She stomped away. Tycho stared after her. After a moment of stunned silence, Ong cleared his throat.
'I apologize for Chotan. Did I mention that the most significant reason no one would raid this oasis is that everyone is afraid of the women?'
'Really?' Tycho rubbed his chest and winced. 'Have you wondered if maybe the men go out raiding to get away from them?'
Ong howled with laughter and poured him fresh beer from the pitcher.
'Play, master bard, and if there's anything you need, just ask any of my women.' He grinned and added, 'Except perhaps Chotan.'
He rolled away into the crowd, greeting each of his customers in turn. Li stared after him.
'There's something I don't like about our host,' he said.
'He's friendly, Li,' said Tycho with a grin. 'You should try it sometime.'
He set his mug on a nearby table and settled the butt of his strilling against his shoulder, then undipped the bow from the strap and drew it across the instrument's strings.
'Olare!' he called as faces turned at the sound. 'Who wants a song?'
'— but hearts or gold,' sang Tycho, 'my swag must be sold, because I am-
He lifted his bow and swept it through the air.
'— the king of piiiirrates!' roared the crowd. Tycho ended the song with a flourish and leaped down from the tabletop to applause and ringing cheers. He grinned at Li as he wiped sweat from his face.
'You know,' he said, 'I think even the Tuigan women enjoyed that.'
'And they probably don't have any idea what a pirate is,' commented Li. 'The pond outside is likely the largest body of water most of them have ever seen.'
He sipped cautiously at his millet beer. Tycho laughed, then clipped his bow to the strap of his strilling and slid the instrument around against his back. He reached for his mug. It was empty.
'When did I finish this?'
'Sometime between The Thayan Pox and A Dwarf Went Delving' said Li.
Tycho looked around. With the music finished, many of the caravan travelers were leaving to stagger back to their bedrolls, though the fearsome women of the oasis were still drinking and playing their game of knives. Pretty young Ibakha was nowhere to be seen, probably sent home for her own protection. There were other serving women almost as pretty, though. Tycho caught the eye of one and gestured with his mug. She boldly sauntered over.
'More beer, FaroonV She didn't wait for a reply before filling his mug. 'I am Chaka.'
'I'm Tycho,' he said. 'Faroon-what does that mean, Chaka?'
She grinned and replied, 'It's the land where you come from, isn't it?'
'Faroon… Faerun.' Behind him, Tycho could hear Li snorting derisively at his flirtations. He ignored Li and said, 'Your Shou is very good. Do you all speak it?'
'Ong insists on it. He teaches us. He thinks it's a more proper language than Tuigan.' Chaka bent close. 'You sing very well, Tycho. Maybe tonight I could teach you to sing a Tuigan song.'
Her breath smelled of sweet spices. Tycho smiled
'Maybe I could sing a little song just for you, Chaka'
He cupped his hands over hers and sang a ripple of music. As he sang, he reached into himself, focusing his will through the music. Between his fingers and Chaka's, a fragile form took shape. He lifted his hands away to reveal a pale, delicate flower. Chaka stared at it.
'Magic,' she breathed.
'A little,' Tycho said modestly. 'A beautiful flower for a beau-'
'Magic!' squeaked Chaka. She dropped the flower as if it was spider and jumped away from him. 'There is no magic in the oasis! You'll offend-'
She clamped her mouth shut, but her eyes darted toward the tavern's door flap and the water beyond.
'The spirit?' Tycho asked in disbelief. 'Magic offends the water spirit?'
Chaka gave a little nod. Tycho cursed the Tuigans' taboos silently and stood up, reaching for her.
'Chaka, I didn't know! It was nothing, just a little trick.'
'No!' she yelped and started backing away.
Other people-other Tuigan women-were starting to look toward them. Surly Chotan was already heading in their direction, a storm of a scowl brewing on her face. Tycho took another step toward Chaka.
She turned around and darted through the crowd, vanishing through another flap in the fabric walls and deeper into the pavilion.
'Faroonl' yelled Chotan. 'What did you do to her?'
Tycho cursed out loud. Li sighed and stood up.
'How do you manage this, Tycho?' he asked.
'I don't know,' he said as he patted Li's chest. 'You hold off Chotan. I'll go find Chaka before she gets everyone upset.'
He dashed after the frightened woman before Li could do more than sputter and Chotan squawk in outrage.
Beyond the flap, the back rooms of Ong's pavilion were much like the back rooms of any tavern Tycho had ever crept through: small, jammed with stored goods, and dark. Very dark. Tycho cracked his shin against something low and hard, and swallowed an exclamation of pain. Unlike other back rooms, the walls that separated him from the rest of the tavern were literally no thicker than a good carpet. He could hear Chotan berating Li, and closer to hand the suddenly ominous rhythm of falling knives in the women's game.
'Hoi!' shouted the women.
Their cry covered a muffled yelp as Tycho tripped again. Should he risk more magic and Chaka's fear or maim himself in the darkness?
'Damn water spirit,' he muttered, and fished in a belt pouch for a coin.
Clenching it in his fist, he sang a spell. Light leaked out between his fingers-not much, but enough to keep him from stumbling. Playing the faint illumination across the floor, he edged forward.
'Chaka?' he called softly. 'Chaka, come out. It's all right.'
There was no movement. He crept on. The back room was larger than he expected, and divided up by thin hangings. Chaka could have ducked through or under any of them. Tycho stuck to what seemed to be the largest of the back chambers, stepping quietly around an assortment of boxes, barrels, and sacks. The sounds of the tavern, muffled by the fabric walls, faded to a background murmur. Tycho cursed silently. There was no sign of Chaka. Maybe she had slipped into one of the side chambers after all. Maybe she knew of another door flap he had missed and was no longer even in the pavilion. He clenched his jaw.
Don't worry about it, he told himself, you've talked yourself out of much tighter situations than this!
He started to turn back to the main chamber of the tavern.
'Ah, my beauty! You grow more lovely with each passing day.'
Ong's voice. Tycho froze, wrapping his fist tight around the glowing coin and choking off its faint light entirely. In the darkness, he could see an even fainter glow that leaked from a side chamber where the fabric of the hanging wall was rumpled by a box pushed against it. There was no passage to the chamber here-the entrance must have been from one of the other side chambers.
A woman's voice answered Ong in Tuigan and Tycho heard the tavernkeeper click his tongue in gentle reprimand.
'Speak Shou to me, my lovely.'
The woman giggled.
'As you command, tremendous one!' she said saucily.
Tycho didn't recognize the woman's voice, but it was soft and musical, like the little bronze bells that the Tuigan women wore on their jacket cuffs. He grinned to himself. What woman of the oasis had Ong charmed into his arms? More importantly, what woman was worth tempting the wrath of a husband or father for a dalliance? He stretched out on the ground and wiggled forward to peer under the hanging.
His eyes went wide.
On the other side of the hanging, carpets and furs and rich eastern silks had been piled up into a kind of bed. Ong sprawled on the pile, his shirt open and his broad belly hanging out. Lounging beside him and rubbing his belly,
