Divergence

by C. J. Cherryh

  The servant provided tea, and there were, again, eggs, and toast. And pickle. It was no great sacrifice to have a small second breakfast in quiet, at a well-laid table, considering the chaos of the night and the prospects of the day. He ate.

  Ilisidi finished.

  He did.

  “So,” she said. “The girl is up and about.”

  “She is, aiji-ma.”

  “She wished to thank her rescuer.”

  “She did, aiji-ma. It was a brief thank you.”

  “The prospective lord of Ajuri has contacts who rent rooms to the Shadow Guild.”

  “I did note that, aiji-ma.”

  “And what else did you note?”

  “We have an extensive record of Paigiti’s misdeeds. I am going through them now, and I am certain Casimi has. If the amnesty sends Paigiti into retirement, he may become a useful contact, worth preserving.”

  “And Nomari?”

  “I have not observed anything in his behavior or manner that I cannot recommend. I cannot call him ignorant for going off as he did, his contacts being what they are. I think he has felt more a prisoner than a guest since coming here. I think he somewhat despairs of your good opinion. But he saw his family murdered, and he has a regard for this girl, who is younger than her years, and protected. I agree with you, aiji-ma, his going after her was foolish. But forgive my poesy, aiji-ma, I think it was the boy he was that sent him after Bregani’s daughter, not the young man he is.”

  Ilisidi stared at him, thinking. Thinking.

  “Poesy,” she said. “You favor him.”

  “He has not lost my good opinion.”

  “Ha. You would have gone.”

  “Had I his knowledge, were I not under your orders, aiji-ma, I would have strongly considered it. My aishid, however, knows me. His aishid—excellent men—had only started to trust him and had no idea, as Banichi and Algini have both observed, that he has professional skills, when it comes to vanishing.”

  “Not a skill most young lords display,” Ilisidi said. “He shows us obfuscation. Elusion. Modesty, when it serves. Maturity, when it does come, will be interesting.”

  “You do not dismiss him.”

  “We do not,” Ilisidi said, and attempted a sip of tea. She set it down, tapped the table with her finger, and the servant hastened to pick up the cup and to replace it with a clean one and a new pour of tea. The servant likewise replaced Bren’s cup.

  “I spoke to Lord Tatiseigi at the edge of dawn—by phone, relayed in quite an amazing way. And very obliquely. We spoke a great deal about his hedge repair. In our own code. Our connection could not be secure.”

  “You have forgiven him.”

  “Pish. We were never out. We understand each other. He has an opinion, of course, which he made clear. I have an opinion, which I made clear. But we are not at odds.”

  “One is glad to hear it.”

  “About my grandson, now,” Ilisidi said. “Have you spoken with him? Or has your aishid?”

  “To my knowledge, neither, aiji-ma.”

  “You did not know about this move he has made.”

  “I have no perfect knowledge of what move he has made.”

  A sip of tea, remarkably calm. “We have also, and with a good deal more frankness, talked with our grandson. We have expressed our gratitude for the ability to talk to him directly, which we have done. Directly. But we are fairly reconciled at the moment. He says these scoundrels have decided to go after me.”

  “We prevented one such. Did he reference that?”

  “And are searching for his family,” Ilisidi supplied, “with no success thus far. One such. My staff has my full confidence there are others. And I have confidence in my bodyguard. And in yours. And in those the Guild supplied for Nomari. Even Machigi’s ill-favored lot. The Guild in Shejidan is looking very, very deeply into records of everyone assigned aboard the train. I do not believe they will find anything. I do not believe trusted Guild is how they would hope to reach us. But—we do not take our trust to foolish levels. Your staff is preparing our food, and I am leaving the first Guild force I sent in place here, split between berths on the train that brought them, and in the residency, so nothing can reach them all. You have not asked. How does my grandson’s concern for my safety and his delivery of this communication system account for his diversion of one of my ships and his assault on the Dojisigin? Do not say it was a sudden decision. One does not amass such an expedition overnight.”

  Wariness was indicated. “One thinks it would be a good question, aiji-ma.”

  “It is. And we asked it.” Sip of tea. It was one of the calmative sort. “It seems that our associate Lord Geigi has been busy. He has populated the sky with robot observers. He has circled the world with them. These metal creatures have eyes and they see even into the Great Ocean. And . . . they send what they see, passing it one to the next, to Lord Geigi. He has shared such observations with the humans. He is making observations that bear on weather and claiming he could have extraordinary accuracy, if, he says, we would provide more information from the ground. He also claims there are islands halfway around the world. Did you know?”

  “One had heard of islands, aiji-ma, but not the extent of his observations.”

  “It seems, so my grandson says, that the space station is maintained to stay in one place, while these creatures go about the world seeing amazing things. And that lander might have come down most anywhere Lord Geigi wanted it. But my grandson asked it to be planted here, now, to give us the ability to communicate—in this war my grandson has launched. You did not know about this in advance.”

  “Nothing of the lander, or a war, aiji-ma. About the islands, yes, but nothing about this.”

  “My grandson is fairly put out with me,” Ilisidi said. A fingertip circled the rim of the cup. “And believes that I have ill-advisedly placed myself in danger. One appreciates the concern. He feels that I may have stirred the waters in which he wished to fish, and the records he hopes to recover may be in danger. This, I shall accept. I am being very frank with you, paidhi-aiji. Did he mention his intention to go to war?”

  “No, he did not. He said to keep you safe.”

  A short, silent laugh. “One does not disparage your ability, paidhi. But now he says he has information from Ajuri’s productive basement that makes him extremely anxious to see what Dojisigin may have to offer. The Guild is after records. My grandson wishes to divert our operation here into a second Guild operation, after such records on this side of the Marid, should they exist.”

  “Paigiti’s list may be of some value in that.”

  “Paigiti himself may be on the Guild’s list. And if he is cooperating, he may have saved himself. But for the rest, for the rest, paidhi, my grandson believes that we have been both too early, and a number of days too late. Our arrival in Hasjuran was reported to the Shadow Guild, and the Red Train’s arrival in Koperna by night not only launched Bregani northward, it launched Tiajo south and west. We are fairly confident where.”

  “Tiajo herself has fled?”

  “Lord Geigi is relatively certain he is tracking a Dojisigin freighter that has now rounded the cape and is headed north, we think. Our suspicion is it will put in at Ashidama Bay, where most of their shipments go. My grandson is somewhat put out about my move into Senjin. I maintain that if we had not made this venture to save Bregani, we would have had, yes, the Dojisigi somewhat preoccupied in taking Senjin and posing a future threat to our ally Machigi and his association, over half the Marid. I consider this significant. My grandson is less concerned to preserve Machigi, and we ask him, does he prefer chaos in the south? We think not. Whatever Machigi’s future disposition—and my grandson says I will promote him until your Najida becomes an unfortunate tributary to a southern aijinate—I say that Machigi’s concern for the south is a proper and moral concern, a leaderly concern, and
if the aishidi’tat has to deal with a prosperous third power in the world, I call it a beneficial change, replacing an immoral regressionist power in the Marid, continually fighting us. I wed my East to the aishidi’tat back at the beginning of my public life because it was an intelligent thing to do. I have enabled Machigi to do the same—without the marriage—and I do not think Machigi is stupid. We have the space station, an asset my grandson has never fully appreciated, and Machigi will forever be second to that, which he has never quite appreciated either.”

  “Humans would not well understand Machigi,” Bren said. “I scarcely do.”

  “He is fairly simple. He would kill us all if he had to, for his precious Taisigin. But he has lost all motive for doing so. Ambition has taken hold of him, and a vision of a Marid preserving its ways, but able to deal as a power, not as a poor cousin.”

  “Not to the good of the north or your grandson, aiji-ma.”

  “Ah, but Machigi does not have a wide vision. A part of him remains wedded to a bygone glory, a heritage he cannot restore. That is why my grandson is the greater aiji. It is why my grandson has taken you for an advisor, and why he finds the notion of space attractive. My great-grandson, however—he will know what to do with Machigi and the powers in orbit and this somewhat dubious lord of Ajuri. I do not build for my grandson. I build for his son. And my time to accomplish these things is somewhat less than I would want.”

  That . . . was worrisome. He was immediately concerned. “Aiji-ma.”

  She waved a negligent hand. “It will be whatever it can be. I do not count risk to my life as a vastly important matter. I am concerned for my household, and for you, paidhi. I shall count it no affront to me should you, at this point, go back to my grandson. You should consider that, at this point. I do not think there is much negotiation ahead.”

  “I have amazing uses. Protect you, your grandson said. I would urge you go back to Shejidan and let the Guild manage this. Tiajo, of all people, is not worth your effort. Surely you will not pursue her.”

  “No, she is not. But the south is. And I am likely to run her down in the process. Indulge me, paidhi. I have argued from my husband’s aijinate on, through two turns of my own in office, that the only trouble in the south we should truly worry about is the southwest refusing full participation in the aishidi’tat. They should have been in or they should have been out, from their refusal to accept the Mospheiran compact, their refusal to accept Shejidan’s appointments, their refusal to comply with the laws and forms of the aishidi’tat and their refusal to act in concert with us, which has always given cover to illicit enterprises. They have been the thorn in the arrangement so long as the aishidi’tat has existed. The Marid could never be the problem it has been without the southwest coast supporting their trade in the background, funding their mischief. Machigi and his associates have generally bypassed them, going on up the coast, in spite of the Edi’s unfortunate choice of a livelihood.”

  The Edi had survived by wrecking ships, luring them onto the rocks, and looting them—besides their trade in fishing.

  “Now the Edi have forsworn their wrecking,” Ilisidi said, “Machigi has only Ashidama Bay to pass, and they try to make matters difficult up in Cobo, so that whoever up there trades with Machigi’s association has difficulties with Ashidama Bay. This has gone on subtly. It has worsened, since the Edi have changed their ways. So. That the Shadow Guild would go there, to their own trading partners, now that our attention has turned to the Marid, we are not surprised. And this is why I do not think we shall have to search the Great Ocean for Tiajo, and why I think we are in for far more resistance there than here.”

  “Well, then, I can hardly go back to Shejidan, can I, as lord of Najida, and an ally of the Edi.”

  “We would not deny you,” Ilisidi said, “if you wish to take that position.”

  “Unless your grandson forbids me. I have that responsibility.”

  “So. Do, then.”

  “May I inform your grandson?”

  “Oh, inform away. Tell him I shall be leaving the first Guild force here, to carry out operations and support Lord Bregani. My grandson will do whatever he chooses to do in the Dojisigin. I shall take our Ajuri candidate as far as Najida, where I trust he will be welcome, and from there send him back to my grandson with a tentative approval, but with a warning that we do not know all his connections. I also rather expect Machigi will part company with us here. He has already sent for a ship to take him home.”

  “Does he know all this, regarding your plans for the west coast?”

  “I have had this conversation with him, yes, to extract what he does know, which is interesting. But he has a new situation on his northern border: he has to explain to his people that they are to regard Senjin as an ally, no matter how difficult in the beginning, until Bregani can convince all his people to be polite as well. That, for Machigi, is more critical at the moment. And I do not wish to provoke the Ashidama folk, who have a very poor opinion of him. No, he will go from here down to Tanaja, and explain matters to his association. This train, however, will be departing Koperna for Najida, perhaps as early as tonight. I shall explain to Bregani. I think he will be quite busy for the immediate future.”

  “I am going with you.”

  Ilisidi smiled benignly. “Well, I would expect it as far as Najida.”

  “You well know I am not stopping in Najida, aiji-ma. Unless your grandson orders me otherwise. And he will not. I know just as well that he will not.”

  Epilogue

  People were still few on the streets, but shutters were open, and many shops were open, though the sun was close to setting. The bus passed them, with a mobile unit ahead and one behind, and people stopped and watched. In one place, bystanders waved and cheered, perhaps because some of the northern Guild were headed for the train, and leaving Koperna.

  The first-deployed, and the first train in, were not leaving Koperna yet. They were setting up for a stay in the city, and in Lusi’ei, where the situation with the Dojisigin freighters was still not resolved, and needed to be, for one thing, because a Taisigi ship was due in tomorrow morning to take Lord Machigi home. He would spend the night at the residency, with some of the first-in Guild brought in to back up his small bodyguard.

  Well and good, Machigi said. He had never been so long absent from his capital, and wanted to be home while the northern Guild sorted out the situation in Amarja, in case any troubles spilled over to the open sea, or tried to flee south out of Senjin.

  The Red Train, however, was boarding for Najida, withdrawing several of the mobile units and the entire Guild force that had brought Ilisidi.

  It was very little trouble to pack. Bren had not unpacked, to speak of, and the cases had gone back onto the bus. The dowager herself had brought very little compared to the usual, and had withdrawn all her personal aishid except Casimi and Seimaji. They were left to command the twelve specialists she had left to assist Lord Bregani, specialists with equipment to set up, for protection of the residency itself . . . in case the Shadow Guild wanted to make another try.

  Records had provided a copy of Paigiti’s confession, and the confessions of his bodyguard. Copies were in the hands of local enforcement, and were destined for other places where they might be useful, especially the addresses.

  Bren had copies of his own, among his papers. The agreements up in Hasjuran were being sent on, physically, to Shejidan, for the Archive; they carried others in their luggage.

  He himself hardly knew whether to draw an easier breath as the bus exited the streets and pulled into the railyard, or to nerve himself for worse, involving his own region, and risk to his people. Najida was not able to take on a quarrel with the townships of the southern peninsula. He was familiar with Jorida as a shipping power, and an economic power. That the Shadow Guild was setting up there was not good news.

  Nomari, in the aisle seat next to him, had sa
id very little this morning. The plan was for the Red Train to stop at Najida and stay there, on the siding, and Nomari was to go to Najida with the rest of them, then be driven up the coast to the airport, and an easy flight to Shejidan, after which—

  After which Nomari and the Ajuri question passed at least temporarily out of their concern. The dowager had no use for him on the next venture, and Ajuri was not to be involved.

  As for Najida, it would be. The estate bus had not finished its repair from events at Tirnamardi, but it should be serviceable, and conspicuous.

  He wished there were a way around that. He did not want to draw Najida’s people into a confrontation with Jorida.

  And one feared that this venture was not as well-planned as one could wish. He hoped they were not going to invade Jorida Isle. But there was no way to say.

  Keep her safe, Tabini had said. His power to do that was limited.

  The power of the Guild, in numbers that filled the other seats of this bus, which had made three such runs to the station this evening, was itself limited, where it came to Ilisidi’s will.

  Tabini-aiji was at least informed, through the Guild, that Ilisidi was headed for Najida. He was likely informed, through the Guild, that a brief stay there was not her ultimate intent.

  The bus pulled up at the train station, opened the door and let them file out, with some little delay for Ilisidi. Cenedi assisted her all the way down and up again.

  Bren followed, down the steps, up to the platform level, and on into the interior, with its historic mural. He recognized the residency in the painting now. He had had no idea, before.

  He had had no idea of a good many things, before.

  It was not all Guild in the area. A Transportation agent held the other door, that opened onto the platform, a young man in Transportation gray, with heavy-rimmed glasses.

  “Stop,” Algini said quietly, and aloud, “Cenedi!”

  Gunstraps slid from shoulders. Ilisidi’s bodyguard became a wall, and Bren lost sight of the door for a moment, behind that screen. Jago jerked him around and behind her, and he was utterly walled in.