‘Our daughter speaks very highly of you, Nava Ward,’ Yuzuki said once she had straightened her back. Despite the fact that she looked like a figure out of a samurai movie, her English was as unaccented as Mitsuko’s and Michiko’s. She did, however, speak with a careful deliberation, as though selecting her words to be absolutely sure of delivering the meaning she wanted. ‘Other evidence suggests that her choice of escort is… exemplary. You are talented in a number of fields, attractive, everything one could wish for, it seems.’
‘Most people find my lack of obvious expression and apparent emotionlessness off-putting, ma’am. I also have an unpopular view of duelling and I’m entirely merciless in any combat situation.’
Yuzuki’s lips twitched, but that was about the only indication of her amusement. ‘Apparent emotionlessness? A telling phrase. Lack of mercy in combat is precisely what we would seek in our daughter’s guardian.’
‘That’s… fair,’ Nava admitted.
‘We need to circulate,’ Zackery said, ‘but we’re going to talk again later.’
‘I’ll be looking forward to it.’ Nava watched Mitsuko’s parents slide away toward another group of their guests and considered. She was not sure a ‘we’ll speak further’ comment was a good thing.
‘They didn’t frighten you off, did they?’ Mitsuko asked.
‘I’m not sure which of them to worry about more,’ Nava replied, ‘and yet, I don’t feel I really need to worry about them.’
‘They’re my parents and they scare me sometimes.’
‘I can believe that.’
The party was a sprawling affair occupying an entire wing of the house. It happened to be the wing furthest from what could be called the private wing. Here, the space was semi-public, consisting of various lounges with varying exposure to the sun at different times of the day and one room which Nava decided fitted the role of ballroom. It was huge and high-ceilinged, and it even had a small stage at one end which was currently being used by an actual orchestra. Okay, so they were not a big orchestra, but they had all the important instruments plus an electronic section which could make up the gaps. They were playing a mix of formal dance music and more modern stuff which the younger partygoers could ‘dance’ to. Nava was using the term very loosely.
‘Want to dance?’ Mitsuko asked, possibly because dancing would eliminate the need to figure out who she needed to avoid in smaller rooms.
‘You mean “jerk violently in a rhythmic manner which is almost but not quite in time to the music?”’
‘And that would be a no then. I will get you on the dance floor at some point this evening. Maybe a slow dance.’
‘Only if you brought stilts for me to wear.’
Mitsuko frowned. ‘You do have a point…’
‘Mm. I can snuggle up to your breasts and you can look at everyone else over my head.’
‘We’re not that different… Okay, so I can look over your head, but you’d have to bend down a lot to get your face in my cleavage.’
‘A lot?’
‘It wouldn’t be a comfortable dancing position. I wish we could drink. Parties like this would go so much faster if I could have a hangover in the morning.’
‘I doubt that. And the morning would be unpleasant. Alcohol is bad for you, you know. It impairs… performance.’
‘And don’t I wish we were spending the evening performing. Okay, if we’re not dancing or drinking, we’d better wander around like lost lambs and try to avoid Uncle Spencer.’
Nava managed a slight frown. This was the second time Uncle Spencer had been mentioned. She was aware that ‘uncle’ and ‘aunt’ were used to refer to anyone older than you in your family, not just a sibling of one of your parents, so Uncle Spencer need not be a very close relative. But why did he seem to merit specific avoidance tactics?
~~~
Uncle Spencer was a short, fat man – and Nava had never thought she would have to use ‘fat’ in a description of anyone in the Clan Worlds – with a receding hairline and watery, brown eyes. The watery eyes might have been because, no more than an hour into the party, he was as drunk as the proverbial fish.
‘He’s a hundred and thirty years old,’ Mitsuko said as they observed the man from a hopefully safe distance, ‘and a miracle of modern medicine. He’s on his fourth liver, his second pair of kidneys, and his third wife just left him. Frankly, if he wasn’t a genius with stocks and shares, he’d be bankrupt and probably clanless.’
‘How does someone born in this age let themselves go like that?’ Nava asked, genuinely fascinated.
‘He claims it’s the stress of his job. The main problem tonight is that, since he’s currently unmarried, he’ll be looking for wife number four. I mean, being married doesn’t actually stop him, that’s why he needs a new wife, but he’s worse when he’s entirely unrestrained.’
‘Hm. Do I need to protect your virtue as well as your life?’
‘First, I think any virtue I had – and I’m not sure I had any – has been thoroughly eliminated by what we’ve been getting up to for the last week or so. Second, it’s more likely to be me protecting yours. He may be drunk and lecherous, but he still knows what my father would do to him if he made a pass at me. Oh God, he’s seen us.’
Spencer was moving toward them
