Part 4 (2/2)

He shut the water down and exited into the cooler air outside, wrapped instantly in a thick towel, a comfort and luxury of having servants which he did enjoy; and which by his order to this all-female staff was the job of one of the older, more - motherly - women.

But a blink of water-hazed eyes showed him not a maid who had flung it about him, but Tano, continuing the personal attendance Tano had given him on the trip. He told himself he should decline Tano's attendance: the man had worked harder today than he had by twice.

On the other hand, since it was Tano, he was able to ask him - But no, dammit, no. He wasn't going to ask about the content of the other messages that might be disasters awaiting his return. He'd been near a radio, and within reach of security communications, and his staff (forty-seven secretaries and a skilled supervisor devoted to such problems) would have known how to call him if there were anything amiss, including unreadable foreign language telegrams or phone calls. The one bombsh.e.l.l he'd picked out of the basket he'd chosen precisely because it was a telegram, and by that criterion urgent and newly arrived.

There couldn't be any more surprises. Peaceful dinner. Quiet sleep. Back to routine. It was all he wanted. Parsing verbs at Jase. A walk in the gardens - suitably guarded.

He let Tano wrap him in more warmed thick towels, a human vice grown harmlessly popular among atevi, although some still used the traditional sheeting. He accepted an informal and human-sized pair of drawstring trousers, a s.h.i.+rt, and a short, wide-sleeved lounging-robe which was adequate for an intimate dinner in the private dining room. He let his hair, toweled to a residual dampness, rest on his shoulders, as a gentleman or a lady could, in private and before a trusted staff.

A shadow turned up in the tiled doorway, along a row of several such showers.

Jase, coatless, dressed in a dark s.h.i.+rt. His dark hair just barely, in half a year, grown long enough to braid, was tied back and still falling loose around his face. The servants would not have let him out of his room without a coat. Or he'd been - troublesome thought - ignoring the servants.

”There you are,” Bren said cheerfully, trying to ignore the glum look Jase gave him. ”One wondered about your whereabouts, nadi.”

”I don't know where else I'd be.” Jase hadn't spoken in the Ragi language. There was no cheerfulness on his face. But it was a homecoming. One supposed. ”How was the trip?”

”Fine,” he said, persisting in Ragi and in cheerfulness. Jase wasn't wasn't supposed to speak the human language. Jase had agreed to follow the regimen by which supposed to speak the human language. Jase had agreed to follow the regimen by which he'd he'd learned: no Mosphei' at all. ”How have you been, nadi-ji?” learned: no Mosphei' at all. ”How have you been, nadi-ji?”

”Fine.” Jase switched to Ragi. ”I hear there was trouble in the peninsula.”

”Saigimi. Yes. Correct noun choice, by the way. - So you did hear.”

”Not that much,” Jase said. ”But the staff was worried.”

”Security was in a little hurry to bring me home. But nothing serious. - And you, nadi-ji? Nothing wrong, I hope.”

A hesitation. And in the human language: ”Welcome home.”

Welcome home home.

A little edge to that, perhaps. A little irony. Or friendliness. He wasn't sure. It was a term they'd had to discuss in Mosphei'. Jase hadn't understood what little edge to that, perhaps. A little irony. Or friendliness. He wasn't sure. It was a term they'd had to discuss in Mosphei'. Jase hadn't understood what home home was in relation to was in relation to this this planet, one of the myriad of little human concepts that had somehow not made it back from the stars unchanged. planet, one of the myriad of little human concepts that had somehow not made it back from the stars unchanged. Home Home to Jase's original thinking was a world. to Jase's original thinking was a world. Home Home was Earth. was Earth. Home Home was, equally, an atevi star neither Jase nor his parents had ever seen, to which they'd returned from wherever they'd gone for nearly two hundred years. was, equally, an atevi star neither Jase nor his parents had ever seen, to which they'd returned from wherever they'd gone for nearly two hundred years.

And whatever home home meant, Jase had never in his life been out of the steel world he'd been born to, until he'd entered a tiny pod and plunged into this world's atmosphere. meant, Jase had never in his life been out of the steel world he'd been born to, until he'd entered a tiny pod and plunged into this world's atmosphere.

”Home, yes, nadi.” Bren gave the ends of his hair, which reached the middle of his back when it was loose from its braid, a final squeeze of the towel. Tano was still standing there, along with two of the female servants. Jase had been practicing disconnecting the face and the tones of voice from the content, but it wasn't appropriate here. Or there were other interpretations. Jase had a temper. He'd seen that proved. But he wasn't going to light into Jase with lectures. ”Relax. It's staff. Is there a problem?”

”No.”

Which meant Yes, in that leaden tone of voice.

Fine. Disasters. He saw it coming. There'd been a crisis in the household.

But it didn't need to preface supper. Dammit, he refused to have it before supper. Not unless there'd been bloodshed.

”Can it wait until after dinner, nadi?”

Jase didn't answer him. It was a sulk. It was aimed at him.

He was in the witness of atevi, both servants and security. He was under a n.o.ble roof. He was getting angry - as Jase could make him angry, with a human precision no ateva quite managed. And, dammit, he wasn't going to argue. He made his tone smooth and his expression bland. ”All right, if it can't wait, let's go to the library.”

”All right,” Jase said in that same dead tone.

He led the way. Jase walked with him quietly down the short curving hall from the baths to the main hallway and back to the isolation of the lady Damiri's private library, mostly of antique, fragile books.

Tano followed. Tano, having it unshakably in his atevi mind that Jase was was of a different leader's man'chi, would of a different leader's man'chi, would not not allow him alone in Jase's presence, or at least not far alone in Jase's presence when Jase was acting like this. It was well possible that, species aside, Tano picked up some of the same signals he did, of allow him alone in Jase's presence, or at least not far alone in Jase's presence when Jase was acting like this. It was well possible that, species aside, Tano picked up some of the same signals he did, of his his anger, and that he wasn't d.a.m.ned patient at the moment for one of Jase's tempests in an atevi teapot. anger, and that he wasn't d.a.m.ned patient at the moment for one of Jase's tempests in an atevi teapot.

Tano took up a post outside the door when he followed Jase inside and shut the door.

”So what is it?” Bren said.

”Just -” Jase lapsed into his own dialect. ”Dammit, you could have phoned, that's all.”

”For what?”

”It doesn't matter! I waited. I waited every evening. I couldn't even get the d.a.m.n security to say what city you were in!”

Tano and Algini outranked the security he'd left guarding Jase, that was why. But it was petty business. Not Not the real issue. Jase began arguments by diversion - he'd learned that, and all right, Bren thought, he could chase diversion, if that was where Jase wanted to take this conversation at the moment; and they'd pretend to talk, and pretend to reach a conclusion and have the real issue for dessert. the real issue. Jase began arguments by diversion - he'd learned that, and all right, Bren thought, he could chase diversion, if that was where Jase wanted to take this conversation at the moment; and they'd pretend to talk, and pretend to reach a conclusion and have the real issue for dessert.

In the meanwhile, and in in Ragi: Ragi: ”Security is security is security, Jasi-ji. They're not an information service. Don't swear about them. They do do know that word. - And I'm sorry. I couldn't phone and, frankly, risk what you'd say without your knowing you were compromising my security. I'm sorry. I warned you I'd be impossible to reach. I called you four days ago -” know that word. - And I'm sorry. I couldn't phone and, frankly, risk what you'd say without your knowing you were compromising my security. I'm sorry. I warned you I'd be impossible to reach. I called you four days ago -”

”For 'h.e.l.lo, I'm fine, how are you?' Thanks!”

”I told you I wouldn't have a secure phone and I didn't. This afternoon, with the situation what it was, radio traffic had to be at a minimum. What What the h.e.l.l are we arguing about? - Is something wrong?” the h.e.l.l are we arguing about? - Is something wrong?”

Words didn't come easily in moments of fracture, and the paidhi-aiji knew, h.e.l.l, yes, he knew, he'd expected it. Jase was close to nonverbal at the moment, too frustrated to find a word in Ragi or otherwise - and he himself, years of study, he'd been through it, too, the moments of sheer disorientation across the cultural interface. Jase's s.h.i.+p didn't remotely comprehend what they'd sent Jase into, without the years of training, without the killer selection process in a University that weeded out candidates with any faults in self-control, and Jase had made heroic efforts at holding back his temper - so much so that atevi had begun to realize they had two very different personalities under this roof and occasionally to observe the fact.

Jasi-ji, madam Saidin had put it to him, is rather more excitable, is he not, nand' paidhi? Is this a correct observation? Or have we offended him?

By no means is it your fault: he'd said that to Saidin in early winter.

Consequently it was his his job to cover for Jase's failures in composure now in spite of the fact that he himself was too tired to reason. Atevi outside the staff weren't going to understand Jase's difficulties, and wouldn't, and didn't quite give a d.a.m.n. job to cover for Jase's failures in composure now in spite of the fact that he himself was too tired to reason. Atevi outside the staff weren't going to understand Jase's difficulties, and wouldn't, and didn't quite give a d.a.m.n.

He gave it a few seconds while he watched Jase fight for composure, careful breaths, a deep, difficult calm. Improving, he said to himself, while his own blood pressure, even with evidence of that improvement, exceeded his recent alt.i.tude.

”Bad day,” Jase said finally, and then, having won his approval, had to add, ”I can see you're not in the mood to discuss it.”

”I'll discuss it.” He hated hated himself when he agreed to suffer. himself when he agreed to suffer.

”We have cook waiting. I don't want to stand between you and supper.”

”Control your temper, nadi.” Jase had spoken in Ragi. Bren changed languages. Fast. While he had his temper in both hands. The atevi language reminded him of calm. It exerted exerted calm, force of habit. ” calm, force of habit. ”Face.”

There was a scowl on Jase's face at the moment. It vanished. Jase became perfectly calm.

”Is there a danger?” Bren felt constrained to ask, now that reason was with them both. ”Is there something I can imminently do something about? Or answer? Or help?”

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