Aras nodded, still looking after Esau. “It’s genuinely impossible to know a baby’s father for certain. Even so, I’ll confess to Soretes what I’ve done. If he doesn’t agree, he can take whatever action he pleases to correct the injustice. I imagine he’ll let it go, given there’s legal cover for him to do so.” He sighed, leaning back in his chair, his gaze coming to me. “One life is ... it’s not enough. But it’s better than nothing.”
“You will think of something to do for all the others who fall under the decree,” I told him. “You should eat something and rest and not be near anyone who hates you. In the morning you will be able to think more clearly. I will tell them to send you something to eat. Should I do anything else?”
He started to tell me he did not want anything. But he stopped, and said, “Please find Leonas and let him know I’d like to see him at his convenience.”
At his convenience was a polite way of saying at once. I said, “You are not thinking clearly now. I will tell him you wish to see him in the morning.” Then I went out, closing the door gently behind me.
-3-
Usually I slept in the house. But I did not want to be there now because both Aras and I were upset and angry, so I was glad enough to go to the barracks. I told Talon Commander Leonas Sharet that Aras had asked for him, but I also said I thought he should not go until morning.
Sharet had taken this talon after Nikoles Ianan had died fighting Lorellan. He had been one of Ianan’s commanders for some years. No one had seemed surprised when he was given the place. I had not wanted to like him, but that had been stupid. He was a good talon commander. He was not reserved as Ianan had been, but friendly. He spoke easily to everyone, and it had taken me longer than it should have to realize he said much less than he thought. I did not know whether he had learned to conceal his thoughts from Aras or whether, like Ianan, he had made some accommodation with the idea of sorcery so that he did not care that his thoughts were not private. Aras did not flinch when he came near, so I assumed one or the other was probably true.
He nodded when I said he should not go at once. “I’ll send a boy up to the house. Iasara. If Lord Gaur wants me tonight, Ias can run back and tell me so. But I expect you’re probably right, Ryo, and by the time Ias gets to the house, likely he’ll have realized it. You’re staying here tonight? Or do you plan to cross the river and sleep in the winter country?”
I was not surprised he had understood that. I said, “I wish to go to the winter country.”
He nodded. “Take Suyet,” he told me.
Leonas Sharet did not have the right to give me orders, but sometimes he forgot that. Generally his orders were sensible, so it was easier to follow them than to argue. I had not realized I wished for anyone’s company, but he was not wrong. I went to find Suyet.
The winds from the north moderate the temperature in the borderlands south of the river, just as the warmth of the south does in the borderlands north of the river. But though many Lau live in their borderlands, few Ugaro live for long so close to the river on our side. Our tribes travel more and seldom settle anywhere, but if we do linger in one place, it is farther north. The borderlands of our country are warmer than we prefer.
But even in the warm season, the winter country is much cooler and more comfortable than the summer lands. I led Suyet up to the top of a low cliff—the land had much the same character on both sides of the river, so there were cliffs here too. I found a good place where the stone was level and where we could see a long way. Below lay a grassy meadow where a few late flowers bloomed, though most had gone to seed already. The silk of the seedheads glistened in the evening light. It was evening here, almost night, though the Sun would not step below the edge of the world for some time on the other side of the river. The Moon had already stepped into the sky. She did not show the winter country her whole face tonight. That is rare. But tonight she looked over her shoulder. From the angle of the crescent, I thought she was gazing into the starlit lands to the north, beyond the winter country.
I showed Suyet where to roll out his blankets—he had brought two, as well as a light coat—and arranged wood for a fire, lighting it with a coal I had carried. I laid out the food I had brought: round loaves of bread and sliced beef, wrinkled black olives and soft white cheese. Suyet set down a packet of sweet cakes and shrugged when I looked at him. “Something to sweeten the evening,” he told me. Honey and sugar are greatly prized in the winter lands. The Lau make many more sweet foods than my people and put less importance on them, but Suyet understood that Ugaro consider that honey eases a hard temper. He said, “You had an argument with Lord Gaur, I heard.”
“You heard that?” I sat down. “It was not an argument. We disagree about what he should do. I think he will come to see that I am right.”
He sat down too, cross-legged, and leaned back on an elbow. “He probably hopes so.”
He
