Betrayer: Foreigner #12 by C. J. Cherryh Read Free Book Online Page B

acknowledgment of the honesty and smiled slightly. “I have often wondered how I appear to others.”
    “You have a reputation, paidhi, for great tenacity, among other things. Tenacity and audacity. Commendable qualities, up to a point.”
    “I hope to uphold that reputation, up to a point, nandi.”
    “You have asked very little of our hospitality except that I recover a stray Guildsman of yours, which unfortunately we have not yet done. Possibly he is not in Taisigi territory.”
    “Possibly he is not. But he would move slowly. He was injured.”
    “Baji-naji. You and your household seem to have had a hard few days, nand’ paidhi.”
    “It has been an interesting trip, nandi.”
    “So Pairuti is fallen. And Lord Geigi claims the clan lordship of the Maschi—to pass it on to an out-clansman, perhaps—or not. And now the dowager wishes to make common cause with me because she admires my character. You will understand that I take all this news with a little skepticism.”
    “If we go to negotiations, nandi, it will be my job to present your position to the dowager as energetically as I present hers to you. Admittedly, this venture was set in motion without extensive preparation. I have no documents for you, I have no absolute assurance that the dowager will agree with every detailed point of what I have proposed to you—” God help me, he thought. First I have to explain to her what they are. What did she expect me to do, approach this man with no of fers in hand? “But I shall argue earnestly for it, nandi. I believe it represents a fair exchange of positions, no one parting with anything at all. Your collective needs and assets fit with the dowager’s like key and lock.”
    “In what matters do you think she will balk, nandi? Be more specific.” Machigi sank into a chair, offering the one opposite, before the immense windows. Light fell on them and reflected off the polished table between them. “We have just had the retraction of the Filing, which I assure you never greatly troubled me. When has the aiji not wanted me dead?”
    “Well, now would be a just answer. He does not now wish you dead, nandi. That is some improvement in relations in just the last few hours we have talked.”
    Machigi rested his chin on his fist. “Spell out for me the things the dowager proposes—and those things you think she will not grant.”
    “The message instructing me to come here was delivered while I was in transit, nandi, so as aforesaid, one has not had the opportunity to consult with her. However,” he added quickly, lest Machigi’s patience run out, “I can state certain things with some assurance. First, a stable Marid is essential to peace in the aishidi’tat. Second, she believes that membership in the aishidi’tat is beneficial to her district.” That produced a frown, and he added rapidly: “The aishidi’tat is not perceived as beneficial to the Marid, but it can become so. One can even surmise, nandi, that the character of the Marid Association itself might change, if the relationship between Tanaja and Shejidan were suddenly stable, and if it had a fortunate third participant, in the East. If the Marid once and for all defines its long-term interests in ways that bring about a stable, peaceful, and profitable association with the aiji-dowager, the aishidi’tat would have to take those interests into account.”
    “And if these interests include rule over the west coast?”
    “The Marid has no great land-based establishment to the West and never has had. I argue it would be of no great value to you, compared to the offer on the table.”
    “Disputable.”
    “Yet you were only claiming the West when the Edi arrived. While all your wealth and prosperity, as you have shown me in the harbor outside this window, is the sea and its shipping. The greater quarrels with the west coast have always been disputes principally over rights of shipping and trade. What do you care about the land?”
    “A great