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Anen leaned against the large window, waiting for the gates above the flitter pad to open. After six years, I'm finally home! he thought.
The gates slowly moved aside, and Anen's ship passed through, secure under guidance control from the castle below. Anen switched on the flitter's external beacons and watched the roughhewn walls pass by, recalling as a boy dreaming that he could see the stonecarvers' chisel marks. The excavation was thirty meters deep, and the first Kurharay was too proud of his accomplishment to allow the stone to be polished and painted like it had been in other castles.
After a few minutes of waiting, the flitter bumped softly onto the pad surface and Family retainers, and a cadre of Lifesavers poured out from behind the blast shields. They constructed a path for the Dlinnyy Anya Kurharay to go through. In celebration of the event, she donned a gown in the Kurharay hue of rich, dark purple. Cimarron was dancing next to her, impatiently.
Anen took a step out onto the flitter's wing and remained there for a while, wobbling slightly. His slumber had only temporarily alleviated his tiredness, leaving him foggy and shaky. Bubov followed him onto the wing. Anen gave him a kind smile. "We'll chat later, Kosh. Get that arm checked out."
Anen cautiously jumped down, one hand on the wing-edge for balance, then stood motionless for a time, waiting for the embarrassing weakness in his knees to fade away. He looked his mother in the eyes. She smiled softly and extended her right hand to him. He approached her, got down on one knee in front of her, and place her hand on his brow. "Lady Mother," he said.
The pinched lines on the Dlinnyy's face eased as she stared down at his lowered head. She extended her hand as if to stroke his hair, but swiftly altered the gesture to a motion of one of the Lifesavers to assist Bubov in getting off the wing.
"My son, rise. Welcome back."
Anen took a step back and stared down at her. "As fashionable as ever, Lady Mother." He couldn't help but laugh at his mother's vanity. It was reported of Lido P. Kurharay that he disliked women but would have married a batha if it meant having an heir. Lido had taken everyone by surprise when his Midnight Ship returned from a neighboring star system with this petite woman with warm golden complexion, honey-gold hair, and dark golden-brown eyes. She was so unlike the umber-haired Puredov that Lido P. Kurharay was plainly flaunting not just his money and power---any noble who took off in a Midnight Ship to take a wife from another planet had to be extremely wealthy and powerful in order to fund the journey---but his disdain for Midnight Ship customs. The Midnight Ship flights began after the Plague took away most of the Families' women and left a taint in the seed that killed one-third of Family females in infancy. They had only taken ladies who resembled the Puredorv in look at culture. There were plenty of planets for that. Anya Kurharay's golden beauty, and the awareness that the Mirl'da system was barbarous, was a continuous affront to the men who had upheld tradition. It accused them of shyness and cowardice without saying anything.
Anen's hands were taken by the Dlinnyy. "Come. The staff awaits you in the Charming Haunt. There were numerous tales about your death, and serfs are quite gullible. They need to know you're still alive. You can visit the rest of the Family afterwards."
Anen nodded numbly, made a modest bow to the cousins waiting behind the Dlinnyy, stroked Cimarron's cheek, and headed toward the castle proper's door. Lifesavers positioned themselves on both sides and behind him to protect him. He was too exhausted to argue.
Despite the fact that the lift to the top levels was just a short distance from the pad entrance, Anen felt confined from the time he entered the hallway, and the feeling became worse with each step he made. Masses of stone floors and ceilings above him; chilly gray stone walls surrounding him, polished gray stone beneath his feet; no windows, sunlight, or fresh outside air. He could hear the continual, quiet buzzing of ventilation fans pumping outside air around the castle and town, recirculating and recirculating it over the charcoal grids. It had no fragrance, no texture, and no life. Anen shook his head as if shaking away the grayness, the crushing stone, the dead air, and the choking horror. Duty had brought him back to duties he knew nothing about. And then to death.
Anen considered duty and death. Death is the fate of this House's czars.
"Anen!"
Anen glanced up. The Dlinnyy was waiting for him in front of the open lift. When had she passed him? She returned, placed one delicate hand softly on his arm, and gazed up at him. "I'm sure it was difficult for you to return, Son," she added softly, only he could hear. "Lido offered you very few reasons to be loyal to this House or to this family. He obviously did not intend for you to lead us. I'm delighted you returned to give it another shot."
Anen could tell by her expression that if they were alone, she would have wrapped her arms around him.
"It's taken a lot of guts, Son. I'm quite proud of you." Anya Kurharay made an attempt to smile. "The elevator is ready for you, Anen. It's time to introduce our people to their new lord." She wrapped her arm over and over his and pressed his arm against her side in the proper lord-and-lady fashion. "I'm very happy to see you," she whispered gently. "I've missed you terribly."
They climbed inside the lift with four Lifesavers. Cimarron wrapped her arms around Anen's waist as the gate closed. She gave him a violent embrace. "Anen! Anen! I'm so relieved you're back!"
"Oh, kitty, that cuddle feels wonderful!" Anen embraced her till she squawked, then wrapped his hands around her waist and pushed her away from him.
They possessed their sire's people's dark complexion and umber hair, but their mother's wiry physique and gold-brown eyes. "You're not a small girl anymore, Cim."
The young lady stood as tall as she could. "I've had fourteen winters!"
"I didn't mean it," Anen teased. "When I left, you were flat."
Cim blushed as she stroked her flirtle over her thin hips. "I was just nine years old! This Qildoling, I'll be fifteen years old."
Anen wrapped his arm around Cim's new waist. "Cim, you've reached marriageable age! Do you have somebody in mind?"
Cim made a shaky motion with her head.
"When the world stops falling in all around me, I'll have to do something about it."
"Anen!" Cim said, laughing and blushing.
However, Anen reminded himself, the world had not stopped falling in. I have some breathing room until Gaito comes up with something, but he will come up with something before I have time to navigate the political minefield here. Everyone understands that my sire did not adequately prepare me for rule. Gaito will quickly capitalize on this.
Cim's next fast grip drew Anen's attention back to her.
"You'll have to give a speech to them, Anen. How is my bashful older brother going to pull that off?"
The Dilinnyy gave her daughter a stern look. "Don't bother him just now, Cimarron. And don't go embracing him like that in public."
"This is not public. It's only us and the guards, Lady Mother. Personal family, if you will. Moreover, I adore him and have really missed him."
The lift came to a halt. Cim's arms were taken away by Anen just as the door opened. "You know she's right, Cim." Then he bent and whispered in her ear, "I've missed you tremendously, too."
The guards came out, and the Dlinnyy followed them along the corridor into the Charming Haunt. It was crammed with everyone from the library personnel to the level one stable assistants. Anen even ran into the gardener, who was famous for never leaving the conservatory area on level six. Relatives of all degrees crowded the galleries on both sides of the Hall. Soldiers of the household Purples were lighting fiery torches in ancient wall brackets along the rows of columns that supported the galleries. For at least twelve centuries, flaming torches had been a ceremonial accompaniment to House Kurharay festivities. Anen leaned out and stroked his fingertips across the worn-out paint on one of the columns. Was there a similar turnout in the gallery? He felt a flutter of panic as he glanced out at the muttering crowd, rising and swaying in the hazy light. They were not strangers he would abandon after the negotiations were through, whether they succeeded or failed to reach a settlement; they were Family and staff, and whether they lived or died depended on him. He beckoned to three Lifesavers, tweaked Cim's nose, and pressed into the crowd.
"The Kererr! Make way for the Kererr," the Lifesaver ordered, shoving a path through the excited throng.
Hands reached out to touch Anen. They patted, stroked, and held on a moment. The guardsmen pushed bodies aside. Sometimes they even had to "tap" heads with their zapper butts before the offending body would move.
"A Kererr once again!"
"To your good health, milord!"
"Long live Lord Anen!"
"Lord Anen! Lord Anen!"
Anen felt the excitement and the reverence of the serf-servants for their lord and resolved to be worthy of their belief in him. He reached the dais and climbed the three steps onto it.
"Kurharay lives! Kurharay lives!"
Anen looked out through the smoke at the shouting crowd. He looked up and across the Haunt to the gallery above the main entrance. The Dlinnyy stood small and golden, at the center front. She smiled with encouragement. These are my people, Anen told himself. I don't feel it yet, but they are mine, and they depend on me. He cleared his throat. "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated, as you can see."
A relieved chuckle ran through the crowd.
"We're pressed hard, right now, but while I'm alive, you're safe, that I promise you. House Moaekod will take this Holding only when there are no more Kurharays!"
The serfs shouted, stamped, and cheered. They whirled caps or aprons in the air. Anen could have said no more than he wished to. He stepped down from the dais and said quietly to the guardsmen, "We're leaving. Now, by the nearest door."
Anen and the three guardsmen pushed under a side gallery and out the door there into a hall.
"I'm taking four hours' sleep," he told the guards. "You..."
"Tonkin, milord."
"Tonkin, tell my generals to meet with me in the library in four and a half hours.
"You, with the nonregulation boots, go find the household officers and tell them to meet me in the library in five hours."
The two soldiers saluted briskly and left. Anen turned slowly to the lift and his room. He felt as if he were moving through deep drifts of snow that dragged at his feet, pushed at his legs, and resisted his every move.
"Milord?"
Anen looked at the 3rd soldier, who was now walking beside him.
"Milord, please let me accompany you to your quarters."
Anen looked at the man through a haze of weariness. "Why?"
"You've been attacked four times already, lord. It is best that you have a guard."
Anen stopped and studied the man, suspicion stirring. "The Kererr Kurharay has never had a guard. I'm not going to be the first."
"As you wish, sir!" The soldier blushed, snapped a salute, and left.
Anen watched him, groggy and confused. Had he been wrong to suspect a trap, if only the trap of public humiliation, the spreading of the word that the Kererr-designate dared not move, even about his own manner, sans guards? The soldier could not have been an assassin, for what assassin would offer boldly to come with him. Or could an assassin be that bold? He had been long away from the savage game that was life on Mirl'da V. He did not remember all the rules anymore. Anen stumbled into the lift and leaned against the wall in the dim compartment until it stopped at level five. He walked slowly down the hall to the door of his room. It was the last of the line of doors into what had been first the nursery and then the children's rooms. Now, only two of the children still lived. He pushed open the door. The room was just as he'd remembered it---long, narrow, and gray, with a narrow hard bed, a single chair, a little table, and a shelf of worn and tattered books. The only bright colors in the room were in pictures of other planets, some of them framed prints and paintings, some torn from books and school papers. Anen sank onto the edge of the bed and tugged off his boots, lay back, and closed his eyes.
A segment of the white, furry bed-throw moved under his arm. It squirmed and struggled, then started shrieking. "Aim! Aim! Aim!" Anen leaped from the bed. Grogginess swept away by fear, is hand dropped briefly to his zapper. Then the hand fell away from the grip, and he pounced on the lump. He wrestled it out from under the edge of the throw and held it up in the air near his face.
"Aster! Is it really you, old fella?"
Seven skinny arms/legs and a short, thick tail emerged from the white ball of fluff, and two enormous blue eyes, ringed with sooty black, opened and stared at him. The little beast struggled from Anen's hands and wrapped all six limbs and its tail around Anen's face and neck and began to purr.
"Hey! I can't breathe!" Anen pried Aster off and spat out a mouthful of white fur. He lay down again and tucked the little animal into the crook of his arm. "Am I glad to see you," he whispered into the area where he had always imagined the yan-yan's ears to be. "I was sure an old beast like you would already have joined his ancestors." The yan-yan arranged itself comfortably, laid its tail along Anen's arm up to his shoulder and, purring continuously, shut its eyes.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAUjSeRzVe
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Much too soon, pounding on Anen's door awakened him. He lay, eyes open, several minutes before he remembered where he was and what he was supposed to be doing. He got up sluggishly, brushed at the wrinkles in his cadet uniform, ran a hand perfunctorily through his hair, and went out. The soldier Tonkin waited for him in the hall.
"The generals are waiting for you in the library, milord."
"Thank you, Tonkin. Have someone bring me my breakfast."
Tonkin snapped a salute and hurried away. Anen walked down the flight of stairs to the next level to wake himself up. He paused in the privacy of the landing to stretch and to bend, bouncing, several times, to feel the blood moving in his veins again. The fog in his brain thinned. He descended the rest of the way to level four and crossed the corridor there to the heavily carved door of the library, where he paused a moment to tug down his uniform tunic and run his hands quickly through his hair one more time. He closed his eyes and imagined himself filling with authority and strength. A pacification officer must be authoritative or create a convincing illusion of authority. Learn the techniques of illusion, play your part as convincingly as a good actor, and soon the illusion will become reality. You will be authoritative. He needed the reality now, but illusion will have to do. Anen pushed open the door.
His eyes swept around the room---book-lined walls two levels tall, a door onto another corridor, the graceful, curved iron stair that rolled on a track around the room, the long table where Lido P. Kurharay had done most of his work. The table's worn, polished surface was empty now. The iron stair waited outside a heavy door on the next level, the back entrance to the Kerarr's official headquarters. Anen turned away from that door; Lido P. Kurharay was dead and Anen Kurharay was not yet accepted in his place. The Dlinnyy Anya sat in a winged chair beside the massive stone fireplace. Burnel Chanhacuy, Lido P. Kurharay's trusted advisor for more than twenty years, was bending over her with a sheaf of papers. General Rerfidail, who'd grown up with Lido Kurharay, and Chanacuy were two of the House officers Anen had been sure of recognizing. The others---he would have to decide how to handle his ignorance of the others' names and faces as his need for one or another came up. Already Anen was feeling like a man on a high wire over a deep gorge. A wrong choice in any direction meant disaster.
"Pardon me, milord," said a young voice behind Anen.
Anen stepped aside and a page of about seven years slipped through the door, carrying Anen's food on a tray. The boy set the tray on the long table, bowed smartly, and left by the other door. A short, plump officer in his fifties and a tall, square officer of about the same age came in immediately after the page left. The short officer was breathing hard.
"Milord, you have awakened early. We came as soon as we could."
Anen decided to let the excuse pass. "Be seated, gentlemen. I assume you're General Zuluy," he looked at the plump officer, "and you're General Rerfidail," he added to the tall officer. "We have a lot to do in a short time. I know my sire trusted your judgment...." Then Anen remembered the Dlinnyy and Chanhacuy. He turned to them. "We'll be using the library for private conversation, Chanhacuy. Please leave us. We'll send word to you when we're finished. I'll need to speak to you later, as I hope Prefect Tonkin told you."
"Yes, the Prefect told me." Chanhacuy bowed stiffly and left the room.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjRFgPa26m
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"Lady Mother," Anen smiled at her. "You are the regent. Would you sit there or here with us?"
"Must I stay, Anen? I am ignorant of military matters."
"You are the regent. You must stay."
The Dlinnyy inclined her head in agreement and Anen turned again to the generals. They were watching him with boredom and a hint of contempt. Anen could imagine what Lido P. Kurharay had said to them about him. "Gentlemen, my first question is, how did Moaekod surprise you with a siege?"
General Rerfidail's sleepy eyes widened. His glance sharpened. "It was the middle of Gorny, lord. Sieging is a lengthy business. Nobody sets siege in the middle of Gorny!"
"It was my imagination, then, that saw the manor ringed with Moaekod tents and fliers?"
General Zuluy flushed, stung by Anen's sarcasm. "Nobody has ever done it before, lord."
"With no czar-of-House, the two of you were in charge of the defense of Kurharay Holding. How long have you been in Kurharay service, General Rerfidail?"
"Twenty-eight years, lord."
"What of you, General Zuluy?"
"Close to forty, lord. I began under your grandsire."
"In all that time, neither of you has studied House Moaekod? Our clan's most powerful enemy? When has House Moaekod stuck to the 'rules' if it could gain advantage by cheating? Even I know that much. Were you unaware Gaito Moaekod has taken control of that House? I've been on Mirl'da V only five days and I know it!"
Anen watched their feelings play over their faces with an eye trained to understand subtle changes of expression. What they wanted to say to him, they dared not. He was the Kererr, but they were furious to be sarcastically scolded by an underage boy. Yet they knew that if he lived to majority, he would be in a position to reward greatly or punish severely. Anen reached for the opov on the tray, forgotten in his anger at the general's carelessness. He sipped absently at the tepid liquid, never taking his eyes off the two angry men. The generals would have to be replaced as soon as possible. It was most unlikely they would attack him, but they could. At best, they'd shown a fatal lack of good sense. Until he found qualified men, he would have to do the tactical planning himself, perhaps with Kosh's help. Textbook planning. Anen grimaced. By no means an ideal solution, but it was better than leaving the defense in the hands of these two. For now, he would leave them their ranks because they still had vast stores of useful knowledge that could prove useful to him. And he had no desire for an uprising by the generals' loyal aides and officers.
The generals' color returned to normal. Anen set the mug down. "Here's what I want you to do in the next four days: General Rerfidail, check our stores, see what we must add to in order to withstand a long siege, and report to me; General Zuluy, House Panshin and House Bubov are sending us reinforcements and I want you to find and prepare quarter for them. Houses Bajor, Zeltser, and Popov are sending aid until I can hold my oath-feast. Those men will need comfortable, but temporary, quarters. I haven't talked to Chanhacuy about the feast yet, but I'm guessing he'll need a week to prepare it. That's ten days, leaving four days until the start of Sel. I don't think even Gaito will risk his troops in those storms." Anen looked up at the door to the Kererr's quarters and paused for a long moment. He looked again at the two generals. "I'm not going to wager my Family's survival on Gaito's predictability, however. I shamed his Family before the entire Congress. He won't wait until Thaw to avenge that, trustee or not. Prepare us for a long siege, gentlemen. Dismissed."
Anen walked to the end of the long table, pressed an opaque panel in its side, and walked back to sit down to his cold breakfast. He looked up at the motionless generals. "Get to work, gentlemen."
Both of them stiffened, but they obeyed. Anen picked at the dried bread and crumbling cheese. His nose wrinkled, but he was two-days hungry and in the end he ate the food, washing it down with tepid opov. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. Shift to another level, he told himself, there'll be a new set of problems in a minute. He drifted off to sleep, to be awakened almost immediately by the loud shutting of a door. Chanhacuy and three other men had entered.
The Dlinnyy rose and greeted them courteously. Anen caught her eye and smiled appreciation for the brief time she had given him in which to get a grip on his thoughts again. He inspected the new arrivals. Chanhacuy was tall for the Puredorv, and lean, with an air of confidence and power. His companions included a short, sharp-featured man in his late thirties, a younger man perhaps ten years older than Anen who had the darker hair of north country people and a familiar face, and a boy, also from the north, who was so eager or nervous he was trembling. Chanhacuy ordered his men into positions in front of the worktable. His tone, his directing motions, the very act of ordering the men into places, proclaimed his intention to take control of the meeting and keep it. Anen felt that control and resented it: He was ignorant now, but he would not stay that way and he was going to control his own House. He motioned the sharp-features man to come forward and looked to Chanhacuy for an introduction. Chanhacuy looked distinctly surprised.
You listened to my sire too much, Anen told him silently, with a powerful feeling of satisfaction. You will not get the reins of this meeting back. Anen stared at Chanhacuy pointedly, yet politely.
"Rogan Bardiriom manages the household staff and buys supplies for the Holding," Chanhacuy finally said, reluctantly.
Bardiriom knelt. Anen acknowledged the gesture and said, as Bardiriom stood, "I remember you, Freeman. You used to wear the draad and badge of your freecity."
"I consider myself a member of this House now, lord. I've worked for Kurharay twelve years this coming 9 Ob." Bardiriom stepped back to the exact spot Chanhacuy had originally shown him.
So, Anen thought, Chanhacuy has you thoroughly cowed.
"This is Medok Useomkdok." Chanhacuy indicated the dark-haired man.
Anen came around the table, hand extended, and met the man halfway. "I don't need an introduction to Medok, Chanhacuy. He taught me Galax and Ikonese."
Useomkdok dusted his hands against the back of his tunic and made a small bow. He winked at Anen as he straightened and flicked his eyes in Chanhacuy's direction. "You're a sight for sore eyes, milord." He grinned. "That's going to take some getting used to, 'milord.'"
A brilliant smile lit Anen's thin, serious face a moment and then was gone. Useomkdok motioned the very young man forward, before Chanhacuy had a chance to. "Here, milord, is my cousin Mooses. He's apprenticed to Burnel Chanhacuy, started just last month."
Anen glanced at Chanhacuy. The man's whole face had stiffened, but he said nothing. His eyes glittered as they flicked to and fro between Medok and Anen. Mooses was sketching a bow. Looking at the young man carefully, Anen guessed Mooses was closer to Cim's age than to Useomkdok's or his own, and that would be more usual. He was also likely a younger son of House Bajor, as Medok was, and required to earn his living with his mind or his hands.
"Is your personal family aware of the danger to you, Mooses, working for my House?"
The young man nodded. "You're our liege, Lord Anen."
I should have known that! Sentinels, sir, how could you have been so sure one of the other three would survive! Anen forced down the rage inside and hoped his face had not betrayed his ignorance or his anger. "I'm glad you've come. We need every hand that's offered. Let's get to business." He walked around the table again and toyed with the edge of the breakfast tray for a moment. "As I remember, an oath-feast must be held before my vassals feel legally bound to the tie between us. Is my memory accurate, Chanhacuy?"
The tall man nodded slightly.
"Is---say---eleven days enough time to prepare such a feast, Chanhacuy? Maybe 47 Gorny?"
"It can be managed."
"The cost of hosting the promised volunteers from Bubov and Panshin?"
"That involves a little guessing, but that too can be done."
"I also need to know how much money is available to hire mercenaries, if that is needed, and what kind of military effort against Moaekod the House can afford."
"That can be done right now."
"Set the men to it, then, Chanhacuy. I want to talk to you privately for a moment."
While the three younger men assembled the materials they would need, Anen took Chanhacuy to the side of the fireplace. "You don't address me by my title when you speak, Chanhacuy. I demand that sign of respect from all my officers."
Chanhacuy stiffened, seeming to grow taller and thinner. "I've been the administrator here longer than you've been alive, young man, and...."
"My title, Burnel Chanhacuy." Anen put all the authority he had learned into his voice. "My officers must show the respect due a Kererr if I'm to have the respect of foreigners. Say it, Chanhacuy, or by the Four Sentinels, you'll be out of this House by morning!"
An angry flush crept into Chanhacuy's hollow cheeks. "You're not the Kererr until the tenth day of Aato next," he spluttered.
"He is the Kererr in all except age." The Dlinnyy rose and came to stand beside Anen. "Our present political position is too precarious to risk even the appearance of disrespect for Anen, especially from the administrator of his House. You, of all people, know that."
Chanhacuy straightened the heavy bead necklace that was his sign of office and ignored the Dlinnyy. "You can't do anything now, young man. You come to our planet ignorant of our customs and what is necessary to survive. I have the knowledge House Kurharay needs to live."
Anen stood very still watching the older man. Did Chanhacuy speak from arrogance or belief or for betrayal? Anen and his administrator would be together much in the coming days, most of the time Anen didn't spend with his army officers, in fact, and the deliberate omission of Anen's title, the faint but obvious contempt with which Chanhacuy treated Anen---these together would do small damage at first, but the effect would grow. If House Kurharay's chief executive officer were allowed to behave so, others soon would, too, and the House would fall. Anen pondered the problem. He could imprison Chanhacuy until he gave in, but that would also imprison his knowledge. Ignoring the omission would be asking for trouble. The only way Anen could force Chanhacuy to obey would be torture, and Chanhacuy would surely know Anen ordered torture for no one. Anen turned to the Dlinnyy. "Is anyone else in the castle qualified to take over as administrator, Lady Mother?"
The Dlinnyy's lips were drawn tight, and she was tapping one foot on the floor angrily. Her eyes blazed. "Medok can. He's been Chanhacuy's right hand for four years. He'll do the work well." She whirled on Chanhacuy. "You, Freeman! You've behaved in an intolerable fashion! No one has dared to go against me in all the years I've lived here. And I am now regent! Nor has anyone dared to speak so to the Kererr Kurharay!"
Chanhacuy's lip curled. "He's not a Kererr. He never will be. He's too soft and weak. The 'woman' of his sons, Lido called him! Why, even Lady Cimmaron would be..."
"Cease and desist!" Anen said, in a far quieter voice than his feelings clamored for him to use. "You, Burnel Chanhacuy, are out of a job and I want you out of this House by dawn tomorrow. You will get the pension you earned in my sire's service, but no bonuses or anything extra."
Chanhacuy shed his contempt like a cloak and looked Anen in the eye. Anen stared back, stunned at the change. Chanhacuy set a hand on Anen's shoulder. "I have loved and served this House a long time, milord. Even my freecity no longer means as much to me as House Kurharay. I did not want to see it lost by a weakling, so I decided to test you, in a safe place. If you had been the 'woman' your sire thought you, I would have stayed and attempted to correct that in you. But I'm getting old. What I really wanted to do was take my pension and move to Squdkor, where I can enjoy my grandchildren." Chanhacuy's stern face loosened a little, into what might have been a smile. "He who cannot control others cannot control himself, Lord Anen. You, in spite of provocation that would have sent many a lord of the Puredorv at my throat, controlled your pride and your anger. You surprised me, lord." He bowed respectfully. "Because of your sire's aberration regarding yourself, you have a lot to learn before the Thawtime Congress, but you have made a start. You will rule, Lord Anen, and rule well, if you enemies give you the time." He bowed and left the library.
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