Shadow Man (Paragons of Queer Speculative Fiction)

by Scott, Melissa

  Shadow Man

  Melissa Scott

  Paragons of Queer Speculative Fiction

  Lethe Press

  Maple Shade NJ

  Copyright Melissa Scott 1995, renewed 2009. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief citation or review, without the written permission of Lethe Press. For information write: Lethe Press, 118 Heritage Avenue, Maple Shade, NJ 08052.

  www.lethepressbooks.com lethepress@aol.com

  Book Design by Toby Johnson

  Cover Design by Thomas Drymon

  Published by Lethe Press, 118 Heritage Avenue, Maple Shade, NJ 08052.

  1-59021-242-8 / 978-1-59021-242-4

  Also by Melissa Scott

  Fiction

  The Game Beyond

  A Choice of Destinies

  The Kindly Ones

  Mighty Good Road

  Dreamships

  Burning Bright

  Trouble and Her Friends

  Dreaming Metal, a continuation from Dreamships

  Night Sky Mine

  The Shapes of Their Hearts

  The Jazz

  The Silence Leigh trilogy

  Five-Twelfths of Heaven

  Silence in Solitude

  The Empress of Earth

  Written with Lisa A. Barnett

  The Armor of Light

  Point of Hopes

  Point of Dreams

  Novels based in the Star Trek universe

  Proud Helios (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

  The Garden (Star Trek: Voyager)

  Nonfiction

  Conceiving the Heavens: Creating the Science Fiction Novel

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Also by Melissa Scott

  Beginning

  Glossary -- Concord Worlds

  Glossary -- Hara

  About the Author

  Mesnie, mesnies: (Hara) basic unit of (traditional) Haran society, a group of households (i.e., a man, a woman, and their children) living together in a single compound and usually working together at a profession or industry; all the households in mesnie are related, and marriage within the mesnie is considered incest and forbidden.

  Clan: (Hara) one of the fourteen political, social, and familial groupings that form the basis of Haran society; although the people who formed the first clans were not actually related, but rather chose to affiliate themselves with one of the original fourteen founders, at this point the clans are interrelated in complex and often confusing fashion. Each clan controls a particular territory, which varies in the quality and abundance of its resources; the Stane clan has parlayed their original good luck into economic and political dominance of the planet.

  Watch: (Hara) largest division of Haran society, based on the original divisions of the ship that brought the first colonists to Hara. There are five Watches: White (command), Blue (medical/scientific), Black (engineering), Green (land-trained colonists), and Red (ocean-trained colonists). Watches retain certain administrative duties, and are also used to determine marriageability; the larger clans are split between Watches to help keep the genetic mix stable.

  1

  Warreven

  The White Watch House was built like any other mesnie hall, but on a much grander scale. Warreven leaned on the railing of the gallery that ran around three walls, looking out over the crowd below. They still filled the open area at the center of the hall, though the crowd around Aldess Donavie had thinned out a little. She looked grateful, if anything, though it was hard to tell beneath the drape of the white-and-silver shaal that covered her dark hair. Still, she was doubly alien here, a Stane only by marriage, Red Watch rather than White; it couldn't be easy to perform the rituals of mourning and absolution without the comfort of her own clan's ancestor tablets, her own kin to offer advice.

  And that, Warreven thought, was just the sort of sentiment Aldess herself would never tolerate. She had gone into her marriage clear-eyed--eager, even--for the power of being married to the son of the Most Important Man, and if she regretted this miscarriage, it was largely because it put off the day that she confirmed her status by becoming the mother of his child. If she had looked worn-out when he had paid his formal regrets, the lines on her face suddenly stark, it was only the physical stress. This was her fourth miscarriage in nearly eighteen bioyears of marriage; she would have to be worrying about her ability to carry any child to term, wondering whether to seek off-world help. They had been at school together, years ago, and he remembered her ambitions: if she had to go off-world to find a way to consolidate her position, her rank within the most important of the Stane mesnies, she would do it without hesitation. At least Stane was rich enough to afford that intervention.

  Warreven heard laughter from the north end of the hall, a familiar, rich sound intended to carry, and leaned forward a little against the railing. Temelathe Stane, Speaker for the Watch Council, and the Most Important Man on Hara in fact as well as in sour jokes, stood on the low dais, head thrown back, still laughing at something the man at his side had said. As Warreven watched, Temelathe clapped the stranger on the shoulder, said something, still grinning. The stranger smiled back--an off-worlder, almost certainly a representative of one of the out-system pharmaceutical companies that dominated Hara's economy--and stepped away. Temelathe stood alone for an instant, hands on hips, legs spread wide, surveying the hall. Consciously or not, his pose echoed the Captain carved on the wall above him, and Warreven allowed himself a rather bitter smile. The massive carving--it was a famous work of art, commissioned a hundred years ago by Stane from his own Stiller clan, showing all seven of the spirits who mediated between God and man--had recently been repainted. The colors glowed in the sunlight that streamed in through the gallery windows and the wide-open doors, and there was no mistaking the resemblance between the Captain's face and Temelathe's broad bones. He had even pulled his gray hair into an old-fashioned knot at the nape of his neck, imitating the carving. Duredent Stiller, who had carved the piece, would be turning over in his grave if he could see it, Warreven thought. The rivalry between Stane and Stiller was old and deep, dating from before the first days of settlement, from the colony ship itself and the legendary animosity between Captain Stane and Chief Stiller; the fact that Stane had in effect won that ancient battle only made the situation worse. In the carving, the Heart-breaker turned her face away, smiling at Caritan crouching at her skirts, and Cousin-Jack, the spirit of the land, shaded his eyes to look into an invisible distance, but even Duredent had been unable to blunt the Captain's authority. The rest of the spirits--Genevoe the Trickster, stolid Madansa of the Markets, even Agede, the keeper of the door between life and death--stood shoulder to shoulder with the Captain, their domains meaningless without the Captain's strength to support them.

  There was a movement in the crowd then, and a young man in the traditional tunic-and-trousers suit forced his way to the dais, said something quietly to Temelathe. The Most Important Man nodded, and then clapped his hands loudly. Heads turned all across the hall, conversation stopping instantly as people realized who was summoning their attention.

  "Miri, mirrimi," Temelathe called. "And our distinguished off-world visitors. If you haven't yet paid your respects to my daughter-in-law, this is your last chance to do it." He paused then, but no one moved. From his place in the balcony, Warreven saw Aldess lean sideways, murmuring something to another woman he didn't recognize. Tendlathe, Temelathe's only son and her husband, was nowhere in sight.

  "The wheel has turned," Temelathe went on, "and the doors have opened. We welcome the spirits
who carry us as we carry them in our hearts." He nodded to the young man beside him, who lifted a bell in a carved and painted frame. It was metal, forged from the salvage of the ship that had brought their ancestors to Hara, and its odd, resonant note carried weirdly in the stillness. It was answered by the shrilling of a whistle, and then the beat of drums. The people by the entrance gave way, clearing a path, and familiar figures danced in--two vieuvants, the old souls who served God and the spirits, moving as though carried on the heady rhythm. The first vieuvant was dressed as Agede, all in black, one eye blinded by a dark patch, the second as the Heart-breaker, her cheek scored with the three parallel lines that marked that spirit. She carried a new shaal, brilliant saffron silk embroidered with glittering glass beads and shells and even a scattering of metal, and spun it into the air as she twirled through her dance. All around the hall, people began clapping, picking up the rhythm of the drums.

  Agede led her up the hall, three drummers following them, and then back down again, stopped at last in front of Aldess. She touched her lips in dutiful acknowledgment, lowering her shaal to her shoulder, and the vieuvant produced a bottle of sweetrum from under his tunic. He lifted it in salute, drank, then sprayed a second mouthful of the liquid over Aldess's face and hair. She accepted the blessing without flinching and there were cheers and scattered, off-beat clapping from the onlookers. The second vieuvant spun forward then, skirts belling as she turned, dipped, and extended the length of saffron silk. Aldess touched her lips again, and took it, wrapped it in place of the other, over her head and shoulders. There were more cheers, and the vieuvants turned away, dancing back toward the doors, the drummers following at a respectful pace.

  "What--exactly--was that all about?" a woman's voice said quietly at his elbow. She had spoken franca, but the liquid off-world vowels were unmistakable, and Warreven was not surprised to see a woman in the drab coat of a pharmaceutical leaning on the rail beside him. He knew her slightly: Sera Ax Cyma, her name was; she was new to the planet, and they had had dealings in the traditional court where he was an advocate in a matter of trade. Those dealings had been settled with satisfaction for both sides, and he answered willingly enough.

  "It's the end of Aldess's mourning. Agede--the Doorkeeper, he holds the doors of life and death--has released her, and the Heart-breaker is reblessing her marriage."

  "I guessed some of that," Cyma said, and sounded faintly pleased with herself. "But why'd he spit the rum on her?"

  "It's a blessing," Warreven said. "Traditional." In the hall below, he could see Aldess discreetly wiping her face with one corner of her new shaal.

  "I see. And the dancers--vieuvants--" She corrected herself hastily, and Warreven nodded. "They're representing the spirits?"

  "More or less," Warreven began--he never quite knew how to explain the spirits to off-worlders--and felt a hand on his shoulder.

  "Raven."

  There weren't many people here, in the White Watch House, who would call him by his childhood nickname. He turned, already smiling, to see Tendlathe Stane beside him. "Ten. It's good to see you. I'm sorry for your loss."

  "Thanks." Tendlathe looked at him, refusing to match the smile. "Father wants to talk to you."

  "Why?" Even as the word slipped out, Warreven regretted it, but knew better than to apologize.

  Tendlathe shrugged. "I wouldn't know," he said, and tilted his head toward the off-worlder in unspoken warning.

  Warreven sighed. Everyone knew that Tendlathe opposed the pharmaceuticals' influence, but there was no point in being actively rude. He nodded to the woman. "If you'll excuse me, mirrim?"

  "Of course," Cyma said, backing away, and sounded relieved to be clear of their conversation.

  "So what does he want?" Warreven asked, and followed Tendlathe along the length of the gallery toward the stairs.

  "I don't really know," Tendlathe answered. "He just said he wanted to be sure to talk to you before you left."

  Warreven made a sour face. A summons like that from the Most Important Man could mean almost anything, from a trade case--and the advocacy group was handling half a dozen right now, in both the off-world and the traditional courts--to some business between Stane and Stiller. He had acted as a go-between for Temelathe before.... He shook the thought away. There was no point in speculating; Temelathe would tell him soon enough.

  Now that the main part of the ceremony was over, faitous had appeared in the main hall, carrying trays of food and braided feel-good and jugs of sweetrum. Warreven stopped to snag a cup of sweetrum from a passing woman, and Tendlathe looked over his shoulder, showing teeth in a not entirely friendly smile.

  "Think you'll need that?"

  "You tell me," Warreven answered, and this time Tendlathe did laugh.

  "I told you, I don't know what he wants. But--" He stopped abruptly, tried again. "Look, Raven, I haven't seen you in ages. Can we get together after this? We can talk properly then, not like here."

  Warreven hesitated. There were a lot of reasons he hadn't seen much of Tendlathe over the past eight or nine years. They had been at the Concord-sponsored boarding school in Rivers-edge together, and they had spent holidays together at Temelathe's mesnie outside Gedesrede, along with half a dozen other children of Important Men and Women. They had come of different clans and Watches--collected, Warreven had realized very early, to improve Temelathe's position as Speaker of the Watch Council--but for some reason Temelathe had taken a liking to him. When he had turned eighteen--human years, bioyears, not the longer calendar years--Temelathe had proposed a marriage between him and Tendlathe. It had been contingent on a change of Warreven's legal gender, of course: a great honor, but an even greater sacrifice, given the patrilineal structure of both his own and Temelathe's mesnies. Luckily, Tendlathe had been equally unenthusiastic about the proposal, and it had been relatively easy to decline. Though if he had not been the one to become the wife, Warreven admitted, it would have been a tempting offer. But now there was too much between them, not just politics, but the marriage that hadn't happened as well as the one that had to make it simple to retrieve the old ease. He had waited too long, and Tendlathe looked away.

  "It's not that important."

  "What do you want, Ten?"

  Tendlathe looked back at him. They were much of a size, both thin and slight, so similar in looks and coloring that when they were children strangers had usually assumed they were siblings, to their mutual disdain. Tendlathe had grown his beard as soon as he was able, but the narrow dark line, coupled with the long hair pulled back into a severe braid only seemed to emphasize the matching length of chin. "It's Aldess," he said at last. "I want to talk to someone who deals with the off-worlders regularly."

  So Aldess was thinking of going off-world for help with her next pregnancy, Warreven thought. It made sense: the Concord Worlds had better technology anyway, and they were used to dealing with these complications. He said, "All right, but I don't know what I can tell you. When?"

  "After this is over," Tendlathe said. "Come by the house--our house, not here--I'll give you dinner, if you'd like."

  "You don't have to feed me," Warreven said. "Besides, I have plans." Something flickered in Tendlathe's eyes, disappointment, maybe, or annoyance, and Warreven couldn't quite repress a sense of satisfaction. And that, he knew, was ridiculous: he and Tendlathe had defined their relationship years before, and they had both ruled out anything more than friendship. He grinned, at himself this time, and said, "I'll come by at the twentieth hour?"

  Tendlathe nodded. They had reached the dais then, and he stopped a calculated distance from the Most Important Man. Before he could say anything, however, Temelathe turned to face them, waved one big hand in welcome.

  "Raven! Come up here." He turned to the man at his side, an off-worlder in the severely cut uniform of one of the Big Six. "This is Warreven... Stiller, the one I told you about. The one who might have been my daughter-in-law."

  Out of the corner of his eye, Warreven saw Tendlath
e freeze for a fraction of a second, his handsome, bony face going absolutely still, and then he turned on his heel and stalked back through the crowd, heading toward the table where Aldess was holding court. Warreven allowed himself a sour smile and stepped up onto the dais. "That was a long time ago, my father. I decided against it, and so did Tendlathe. I remain a man, thank you." He saw the off-worlder looking at him, saw the familiar movement of his eyes checking the shape of hips and shoulders and chest, looking for the indicators of true gender. "Legally, at any rate, which is what matters."

  The off-worlder's eyes snapped away, fixing on something in the distance, over Temelathe's shoulder, and Warreven was pleased to see a faint color rising under the man's fair skin. If he'd been on Hara long enough to be doing business with the Most Important Man, he'd been there long enough to know better than to be so obvious about it. Harans might actually have the same five sexes as any other human beings, but law and custom admitted only two.

  "And in the process," Temelathe said, "you missed a chance to serve your clan and Watch. But, no matter." He gestured again, drawing Warreven closer. "I want to introduce you to Ser Wile Kolbjorn, of Kerendach. The two of you may be doing business together."

  Kolbjorn held out his hand, the off-world greeting, and Warreven took it warily. He knew Kerendach, of course, any Stiller did: Kerendach was the largest of the Big Six, held most of Stiller's harvest contracts. They paid the clan in metal and in concord dollars for the various products it gathered from land and sea; if anyone thought Kerendach could pay more, they were careful not to say it. Kerendach had Temelathe's backing, and that meant there was no point in negotiating. Though why Temelathe thinks I'll be doing business with them, Warreven thought, I don't know. Unless they've been dabbling in trade. That was more than likely--the Big Six didn't need the extra income, or the hassles with their own agencies, IDCA, the Interstellar Disease Control Agency, chief among them, that trade inevitably caused, but it was equally inevitable that low-paid clerks and shipping techs would take their chances at that game. "Mir Kolbjorn," he said, and braced himself for whatever the approach would be.