Balance of Trade

by Sharon Lee

  He inclined his head, which was polite, and put away for later wondering—or asking of the twins—the notion of a special excursion to look at moons. It might be, he thought, that Tarnia owned a starhouse and an optical scope for—

  "There are certain matters of a personal nature which we must discuss," Lady Maarilex said, interrupting his thought. "Pray forgive me if my questions seem impertinent. I assure you that I would not ask these things did necessity not exist."

  "Yes, ma'am," he said, sitting up straighter in his chair. He was speaking in the mercantile mode, by special permission of the lady. She was speaking in a mode that was not mercantile, but perfectly intelligible, so long as he kept his ear on it.

  "We will need to know certain things. Your family, for instance. Norn tells me that Terrans do not form into Houses and Clans, which I must say seems very peculiar to me. However, I suppose you must have some other method for tracking lineage." She inclined her head.

  "Enlighten me, then, young Jethri. Who are you?"

  He took a little time to think about it, lifting his cup and taking a leisurely sip while he did, so as not to seem rude.

  "I am of the mainline Gobelyns," he said slowly. "Off of the tradeship Gobelyn's Market."

  "I see." She lifted her cup, buying time herself, Jethri thought, and wasn't particularly encouraged by thinking it.

  "May I know more, young Jethri?" she murmured, putting her cup down and apparently giving most of her attention to choosing a piece of fruit from the bowl in the center of the table. "Despite all Norn's efforts, I am woefully ignorant of shiplore."

  "Yes, ma'am," he said, mortified to hear his voice break on the second word. "My mother is Iza, captain; my father was Arin, senior trader. My elder siblings are Cris, first mate, and Seeli, administrative mate. My mother's brother is now senior trader, brought on board when my father died." He took a deep breath, and met her eyes firmly, rudeness be spaced.

  "The Gobelyns have been shipfolk since before space took ships. Arin Tomas, as he was before he married, his line was scholars and explorers; he served his turn as a Combine commissioner before he was senior trader."

  He didn't expect her to value that—to know how to value it—and so he was surprised when she bent her head solemnly, and murmured, "A worthy lineage, Jethri Gobelyn. It could not, of course, be otherwise."

  That might've just been the polite—she couldn't very well disapprove of Master ven'Deelin's choice of a fosterson, after all—but he was warmed anyway.

  "I wonder," she said gently, "if I might know your age."

  "Seventeen Standard Years, ma'am."

  "Hah. And your name day?"

  He blinked, then remembered that Liadens celebrated the anniversary of a baby's being named, which might, as Vil Tor told it, be done within seconds of the birth, or as long as twelve days past. Near as he knew, he'd been named simultaneous with being born. He inclined his head slightly.

  "Day two-thirteen, ma'am."

  "Delightful! We shall have the felicity of ushering you into your eighteenth year. The house is honored."

  He didn't exactly scan why that should be such an honor, 'specially when stood against the fact that his birthday was more often forgot than not. When he'd been a kid, Seeli'd made sure there was some special favorite eatable in his dinner, and Cris would give him a little something by way of a present—a booktape, maybe, or an odd-bit he'd found during the trade rounds. His fourteenth birthday, there wasn't any special tasty in his dinner, though the occasion of his birth had been marked by Cris, who had given him the grown-up wrench set he still wore on his belt. After that—well, he was too old for wanting after special tidbits and gee-gaws.

  Carefully, he inclined his head. "I am grateful, but the House need not exert itself on my account."

  Lady Maarilex raised an eyebrow. "Norn is correct. Far too much sensibility. Hear me, Jethri Gobelyn: The house exerts itself on your behalf because it is what the house demands of itself. Your part is to strive to be worthy of our care. Am I plain?"

  He swallowed and looked down into his teacup. "Yes, ma'am."

  "Good. Now, lift up your face like the bold young man I know you to be and tell me how you came to meet Norn."

  Of the questions he might have expected from her, this one might have been dead last. Master ven'Deelin must have told her—

  "Your pardon, young Jethri," the sharp old voice cut across his thoughts. "May I expect the felicity of an answer soon?"

  It was near enough in tone to Master tel'Ondor to jerk him upright and meeting her eye before he took a deep breath and began his tale.

  "We met in Ynsolt'i Port, which is located in what the Terrans call the far-outside and Master ven'Deelin calls the Edge. There was a . . . man. . . who had a deal with a four-on-one payout, guaranteed with a master trader's card. . . "

  Day 140

  Standard Year 1118

  Kinaveral

  "SEELI GOBELYN?" The man's voice was hurried and high—not familiar, just like his face, when she turned her head and gave him a stare, the while continuing to move. She was running close to late for the regular inspection visit and she knew from experience that the yard-boss wouldn't wait for her one tick past the hour. Not good timing on the part of the spacer who was doggedly keeping pace beside her, though his face was red and damp with sweat.

  "Can we talk?" he panted, as Seeli stretched her legs a little more.

  "If you can talk and walk at the same time, we can," she said, not feeling any particular pity for him. "I'm late for an appointment and can't stop."

  "Maybe we can meet after your appointment," he said. "I'm authorized to offer a trade for fractins."

  Authorized to offer a trade on fractins? Like fractins was something rare and expensive, instead of the over-abundant nuisance they happened to be. Seeli sighed, wondering if the guy was a headcase or a joker. Not that it mattered.

  "Sorry," she said, moving on at her top ground speed. "No fractins."

  "We'll make it worth your while," he insisted. "I'm authorized to trade generous."

  "Does you no good if we got none to sell." The gate was in sight; damn if she wasn't going to be right on time.

  "Wait—"

  "No time to wait!" she snapped, more than a little out of breath. "And we ain't got any fractins."

  She was under the canopy, then, her body breaking the beam of the spy-eye.

  "Maybe I can call on your trader!" The man called behind her and Seeli sighed. Headcase.

  "Sure," she yelled over her shoulder as the gate swung open. "Talk to our trader."

  Day 140

  Standard Year 1118

  Irikwae

  UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS, upstairs, downstairs, front stairs, back stairs. Secret stairs, too. Not to mention the hallways, public, private and almost-forgot. By the time they made it back to ground level and toured the big kitchen and the little one, Jethri was ready for a solid couple hours of sleep.

  After breakfast, Lady Maarilex had put him in the care of the twins, instructing them to provide him with a "thorough" tour of the house. It was in Jethri's mind that they had taken that "thorough" just a little too literal. What reason for him to know how to find the butler's closet, or Pan Dir's rooms—Pan Dir being the cousin who was gone to Liad for his studies, and Mr. pel'Saba the butler looking impartially sour at the three of them while the twins did the polite and he made his bow. And who would have expected that there could be so many stairs inside of one structure, Jethri thought, panting in the wake of his guides. Who would have thought there could be so many hallways giving on to so many rooms?

  Half-a-dozen steps ahead of him, the twins fair danced along, their soft-booted feet hardly seeming to touch the floor, talking in turns over their shoulders, and neither one having the common grace to show breathless.

  "The tour is almost done, Jethri!" called Meicha, bouncing 'round to face him. "This hallway ends in a stair—a very small stair, I promise you! At the end of the stair, is a door, and on the oth
er side of the door—"

  "Is a garden!" Miandra sang out. "The cook has promised us a lovely cold nuncheon, so that you may recruit your strength before your afternoon in the winery."

  Jethri's feet stopped moving so suddenly he almost fell on his face. One of the twins said something short and nasty half under her breath before the two of them turned and walked back to him.

  "It is," said Miandra, who tended, in Jethri's limited experience, to be the more serious of the two, "a very nice garden."

  "With a wall all around it," Meicha added.

  "It's open?" He managed, and was obscurely proud to hear that his voice did not break on the question.

  "Open?" She frowned, not certain of his meaning, but Miandra caught it right enough.

  "To the sky? Of course it is open to the sky. Gardens are, you know."

  "We had thought to offer you a pleasant respite before your afternoon's labors," Meicha said. "This is our own favorite garden."

  Jethri took a breath—another one, centering himself. Pen Rel had sworn three solemn swears that centering and right breathing would all come natural to him, with practice. If I keep the current course, Jethri thought irritably, I'll be in practice and back out again before the shift changes.

  "Much better," Miandra approved, as if he'd said something fortunate.

  "Anger is a powerful tool," Meicha added, like that made everything clear and wonderful. She reached out and grabbed his hand, her fingers surprisingly strong.

  "Come along, Jethri, do. I promise, only a short walk, then you may rest and refresh yourself and frown at us all you like—"

  "While we entertain you with tales of Ren Lar and his beloved vines, and give you the benefit of our—"

  "Vast—"

  "Sorrowful—"

  "Experience."

  He looked from one to the other, and thought he saw the glimmer of a joke around the edges of their eyes.

  "Ren Lar pushes the crew hard, does he?" he asked lightly, thinking of the soft-spoken, dreamy eyed man he'd met last night at prime meal.

  "Ren Lar lives for the vines," Meicha said solemnly. "Pan Dir swore to us that he was given in contract to the mother vine, with the child—that being Pet Ric—coming to the house, naturally enough, so that the vines should never want for aught."

  She sounded so much like Khat on the approach to a story that he almost laughed out loud. He did smile and move one shoulder. "Pan Dir was having fun with you, I think."

  "I think so, too," Miandra said briskly. "I also think that I am hungry, and that nuncheon awaits us."

  "And that time marches," her sister agreed. She pulled on Jethri's hand. "Come, son of ven'Deelin. It is a churlish guest who starves the children of the house."

  There really wasn't anything else to do. Vowing to keep his head down and his eyes on his plate, Jethri let himself be pulled along, freighter to Meicha's tug.

  The trees made the thing tolerable, when all was counted and tallied. They were tall trees—old, said Miandra; older even than Aunt Stafeli—and their wide-reaching branches broke the sky into manageable pieces, if a spacer should happen to look up too quick, or too high.

  The "lovely, cold nuncheon" was set out on a table at the garden's center. There was a wall, as he had been promised, well grown with flowering vines and other creepers.

  "Summer is before us still," Miandra said, as they mounted the dias and pulled out their chairs. "Not all the flowers are in bloom, now. At the height of the season, you can see nothing but flowers, and the air is sweet with their scent."

  The twins ate with a delicate intensity that made him feel clumsy and over-large until he forgot about it in the amazements of the meal.

  There was nothing that he ate that he would not have willingly eaten more of, though he found particular favor with a few tasties. He asked the twins the name of each, to their clear approval.

  "Learn the names of the things you favor, first," Meicha said. "There is all the time you like, to learn the names of those things you care for less."

  Finally, they each come to enough, and Miandra poured them all refills of grape juice, and settled back in her chair.

  "So," Jethri said, trying to keep an eye pinned on each. "Ren Lar is unkind?"

  "Never think so!" That was Meicha. "Ren Lar is capable of great kindness."

  "The most of which," Miandra continued, "is reserved for his vines and his vintages, and then a bit for his heir."

  "Aunt Stafeli figures there, too, I think. But, yes, Ren Lar principally cares for the vines, which is to the good of the house, for wine is our wealth. Whereupon hangs our tragic tale."

  "It was," Miandra said, sipping her juice, "our own fault."

  "We didn't know our own strength," Meicha returned, which might have been excuse or explanation.

  "Still, we knew that something might happen, and our choice of target was . . . "

  "Infelicitous."

  "Extremely."

  Jethri considered them over the rim of his glass. "Are you going to tell me what happened," he asked, like he was their senior, which he had an uneasy feeling he wasn't, no matter how the Standards fell. "Or talk to yourselves all shift?"

  They laughed.

  "He wants a round tale, and no foolishness!" Meicha crowed. "You tell it for us, sister."

  "Well." Miandra moved her shoulders and sat up, putting her glass on the table.

  "Understand, this happened at the start of last year—planetary year, that would be, not Standard."

  Jethri inclined his head to show that he did indeed understand.

  "So. It was a few weeks later in the season than it is now, and we—with the entire rest of the household who could wield shears—were in the vineyard, pruning the vines."

  "Which is tedious, at best," Meicha put in, "and horrid, at worst."

  Her sister turned to look at her, eyebrows well up.

  "I thought this was mine to tell?'

  The other girl blinked, then inclined her head. "Forgive me. Indeed, it is yours to tell."

  Miandra inclined her head in turn, and took up her tale.

  "As Meicha says, pruning is no task to love—unless one is Ren Lar, who loves everything to do with the vines. Alas, neither of us is Ren Lar, and while we may respect the vines, I believe it is fair to say that Flinx holds a higher place in our personal affections."

  "Far higher," Meicha declared, irrepressible.

  Miandra sipped juice, pointedly ignoring her, and put the cup down.

  "We had been some days at the pruning, and some hours on this particular day, having risen early to the work, and it came to me—I cannot quite say how it should have done—that I loathed pruning the vines and that it would be much more convenient, and far less tedious, if I could simply will the work done." She sat up straight and looked Jethri right in the eye.

  "I felt a certain, let us say, heat rise in my blood, my fingers, my toes, and my head fair tingled. My shears dropped to the ground, and I stood, quivering. Meicha asked me what I was about, but I was unable to do anything, but reach out and grasp her hand, and direct my thought at the rows of vines that Ren Lar had said we should prune that day."

  It was a good place to pause for dramatic affect—and pause she did, much to Jethri's admiration. It was an interesting story, if different than Khat's usual, and he was enjoying himself. Two more heartbeats, and he realized that he was behind hand in his duty.

  "What happened?" he asked.

  Miandra inclined her head. "Nothing. Or so we thought then. Wearily, and now both afflicted with the headache, we picked up our shears and set back in to work." She paused, briefly.

  "Three days later, we found that we had been wrong—we had wrought something, after all. Every one of the vines we had tended that day had died, and Ren Lar was as angry as I have ever seen him. Aunt Stafeli banned us from the vines until a Healer could be summoned to test us. Ren Lar. . . " She faltered.

  After a moment, Meicha said, softly. "It is true that in the old days, wh
en such things were possible, that Ren Lar might well have mated with the mother vine. He mourned the fallen as if they were his own children." She shivered slightly. "Indeed, he mourns them still."

  "And we," Miandra said, calm again, "are now in training to be Healers." She lifted the chain up from around her neck, so the ruby spun in the sunlight. "As you may see."

  Not too bad, thought Jethri appreciatively, and inclined his head.

  "I am instructed by your tale," he said, seriously. "But, as I have no such unusual talent, I think that the vines will be safe with me."