palaces would be like taking his finger out of water. It wouldn't leave

a hole. He wondered, sometimes, if the whole world wasn't the same.

Back at the palaces, Otah suffered through the ritual change of robes,

the closing ceremony that followed seeing off the fleet. He dearly hoped

that when Balasar's reinforcements departed, he could avoid repeating

the entire pointless exercise. He hoped, but doubted it. Once the last

cymbal had chimed, the last priest intoned the final passage, and Otah

had done his duty as Emperor, he went back to his rooms. Danat and

Issandra were waiting there.

Otah greeted them both with a single pose appropriate to near family. If

it was still an optimism, the Galtic woman didn't comment on it. She put

down a bowl of tea she'd been drinking from, and Danat rose to his feet.

"Thank you for joining me," Otah said. "I wanted to know the ... the

status of your work."

The pair exchanged glances. Issandra spoke.

"In one respect, I think you could say we're doing quite well. Ana's

request that her father add himself to your naval adventure has caused

something of a strain between her and Hanchat. He seems to think she's

being disloyal to Galt in general and therefore him in particular."

"I can understand that," Otah said, lowering himself to a cushion. "The

gods all know she surprised me with it."

"The problem is that she feels she's cleared all accounts by the

gesture," Issandra said. "Any sense of obligation she might have felt

toward Danat-cha from her misbehavior or his clemency toward Hanchat is

done."

"I see," Otah said.

"There's something else," Danat said. "I think Shija-cha has . .

"The imitation lover has developed ambitions," Issandra said.

"Apparently you've entrusted her uncle with some particularly delicate

task?"

Shija Radaani. Ashua's niece.

"I have," Otah said.

"She's taken that fact and the request that she act as Danat's escort,

and drawn the most remarkable conclusion," Issandra said. "She thinks

that Danat-cha is in love with her, and intends to sabotage his

connection to Ana on her behalf."

"It's not only that," Danat said. "This is my fault. I ... I lost my

perspective. It was ..

"You bedded her," Otah said.

Danat's blush could have lit houses. It was as Otah had feared. Issandra

sighed.

"This Radaani woman," she said. "Can you safely offend her family?"

"At the moment, it would be awkward," Otah said.

"Then I can't see that the girl is that far wrong," Issandra said.

"Danat has sabotaged things."

"I'm very sorry," he said. "It wasn't ... gods."

Danat sat again, his head in his hands.

"What is Ana's opinion of the matter of Shija and Danat?" Otah asked.

"I don't know," Issandra said. Her voice went softer, sorrow creeping in

at the seams. "I believe she's avoiding me."

Otah pressed his fingers against his eyelids until colors swam in the

darkness. No one spoke, and the silence pressed on his shoulder like a hand.

"Well," he said at last, "how do the two of you intend to move forward

from here?"

"She wants to put them together," Danat said. His voice was equal parts

plea and outrage. "She wants Shija and Ana to be seated beside each

other at every dance, every meal ..."

"You can't envy what you don't see," Issandra said. "It's more difficult

if this other girl can't be easily removed, but if Ana's run with her

present lover is nearing an end, and Shija makes it clear that she

considers Ana a threat ..."

Danat yelped and began to spout objections, Issandra pressing on against

him. Otah kept his eyes closed, the paired voices draining each other of

meaning. Instead he imagined the girl to be before him as she had been

the night she came to speak with him. Half-drunk. Too proud to be ruled

by pride.

He took a pose that commanded silence. Danat's words ended at once.

Issandra's took a moment longer to trail off.

"Between the two of you, you'll have to devise something," he said. "I

don't have the time or the resources to fix this for you. But consider

that you might be treating Ana with less respect than she deserves.

Danat-cha, do you intend to build a life with Shija Radaani?"

Danat sobered. He took no pose, spoke no word. Otah nodded.

"Then it would be disrespectful to behave as if you did," Otah said. "Be

honest with her, and if it damages relations with House Radaani, then it

does."

"Yes, Father," Danat said, hesitated, and then took a pose that asked

forgiveness before walking from the room.

Otah's spine ached. His eyes felt gritty with the efforts of the day. It

was all far from over.

"Issandra-cha," he said. "I don't know Ana well, but I lost my own

daughter by treating her as the girl I remembered instead of the woman

she'd become. Don't repeat my mistake. Ana may not be subject to the

manipulations that work on younger girls."

Issandra Dasin's face hardened. For a moment, Otah saw the resemblance

between mother and daughter. She took a pose of acknowledgment. It was

awkward, but her form was correct.

"There is, perhaps, another approach," she said. "I wouldn't have

considered it before, but I've spent a certain number of hours with your

son. He might be able to manage it."

Otah nodded her on.

"He could choose to fall in love with her. Cultivate the feeling within

himself, and then ..." She shrugged. "Let the world take its course. I

haven't known many women who failed to be charmed by an attractive man's

genuine admiration."

"You think he could simply decide to feel what we want him to feel?"

"I've done it every day for nearly thirty years," Issandra said.

"That is either the most romantic thing I've heard or the saddest," Otah

said. And then, "Ana-cha did me a great favor. I'm sorry that Danat

repaid it with an indiscretion."

Issandra waved the apology away.

"I doubt she took offense. I'm sure she assumed Danat and this Radaani

creature were sharing whatever flat surfaces came available. I remember

what it was like at their age. We were all heat and dramatic gestures.