Part 28 (1/2)

”Zed-ka -- ” Rhani put her fists on her hips, prepared to scold, and remembered Dana's presence. She could not be angry at Zed in front of Dana.

”Dana,” she said, ”you may go.”

He bowed, and left the room. Rhani advanced on her brother. He rose.

”Rhani,” he said gently, cupping her cheek with his palm, ”I know what you want to say. Don't.”

It stopped her. His fingers curved around her cheek. She wanted to shout, to tell him that he could tell her anything, that if something was wrong she needed to know, that she trusted him and always would.... Dark patches stained the skin beneath his eyes.

Unable to scold, she hugged him lightly and stepped back. ”Let's eat.”

”I'm not especially hungry,” he said. Picking up a m.u.f.fin, he broke it and handed her the larger piece. ”I wish Corrios would make egg tarts.”

”I'll ask him to,” Rhani promised. She bit into a blueberry. The sweet juice spurted onto her tongue. Blueberries, like all fruits and vegetables, were imported to Chabad. Forty years back an agricultural commune from Sabado had brought in citrus tree stock and had erected ma.s.sive greenhouses. With careful temperature control, the commune insisted, they could produce three crops a year, and the Levos Family, against advice, had invested money in the plan. It had all sounded workable, but within two years the greenhouses had had to be abandoned. Those advising the investors had not bargained for the unrelenting alkalinity of Chabad's soil.

Zed tore apart a second m.u.f.fin. ”These are pretty good,” he said.

Rhani ate another piece slowly, watching the sunlight pattern the walls.

She sat on the bed, leaning back on one palm. ”Zed-ka,” she said, ”have you ever wondered how historians will write about us in their books?”

His eyebrows went up. ”What put that in your mind?”

She pointed to the PINsheet. ”That. If Michel A-Rae has his way, they will say that under its fifth generation of inhabitants, Chabad's economy collapsed.”

”Do you think that he will?” Zed asked.

”I don't know,” Rhani said. ”I hope not. Lisa Yago helped to found this colony. Irene was a member of the first Council. Orrin went to Nexus. Our mother built the Net. What will they say about me?”

”What would you like them to say?”

Rhani said, ”I would love to have them tell how Rhani Yago established Chabad's independence from outside influence by purchasing the dorazine formula from The Pharmacy.”

”Oh ho,” Zed said. He smiled at her. ”I should like that, very much.”

”Or,” she said, ”they might also say that Rhani Yago changed the political and economic structure of Chabad by uniting the influence and fortune of two great Families in the person of her daughter.”

He froze for a moment, eyes shuttering, gaze turning inward, smile gone.

Then he said, ”You have decided to do it.”

She nodded. ”Yes.”

His mouth quirked suddenly with amus.e.m.e.nt. ”Have you told Ferris Dur?”

”Not yet.”

”I see,” he said. ”Thank you for telling me first. Are you doing this to placate history, Rhani-ka, or to appease our mother's shade ...?”

I am doing it because I want to, Rhani thought, and because I have found a way to do it that will afford me pleasure.... But this, above all, she could not say to Zed.

”It seems right,” she said, determined not to grow angry. ”Domna Sam used to tell me to trust my intuition.”

”Pilots are taught that, too,” Zed said. He gazed around the room. ”Our mother never had any to trust.”

Rhani was astonished. Zed rarely mentioned Isobel, and he had deliberately mentioned her twice in the last minute. He's upset, she thought; about Michel A-Rae, about me, about Darien Riis.... She did not want to think about _that_. On impulse, she leaned across the bed to the compartment in the headboard, and brought out the wrapped sculpture that she had bought at Tuli's.

”Zed-ka,” she said, ”I was saving this to give you on Founders' Day, but I think I want you to have it now.” She pa.s.sed it to him. ”Be gentle with it, it's gla.s.s.”

He unwrapped it, methodically folding the paper and laying it aside. As the sculpture came free, it caught the light and glittered, and Rhani heard her brother's sharp intake of breath. It was a statue of a man standing on an ice slab; the man was blue, the ice black. The man held an ice hammer, and wore an ice suit with the hood folded back. Tuli had promised that the etched details would be exquisite, and they were: in the curves and hollows of the climber's tiny profile, the maker had managed to render Zed Yago's portrait.

”Do you like it?” she said.

”Rhani-ka, it's stupendous,” he said. He rotated it gently, face momentarily unguarded in his appreciation of beauty. ”I love it. Thank you.” He kissed her forehead. Rising, he crossed to the door, carrying the radiant blue figure in both hands. ”I'll put it in my room. I'll have to warn Amri not to touch it.” As he reached the door, he turned back. ”I'm going to the Clinic again today,” he said.

”Now?” Rhani exclaimed. He nodded. Wait, she wanted to cry, wait, we have to talk, I need your advice.... But he had gone. She heard his footsteps in the hall, the sound of a door sliding back, and silence.

The laboring aircooler wheezed. She sat rigid, fists locked on her knees.

Finally she stood and went to the com-unit. She checked the message -- it was indeed from Ferris Dur -- and instructed the unit to connect her with Imre Kyneth.

A woman's image formed on the screen. ”Good day,” she said, ”this is a recording of Nialle Hamish, Domni Imre's secretary. Would you kindly leave your message?”

”This is Rhani Yago,” Rhani said. ”Imre, I think we should wait a week to a.s.sess public reaction, and then call a Council meeting. Let me know if this seems good to you.” She switched off, waited a second, and called Ferris.

He came onto the screen immediately; himself, not a recording.

”Domna!” he said. ”I hoped you would call.”

He was agitated; she could see that from the state of the fur trim on his robe. She braced herself to deal with it.

”You've heard, of course,” he said.

”I've heard,” Rhani said. ”I've suggested to Imre that the Upper House request a Council meeting in a week.”

”Why wait?” Ferris said. ”This pet.i.tion is a threat!”

”A threat is not an attack,” Rhani said. ”Besides, it seems more in keeping with our dignity if we do not appear to be frightened of it. If we meet now -- ” She let the sentence finish itself in his mind, and then said, ”But the referendum is not why I called, Ferris. I called to give you my response to your proposal -- the proposal of import to all Chabad....”

”Yes,” he said, leaning forward. ”Yes?”

”Yes,” she said. ”I will marry you, Domni Ferris.” She held up a hand before he could speak. ”I will have my legal staff draw up the contracts for merger and settlement of our mutual properties upon a child.”

”Our child,” he said.

She said, ”_My_ child.” His jaw slackened as he understood. ”That must be part of our agreement, Ferris, or else we do not have one.”