“Which we should not discuss where anyone can overhear,” interrupted Bear, who had been sitting in the open window, drinking tea. He got up and pulled it shut.
Precious Wind went to close the door. “What we do, we do silently. It’s best not to set these Norlanders thinking we are much different from themselves. Misunderstanding between us and them can happen too easily. Our sages have said that what may be considered sacred in one land is considered foolishness in a second, barbarous in a third, and heretical in a fourth. And in those first and fourth kinds of places, their officials don’t mind executing anybody so foolish or barbarous as to question divinity or heresy.” She stared hard at Abasio, as though ready for an argument.
He said mildly, “I’ve known that to happen, yes.”
“They wouldn’t think such things foolish if we could show them it really works,” Xulai interjected.
Precious Wind shook her head. “We couldn’t show them, because the kind of thing you’re talking about doesn’t work unless a powerful intention unites all the elements. You could put the physical elements in place as Xu-i-lok told you to, but without a source of power, it would not work.”
“Why did that person wish her dead?” Xulai asked.
Bear, rising, frowned at Precious Wind as he nodded in Abasio’s direction. Xulai knew he felt they shouldn’t talk about things with him in the room. She started to object.
Precious Wind did it for her, smiling at Abasio. “He’s all right, Bear. He doesn’t know if he’s here for some reason, but he’s not inimical. When he showed up, I made inquiries. He’s said to have saved the world from being wiped out by resurrected ease machines.”
“Not just me . . . ,” objected Abasio. “I only helped . . .”
Precious Wind shook her head kindly at him. “People tell stories about you.”
Great Bear frowned in irritation. He didn’t like being contradicted at the best of times, but he satisfied himself with a relatively quiet snort.
“If we want to discuss what’s going on, we must go back a number of years,” murmured Precious Wind, settling herself comfortably, as for a long story.
“Falyrion, the Duke of Kamfels; his wife Naila; and their two children, Falredi and Genieve, were close friends with Justinian’s parents and Justinian himself. There was a good deal of visiting back and forth. I understand that at one time, it was even thought possible that someday Justinian and Genieve might be married.
“Then Falyrion’s wife Naila died suddenly, leaving Duke Falyrion a widower. Not long after, somehow, the widower Falyrion met a woman named Mirami. She was the heiress to Altamont, very young, about Genieve’s age, very beautiful, fascinating by all accounts, and they ended up getting married.”
“How did Genieve and Falredi feel about that?” Abasio asked.
“Falredi had his own interests, his own friends. Genieve, I recall hearing, spent most of her time after her father’s second marriage making long visits to friends of her mother’s. Eventually she married someone from Elsmere, I believe.
“Meantime, however, Mirami bore Falyrion a daughter, Alicia, and two years later, a son, Hulix. Then, while Hulix was still just a toddler, Falyrion, Duke of Kamfels, died suddenly. His son Falredi became Duke of Kamfels. A few years after that, Falredi also died. Hulix succeeded him in assuming the title.
“When that happened, Mirami left Hulix in Kamfels while she and Alicia went to live in Ghastain, with friends of hers. Hulix was only five at the time, so Mirami left her chamberlain, Chamfray, to serve as steward of Kamfels until Hulix was old enough to rule by himself.
“Mirami was only in her twenties, a very beautiful woman. She must be around fifty now, but we are told she is still a very beautiful woman. At any rate, her friends introduced her at court. King Gahls saw her, married her, and she bore him his only son: Rancitor.
“Then, one day when Justinian, Duke of Wold, was visiting the court of King Gahls, as he did occasionally, to be diplomatic and show respect, Crown Prince Rancitor, who was then a boy of twelve, told the duke he should consider marrying Alicia, the Duchess of Altamont, Rancitor’s half sister. She was, I suppose, in her mid or late twenties then.”
“ ‘Consider marrying,’ ” snorted Bear. “It was a command.”
Precious Wind made a face at him and continued. “It’s true that when royalty suggests something, the timorous take it as a command. The duke has never been timorous, and he could not follow the suggestion anyway, for, as he explained to the child-prince, he had recently been betrothed to Princess Xu-i-lok, youngest daughter of Prince Lok-i-xan, Tingawan ambassador to the court of King Gahls. The wedding date had been set.”
Bear stretched and decided to take part in the discussion. “Child or not, Rancitor knew very well that they were betrothed. He also knew that for us Tingawans pledging troth is more important than the rite of marriage itself. The betrothal involves our family and tribe, and our money, and our property, and our succession to family title, as I very well know! When one becomes betrothed, everything important is already done. The wedding is just a time for feasting and moving furniture!”
Precious Wind nodded. “True, the betrothal was talked of widely. Everyone thought it astonishing that a mere duke of a barbarian country had become the accepted betrothed of Tingawan royalty!”
“Barbarian?” said Abasio, head tilted in question.
Precious Wind said, “Any cultured Tingawan would consider Norland a barbarian land. Many people here do not read; they have no orchestras, no choruses; there is no such thing as a museum; dance and drama do not exist; and except in the Tingawan embassy, there was not a bathhouse in all of Wold until Justinian built one for his wife!”
Xulai, who much enjoyed cavorting with Precious Wind in the great steaming tub in the bathhouse, said, “I didn’t know that!”
Precious Wind patted her
