Maia

by Richard Adams

  seemed to say. "I'm inclined to doubt it, but I wish you well all the same."

  Maia felt daunted by her assurance and poise: her mingling of authority with deference, warmth with detachment, honesty with artifice, candor with reticence. Sufficiently sharp to perceive all this and to realize, too, that this skillful balance, no doubt imperceptible to men entirely taken up with her physical grace and beauty, constituted the essence of an accomplished shearna, Maia could not help wondering whether she herself would ever be able to attain such ability. A shearna, she now saw clearly enough, needed to be an actress; yet it would be of no avail merely to copy Nennaunir. Actress or no, her style was individual-it was all one with her looks, her movement (lighter and quicker than Maia's), the tone of her voice and her cast of countenance. This girl had succeeded in becoming what she-Maia-and Occula were hoping to become. And in the very act of leaning by the fountain, toying with her wine and not in the least appearing to be doing five things at once, she was giving an all-too-clear demonstration of how she had achieved her success. "It's like she keeps putting on different masks," thought Maia. "Only they're see-through masks an' all. It's always herself you think you see underneath." '

  Sencho replied to Elvair-ka-Virrion that his girls, like everyone else's, were available on terms, and inquired what kind of lygol the young man thought appropriate for their attendance at his party. At this Elvair-ka-Virrion showed slight surprise. Surely in all the circumstances- _ Sencho, with an air implying that it was hardly for one such as himself to be put to the trouble of expounding to youths commonplace matters which someone else should already have taught them, waved a shapeless arm towards Terebinthia. The saiyett, smiling deferentially, begged Elvair-ka-Virrion to permit her to explain something of which he himself Would undoubtedly become more keenly aware when, later, he came to possess slave-girls of his own. A girl represented a very considerable capital outlay; especially girls like these, hand-picked and in their prime. Inevitably, little by little, time and use took the bloom off them. They were a wasting asset, with a normal peak life of about seven or eight years. The young lord would not, would he now, expected to borrow hounds for a hunting expedition, or a boat for some journey downriver, without agreeing

  upon a fair sum for wear and tear? There was always good reason behind every generally-accepted social custom.

  Elvair-ka-Virrion, no less courteously, was responding to this with some talk of the value of experience and the exhilarating and polishing effect upon girls of mixing in the highest company and becoming friendly with such outstanding practitioners as the lady Nennaunir, when the High Counselor broke in once more. Having regard to his friendship with Elvair-ka-Virrion's father, he was ready to oblige him. Obviously-and here Sencho's half-buried eyes flickered sharply up at the young man-this party was not an affair of state policy, or his father would have advanced him public funds for it. But-and here he checked Elvair-ka-Virrion, who was about to protest-no matter. The girls might go, and he would expect them to receive whatever generous lygol Elvair-ka-Virrion thought appropriate: less, no doubt, than the four hundred meld apiece which would normally be required for lending such girls for an entire night; but let that pass. In return, Nennaunir should remain with him for the next hour.

  At this the shearna started for a moment, but instantly recovered her self-possession. Occula, catching Maia's eye, quickly glanced away. Elvair-ka-Virrion, plainly disconcerted, replied that he greatly appreciated the High Counselor's generosity. Nennaunir, however, was a free woman and, like any other shearna, was accustomed to be well paid for her time and accomplishments. He really could not say-embarrassed, he glanced hesitantly towards her.

  Sencho said no more, but Terebinthia (and here Maia began to perceive that one of the skills of a competent saiyett was to preserve the dignity of her master, carried away by a compulsion to gratify some depraved impulse, and to intervene on his behalf) suggested that since Nennaunir was today spending time in Elvair-ka-Virrion's company, no doubt it was in his power to compensate the High Counselor for his generosity by letting her bestow a little of that time on him. Otherwise-she shrugged!-perhaps it would be better to forget the whole business-after all, it was not important-the young lord might prefer to look for girls elsewhere-

  Nennaunir, having now had time, as it seemed, to deliberate with herself, put down her goblet and walked over to the couch. As she sat down her perfume, a light, fresh drift of planella, reached Maia's nostrils. She would be

  delighted, she said, provided her friend was agreeable, to render the High Counselor any service in her power. Indeed, she was only sorry that the opportunity should not have come her way before.

  Terebinthia, turning to Elvair-ka-Virrion, said that she would be happy to discuss with him, in the garden-room, the necessary arrangements for the girls' attendance at his party. If he wished, she would show him the clothes which she had in mind for them to wear; of course, if he should have other ideas, she would be only too happy-

  Still talking quietly, she conducted the young nobleman from the hall.

  An hour later, in the women's quarters, Occula stood oiling and soaping Nennaunir in the bath, while Maia, having carefully selected some matching thread, was mending the hem of her robe where the gold border had been torn. Elvair-ka-Virrion had already left. The shearna, shuddering, buried her face in her wet hands, then bit on one finger, shaking her head from side to side.

  "Steady!" said Occula, putting one arm round her shoulders. "Time to go home now. All finished!"

  "Oh, the filthy brute!" burst out the girl. "How dis-gusting! Oh, I never imagined-"

  "Oh, this is the real world here," replied Occula. "We handle anythin', you know-"

  "You think it's funnyl" cried Nennaunir, with blazing anger. "You think-"

  "Well, I'll be frank," answered the black girl, putting down the oil-flask and looking her soberly in the eye. "I do find it a bit surprisin' to see an experienced girl like you thrown off her balance by such things. After all, you must have-"

  "Me?" cried Nennaunir, stamping her foot in the water. "To do-that, to mei Do you know that when U-Falderon took me to Ikat Yeldashay last year I was mistaken for the Lord Durakkon's own daughter? D'you know who gave me that robe there, and what it cost? Do you-"

  "That's just why he did it, dear," said Occula patiently. "Much more fun to do it to someone like you than to trollops like us."

  "But-but what possible pleasure can there be in-in thatT

  "Why, simply to see you revolted and trying not to be

  sick," said Occula. "You must have come across this sort of thing before, surely?"

  "We evidently live in different worlds," said Nennaunir, with a wretched attempt at superiority.

  "Oh, by all means, if it makes you feel better-" answered Occula, shrugging her shoulders.

  Nennaunir, stepping out of the water, was silent while Occula rubbed her down. At length she said, "I'm sorry! I didn't really mean to be spiteful." She turned to Maia. "Is he always like that, or only sometimes?"

  Maia felt embarrassed. "Dunno, really."

  "Oh, can' you see," said Occula, with a kindly touch of impatience, "that it's just you being an expensive girl and hatin' every minute of it that brings him on? It's much easier for us guttersnipes. He'd do it to the Sacred Queen if he could."

  "The Sacred Queen?" Nennaunir stared. "The Sacred Queen? She'd love every minute of it! Have you ever had anything to do with her?" Occula shook her head. "Oh, well. It doesn't do to pass on everything you happen to learn, does it? I'd heard stories about the High Counselor, if it comes to that, but I never really believed them until now." Overcome once more by her revulsion, she sat down beside Maia and dropped her head between her knees. "Oh, I'd rather have been whipped! I really would."

  "You wouldn't," said Terebinthia, who had come into the room as silently as usual. "But you needn't have put yourself forward so readily this afternoon. I could have got you out of it if you'd given me the time-and the money, of co
urse. It's merely a matter of exercising influence."

  "Influence with the High Counselor, perhaps," said Nennaunir, slipping on her sandals and stooping to fasten them, "but not with Elvair-ka-Virrion. That was really why I had to agree. His father owns my house, you see, and I live in it for nothing-as long as I'm one of his friends. Even so, I wouldn't have agreed if I'd known-"

  "But could you really have got her out of it, saiyett?" asked Maia. She snapped off her thread and spread out Nennaunir's robe on her knee. "How?"

  "Why, he accepts my advice, of course," replied Terebinthia. "I can generally change the High Counselor's mind if I want to. Without me he'd be dead in a month, and he knows it as well as I do. Why do you suppose Meris

  was sold? If anyone thought I was going to keep a girl like that-couldn't keep her temper, always using her sexuality to make trouble, lucky not to have been hanged upside-down in Belishba-" She looked with approval at the mended rent. "He wouldn't find another saiyett like me."

  "Well, you live by looking after the High Counselor," said Nennaunir. "You're welcome, I'm sure. Personally, I can't leave too soon."

  "There is a jekzha waiting for you in the courtyard," replied Terebinthia coldly.

  29: THE URTANS

  Maia lay easy and relaxed beside Elvair-ka-Virrion. She was feeling, at this moment, as fully content as at any previous time in her life; and not only in respect of physical satisfaction, or even of pride in the power of her beauty- of which she had just received the amplest proof. Even more than with these, she was filled with a sense of success and of having attained to a new level in her fortunes. It was as though until today, with Occula to guide her, she had been climbing arduously towards a ridge rising above her. Now she was standing on the ridge. Whatever lay in the future, she was no longer-would never again be- that plodding girl. Dangers there might be, but no more clambering. Serene in her beauty, energy and health, she felt equal to any future uncertainty; capable, even, of turning it to account. Stretching lazily, she rubbed her cheek against Elvair-ka-Virrion's shoulder.

  Upon her arrival with Occula-and before she had even seen any of the other guests-she had at once been taken upstairs to Elvair-ka-Virrion's room, where he joined her after a few minutes. Taking her in his arms, he kissed her passionately and at once set about giving expression to the feelings he had declared so ardently at the Rains banquet. He had certainly proved himself no liar, she thought.

  And something else he had shown her, too-the difference between a nobleman and a tavern-stroller. Sencho, of course, did not enter into this. All that she had ever done with Sencho had been the work of a slave-girl, and her only satisfaction had come from doing a thorough job and climbing into her master's good graces. Neither did

  she count Kembri, for plainly almost any girl would do for him. She now believed only too well that when he had told her that he had not sent for her primarily because he wanted to bed with her, he had been speaking no more than the truth. Throw almost anything you like in the water, she thought, and a pike'll take it if he's on the feed. No, it was Tharrin whom Elvair-ka-Virrion had put in the shade, and not merely by wealth, or even by youthful virility. Tharrin's playfulness, she now realized, though it had amused and pleased her at the time-oh, he wasn't a bad sort-was all of a piece with his weakness. He wasn't-he never had been-a man who picked life up and shook it. He was footloose, fugitive, a stray cat round a back door. He had no real dignity-no, not even in a girl's arms. He was a born scrumper of apples, a pinch-and-run exponent-"What, me, sir?"-one who had always preferred to nibble and move on rather than stay to make a job of anything. And this had shown-ohy yes, very much-in his love-making-light-hearted, trivial, what's a bit of fun between friends? As she lay here now, with Elvair-ka-Virrion's arm under her head, she was not even thinking of Tharrin's responsibility for what had happened to her, but simply of how much more satisfaction she had just received than ever she had from him. From all she had heard, Tharrin's whole life had been precarious. He was precarious by nature, and unconsciously she had felt precarious as his lover. Events had proved her right. By contrast, Elvair-ka-Virrion had taken her with a kind of smooth, natural mastery in which there seemed no hint of weakness: and (unlike his father) he had shown consideration for her as well as himself. She felt respect for him. Although she knew that he must have had many girls, she believed what he had said to her-that since he had first seen her he had felt more desire for her than for any other girl in the city. She had had no choice in the business, of course, but that did not matter, for the truth was that she had gone along with it altogether. In fact, she had never enjoyed anything so much. To be with a handsome, warmhearted, well-mannered man not many years older than herself, who behaved unselfishly, yet took what he wanted with an ardor which she knew to be the effect of her own beauty-this, for Maia, was a new and wholly delightful experience. As a Beklan slave-girl, with a long road still ahead of

  her to freedom and fortune, she should no doubt have been thinking less of pleasure than of how she could best turn this highly-placed young man's favors to advantage. But Maia still lacked professional detachment; and it was, of course, this very deficiency which made her so attractive to Elvair-ka-Virrion. She was still brim-full of unfeigned spontaneity, and he, perceiving this, had been seized with a very natural desire to make the most of it.

  Lying beside him now, Maia had no least thought of how much money he was going to give her, or even of what advancement she could hope for. In point of fact she was simply hoping that next time they might be able to spend rather longer together. Nice as it was, it had been over too quickly. But then what else could you expect, just before a party of which Elvair-ka-Virrion was the host? He had simply taken his opportunity. She would have been disappointed if he had not; but at any moment he was likely to be missed. Outside, not far away, she could hear his merry-making guests; voices raised in song, and then a burst of laughter which broke off in shouts and cheering.

  "Ought you to go back, my lord?"

  He had been so charmingly self-forgotten that she felt obliged to ask. It did not, of course, occur to her that from his point of view, good manners might all be part of the game: a subtle way of gratifying himself still further, to • treat a little Tonildan slave-girl like a princess; just as it excited Sencho to degrade a celebrated shearna.

  "Why, you don't want to leave me, do you?"

  "Oh, no, my lord. I was only afraid they may be missing you."

  "Never mind: we have to talk, you and I."

  "About Nennaunir?" This was impertinence, but if Maia had been a mere professional she would never have troubled to taunt him at all.

  He felt enough respect for her, it seemed, to give her a serious reply.

  "I've never made love with Nennaunir. If you don't believe me, you can ask her yourself."

  Still she teased him. "Wonder why not?"

  "I just don't fancy her: I told you, I've not fancied anyone else since that day when I first saw you in the Khal-koornil."

  "But Nennaunir was with you yesterday when you came to the High Counselor's?"

  "I'd taken her with me to see Eud-Ecachlon, the heir of Urtah, and ask him to come tonight with his friends. But that was only to help him make up his mind. He fancies her very much, you see; only he's never been able to persuade her. She's a self-willed girl, Nennaunir-she picks and chooses. She's so much sought after that she can afford to, and of course that adds to her attraction in a lot of people's eyes. I asked her to promise Eud-Ecachlon that she'd be nice to him if he came to this party. That decided him all right: otherwise he might not have come. The Ur-tans only pretend to like us, you see; and can you wonder? My father sold Suba to Karnat-he and Fornis."

  "Why d'you reckon Nennaunir agreed, then? I mean, if she doesn't really fancy him?"

  "Why, because she-knows."

  "What does she know, my lord?"

  "She knows how much Bekla needs her help. And Bekla needs your help, too, Maia."

  "My help?"
>
  "Well, you told my father you were ready to help us, didn't you?"

  She drew in her breath sharply, and for an instant shrank down where she lay in his arms. In her simplicity, it had not for one moment occurred to her that her undertaking to the Lord General would be required of her tonight.

  He smiled. "You weren't expecting me to say anything like this?"

  "No, my lord!" She was close to tears. "I thought-I thought you'd asked me here because-because you wanted me-because of what you said to me at the banquet-"

  "Oh, Maia, I meant every word I said at the banquet! I still mean it. You're wonderful! You're not like-well, you're not like that hard-faced Belishban girl you were with that night, for one. Don't ever stop being yourself. Don't ever stop talking like a Tonildan girl; promise me!"

  She laughed. "That's easy to promise, I reckon."

  But now he was grave again. "What do you want most in all the world, Maia? To be free? To be rich-as fine a shearna as any in Bekla? Or would you rather go back to Tonilda-live in your own house, with servants to wait on you and tenants to work on your land? All those things are possible."

  "Oh, now you're just making fun of me, my lord."

  "By Cran and Airtha, I'm not! You don't understand,

  do you? If only you can succeed in doing what we want, no reward will be too great."

  Maia was silent. At length she said, "I must believe you, my lord. Only 'tain't easy for me to take it all in, see? Seems only just the other day as I was back home, wearin' sacking and glad of a bit of black bread."

  "But my father told you, didn't he? A girl who really is a banzi straight from the back of beyond, that's a thing that can't be faked; not day in day out. We've got to have someone who really is what she seems to be."

  She slipped out of his embrace, sitting up in the bed and tossing back her hair. He reached up and gently fondled one breast.

  "What is it, then, my lord, that you want me to do?"