I have given you a lord’s estate, a lord’s title and position. You are lord Bren.

What, preface to removing it? Dissatisfaction? He certainly saw the signs. He hoped it didn’t unravel everything he’d done with Mercheson.

Now I make you my representative in the provinces and associations of the heavens.

I have instructed lord Geigi, your close associate, to rule over the station during your absence, in particular to exert the authority of the aishidi’tat over the station’s management and personnel.

Wait, there. Representative in the provinces and associations of the heavens. It at least wasn’t a demotion. It did sound like one of those honorary titles to which elderly lords retired when they were due for honor, fancy clothes, long titles, but no power at all.

I appoint you chief negotiator to all you may meet, with all needful authority.

Nota demotion, one could say. God. Maybe Tabini was perfectly serious. What did he get next? A request to subdue that territory, the way the aiji had asked him to take the space station?

Understanding that great distances and long journeys lie ahead, within your domain,

Understatement, aiji-ma.

… nevertheless I send my son, heir to the aishidi’tat, to witness the conduct of foreign dealings, to be instructed in things which no ateva has seen, and to grow in wisdom. I shall look forward to his safe return.

To the best of my ability, aiji-ma.

Regarding the surprise which this turn of events may have occasioned you, I did not inform you of negotiations with Ramirez-aiji because I wished to provide you with no excuse on which to hang anomalous behavior, therefore making it sure you would report such small details to me, as you have routinely done.

If the ship-folk had done other than fuel the ship, I knew that your suspicions and opposition would set your agents immediately to learn the extent and reason of their actions.

I gave Ramirez-aiji his requested secrecy from station and crew, but did so in the sure knowledge the paidhi-aiji would never allow him to proceed beyond his agreement.

Damned atevi penchant for cross-checking, thatwas what Tabini claimed for a motive—keep everybody checking on everybody, and nottrusting Jase, Jase being within Ramirez’ man’chi. Of-damned-course Tabini didn’t rely on Jase in any agreement with Ramirez.

And if he hadn’t heard half he’d heard, he would have believed it was the whole truth: an ateva, however adept in human relations, couldn’t get past the implications of an association, not on a gut level. Jasehad been outside the pale, so long as he was promoted to a lesser rank of captain, so long as he was Ramirez’ protégé. Even the paidhi-aiji might have been under just a little shadow of suspicion in Tabini’s reckoning—because of Jase, because he was up here, and out of Tabini’s convenient reach: it was certainly a situation Tabini just wasn’t used to.

And to an ateva mind—of-damned-course—Ramirez’ death would free Jase from that man’chi and make everyone associated with him easier to trust.

Tabini had opened a behind-the-door communication with Yolanda—a double-check, very logical in atevi affairs… perfectly fine excuse, if, in accepting it, he followed the logic to the needful conclusion and took no detours past what he now thought was the truth.

There were facts, however, contingent on those assumptions that werepertinent. Even a master politician in atevi affairs could be mistaken about human loyalties. Jase was notmore trustable now, quite to the contrary. The captaincy settled on him would make him responsible to the ship afterRamirez’s death in a way Ramirez had never been able to get him to be during his life. Now even Yolanda said—watch Jase. Rescue Jase from Sabin. And Tabini would believe him more. The old problems in the interface were notnecessarily solved.

Ramirez-aiji came to me with the report regarding the survival of three hundred individuals on the remote station.

Came to him, was it? To Tabini? Interesting… answering what Yolanda said she didn’t know. It meant at least there’d been a tight focus to the approach, one item, not a general fishing expedition on Tabini’s part… he found that reassuring regarding Tabini’s understanding of the hazards.

And three hundred alive. Therewas a datum to remember.

Three hundred individuals, however, was a damned tiny crew to try to maintain air quality, water, heat, and sustenance on a battered space station—read, a very tiny crew to try to keep the station power plant going for what might be decades, in some very small area of the station—he’d learned that by experience—all undetected by outside observation.

And nooutside fuel-gathering or processing, not with that small a population: hence the absolutely critical matter of Kroger’s robots. Certain priorities became more understandable.

He declared,

Tabini’s letter went on to say, regarding Ramirez,

that he has no man’chi toward the leadership aboard the remote station. More, he has declared them anathema and has joined as third in association with the Presidenta and myself, committing his successors to abide by this agreement.

In effect, he has committed himself and this ship and all future ships to join the aishidi’tat, considering the earth of the atevi his residence forever.

God, was that right? Could what Tabini understood Ramirez to agree to—possibly be the case?

If it was so, here was where the mistranslations Yolanda might have engendered on that topic could be very, very scary. Diplomats of two species and three governments used long-managed, absolutely precise language describing international relationship, lordship and ownership. And the juniormost paidhi, least fluent in Ragi, had been handling an impromptu interface between two leaders who spoke just enough of each others’ languages to get into the very trouble generations of paidhiin had worked midnight hours to avoid.

Ramirez was dead… of what? Something he’d said? Something that had sealed his death warrant, because it contradicted what he’d seemed to promise?

Yolanda had probably tried to define her idiosyncratic terms, and she had the dictionary… but the interface could have blown up from that very effort to define terms. Anything could have been a trigger—a promise not fulfilled, an agreement seeming to be doubled back on—a death supposed to be imminent, but that didn’t come off on schedule. Nuances were the devil.

And an amateur had tried her best, and preserved secrecy both parties wanted, and now one of the participants was suspiciously dead.

The same amateur who was going to have to take over his job.

But it wasn’t the time to let his blood pressure rise, above all else. Calm. Quiet. Work with the situation that was, not trying to trace the dangerous turn from years back, not taking any hypothesis as true, no matter how many legs it seemed to stand on… but…

Damn. Damn Yolanda, that she hadn’t come to him.

Damn her… but did he have the cold-blooded understanding of the situation sufficient to go to her and say, You may have killed Ramirez. Please be more careful, nadi.

There was more.

entrust you now with the treasured past, the stable present, and the unpredictable future of the aishidi’tat.

Unpredictable certainly described it. And Yolanda was the translator.

I think with greatest personal pleasure on our sojourns in the country, paidhi-ji, and will miss your attendance in court. I have consoled myself once more with the sight of your face, knowing that the time was short.

There had to be a better reason. Surely. Tabini had asked him down there and waltzed him right back to the station only to see him, saying nothing else?