'You said you prefer women. Isn't that inflexible?'
'You prefer women.'
'Of course I do!'
'Then you are against men.'
'I am a man-' I began.
'As your lovers,' she clarified.
'Hoolies, yes,' I said fervently.
'Then we are the same, are we not?'
'How can we be the same? You're a woman. You're supposed to sleep with men, not with other women!'
'Why?'
'Because that's how it's supposed to be!'
'Is it?'
'Yes! '
'Why?'
In frustration, I set fingers into my hairline and scratched vigorously. 'Because that's just the way it is.'
'For you.'
'For most people!'
'What about the woman?'
'Which woman?'
'The one you sleep with.' She paused. 'The one you currently sleep with.'
'Three years' worth,' I snapped. 'Don't assume I take our relationship lightly.'
'But of course you do. Did you not intend to seduce me?'
I scowled. Cursed if I did, cursed if I didn't.
Her expression was impish. 'And would you have pursued it had the captain been a man?'
'Hoolies, no!'
'Therefore because I was a woman I was judged fair game, and you assumed I would succumb to your charms the way so many other women have.' She nodded. 'An inflexible-and purely Southron-way of thinking.'
She was tying me up in verbal knots. 'Now, wait a minute-'
'Of course, were I a woman who desired men in her bed, I might well have allowed myself to be seduced. Because you do have a certain amount of charm-' Startled, I shut my mouth on an interruption. '-and you did approach the campaign with more integrity than another man might.'
That made no sense. 'Integrity? I thought you were accusing me of having no respect for women.'
'Integrity. Because you were at pains to pick a fight with your woman so there was reason to look to me as an alternate bedmate, and because you did not approach me directly. It was, as I said, a campaign. And I respect that. It requires imagination and forethought.'
'You yourself just said I picked a fight with Del. If you value truth, how can you respect that?'
Her eyes were steady. 'You would rather drown than be made a slave again. A man may lie for effect, to manipulate, and while the truth served you, it was indeed truth.'
'You know that, do you?'
'I am a very good judge of slaves-'
'I'm not-'
'-and you are no longer one in mind or body,' she finished. 'There is no need for you to lie.'
It was time to take control of this discussion. 'Then if you respect truth, let me offer you this.' I paused, marking her calm expression and determining to alter it. 'If you attempt to seduce Del, I'll take you apart. Woman or no.'
Calmness indeed vanished, but was replaced by an open amusement I hadn't expected. 'Male,' she said, and 'Southron. So male, and so Southron!'
'I mean it, captain.'
'I know you do. Honesty, if couched as a threat. Save I wonder which frightens you more: that I will attempt to seduce her-or that she might accept.'
I shook my head. 'She won't.'
'And so I offer to you my own truth, Southroner: I will let the woman decide what she will and will not do. It should be her decision, yes? Because anything else is a slavery as soul-destroying as that which you experienced.'
The Southroner in me hated to admit she was right. The man who had accompanied Del for the last three years, thereby learning truths he'd never imagined, did admit it-if privately-and could muster no additional argument that contained validity.
'Well,' I said finally, 'at least you've got to give me credit for threatening you the same as I would a man. '
Prima Rhannet's generous mouth twitched, but she had the good grace not to laugh aloud.
It was midmorning as Del stood at the rail by the plank, waiting silently. I saw the stillness of her body, the posture of readiness despite that stillness, and knew she, as I, missed her sword badly.
Or even a sword. We'd both of us lost our true swords: I three years before, when Singlestroke had been broken; Del to the maelstrom of angry sorcerers who considered themselves gods. She had broken that sword, the jivatma named Boreal, to save my life, and nearly extinguished her own. Meanwhile, I had also lost the sword I'd made in Staal-Ysta. It was, in fact, buried in the rubble that covered Del's broken jivatma. We had purchased new swords, of course-only a fool goes weaponless-but neither of them had suited us beyond fulfilling a need. And now we had none at all, thanks to the renegadas.
Two of those renegadas waited just behind Del, as ready as she to move if necessary. I knew by the expression in her eyes that she would not make it necessary. Not yet. Not until after I was off the ship and on firm ground again, where no one could toss me into the water. She would permit me to risk myself in a true fight, but not to drowning.
Nihko came up behind me; behind him, his red-haired captain, glinting of gold in her ears and around her throat. I grimaced, thinking of the plan, our circumstances; shook my head slightly, then stepped forward to bend my head to Del's.
Instantly four renegadas surrounded both of us. Hands were on Del, hands were on me. I was shoved down the plank toward the dock and nearly tripped, catching my balance awkwardly before I could tumble headfirst into the sea. By the time that was avoided I was halfway down the plank, and when I turned to look at Del they had taken her away.
So much for good bye, good luck, or even a murmured 'Kill 'em when you get the chance.'
Nihko prodded me into motion as the plank bowed under our weight. I moved, not liking the instability over so much water. He escorted me off the ship, off the dock, onto the quay, and to the bottom of the track slicing its way up the cliff. From here I could look straight up and see the cliffside dwellings looming over my head like white- painted, blue-doored doom. The back of my neck prickled; the haphazard manner of construction made it appear as though everything rimming the cliff might fall down upon my head at any given moment.
'One good shake,' I muttered.
Nihko glanced at me. 'And so there was.'
'What?'
'The histories says once Skandi was whole, and round, not this crescent left behind.'
I gazed at the cliff face of the crescent uneasily. 'What happened to it?'
'This was a place built of smoke,' Nihko began.
Having no patience with stories about gods, I interrupted rudely. 'I know all about that. Your captain already gave me the speech.'
'Then you should understand that what the gods do, they can also undo.' He gestured. 'What was smoke became smoke again.'
Hoolies, but I hate cryptic commentary! With exaggerated patience I inquired, 'And?'
He turned, gesturing into the harbor behind us. 'Do you see that smoke? The small islands?'
