Part 31 (1/2)
Heher thick brown hair with one hand while he slid the flower hoht ear”Let us be certain that it is well-anchored,” Daav said, hands hovering ”Move your head now-look up at me Ah-”
”Stand away from my sister!”
The voice was, of course, too loud Had the phrase been whispered it would have been too loud, at this gather Daav sighed and glanced up
The young ora's look to hied, about twenty Standard years
”Cal your sister no hare of that, sir!” the other snapped ”As kins about-the flower stayed fir alanced back to Daav ”Lord yos'Phelium, here is my brother Jen Dal del'Fordan Jen Dal, here is Daav yos'Phelium Clan-”
”I knoho he is,” Jen Dal said awfully ”Sir, you have not yet put yourself at a decent distance from my sister” Kesa made a sound rather like a splutter, which Daav interpreted as outrage Her brother spared her a single withering glance
”Be still, Kesa This is a matter of honor”
”If it's a matter of e the dae and the price, not you”
”Completely by Code,” Daav said, uneasily aware that they were attracting a crowd
The young gentleht Daav, the balloons were not strung so low by accident Here's one who has taken Etgora's fall as a blow to his heart, and cannot see 'round his anger to the greater good of the house
”My sister is a child, sir It is as ludicrous to expect her to know proper Code as it is to expect her to know all the faces of har to still the quick flare of anger For Kesa's sake, for the sake of Etgora's value to Korval, he would not lose his temper He would quell this self-i crowd of the curious He was Chi yos'Phelius were not beyond him
”Sir, your concern for your kin does you credit However, I feel that you have allowed an elder sibling's natural partiality-”
Jen Dal del'Fordan turned his face away
”Kesa,” he said, as if Daav had finished speaking-no, as if Daav had never begun to speak!-”pray remove yourself from the proximity of this-person”
Tears filled the brown eyes ”Jen Dal, he is our guest! I a a flower in h those gathered at that, but Jen Dal was un history of predation a the lesser Houses I will not see hiht, suddenly seeing the destination of the farce You fool! He leaned forward and touched Kesa lightly on the sleeve
”Lady, your brother is correct You cannot stay this”
For a heartbeat, the brown eyes searched his face, then she stepped back, bowed fully-House child to Honored Guest-and turned, she walked away as sedately as one with years of negotiation behind her, and the crowd parted to let her through
”You, sir,” Jen Dal del'Fordan cried, ”will satisfy the honor of ently cal within ”The honor of your House is intact, as you well know”
”I know nothing of the sort Korval destroys Clans as casually as I pluck a flower” The last was said with a sneer and Daav caught his breath at the sheer, blinding stupidity of the ora were iven his Clan? Did he not know that with Korval's patronage and the sora would recover its loss and reap new profits before Kesa signed her first Contract lines?
”You do your sister an injustice-you call her honor and her understanding into question before all these”
He threw an ar the pathway ”Is this the path a brother treads, in the task of keeping his kin safely? Your understanding is at fault in this, sir Neither Etgora nor Etgora's children has taken lasting harm from Korval Have done and stand away”
Jen Dal del'Fordan smiled ”And I say,” he returned, voice, without doubt, pitched to carry far into the gardens, ”that Korval has tainted Etgora's honor Everyone here has heard ed, forcing himself to breathe deeply He bowed, deliberately, in the e satisfaction in the gasp fro master,” he said, and his voice was not-quite-steady ”I will satisfy you”
From tine corner of his eye, he saw the croaver and reforora and his mother in the first rank His mother's face was very calm
THE CARD TABLES in the sunset Glade had been hastily reora's dueling master bowed to Daav
”My Lord yos'Pheliued, you may choose the weapons of the duel The House can provide pistols, swords, knives, or Turing forks from its own arsenal If you wish a weapon we do not own, the House will acquire a matched set of the weapon of your choice, within reason If it appears, in the judgement of the Master of the Duel, that your weapon has been chosen with an eye to indefinitely postponing this duel, you will be required to choose another weapon Is this understood, sir?”
”It is” Daav closed his eyes, briefly considering edges and explosives, bludgeons, the perfectly tuned gun in his sleeve, but-no Such weapons were insufficiently potent; they lie He required-he would have-a fuller Balance
Daav opened his eyes and pointed at the gaily colored balloons, strung on their strings at the edge of the glade
”There is my weapon of choice, sir If the House is able, let a dozen of those be filled ater and let both my opponent and I choose three Can this be done?”
The dueling master bowed ”Indeed it can And the distance?”
”Twelve paces, I believe,” Daav said, counting the moves ”Yes, that will do”
”Very well,” said the dueling ive instructions
The balloons arrived in very short order and were placed, carefully, on the lawn A murmur rose up from the crowd-and an outcry from Daav's opponent
”What is this? Toys? Do you consider a challenge frous themaster bowed ”The rules of the duel state clearly that weapons are the choice of the challenged, sir Lord yos'Phelium has chosen balloons filled ater, at twelve paces He is within both his rights and the bounds of the duel”
”I will not-” began Jen Dal, but it was Etgora who spoke up from the sidelines
”Do you know, my son, I think you will? Lord yos'Phelium has made his choice Plainly, he is a man who stands by his decisions, no matter how foolish they may appear I would counsel you to do the same”
”Lord yos'Phelium,” said the Master of Duel, ”choose your weapons”
Daav stepped forward, knelt in the grass and picked up the first balloon It was not quite as firm as he wished and he set it aside The second pleased him and he cradled that one in his arm The third
”Will you hurt hi