If only Imran could see her now.

22

Rani gazed in awe at the control systems in the penthouse. She longed to play with them, to find out what did what, but she feared setting off some alarm or rousing security, so she contented herself making coffee, raiding a fridge stocked to overflowing, and taking twenty minutes to figure out how to operate the juicer. After getting it to work without breaking it, she gulped down the tangy orange juice, licking her lips with a murmur, almost a growl, of pleasure.

“Help yourself!” He stood watching her from the kitchen doorway, weight on his right leg, elegant in a kimono that was finer than any sari she had ever seen. She put the glass down guiltily.

“No, I meant it.” Geraint sniffed at the aroma of fresh coffee. “Oh, that smells good. Thank you.” He limped to the breakfast table, poured himself a cup of strong black coffee and considered a cigarette. Not this morning, he thought. My body’s taken enough of a beating.

In the living room beyond, Serrin groaned in his sleep and stirred. He’d still be groggy from the reaction to the drugs Geraint had administered.

“I don’t know what you like,” he said waving at the fridge, “but there’s bacon, ham, eggs, cereals in the cupboard there, fruit and cheeses and, oh, let’s see what else…” He clambered up painfully to investigate the contents. He didn’t feel much like eating, but thought he’d better force something down. lie settled for some Jarlsberg and salami on rye while Rani began to assemble a sandwich on some grainy black bread, piling layer upon layer more out of curiosity than anything else. By the time she was done, the sandwich was an inch and a half high. She chewed a great chunk happily, and then looked warily askance at his expression.

“No,” Geraint smiled. “I’m not laughing at you. Glad to see you enjoy the food. I don’t know what, urn, ork people like.” He didn’t know what else to say.

Rani looked at him suspiciously, backing off a little.

“Don’t take offense, please. It’s just that my friends and acquaintances don’t include many orks. Well, not really any, to be honest. You see, I’m a member of the House of Nobles, and as you may know, not many noble families have orks among them.” Geraint knew he was digging an even deeper hole the more he talked, but the words came out faster than he thought.

She didn’t know any of the details, but it was a well-known fact of Life that the Sixth Age hadn’t changed noble prejudices in Britain. When the first wave of unexplained genetic expression brought elves and dwarfs, the first of the metahumans, into the world, noble families got their fair share of pretty elven children but only the rare ugly little dwarf. Registered stillbirths and neo-natal deaths among dwarf babies had been astonishingly high among society’s upper echelons. Then, when the transformations brought orks and trolls into their midst. British nobles took steps to make sure they stayed elegant, handsome, and socially acceptable. Most of the unfashionably ugly creatures proved to have alarmingly short lifespans, for having an ork in the family just wasn’t done.

“Please forgive me. It isn’t prejudice, or at least I hope not, it’s just ignorance. You are very welcome here. We owe you our lives. I’m not going to forget that,” Geraint smiled genuinely at her.

Rani knew he was sincere, and she wanted to stay and talk to the elf she’d seen that fateful night just over a week ago, but she was still unsure.

“She doesn’t like me” The allusion to Francesca was obvious.

He sighed. “I’m sorry, but I suppose she’s just not used to you either. She lives among the same kind of people I do. And she’s, ah. well, she’s a little vain about her own looks, But I know Francesca. When she’s had time to think it through, she won’t forget what she owes you.”

“Doesn’t mean she’ll like me any better,” Rani mumbled, hands in her lap, the remnants of the enormous sandwich left untouched on the table.

“Please,” Geraint said almost pleadingly. “It’s something like the way you had trouble with the controls in the kitchen, right? It didn’t mean you were dumb because you couldn’t figure them out right away. It just meant you aren’t used to this kind of place. Well, it’s the same with us-we're not used to you and your ways. Doesn’t mean we don’t like you just because we need a little time to get used to you.” He wasn’t entirely sure what he was saying, and he wasn’t sure why she seemed to need their approval, but when the words came out they seemed to reassure her a little.

“I’ve seen him before.” She pointed to the elf, who was groggily trying to sit up on the sofa. He looked to be losing the struggle.

“Yes?” He was casual, looking at Serrin more than listening to her. He assumed Serrin had done a little wandering around the Smoke before they had met, and perhaps she’d seen him somewhere on his jaunts.

Rani was about to explain when Francesca ambled into the kitchen. The Indian girl fell silent again, feeling awkward.

The woman almost seemed to ignore Rani, poured herself some coffee and rubbed her eyes. “God, I’m wiped out. What time is it?”

“Eleven-fifteen,” Geraint told her. “Looks as if Serrin is trying to wake up, too. Let’s get a coffee relay going and talk this all out.”

Two pots of coffee later, they had all begun to perk up a little. Serrin still felt light-headed and unsteady when he tried to stand, which Geraint warned him was how he would feel most of the day. Francesca was more worried about Geraint’s leg.

“Well, tomorrow I think I may have to ask you to drive me to a friendly contact of mine in Oxford. Get this dealt with.” The wound was clean, bandaged, but even after a local shot, his whole leg throbbed with pain and stiffness.

Rani spoke up, “Why were you in my patch last night? You’re strangers, but you must have known it wasn’t safe. The Harry Hooks or the other gangs, they'd have ripped you apart if they’d been around. You were lucky.” Her directness caught the others off guard. They looked at each other for a second or two. How much could they trust her?

“Ah, well, Rani.” Geraint began uncertainly. We were… we were trying to prevent a murder.”

“Why should you want to do that? They happen every day. Was it someone important?” She was very curious.

There was a tong silence. “Rani, please don’t be offended, but we aren’t really sure how much we should tell you. We may be dealing with a string of related murders, and we haven’t yet had a chance to talk about last night among ourselves. There may be another murder soon and we’ll have to figure out what we can do. We’re still not sure who we can talk to…” Geraint’s voice tapered off into an attempted apology for not trusting her enough to tell her more, but she was unabashed.

“Can I tell you about me? Trusting me might be easier if you know what I was doing.”

“Sure. Fire away,” Serrin said, If nothing else, it would give them time to think while she spoke.

Rani began by explaining the need to revenge the deaths in her family, the bungled sucker run in which several had been killed, and why her brother wasn’t helping much. She didn’t give any details, and was rather awkwardly beginning to explain her Undercity exploits.

“This bungled run,” Serrin broke in. “When was it?” Something she’d said had his mind fretting.

In her urgency to explain, to prove herself trustworthy, Rani had forgotten all about the elf. She smiled in delight as she played her trump card. You know already. After all, you were there too.”

“What?”

“I saw you. Imran and I were running from troopers and a huge fire thing-”

“Fire elemental, yes.” Serrin looked confused.