But hadn’t Tabini warned him at the outset that his grandmother was a dangerous individual, a power to be reckoned with—and not always on his side? She knew at least some of what was going on—if not all—and played her own side of the chessboard, always, always with her loyalties in the East, and not necessarily congruent with the rest of the aishidi’tat.

Hadn’t the dowager once made her own bid to rule and to shape the aishidi’tat according to her design?

And hewas trying to save a young lord who could keep the Marid from falling apart in chaos.

The Marid being in good order hadn’t, historically, been an asset to the aishidi’tat.

Collective wisdom of the paidhiin before him had said, Don’t interfere, when it came to atevi dealing with atevi.

What the hell else had he done in his whole career but interfere?

He’d become a Lord of the Aishidi’tat and advisor to three rulers. Four, if you counted Shawn Tyers; and five, if you counted Jase, up on the ship.

Maybe he should have said flat no when Ilisidi had ordered him here. Maybe that was where his judgment had failed.

No.

No second-guessing at this point. They were in the mess, things were in motion, and there was noway back from here, no way that he and his bodyguard could arrange. They had to survive and see to it Machigi survived.

For that, the question was: how good was Machigi’s bodyguard?

And what could they do to keep either the Guild or the renegades from killing him?

He watched Tano burn the last note and stir the ashes.

***

The bus came in from the road with a cloud of dust and a rumble of tires on the portico cobbles, just narrowly making the turn of the drive: even Guild backed up, just in case. It was a wild arrival, and mani’s guard was watching the bus with weapons in hand, even being assured by radio by Lord Geigi’s own guard that it was Lord Geigi himself aboard.

Veijico had gotten out to the fore where she could see—she was tall enough, and so were Antaro and Jegari.

But Cajeiri was stuck behind a row of black-uniformed bodies, not supposed to be here, he was sure, the way the Guild was acting. So he tried to stay inside the threshold. He was behaving his best, so as not to be noticed and sent inside.

He had been in a good position until the black wall closed between him and the bus, just when the doors were opening, and that was just too frustrating. He ducked out for a fast look between Veijico and Antaro, and he saw, indeed, Lord Geigi’s guard getting off and then Lord Geigi right behind them—it was amazing so fat a man could move so quickly, but Lord Geigi set his feet on the ground right behind his guard.

Immediately Lord Geigi had thanks for Cenedi, for the welcome, and then his eyes lit on Cajeiri.

Spotted. Cajeiri froze, expecting to be in trouble. But Geigi immediately moved from Cenedi to come and lay a hand on Cajeiri’s shoulder—which he was entitled to do, because he was a lord and an adult and an intimate associate of Great-grandmother’s.

“How is nand’ Bren’s brother, young gentleman? And has your great-grandmother spoken lately to her grandson?”

Lord Geigi lived among humans up on the station: his questions came fast and several at once, and maybe there was a reason Lord Geigi seized on him instead of Cenedi, who was immediately busy talking to Lord Geigi’s bodyguard and who hadnoticed him; he was sure, now.

“Nand’ Toby is well, nandi. Barb-daja is here, and mani talked to my father yesterday.”

“But not today.”

“Not today, nandi.” Lord Geigi was propelling him and his bodyguard right back through the doors, on his way probably straight to see mani. Nand’ Bren’s majordomo, Ramaso, showed up, trying to be polite on behalf of the staff, but Geigi scarcely noticed the attention. He fired another set of questions:

“Has your great-grandmother spoken to nand’ Bren himself, young lord? Has she any intelligence from the Guild? Has there been any trouble here?”

“She has, yes, she spoke to nand’ Bren, nandi, yesterday, herself. One has no idea about the Guild. We just got up. Mani will be going to breakfast. And everything has been quiet here in the house.”

“A condition which will not last, one is very certain. At breakfast, you say, young lord.”

Lord Geigi notoriously had a great appetite, and he had been traveling from long before the sun was up. “Gari-ji!” Cajeiri said, glancing around, where Jegari was keeping up, along with Antaro and Veijico. “Run tell Cook that Lord Geigi will join mani and me in the dining room.

And probably everybody on the bus will want breakfast. Tell him lots of eggs!”

“Excellent, excellent management, young gentleman.” Geigi’s hand had never left his shoulder, which was odd, but now Geigi squeezed it hard and let go, setting his own fast pace, leftward, toward the dining room hallway, giving no attention to his luggage, or settling in, or changing clothes from the trip, or anything of the sort. He was in that much of a hurry, and definitely had news that he had to get out either before or after breakfast. Lord Geigi might break all the rules, but mani never did.

Usually when it was a formal breakfast, Cajeiri would have his bodyguard go by turns and get breakfast in the backstairs instead of waiting to eat, but they all went into the dining room, and the three of them lined up in formal order in the dining room, while Lord Geigi’s bodyguard had stayed with Cenedi.

They waited. One would lay a bet that a message had flown to mani, to advise her Lord Geigi would be at breakfast. It might change how she dressed. Cajeiri hoped with everything in him that mani would arrive as curious as he was and not tell him to go get his own breakfast so adults could talk.

Outside, the halls echoed to the sort of noise a lot of people made finding a place to be, and there was a lot of coming and going on the servants’ stairs, just beyond the wall—usually one could not hear that at all, but the servants were in a great hurry.

Then it got quiet all of a sudden, so it was clear mani had left her room without any delay and was coming in this direction. The quiet went on, and outside, in the main hall, people would be stopping what they were doing and bowing.

Cajeiri stood up from table. Lord Geigi did. And his bodyguard came to attention. One heard the cane first: tap. Tap. Tap. Then mani came in, with only Nawari in attendance.

“We rejoice to see you safe, Geigi-ji.” That was as informal as mani ever was. Nawari moved her chair for her and took the cane for a moment as mani sat down, then Nawari took his place along the wall. They were three at the table. Fortunate three, without Cenedi. Mani could notsend him away.

“So speak, Geigi-ji, speak!” mani said, as servants arrived out of the back entry and quickly arranged the final table settings with very little fuss and then began to provide hot tea. “Tell us everything in order!”

That was how close an association mani had with nand’ Geigi. Cajeiri made himself very quiet and hoped Cook would not break in with breakfast too soon.

“You will be aware, aiji-ma, that an order has come down from the Guild,” Lord Geigi began.

“We are well aware,” mani said, leaving Cajeiri frustrated and unable to ask what that order was.

“How much do you know, aiji-ma?”

“My grandson spoke to Bren-paidhi this morning. He has Filed against the entire Farai presence in Sheijidan. He is offering them three hours to exit without conflict. This is the sum of things in Shejidan.”

“One is not surprised. The region is fast headed for extreme difficulties, aiji-ma, and Targai is being reinforced at this hour, to prevent any spillage of the conflict toward Najida. Your grandson will try to hold the trouble there.”

“So the reinforcement has arrived,” mani said.