Part 47 (1/2)
”Anahita,” said Gwyn in a low voice. ”Shut up, or leave.”
Anahita went red in the face. With a snort of anger, she walked away. But no one laughed at her discomposure. Hyacinth fell silent.
Arina Veselov looked grave. She looked so impossibly tiny, standing there with the weight of her authority on her, and yet she carried an air of implacability with her.
Her chin quivered, and she set her mouth in a thin line, then spoke. ”In the days before day existed, Mother Sun and Father Wind talked together, Aunt Cloud and Uncle Moon talked together, and from this congress came children. So did they, the G.o.ds, decree that when a girl becomes a woman, when a boy becomes a man, so will they talk together, that from such congress will come children. And so did the tents of the jaran grow from one tent to many tents, and the tribes of the jaran from ten tribes to a hundred hundred tribes. But this one-” She opened a hand, palm out, to indicate Hyacinth. ”-has turned his face away from the G.o.ds' decree. Thus must we, in our turn, turn our face away from him.”
Quinn had sidled up next to Diana, and Diana felt that Gwyn had moved up behind her, like a s.h.i.+eld at her back. Hal glowered at the jaran. Yomi looked perplexed, and for once, Owen appeared to be perfectly alert, absorbing every word.
”I don't understand,” whispered Quinn. ”What does that mean? What did he do?”
”I thought,” said Gwyn in an undertone, ”that Hyacinth was being discreet.”
Yomi sighed and stepped forward to extend a hand toward Hyacinth, but he ignored her. ”Mother Veselov, I'm still not sure I understand what you are trying to say.”
Arina set her lips even tighter, as if the entire conversation were distasteful to her. She glanced back once at Hyacinth and then at one of the men standing guard- her brother Anton, Diana realized. ”I beg your pardon for bringing such news to you, Mother Yomi. He was found consorting with another man.”
”And?” Yomi asked, waiting for the explanation of the crime that had evidently followed this discovery.
Arina stared blankly at her. Yomi stared blankly back.
Diana took one step forward. ”Yomi,” she said softly in Anglais, ”I think she's trying to tell you that same-s.e.x partners.h.i.+ps aren't-ah-tolerated here, and certainly not when they become public.”
Owen swore loudly. Yomi hastened forward and took Hyacinth firmly by one elbow, dragging him away from his jaran escort. ”Mother Veselov,” she said briskly, ”I thank you for bringing this boy back here. Now we will speak with him.”
It was a dismissal. Arina recognized it. She nodded, apologized again for the unseemly episode, and retreated, ruthlessly dispersing the distant crowd as she went.
”You d.a.m.ned fool,” said Owen.
”Oh, h.e.l.l,” murmured Gwyn. ”He's going to lose his temper and antagonize Hyacinth at the same time.”
”Have you no self-control?” Owen demanded. ”I thought I admitted only professionals to my troupe, but now I see that I've made an exception. Clearly you can't think any farther than your genitals extend.”
Hyacinth burst into tears. He gulped out words that no one could make sense of, strangled in sobs.
”Owen,” said Ginny quietly, going over to put an arm around Hyacinth. ”Perhaps we'd have better luck in a softer and more private discussion of what happened.”
But Owen was in a white rage by now. ”I wash my hands of him!” He stalked off.
”Yes, let's discuss this in private,” said Yomi. ”Ginny? Joseph?” She glanced up.
”Gwyn and Diana, you, too. Come.” Hyacinth trailed pa.s.sively after her. They went to the Company tent.
”Sit,” said Ginny sternly, pressing Hyacinth down into a chair. ”Now, what in h.e.l.l happened, my boy?”
Hyacinth looked awful. His bright hair was mussed and tangled. Dirt streaked his chin. His left sleeve had a rip in it. He stared at his hands, which lay motionless in his lap. There was a long silence. At last Hyacinth spoke, his voice so low that Diana had to strain to hear him. ”I met this man. I liked him.”
”But, Hyacinth,” said Diana, ”by the way you talk, I thought you knew all about-I mean-” She faltered.”I think what Diana is trying to say,” said Yomi, ”is how, if you're so experienced at this, did you get yourself into this mess?”
”Oh, G.o.ddess,” said Ginny under her breath, ”what will Soerensen say when he hears of this? He was so insistent that we not break any taboos.”
”Go on, Hyacinth,” said Joseph gently. ”You may as well tell us the truth now, since I think you've done as much damage as you can by-”
”By lying?” Hyacinth flung his head back. ”Well, it's true, that I exaggerated. It's true I joked about sleeping my way through the camp, and sleeping with everyone, and, no, I never did. Oh, men looked at me in that way, a few of them, but they never did anything about it, except once, and then he was ashamed, and it was all so secret and quick and shameful that it was ugly instead of joyful, and it made me feel dirty since he clearly felt that way. Women propositioned me, lots of women, and they were fine and pleasant, those I went to. But you know I prefer men.”
”But then if you knew they thought it shameful, if you knew it was wrong as a cultural norm, then why did you go ahead this time?” Ginny asked, shaking her head.
”Why? We're in their culture, Hyacinth. We can't just tromp around in our seven- league boots and trample wherever we go.”
”If it was wrong? You know it's wrong, how they act. Punis.h.i.+ng someone for what's only natural.” He was no longer sobbing, but tears leaked from his eyes again.
”Do you know what they're going to do to him? They're going to exile him. Ostracize him. You know what that means, don't you? He'll die.”
Diana stared. The truth was, she had never thought Hyacinth capable of thinking much about anything. He was a decent actor, with a chance to grow in time if he worked at it, but the rest of the time he was such a d.a.m.ned flighty, shallow, pretty boy that it was hard to take him seriously or even to believe that he could feel this deeply and understand this much.
Gwyn sighed. Yomi covered her eyes with a hand. Joseph shook his head.
”Then why did you do it?” demanded Ginny.
”I didn't know,” he said, anguished, and Diana believed him. ”I know they're savages, and I knew enough to know that the kind of primitive war they wage would be ugly-but you can learn to look the other way.''
”Oh, G.o.ddess, maybe you can,” whispered Diana.
”But I thought because they're pretty open about their s.e.xuality that they wouldn't be so harsh. I knew I had to be discreet. And it was my fault. He said I ought to leave, and I said-well, and then we fell asleep. And then it was morning.” He began to weep in earnest again. ”It isn't fair. His life has been hard enough. He and his sister were orphaned and sent to live with their aunt, but she didn't treat them well, and then he became an outlaw-I don't understand that part-and now they let him ride with the army again, but I think they'll be happy enough to see him go. It's a good excuse to get rid of him. He's worried about his sister.''
”Hyacinth,” asked Yomi slowly, ”how long has this been going on?”He shrugged. ”A month? Right after that skirmish up in the hills we were caught in. Longer than that, I guess. A while.”
Yomi turned to Diana. ”Do you know anything about this?”
”No. It's not a subject I ever-discussed-with my husband. Or with anyone else, for that matter. Just with Hyacinth. But I thought he knew what he was doing!”
”You don't understand.” Hyacinth stood up. ”It's my fault. If we don't do something, he'll die.”
”What do you suggest we do?” asked Ginny quietly. ”We're traveling with them, Hyacinth, not the other way around. I remind you that we work under the duke's interdiction.”
”t.i.ts!” swore Hyacinth. ”You know d.a.m.n well we're breaking that interdiction anyway. All the plays. Theater. Everything. It's so much p.i.s.s, if you ask me. We're in- fluencing them just by being here-and his own sister is married to the king! I think it's for the better, too. They need to be civilized. Do you really approve of the way they kill? Slaughter wholesale? And now they're going to kill Yevgeni just because he loves men rather than women, as if that means anything.”
”They're not going to kill him!” Yomi exclaimed.
”Do you think he has a chance, sent out into hostile countryside alone?” Hyacinth sounded disgusted.
”You're dependent on the tribe, here,” said Diana softly. ”Everywhere, here, whether you're in hostile country or out on the plains.”
”Yevgeni said there used to be a tribe that was just men, just fighters, who had left their tribes because they-because they wanted that freedom. He was with a group of them when they came into the army, but he says that the last real group of them died.” His beautiful, mobile mouth twisted down into a bitter grimace. ”They died saving Bakhtiian's life. I told him that he should demand to see Bakhtiian. If men like that would save Bakhtiian, surely Bakhtiian owes them a favor, to save Yevgeni.”
”Hyacinth.” Gwyn shook his head. ”But custom has to be strict in a place like this, in a society like this. Isn't it true that they have to be rigid to survive? Isn't inflexibility necessary in a hostile environment?''