Part 9 (1/2)

I'd lose by asking.

”Halbreth Nicholas, do you expect some daring moves from somebody else?”

He knocked out his pipe and set it down, and then he counted out

his propositions with the side of one palm on the flat of the other.

”First,” he said, ”there's already those trying to scuttle the Jubilee outright. Correct?”

”Correct.”

”I think you'll be able to stop that... this Quest of yours is an exaggeration, but it's caught people's fancy, and I believe they'll

come to see what happens next, if for no other reason. Dragons and a tourney in the courtyard at Castle Bright.w.a.ter, maybe?”

I grinned at him.

”Second,” he went on, ”a.s.suming, as I do think we can a.s.sume, that

there will be a Jubilee, even if one or two of the Families boycott it-and frankly, I doubt that strongly; like I said before, every one of them is curious, and if anything's going to happen they don't want to miss it-if the Jubilee does come off as scheduled, I look for a formal move to dissolve the Confederation.”

”Happens every time we meet,” I said. ”That would be no surprise.””Not exactly,” said Halbreth Nicholas, ”not exactly. n.o.body's proposed that seriously within anybody's memory. No, what always happens is the move to cut it back to one day a year, and then that's voted down... by how much depending on how the Wommacks are wobbling that month.”

”My dear,” said Diamond of Motley, ”I'm afraid I really don't see

much difference. In effect, that is.”

”Oh, there's a difference,” he said, ”yes, there is. True, that ritual meeting would make the Confederation an empty pretense, a regular little bug of a planetary government and not worth spitting at. But so long as it met even that long, they'd only have one meeting's worth of satisfaction. Bright.w.a.ter'd move to return to meeting four times a year, Castle Lewis'd second, and the vote would go as usual

-seven to five or eight to four. Dissolving the thing, meaning no meetings atall, would be quite a different thing altogether.”I felt a chill between my shoulders... not that I hadn't had the same idea cross my mind, but if it came this easy to him there might be many others sharing it.

”You think they could do it, Halbreth Nicholas?”

”I think they'll for d.a.m.ned sure try.”

”But do you think they can bring it off? The vote has always gone against them, even on the meeting cutback...”

”But weak votes, young woman, weak votes,” he said solemnly. ”You can't count on the Wommacks, them and their curse. It may well be you can't count on the Smiths, considering this latest development. If all our neighbors pulled out, I'm not prepared to say you could count on the Motleys or the Lewises, either.”

”Halbreth Nicholas Smith!” said Diamond of Motley, so shocked her spoon rattled in her cup. ”My dear,” he said, ”we must face facts. Castle Motley is not self-sufficient, nor Castle Lewis either. If Arkansaw, Kintucky, and Tinaseeh decided to blockade us so that no supplies could be s.h.i.+pped in from Oklahomah or Marktwain, just where do you think we'd be? We can grow vegetables and fruit here, and raise a goat or two, but that's about it. No sugar, no salt, no coffee, no tea, no metals, no supplies for the Grannys or the Magicians, no manufactured goods to speak of. And where do you think our power comes from, Diamond of Motley? It comes from the Farsons and the Guthries, who can equally well cut it off. No law says they have to sell to us.”

”Our windmills,” she said. ”Our solar collectors-and our tides.” I tried to imagine the population of Mizzurah managing with its windmills and its solar technology and its tides, with all the huge hulking bulk of three continents cutting off both wind and water on three sides, and it raining or cloudy three quarters of the year or more, and I admired Halbreth Nicholas for not smiling. She was a good woman, was Diamond, but she hadn't much grasp of logistics. ”No,” he said, but he said it respectfully, ”I'm afraid they wouldn't suffice, Diamond. The Lewises, now, they are just pigheaded enough that they might go the rest of us one better!”

”Withdraw from the withdrawal, you mean.”

”Exactly. And live on greens and goatmeat, and burn... oh, candles,

for all I know. They might. But not us, Responsible, and I want that understood. I've many families here depending on me and they're not expecting to go back to Old Earth standards and the year 2000.

And I don't intend to ask it of them.”

”You'd vote for dissolving, then.”

”If it was clear that that was the way it was going-yes. Regardless of how the Lewises might decide. It's not my druthers, young woman, but it's the facts of life. We are dependent on Arkansaw, Kintucky, and Tinaseeh, and there's no way to change that short of

moving the continent of Mizzurah to a new location just off yourcoast. Are your Magicians of Rank up to a project like that?”Moving Mules was one thing; moving continents was quite another; I didn't try to answer.

”Law, but you've made a gloomy day of it, Mr. Motley!” said his wife. ”I hope you're proud of yourself!”

I was quite sure he wasn't; in fact, I was quite sure he was ashamed.

He would of liked to hear himself saying that if the vote came to end the Confederation his delegates would be right there at the front telling the rotters to do their d.a.m.ndest and to h.e.l.l with them. Begging the pardon of any ladies present, of course. That went with the image he'd of liked to have of himself. But he was a practical man, and an honest one, and he knew he'd do what went with that. Diamond of Motley was right; he'd made it a gloomy day.

I went off to my room to rest for a while before supper, and found a servingmaid waiting there, pretending-not very skillfully -to still be unpacking my saddlebags and clearing up. She looked eleven, but had the frail look of a Purdy to her, too, which meant she was probably my own age or a bit more, and her hair was falling down from the twist she'd put it in and hanging down around her face. My fingers itched to set it right-I can't abide a sloppy woman-but I didn't know her and I couldn't take liberties.

”h.e.l.lo, young woman,” I said, friendly as I could manage in my dreary mood, ”are you having a problem with some of those things? What is it, a fastening you can't get loose?”

”No, miss,” she said, ”I'm managing.” And dropped my hand mirror on the floor, smas.h.i.+ng it to smithereens. No magic, just plain fumblefingers.