Part 33 (1/2)

AUNT CHANE SAT ON the short side of the table across which Ren Zel and Obrelt Himself faced each other, in the Advocate's Chair The as poured and the ritual sip taken; then the glasses were set aside and Obrelt laid the thing out

”The name of the lady we propose for your wife is Elsu Meriandra, Clan Jabun,” he said, in his usual bluff way

Ren Zel blinked, for Jabun was a clan old in piloting Certainly, it was not Korval, but for outworld Casia it was very well indeed-and entirely above Obrelt's touch

The Delm held up a hand ”Yes, they are beyond us absolutely-pilots to shopkeepers But Obrelt has a pilot of its own to bring to the contract suite and Jabun was not uninterested”

But surely, Ren Zel thought, surely, the only way in which Obrelt ht afford such a contract was to cede the child to Jabun-and that made no sense at all Jabun was a Clan of pilots, allied with other of the piloting Houses What use had they for the seed of a child of Obrelt, bred of shopkeepers, the sole pilot produced by the House in all its history? He was a fluke, a changeling; no true-breeding piloting stock such as they n with themselves

”The child of the contract,” his Delm continued, ”will come to Obrelt”

Well, yes, and that es to its taste and wished to diversify its children But, Gods, the expense! And no guarantee that his child would be any more pilot than Eba!

”No,” Aunt Chane said dryly, ”we have not run mad Recruit yourself, child”

Ren Zel took a deep breath ”One wishes not to put the Clan into shadow,” he said softly

”We have been made to understand this,” Obrelt said, of equal dryness with his sister ”Iine my astonishment when I learned that a debt contracted by the House for the good of the House had been reassigned to one Ren Zel dea'Judan Clan Obrelt At his request, of course”

”My contracts are profitable,” Ren Zel murmured ”There was no need for the House to bear the burden”

”The Clan receives a tithe of your wages,” Aunt Chane pointed out

He inclined his head ”Of course”

He looked up in tie a look undecipherable to him The Delm cleared his throat

”Very well For the matter at hand-Jabun and I have reached an equitable understanding Jabun desires his daughter to ed for toned on the day after, here in our own house The contract suitestands ready to receive you”

The day after to his stomach clench as it did when he faced an especially tricksy bit of piloting Precisely as if he were sitting board, he took a breath and forced himself to relax Of course, he would do as his Delreater good of the clan, was bred deep in his bones To defy the Deler the Clan, and without the Clan there was no life It was only-the matter came about so quickly

”There was a need for haste,” Aunt Chane said, for the second ti his mind ”Pilot Meriandra's shi+p is co and she is at liberty to marry It aain for itself the child of two pilots” She paused ”Put yourself at ease: the price is not beyond us”

”Yes, Aunt,” he said, for there was nothing else to say Two days hence, he would be wed; his child to come into clan, to be sheltered and shaped by those who held his interests next to their hearts The Code taught that this ell, and fitting, and just He had no coht, indeed, feel honored, that the Clan lavished so much care on him

But his stomach was still uncertain when they released hiister his upconed, the contract sealed Elsu Meriandra received her Delm's kiss and obediently allowed her hand to be placed into the hand of Delm Obrelt

”Behold, the treasure of our Clan,” Jabun intoned, while all of Clan Obrelt stood witness ”Keep her safe and return her well to us, at contract's end”

”Willingly we receive Elsu, the treasure of Jabun,” Obrelt responded ”Our House stands vigilant for her, as if for one of our own”

”It is well,” Jabun replied, and bowed to his daughter ”Rest easy, my child, in the House of our ally”

The cousins came forward then to make their bows Ren Zel stood at the side of his contract-bride and est child in the nursery-his sister Eba's newest

After that, there was theRen Zel, who held lesser rank in Obrelt than his wife held in Jabun, was seated considerably down-table This was according to Code, which taught that Obrelt could not i high; nor could her status elevate hiuest in his House

He had eaten but lightly of theto the cousins on either side talk shop Froh up-table between his sister Farin and his cousin Wil Bar, fulfilling her conversational duty to her meal partners She did not look down-table

The meal at last over, Ren Zel and Aunt Chane escorted Jabun's treasure throughout Obrelt's house, showing her the aarden In the library, Aunt Chane had her place a palistered her with the House computer and insured that the doors allowed to contract-spouses would open at her touch

Departing the library, they turned left down the hall, not right toward the main stair, and Aunt Chane ledthe way up the private stairway to the closed wing In the upper hallway, she paused by the first door and bowed to Elsu Meriandra

”Your rooht awry, only pick up the house phone and call me It will be my honor to repair any error”

Elsu bowed in turn ”The House shows h, sweet voice soleainst the plate The door slid open and she was gone, though Ren Zel thought she looked at hih modestly lowered lashes, in the instant before the door closed behind her

Though it was not necessary, Aunt Chane guided him to the third and last door on the hallway She turned and smiled

”Temporary quarters”

This sort of levity was not like his Aunt and Ren Zel was startled into a smile of his own ”Thank you, ma'a hiht ”Let the flowers aid you,”

she said softly ”It will be well, child”

He had his doubts, in no way alleviated by the feords he had actually exchanged with his wife, but it would serve no useful purpose to share them with Aunt Chane The Clan desired a child born of the union of pilots: His part was plainly writ

So, he sainst the backs of her fingers in a gesture of kin-love ”It will be well,” he repeated, for her co further, but in the end si, alone, back the way they had coainst the door and entered his te in his clothes and such of his books as he thought would be prudent He had even opened the inner door and gone into the htly on the lush carpet

The bed was ornate, old, and piled high with pillows The flowers twined up two bedposts and cli down in luxuriant curtains of green and blue Sunlight poured down fro the aphrodisiac scent Standing by the wine-table, Ren Zel had felt his blood stir and taken a step away, deliberately turning his back on the bed

The rest of the room was furnished but sparsely: there was the wine-table, of course, and a sht take a privatea fireplace where sweet logs were laid, awaiting the touch of a flamestick The solitary as that above the bed; the walls were covered in nubbled silk the color of the brocaded sofa

Across the room-directly across the room from the door by which he had entered-was another door

Beyond, he kneas another room, like the roo out those things Elsu Meriandra had sent ahead

So heat had filled his nostrils with flower-scent again and Ren Zel had retreated to his own quarters, locking the door to the contract-room behind hiiven hie, he paused to consider what little he knew of his wife

She was his elder by nearly three Standards, fair-haired, wide-eyed and coht that she was, perhaps, a little spoilt, and he supposed that cah clan Delhs, however, and she spoke to Aunt Chane precisely as she ought If she had little to say to his that the Code des her inferior: rank, flight-tie, and beauty And, truth be told, they had not been brought together to converse