your battle is mine. Our joys and our sorrows are as one.'
Bethany inhaled sharply, and Carson and Austen stiffened behind her.
'My Lady, I never-that is, Howard didn't make this request because-'
'Do you think I could not realize that?' Honor asked gently. She handed the wooden box to her mother and bent slightly to embrace her dead Regent's widow, then kissed the older woman on the cheek.
'This is about service that went beyond any formal oath or obligation,' she went on as she straightened once more. 'It's about service that became love, and I should have done it long ago.'
She looked at Carson again over his aunt's head, tasting his astonishment, and wondered if he'd been aware she even knew the formal phrases by which a Grayson steadholder created a legal familial relationship with another clan. The complex interweaving of clan networks had been integral to the Graysons' survival in their hostile planetary environment, and the creation of what equated to blood relationships between the great houses of the Steadholders and their closest allies and retainers had played a major role in forging those networks. In a sense, what Honor had done subordinated the Clinckscales Clan to the Harrington Clan, but it also bound Honor and her heirs personally to the defense and protection of Howard Clinckscales' descendants forever.
It was not a step to be taken lightly or impulsively, but Honor realized that her decision had been neither of those things. And that she truly ought to have done it much sooner, while Howard was still there to see it done. Well, no doubt he still could, from wherever he was at the moment, she thought fondly. And then her lips twitched as another thought struck her.
As Steadholder Harrington, she was the senior member of the Harrington Clan, which she suddenly realized, made her legally Carson's 'Aunt Honor' under Grayson legal practice. And that meant....
Her lips twitched again, and she saw a sudden twinkle in Carson's eyes as the same realization hit him. They looked at each other, and then they began to chuckle. Honor felt her own chuckles segueing into full-bodied laughter, and gave Bethany a quick squeeze and stepped back.
'I'm sorry, Bethany!' she said. 'I didn't mean to laugh. It's just that, I suddenly realized that-'
She broke off with another laugh, and Bethany shook her head with a fond smile.
'My Lady, I can think of many things that might have upset Howard. Having you laugh on the day of his funeral would never be one of them, though.'
'That's a very good thing,' Honor said with a smile, 'because there's going to be more laughter before this is all over, you realize.'
'My Lady?' Bethany looked at her quizzically.
'Of course there is,' Honor said around another bubble of laughter of her own. 'Faith and James were used to calling Howard 'Uncle Howard,' and I've heard them calling Austen 'uncle,' as well. But now she's going to be 'Aunt Faith' to him and Carson!' She shook her head. 'We're never going to hear the end of this.'
Chapter Four
'Welcome back, Your Grace.'
'Thank you, Mercedes.'
Honor followed Simon Mattingly through the private arrivals gate and held out her hand to the sturdy, plain- faced woman waiting for her in the Landing City VIP shuttle pad concourse. Mercedes Brigham still wore the commodore's uniform of her Manticoran rank rather than the rear admiral's star she would have been entitled to in Grayson's service. For that matter, she really ought to have traded in the double planets of her commodore's insignia even in the RMN. Honor knew perfectly well that Brigham had quietly made it clear to BuPers that she preferred her position as Honor's chief of staff, and promotion to rear admiral would have made her too senior for the slot. Honor had tried to convince her otherwise, though not as hard as she really felt she ought to have, but Mercedes had only grinned.
'If I really want command, Ma'am,' she'd said, 'all I have to do is go back to Grayson. At the moment, I think I'm more useful where I am. So unless you want to fire me....'
'And welcome back to you, too, Stinker,' Brigham said now, reaching up to offer Nimitz her hand in turn. The treecat shook it solemnly, then flirted his tail and bleeked a laugh. Brigham chuckled, then turned back to Honor, her expression sympathetic.
'You look a bit frazzled, Your Grace.'
'It's been a busy ten days,' Honor conceded.
'Was it as hectic as you were afraid it would be?'
'No,' Honor said. 'Honestly, it wasn't. Not quite, at any rate. Austen's confirmation as Regent went very smoothly. There was a little opposition, mostly from Mueller. I don't think the present Lord Mueller is quite as reconciled to his father's execution as he tries to make it seem, and he's starting to regain a little of his steading's old influence in the Opposition. But Benjamin, Owens, Yanakov, and Mackenzie steamrollered the nomination through.'
'I assume,' Brigham continued as LaFollet and Spencer Hawke came through the gate to hover watchfully at Honor's back and four more armsmen in Harrington green appeared, heavily laden with baggage, 'that you had an opportunity to discuss the general situation with High Admiral Matthews?'
'I did. Not that either one of us was able to add a great deal to the other's understanding.' Honor grimaced. 'At the moment, the 'situation' at least has the advantage of a certain grim simplicity.'
'The other side is still trying to complicate it, though, Your Grace,' Brigham said. 'Did you hear about the raid on Alizon?'
'Yes.' Honor looked at her sharply. 'The preliminary dispatch came in just before Tankersley broke Grayson orbit, but there weren't any details. How bad was it?'
'Nowhere near as bad as what McQueen did in their Operation Icarus,' Brigham said quickly. 'Not that it was exactly good, you understand. We lost a couple of our own freighters, and they blew the hell out of a respectable chunk of the asteroid extraction platforms and mining boats. But human casualties were very low and they never got close enough to hit the main industrial platforms. None of our people even got scratched, and the Alizonians only lost a half-dozen or so miners.' She twitched one shoulder in a half-shrug. 'Even that looks like it was an accident. From everything I've seen, they appear to have done their dead level best to play it according to the rules.'
'They used LACs? No hyper-capable units?'
