Part 21 (1/2)
”Are you ready, Clonak?””I am, Shadia”
”Your authorization?”
”The shi+p is yours”
”As you say”
They'd n it The idea was siines they had to decrease the size of their orbit and bring it closer to the more traveled ways of the syste happened, and Clonak had spent another two days tracing wires as Shadia refined the orbit-nu certain that shi+p kept an antenna-side to the primary
They were on a round-the-clock talk-and-listen, and would be until- One of the more raspy bits of space debris in some ti along the side of the hull There was a ping then, and another
”If we're in cloud of debris-”
”It doesn't sound too bad,” Clonak was saying untruthfully, just as a full-sized clank rang the hull Then ca sound, al sandpapered or- ”Well,” Clonak said softly, and then, again ”Well” He moved to the battery-powered , Shadia Let's have a look!”
They crowded round the battery-powered monitor and Clonak onceuntil a connection was reen-brown object
Belatedly, Shadia grabbed for the gimmicked suit radio and turned it on- ”Please prepare to abandon shi+p This is Daav yos'Phelium and Ride the Luck If Scout ter'Meulen is aboard, it would be kind in him to answer-one's life, then, as if Ride the Luck had smacked them proper
”Breath's duty, but you've the luck,” Daav yos'Phelium continued conversationally ”The hull is twisted into the engine back here If I do not receive within the next two Standard Minutes an answer of some sort from the resident pilots, I shall have no choice but to force the hatch Mark Don't disappointYou can have no idea of how often I've drea open the hatch of a-”
Here, the pilot'sthe hull with one of his discarded pieces of piping
It was Shadia who thumbed the microphone on the makeshi+ft radio and spoke: ”We're here, Pilot
Thank you”
Certain Symmetry
Adventures in the Liaden Universe 4Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Certain Syela Gradillas, SinCitian
The Wine of Meician said to his apprentice, watching her walk the red wooden counter across the backs of her fingers The counter reversed itself, returned along the thin, ringless fingers to the end of the hand, over the side, to be deftly caught by that same hand before it had fallen an inch
Moonhawk looked up with a grin, as proud ofthisany of the true-spells taught in Temple It had taken days of almost constant practice to teach her muscles the rhythm required to move the counter sht do while walking, which was Lute's stated reason for teaching her this skill first They had been walking for two days
”I do believe you are ready to learn soician said now, and looked around him
The road was eht-had been empty for two days
Of all the people on Sintia, only Lute and Moonhawk found the village of Karn a destination of interest
”The season is early,” Luteher very thoughts
”When suh, this road will be croith folk who have business in Karn”
”It will?” Moonhawk frowned after her Te tales of provinces and products she and the rest of the Maidens had been obliged to memorize Karn had certainly not been on any of those lists
She sighed and looked up Lute atching her with that particular expression thatthe Goddess's own pleasure frohten until she asked him
”Very well,” she said crossly ”Whatever comes out of Karn, Master Lute, that the world should walk for days to have it?”
”Wine, of course,” he answered, setting his bag down in the road with a flourish ”The best wine in all the world that is allowed to those not in Temple”
She blinked ”Wine? But wine co and Veyru,” Lute finished ”Fine vineyards, every one But the Tereedy Or both No drop of wine frolass That wine coain, for it was not his place to pass judgement on the Temples-and by extension the witches who served the Goddess there But she remembered another lesson from her days as a Maiden in Tee and an accurate inventory of vintage and barrel very close to the heart of Merlot, the Temple steward Inventory was considered the sort of practical, useful work most needed by Maidens ere, perhaps, just a bit prideful of their ics
There had been one season when Moonhawk had spent a good deal of time in the wine cellars, inventory list to hand
”Attendhis cloak behind his shoulders
Moonhawk otten
”Perhaps you think you have mastered the counter, but the counter may yet be the wiser, eh?” He smiled, but Moonhawk didn't see All her attention-and all her witch sense-was focused on his long, clever hands
”Noe enter the realic, indeed I a a counter disappear” He extended his eers
”First, naturally enough, one htly between his first and second fingers was a bright green counter How it had come there, Lute and his skill knew Certainly, Moonhawk did not, having neither seen the movement that would have retrieved a cleverly hidden counter nor felt the surge of power that would have been necessary to create a counter Or the illusion of one
Lute extended his hand ”Please verify that this is indeed a co house on Sintia”
She took the disk, felt the se of here the caress of ers had worn the paint away No illusion, this She handed it back
”I find it a common wooden counter,” she said, for she must also practice the eloquence of his speech, which served, so he said, to divert the attention of an audience and give a ht be found in any ga house on the planet”
”Excellent,” he said, receiving the token on his callused palhtly into the air, caught it on the back of his hand and walked it negligently across his fingers
”Behaving coht the counter between thuh
”Now, behold its uncommon attribute”
Moonhawk stifled a curse: There was nothing between the er but sunshi+ne and cool spring air
Lute lowered his hand and smiled ”Another lesson that h we haven't far to walk now Tonight, we shall eat one of Veverain's splendid dinners, sae and sleep wrapped in soft, sweet-s blankets”