Maia herself was exhilarated by the atmosphere and arrangement of the party, which was rather like an aristocratic version of a village festival. For those who wanted to eat formally there were tables under the trees, and here slaves waited upon any guest who came and sat down. Many, however, preferred simply to go to the cooks' tables, get their plates filled and then join groups of friends beside the water or in the arbors. She caught sight of the drover-baron walking about, gnawing a drumstick as he made himself agreeable to old friends: no one appeared to think him in the least odd.
Sencho displayed all his habitual gluttony, more than once requiring Maia to bring three or four different dishes together, in order that he might taste each before deciding what to enjoy next. His greed, however, was leisurely and interspersed with much talk and business. The two girls,
carrying out their duties as unobtrusively as possible, were frequently required to stand aside as people approached, ostensibly to greet him and pay their respects, but in reality to beg favors, offer some promise, bribe or bargain, or circumspectly try to influence him against an enemy or rival. Sencho, often seeming, disconcertingly, to know as much about their affairs as they did themselves, said for the most part much less than the suppliants, while they for their part became more and more loquacious and self-revealing in their efforts to move him. Now and then he was deliberately and insultingly inattentive; yet once, when a baron from Paltesh mentioned something relating to the affairs of an Urtan dowager who had begged a favor of him an hour earlier, he instantly connected the two and told Maia to go and find the woman and tell her to return. It was clear to both girls-the only witnesses of the earlier interview-that he meant to make use of the young baron to prove her a liar and put her out of countenance.
Going up through the gardens on this errand, she happened upon Elvair-ka-Virrion. He was leaning against a tree, sharing raisins from a silver bowl with a tall, dark-haired young woman and her brother (or at all events, thought Maia, the two of them looked very much alike). Seeing her, he at once called her over.
"Maia!" said Elvair-ka-Virrion, smiling and taking her arm for a moment as though they had been equals. "You grow more beautiful every day."
She felt embarrassed, knowing that if he persisted in conversing with her it must sooner or later transpire that she was a slave. Might as well get it over with, she thought. She murmured something, raised a palm to her forehead and stood waiting with bent head.
"This is what our slave-girls look like in Bekla nowadays," said Elvair-ka-Virrion to his companions. "You ought to come and live here, T'maa."
The young man laughed and said something complimentary.
"Are you attending on the High Counselor?" asked Elvair-ka-Virrion.
"Yes, my lord. I must go now, an' all-he's sent me to find someone, you see."
She was off before he could say more, but after a few yards found him at her elbow.
"Maia, is Milvushina here tonight?"
"No, my lord. He left her at home."
"That's the son and daughter of a Yeldashay baron with me. They've been asking about her. They knew she was alive: they say everyone in Chalcon knows what's happened to her."
Maia made no reply.
"If the three of us were to go to Sencho's house now, do you think your Terebinthia woman would let us see Milvushina?"
"For money, my lord, yes, I'm pretty sure she would. But you really must let me go now, please: I'll be in trouble else." And once more she left him.
However, her errand was still not to be free from interruptions. Searching along the water-side, she could not resist stopping for a moment to admire the swans. Three or four of them, attracted like moths to the light, had swum up to the edge of the lake and, their white plumage tinged now rosy, now blue or green as they oared back and forth between the lamps, were taking food thrown to them by the guests. One of these, turning suddenly, revealed himself as Bayub-Otal. Before she could hurry away he had caught up with her.
"I suppose you're with the High Counselor, Maia," he said, falling into step beside her on the path.
"Yes, my lord."
"And is that pleasant?"
"I've told you before, my lord; I'm a slave."
For a few moments he made no reply, only watching her as she darted glances among the people they passed.
"Whom are you looking for?"
"A lady as the High Counselor's sent me to find."
Suddenly he stopped dead, gripping her by the wrist so hard and unexpectedly that she was brought up standing with a jolt. She gave a quick cry of vexation, but then, restraining herself, stood looking up at him silently.
"You-you don't have to go on being a slave, you know," he said abruptly.
"What, my lord?"
"I said, you needn't go on being a slave. You can leave that brute before he does you any more harm. If you want, you can leave Bekla and become-well, become a real woman."
"I don't understand, my lord. What do you mean?"
"Not what I believe you suppose. I won't say more now,
but if ever you come to think better of yourself, Maia-if you want to leave Bekla-you've only to tell me-that's if I'm still here to be told."
"If you mean as you want to buy me, my lord, then I think you'd better speak to the High Counselor yourself. Then you-"
But he was gone, turning on his heel and striding away between the bushes and the colored lamps. She stared after him a moment, then shrugged her shoulders and was going on her way when suddenly she caught sight of the Urtan dowager talking to Durakkon himself.
The lady, plainly flustered by Maia's message, immediately excused herself to Durakkon (shows which one she's more afraid of, thought Maia) and hurried away over the lawn. Maia followed more slowly, wondering exactly what Bayub-Otal might have meant. She had better consult Occula, she thought, once they could be alone together.
At this moment she was surprised to see Occula herself approaching along a path through the trees. She was plainly in a hurry, peering here and there and looking, thought Maia, really upset-almost beside herself. Several people turned to stare as she passed them.
Maia ran up to her. "Occula, I couldn't help it! I only just found the old lady-she was talking to the High Baron. She's gone to see Sencho just this minute-"
Occula appeared scarcely to have heard her.
"Banzi! Thank Cran I found you! Look, keep away, d'you see? Doan' go back to him-not on any account! Leave him to me, d'you understand?"
"Oh, Occula, is he angry? Honestly, I couldn't have been any quicker-"
"No, no, he's not angry: I can' explain. But keep away! Doan' go back, that's all! Leave me to see to him."
"But whatever-I mean, how long for?"
"Well-until-oh, banzi, doan' ask!"
Occula paused. Her breath was coming fast and she was trembling. "Hell, I ought to have sent you back home to fetch somethin', oughtn' I? You'd have swallowed that. Look, banzi, just keep out of the way for-well, say, for half an hour."
"All right, dear; if you say so. But are you sure you can manage him by yourself?"
"Yes! Yes! Give me a kiss, banzi; my dear, dearest banzi! Good-bye!"
Maia kissed her and Occula, with what sounded like a quick sob, instantly suppressed, hastened away across the grass.
Maia, once more alone, tried to imagine what could possibly have put her into such a state. It was bewildering. At least, however, she had said that Sencho wasn't angry; that was reassuring.
Suddenly she knew what it must be. That crass, clumsy fool Bayub-Otal had then and there gone and asked Sencho to sell her to him. Yes, of course, that must be it! And Occula had been afraid that if she, Maia, came back in the middle, while Bayub-Otal was still talking to Sencho, he might make a scene, or she might lose her head and start begging Sencho to let her go. Whereas Occula reckoned that if she herself could only spend half an hour alone with Sencho when he'd got rid of Bayub-Otal, she could probably cool him down.
But then, how ought sh
e to act when she did return? "Oh, simply wait and see; it would all depend. He might be drunk by that time, or Occula might have gratified him and got him off to sleep. Or better still, he might want her, Maia, to gratify him: that would put her beyond any risk of his displeasure.
The mood of the party, she noticed, was beginning to change. Most of the older people seemed to be leaving. Not far away, a little group of obvious heldril were making their farewells to Durakkon, while near-by she could hear a grizzled baron saying something to his wife about the evening having lasted long enough. She turned back towards the lake, and as she did so two young men ran past her, one waving a flagon and calling out the name of Shend-Lador. Evidently the younger Leopards were now intending to make a night of it. Would Sencho be more likely to stay or go? she wondered. On the one hand his greed, now indulged, might dispose him to sleep, but on the other his lust might cause him to remain awake for a while yet.
A little distance away she could hear shouts and laughter. There were cries of "Go on!" "Go on, Sychar!" Then a splash was followed by ironical cheering. Looking in the direction of the noise, she could make out dark figures dodging about, obscuring and again revealing the colored lamps among the trees.
The swans were no longer to be seen. How nice it would be, she thought, simply to take off her clothes and plunge
into the water-just to strike out into the moonlit emptiness for a good, long swim. Of course, this silly old Barb was nothing to Lake Serrelind. How long was it, she wondered-half a mile? Not much more. The further end was only two or three hundred yards away from Sencho's house. What fun it would be to swim down there-she could do it in half an hour, easy-oh, yes, less-and then just climb out, like one of those water-nymphs in old Drigga's stories, and walk in. Ah, and she could just see Terebinthia's face an' all-
"Maia! All alone? What are you doing now-just going to bathe, were you?"
It was Elvair-ka-Virrion, sauntering alone, apparently at a loose end. As she turned and smiled at him he took her in his arms and kissed her warmly, fondling her body up and down through the smooth, supple material of the tunic.
"Why, my lord, I thought you said as you were going off to see Milvushina?"
"T'maa and his sister have gone. I'm joining them there later. But never mind about that. A moment ago, before you saw me, you were looking as if you'd love to dive in."
"So I would, my lord. Nothing I'd like better!"
"It's deep, you know-deeper than you think. The Pool of Light's more than three times as deep as a man."
"Wouldn't worry me, my lord. Deeper the better!"
"You really can swim, then?"
"In the lake, back home, I used to swim-oh, ever so far."
"Did you?" He stooped cjuickly, drew one of her arms round his neck and then, with the other under the crook of her knees, lifted her bodily.
"Oh, please don't throw me in, my lord! Not in these clothes-that'd make a right old lot of trouble for me, that would!"
"I'm not going to."
He was carrying her easily along the shore in his arms. Although she had no idea what he had in mind, she could not help enjoying it. Within a minute they had reached the outskirts of the frolic going on round the Pool of Light! About twenty or thirty young Leopards, together with perhaps half as many girls, were gathered along the shore, shouting with laughter as they pelted and cheered on a young man who had plunged in fully clothed and was la-
boriously splashing his way across the pool, supporting himself on a floating wine-cask. Looking at him, Maia could feel only contempt for his stupid clowning. He was, she felt, merely spoiling and uglifying the whole notion of swimming. It was like as if he'd started hopping about while Fordil was playing the music for the senguela.
Elvair-ka-Virrion put her down.
"Can you swim better than that?"
"Than that, my lord? Dear oh law, that's not swimming! Why, I could dive out of that zoan tree there and be halfway 'cross the pool 'fore anyone'd seen me go!"
"Could you indeed?" said Elvair-ka-Virrion. "Well, if you really can, I'll-"
He stood laughing down at her, his teeth very white in his shadowed face. A girl ran past, calling "Elvair, come on! We're going to pull him out!" Elvair-ka-Virrion ignored her and she disappeared among the bushes.
"Can you?"
"Whatever you say, my lord. But's anyone going to mind if I'm naked? Only-well-all these old heldril, and the High Baron's not far off, either. I don't want no trouble-"
"Trouble-you-naked?" said Elvair-ka-Virrion. "Ha! Don't worry; I'll see to that."
Maia, drawing the combs out of her hair and pocketing them, unbuttoned the embroidered tunic and took it off, together with her shift. Elvair-ka-Virrion stretched out his arms to her, but she smiled and shook her head.
"One thing at a time, my lord. On'y this is serious stuff, see?"
With this she ran across the grass to the foot of the zoan not thirty yards away. No one seemed to notice her, for they were all watching the young man struggling out on the further bank. In a moment she had seized a low branch and pulled herself up into the fork. Having taken stock of the tree, the pool and her potential audience, she began edging up a long, sloping bough which extended over the water.
From one branchy hand-hold to another she inched her way outward, until the thinning bough began to sag under her weight. Go out any further, she thought, and I won't have enough support for a dive. Ah, here was a good place, though-nice and open, no other branches to get in the way and the water-oh, eleven or twelve feet down, per-
haps; hard to tell in this light, but it looked deep enough.
At this moment two young men walking along the bank looked up, saw her and stopped in amazement. Pointing, they called out to others further off. People began running towards the zoan, staring and exclaiming.
"Careful-you'll fall!" "No, she won't!" "What a pretty girl!" "Why not come down and go to bed with me?" "Who is she?" "Look out!"
"It's the senguela dancer!" cried a voice.
"She's going to dive!" shouted Elvair-ka-Virrion at the top of his voice.
At this there was some derisory laughter and someone shouted "When? Next year?"
Maia, facing the full moon, her toes flexed on the rough, fissured bark, was on the very point of diving when suddenly she saw through the foliage a woman gazing directly up at her. The glimpse, between the faintly-moving, silvery leaves, was like a face seen in a dream-indistinct yet disturbing; arrestingly beautiful, yet in some way menacing too. The wide, commanding eyes, framed in an aureole of hair gleaming in the moonlight, were staring-with approbation, certainly-but also with a kind of intent rapacity which frightened her even as she sensed it.
Startled and thrown off balance, she swayed and for an instant tried to stop short. But this was no longer possible. Thereupon the naturally-acquired skill of years came to her rescue. Her body knew instinctively that it must dive.
To the watchers below there seemed no trace of hesitation. One moment she was standing in the moonlight, high among the zoan boughs. The next she had dived outward, straight and taut, hair streaming and the leafy branch thrashing behind her, to plunge through the surface of the lake with a single, quickly-gone splash and a symmetry of outward-flowing ripples.
In the instant of diving Maia had recognized the watcher below her. It was the Sacred Queen.
These Beklans were no swimmers: that she had known all along. To them, a girl who made nothing of plunging twelve feet into deep water seemed almost miraculous. All round her, from both banks, arose cries of wonder and acclamation. Waving, she turned on her back, arching her breasts clear of the surface and then, with hands gently fanning beneath her, eased herself smoothly towards the center of the pool.
The water was warmer than she had expected. It really was a lovely night for a swim. Should she, after all, simply swim away down the length of the Barb? Ah, but the High Counselor? And then again, she'd better not lose touch with Elvair-ka-Virrion, who'd promised to keep her o
ut of trouble. Still, all these rich people-she might as well show them a thing or two now she'd started. One thing might lead to another, as Occula was always saying.
Swimming towards the shore, she stopped some yards out and lowered her feet, but found no bottom. A small crowd had gathered on the bank, as near to her as they could get. One young man knelt, miming anguished longing and holding out his hands in mock entreaty, while another took off his gold chain and held it up, offering to give it to her if only she would come ashore and let him put it round her neck for himself.
Exhilarated, she began to tantalize them, jumping herself up and down in the water and opening her arms in invitation.
"Who's going to join me?" she cried, laughing up at them. "Isn't there a single one of you man enough to come in and catch me?"
"It's too deep, Maia," called Shend-Lador. "Come a bit further in, where we can wade!"
He pointed along the curve of the shore. After one quick look to make sure of her direction and the distance, she dived under, swam a dozen strokes and came up to find herself just in her depth and about twenty yards out from the bank.
"You're afraid, aren't you?" she called to Shend-Lador. "You're afraid to come in and catch me!"
For answer he began taking off his clothes, tossing them here and there and then sitting down while two of the girls, shouting with laughter, pulled off his shoes and breeches. Four or five other young men followed his example.
"What's the reward, Maia?" shouted a young gallant with a wreath of scarlet trepsis round his shoulders.
Before she could speak, Elvair-ka-Virrion's voice answered.
"Anyone who catches her can have her-that's the reward!"
Already Shend-Lador and three more had leapt into the water and were wading out towards her. One of these, an aider man, tried to clutch Shend-Lador and pull him back,
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