'Thank you for agreeing to see me so early, Mayor,' Kaeritha said as Sharral showed her back into Yalith's office and she settled into the proffered chair.
'There's no need to thank me,' Yalith replied briskly. 'Despite any . . . lack of enthusiasm on my part when you handed me a hot potato like Leeana, any champion deserves whatever hospitality we can provide, Dame Kaeritha. Although,' she admitted, 'I
'Actually,' Kaeritha said, 'I was already headed for Kalatha when Leeana overtook me on the road.'
'Were you, indeed?' Yalith's tone was that of a woman expressing polite interest, not surprise. Although, Kaeritha thought, there was also an edge of wariness to it.
'Yes,' she said. Her left elbow rested on the arm of her chair, and she raised that hand, palm open. 'I don't know how familiar you are with champions and the way we get our instructions, Mayor Yalith.'
Her tone made the statement a tactful question, and Yalith smiled.
'I've never dealt directly with a champion, if that's what you mean,' she said. 'I once met a senior Arm of the Mother, but I was much younger then, and certainly not a mayor. No one was interested in explaining to me how she got her instructions from Lillinara. Even if anyone had been, my impression is that She has Her own way of getting Her desires and intentions across, so I assume the same would be true of Tomanak or any of the other gods.'
'It certainly is,' Kaeritha agreed wryly. 'For that matter, He seems to tailor His methods to his individual champions. In my own case, however, I tend to receive, well,
'That would seem to require a great deal of faith,' Yalith observed. Then she wrinkled her nose with a snort of amusement at her own words. 'I suppose a champion
'It does seem to come with the job,' Kaeritha agreed. 'In this instance, though, those feelings He sends me already had me headed in this direction. As nearly as I can pin things down at this point, Kalatha was where He wanted me.'
'And not just to escort Leeana to us, I suppose.'
'No. I had some discussion with Baron Tellian before I left Balthar, Mayor. Frankly, the reports from his stewards and magistrates, which he shared with me, lead me to believe that relations between your town and its neighbors are . . . not as good as they might be.'
'My, what a tactful way to describe it.' Yalith's irony was dry enough to burn off the morning mist without benefit of sunlight. She regarded Kaeritha without saying anything more for several more seconds, then leaned back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest.
'As a matter of fact, Dame Kaeritha, our 'neighbors' are probably almost as angry with us as we are with them. Although, of course, my Town Council and I believe we're in the right and
'First,' Kaeritha said calmly, 'Tomanak is the God of Justice, as well as the God of War, and from Tellian's reports, there seems to be some question of exactly what 'justice' means in this case. Second, those same reports also seem to suggest that there's something more to this than the sort of quarrels which usually go on between war maid communities and their neighbors.'
Yalith seemed less than pleased by the reminder that Tomanak was God of Justice-or perhaps by the implication that in that capacity he might have a legitimate interest in a matter which she clearly considered belonged to Lillinara. But if that was the case, she chose not to make a point of it. Yet, at least.
'I suppose there may be a bit more to it this time,' she conceded with a slightly grudging air. 'Trisu of Lorham's never been particularly fond of war maids in general. His father, Lord Darhal, wasn't either, but at least the old man wasn't as bad as his younger brother, Saeth.
Yalith cut herself off and grimaced, then shook her head. She pinched the bridge of her nose and drew a deep breath, then exhaled.
'Forgive me, Dame Kaeritha. I wasn't yet Mayor when Saeth was killed in a hunting accident, but I had my own personal run-in with him, and I wasn't alone. He seemed torn between the belief that every one of us was an unnatural bitch who should be exterminated for the salvation of the Kingdom and the conviction that every one of us was a whore he could tumble whenever he wished. Frankly, I'm astounded that he managed to be killed in an accident instead of ending up with a war maid garrotte wrapped around his throat and tied in a big, neat bow!
'But Lord Darhal was neither oversexed nor an idiot, and if he felt we were 'unnatural,' at least he kept it to himself. In fact, he seemed to realize we were a fact of life he was going to have to learn to live with, so he did, however grumpily. Trisu, on the other hand, only inherited his title three years ago, and he's still young . . . and impatient. He's nowhere near so loathsome as his Uncle Saeth was, but I sometimes think he actually believes he can make himself sufficiently unpleasant to convince us to all just-' she wiggled the fingers of one hand in midair '-move away and leave him in peace.'
She grimaced again, less bitterly, and shook her head.
'When I'm not being totally exasperated with him, though, I doubt even Trisu could really be stupid enough to think that's going to happen. Which means he's making such an ass out of himself for some other reason. My own theory is that it's simple frustration and immaturity. I've been hoping he'll simply outgrow it.'
'With all due respect, Mayor Yalith,' Kaeritha kept her voice as level and uninflected as possible, 'from his own reports-and complaints-to Baron Tellian, he seems to feel he has legitimate cause for his unhappiness with Kalatha.' She raised one hand in a pacifying gesture as Yalith's eyes narrowed. 'I'm not saying you're wrong about his underlying hostility, because from the tone of his letters, you're not. I'm only saying that he clearly believes he has legitimate grievances over and above the fact that he simply doesn't like you very much.'
'I'm aware of that,' Yalith said a bit frostily. 'I've heard about water rights and pasturage complaints from him until, quite frankly, I'm sick of it. Kalatha's charter clearly gives us control of the river, since it passes through our territory upstream of his boundary with us. What we do with it at that point is up to us, not to him. And if he wants us to make a greater share of
Kaeritha nodded-in understanding, not agreement, although she wasn't certain Yalith recognized the distinction. Given the quantity of water which had fallen out of the sky over the past several weeks, the thought that Kalatha and the most powerful of the local nobles were at dagger-drawing over the issue of water rights might have struck some as silly. Kaeritha, however, had been born in a peasant farming community. As a result, she was only too well aware of how desperately important such issues could become when soggy spring gave way to the hot, dry months of summer. On the other hand, it was entirely possible-even probable, she suspected-that the quarrel over water was only an outward manifestation of other, more deeply seated animosities.
'From his arguments to Tellian's magistrates,' she said after a moment, 'it seems evident Trisu doesn't agree that your control of the river is as straightforward and unambiguous as you believe it is. Or that your interpretation of the boundaries set up by Lord Kellos' grant are correct. Obviously, he's going to put forward what he believes are his strongest arguments in that respect, since he's trying to convince the courts to rule in his favor. I'm not saying he's correct or that his arguments are valid-only that he appears to
Yalith snorted derisively, but she didn't say anything, and Kaeritha continued.
'To be honest, at the moment I'm more interested in those return 'concessions' to which you just referred. Trisu's complained to Tellian that you war maids have been hostile and confrontational and rejected his best
