Sethra Lavode (Viscount of Adrilankha) by Steven Brust Read Free Book Online

Kytraan, Grassfog, Iatha, Ritt, and Belly. They presented their empty plates to Lar and Clari, who served out the breakfast with great solemnity and even a certain touch of ceremony, after which service the Teckla retired to wait for whatever might be left.
    After receiving the food, our friends sat down on the ground and ate, all of them in turn giving Lar a thousand compliments on the food and its preparation, compliments to which Lar responded first with a bow, and then with the murmured word “coriander.”
    As they ate, Iatha said, “I continue to be curious, Ibronka, about why you say that we cannot use teleportation, should we learn it, in order to assist our efforts.”
    “I beg your pardon, good Iatha,” said Piro. “But you know the rule: there will be no business conversations during meals. We must, after all, maintain a certain degree of civilization, don’t you think?”
    “Oh, certainly,” said Röaana. “Indeed, in my opinion, the more time we spend in the wilderness, the more important is civilization.”
    “This is only barely the wilderness,” observed Ritt.
    “Well, but it is living out-of-doors,” said Röaana, “which is tolerably close.”
    “I could not agree more, my dear Röaana,” said Kytraan. “Lar, more klava.”
    “Coming, my lord.”
    “But do you know,” said Grassfog contemplatively. “It is inherent in our line of work that it is sometimes difficult to say what is business and what is not.”
    “That is true,” said Belly.
    “He speaks!” cried Röaana, laughing.
    Belly graced the Tiassa with a look that we must identify as a friendly glare, if the reader can imagine such a thing, after which he went on to say, “For example, should I wish to discuss those three merchants of yester-day, one who became ill upon his own shoes, well, would this be business, or merely amusement?”
    “Why, I think that might be considered amusement,” said Grassfog.
    “Although unsuitable for dinner conversation for other reasons,” said Ibronka.
    Belly flushed slightly, which led Röaana to say, “Ibronka, my dear, we must wait a week between each comment of our good Belly, and then, when he does venture to speak, you chastise him. The Gods, it will now be a year before he dares open his mouth again. For shame.”
    “You are right, my dear, and good Belly, I tender my apologies.”
    “Besides,” said Röaana, “I like hearing him speak. Every time he pronounces an ahr it sounds as if his tongue is turning upside down, and when he makes the el he does so with his whole body and soul, as if committing to it fully. It amuses me.”
    “Röaana, you are embarrassing him,” chided Ibronka.
    Indeed, Belly was now extremely flushed, but was doing his best to devote himself to his food. Piro caught Kytraan’s eye and said, “They are cruel, aren’t they?”
    “Exceedingly,” said Kytraan.
    “Well,” said Röaana, “how else am I to get Belly’s attention? I have been looking at him from beneath my eyelashes for a year, and it is as if I addressed a wall.”
    “Bah,” said Grassfog, shrugging. “Enter his tent some night. I promise you will get his attention.”
    “Ah, sir, you are rude,” said Röaana.
    “I am without artifice,” said Grassfog.
    “It comes to much the same thing,” observed Iatha, who was, for her part, doing everything possible to keep from breaking up into peals of laughter at poor Belly’s expense.
    “Well then,” said Röaana, “how should I induce him to speak to me?”
    Piro said, “As to that, ask him about—”
    “Oh, oh! You are hardly the one to explain,” teased Ibronka affectionately.
    “Well,” said Piro, turning slightly red in his turn, “there is something in what you say.”
    “Pah,” said Kytraan. “It is easy enough. Ask him how he became a highwayman.”
    “Well, in fact,” said Röaana, “I confess that I have a certain curiosity about this. Come, Belly, if you can manage to bring your head up long enough to say