Tooth and Claw

by Jo Walton

  “Well as Bon was Penn’s father as well, mourning should be the same for them both, and if Penn, as a parson, can be there, Selendra should be able to attend as well,” Felin said.

  “Good,” the Exalt said, dismissing the question of whether it was proper for Penn to attend a formal dinner party a week after his father’s death. “The Telsties will arrive tomorrow afternoon. I shall see you all up here for dinner.”

  27. SELENDRA AND SHER

  When Selendra heard that she was invited to a formal dinner party at the Place she was horrified.

  “I’d much rather stay here and read,” she said. “Must I go?”

  Felin was irritated. “It’s very kind of the Exalt to invite you,” she said. “You should be grateful, and make the most of what social opportunities come your way.”

  Selendra settled back a little on her gold and gulped back tears. She didn’t know if it was delayed grief or missing Haner or just the strangeness of being in such different surroundings but she kept wanting to dissolve into weeping. “Of course it is very kind,” she said, mechanically. “But I have never been to such a dinner party and I don’t want to let you and Penn down.”

  “Just do as you did last night,” Felin said. “Nobody will be looking at you. The party is for some friends who are coming to visit, they’ll be the center of attention. There’s a daughter, Gelener, who is supposed to be very beautiful. She’s been brought down here for Sher.”

  “For Sher?” Selendra echoed stupidly.

  “To marry him,” Felin explained sharply. “I think all this reading in the dark is tiring your brain, you should go out for a little walk.”

  “If it wasn’t Firstday I’d fly,” Selendra said.

  “If it wasn’t Firstday we all would,” Felin snapped, then repented of it. “I’m sorry, Selendra, I’m a little tired myself. I’ll take you out flying tomorrow after breakfast unless Penn wants me to go with him.”

  “Thank you,” Selendra said, getting up and slipping a wing over Felin in a sisterly way. “Can I help you with anything? I don’t need a walk. Can I look after the children?”

  This offer was gratefully accepted and they parted on good terms.

  The next morning they breakfasted abstemiously on half a side of beef, divided between the three of them and the two hatchlings. Selendra found eating with the children a little strange, as they had no table manners at all and were inclined to scatter gobbets of bloody meat everywhere as they ate. “Amer can dry the rest of this beef this morning,” Felin said. “Do you need me today, dear?”

  Penn looked up from his beef. “What? Yes, I thought you could come with me to see the Southgates. One of their children was ailing, and should either have recovered by now or be in need of helping out of this world.”

  “Yes, dear,” said Felin, and grimaced at Selendra to indicate that their flight would have to wait for another day. Selendra accepted this with a little sigh, but after her brother and his wife had left, and she was trying to control the little ones, she was surprised when Amer showed in Sher.

  “The Exalted Benandi,” she announced.

  As little Gerin was on Selendra’s back at that moment, Selendra could not move for fear of dislodging him. But the moment the children saw Sher they ran to him, demanding preserves and treats and stories. “It’s not you little monsters I’ve come to see today but your aunt,” Sher said, fending them off in a way that was clearly an accustomed game which he let them win, so that when he turned to Selendra apologetically he had a dragonet perched on each shoulder, in a way that could not help but make her laugh. He was so much larger than they were that they looked like ornaments.

  “Good morning, Exalted Benandi,” she said, and bowed.

  Sher laughed. “Call me Sher, if you would, for Penn and Felin do, so it’s absurd for you not to.”

  With the children perched on top of him, and Wontas waving a triumphant claw, Selendra could not be afraid of Sher. Besides, she liked him. He had a terrible mother to contend with, but he himself was gentle and thoughtful. He had liked her father. She also believed, from what Felin had said, that he was about to be married. “Very well,” she said. “Then good morning, Exalted Sher. I am sorry to inform you that Felin has gone with my brother to visit an ailing farmer’s family.”

  “My mother would say it was my duty to go with them,” Sher said. “But bother that, for I promised to take you out flying this morning, and it is a beautiful morning, crisp and clear.” He reached out a careful claw and tickled Gerin’s underbelly. Gerin collapsed into giggles and stopped digging his claws into Sher.

  Selendra had already noticed that it was a beautiful morning, before she had had her hopes dashed at the breakfast table. Now her heart rose again. “Are you sure it would be all right?” she asked.

  “Certainly,” Sher said, deciding at that moment not to mention to his mother that Felin had not accompanied them. “Find the nanny to take these little terrors, and come on.”

  “Take us with you!” the dragonets piped.

  “When you have wings we will,” Sher promised. “How could you fly now?”

  Selendra called the nanny, still not entirely convinced, but ready to be tempted. The dragonets were taken away, screaming loudly for Uncle Sher and Aunt Sel as they went.

  “They call you uncle?” she asked as they stepped onto the ledge and blinked their lids across in the brightness.

  “You see, I am like family,” he said. “I was in school with Penn, and then at the Circle, and my mother brought up Felin, so we’re all very close. You’ll just have to join in as best you can.”

  Selendra had no idea that Sher spent most of his time away from the Place, so this all seemed quite reasonable. She smiled at him shyly, glad to have acquired another and such an amenable brother. They took off and rose, spiralling slowly outwards.

  “Now, do you want to see the farms and the railway track, or would you rather see the wild places and the mountains?” Sher asked.

  “Oh, the wild places, please,” Selendra said, promptly. When Sher’s laugh came back to her, she added, “It’s only that all farms are much alike everywhere, and all wild places have their own beauty.”

  “You’re right,” Sher said. “We’ll make a hunter of you yet, whatever your brother says. And in that case we want to go up higher if we want to cover some ground. There’s too much to see in one day, but I can show you more another time.”

  Until that moment, Sher had been being kind to her as he might to Felin’s dragonets, whom he enjoyed when he was home and forgot when he was away. He had wanted to coax a smile from her, and been disappointed when Felin was not there to accompany them. Now, as he looked down at Selendra’s trim golden form as she followed him up the wind, he thought that she was, if not exactly beautiful in the style of Irieth, certainly a good-looking maiden. He had admired her since he had first seen her. And she had such an amusing way of looking at things. Imagine liking the carvings in the church, and thinking about them, and seeing how he could have climbed up into them. How nice that she preferred the wild to the dreary old farms. Sher always had, whatever his duty was. That was why he spent so little time at home. If he was going to settle down, Selendra might be as good as anyone to settle down with. She was right here, and she was his old friend’s sister, and she liked dragonets. Some of the maidens in Irieth looked as if they’d faint if a dragonet climbed on them, but she’d had Gerin on her back when he came in. He’d have to think about it, he thought, and the prospect of thinking about it seemed most pleasant to him.

  Selendra, following him, was merely thinking what a joy it was to soar upwards on the clean sharp winds of morning.

  28. A DINNER PARTY

  Selendra was disappointed in Gelener. She had expected better for a future wife of Sher’s. At first sight, she was most impressed. Gelener was beautiful as only a maiden dragon fresh from the milliners and polishers of the capital can be. She had been burnished until her golden scales almost shone. She was wearing a head
dress of great elaboration, covered in sequins and beads and jewels and bows, with tiny mirrors on stalks. Selendra, who had been given a quick rub by Amer when she came in to tie on her headpiece, a twist of gray and black ribbons Haner had made her, felt positively dowdy in comparison. Even the Exalt, resplendent in a dark green velvet bow decorated with one huge emerald that perfectly complemented her ruby skin, looked dull beside Gelener. Gelener’s mother looked as if she could have been the Exalt’s sister. Her bow was gold cloth, and the outsized jewel was a diamond.

  The Speaking Room at Benandi was large, amply big enough for the party of seven who waited in it, and with charming alcoves. The walls were decorated with light stones set in the dark rock of the mountain out of which the room was hewn. These had been arranged tastefully only the year before by an artist specially imported from Irieth for the occasion. They were still very fashionable, although in some houses in the capital dragons who wished to be thought in the forefront of the mode were ignoring the age-old prohibition on bringing precious objects into public parts of an establishment and decorating their Speaking Rooms with tiny fragments of gems. This was so far a fashion of Irieth only, it would have been quite excessive in the country, and the Exalt’s Speaking Room was exactly what it should have been.

  The Dining Room, which could be seen through a large arch, was even larger. Twenty full-size lords could have dined there, and had. The gutters on the floor were swabbed to perfection before the meal began. There were no modern decorations here, the purpose of the room spoke for itself. Servants were moving in and out with great dishes of freshly slaughtered beef, swine, and muttonwool, at least two animals for each guest. The carcasses were all skinned and dripping with blood. Many of them were decorated with fruit, fresh or preserved.

  Selendra’s disappointment began when she was introduced to Gelener as “The Respected Telstie.” Felin had not given Selendra the other maiden’s formal name when she had mentioned her the day before, so this familiar family name came as a surprise.

  “My father knew yours, long ago, or perhaps it would have been your grandfather,” Selendra blurted when she heard the name. Gelener inclined her head an infinitesimal fraction to the right, making her mirrors and sequins dance and catch, and waited. After too long a pause, Selendra realized that this was intended as a head quirk of polite inquiry. “My father began life as a tenant on the Telstie estate,” Selendra explained. “I have often heard him speak well of the Eminent and the Eminence Telstie.”

  “That would most likely have been my grandparents. Or it may have been my uncle, who is the present Eminent Telstie, but though he is an elderly dragon your father’s rise to respectability was probably before his time.” Gelener simpered.

  “My father, the Dignified Bon Agornin,” Selendra said, allowing her voice to stress her father’s title, of which she was justly proud, “died only recently, having attained his full five hundred years. His childhood on the Telstie estate was long ago.”

  “It would have been my grandparents that he knew, then, no doubt,” Gelener said, and moved on a little.

  The Exalt had been hovering nearby. Seeing Gelener move to speak to Sher, she turned to Selendra.

  “My dear,” she said. “I know you will not mind a word from someone so much older and more experienced in the ways of the world.” Selendra inclined her head, attempting to copy Gelener’s elegance with the gesture, but aware she came nowhere near succeeding. “Well then, it’ll do you no harm with Gelener, she’s a lovely maiden, very well brought up. Her mother and I are close friends, she won’t think less of you whatever you say. But generally, as you go about in society, I would not mention your father’s low origins. I do not mean you should lie about them—after all they are easily discoverable. But do not bring them gratuitously into conversation. After all, your mother was a Fidrak, and there is no higher blood than the Fidraks. They rank in the first ten families of the land. You have an uncle, or at any rate a cousin of some degree, who is an August lord. If you must mention family ties, mention your cousin the August Fidrak.”

  Selendra stared at the Exalt, barely capable of understanding what was meant. “But I do not know my cousin, so I would have nothing to say of him,” she said. “Besides, my mother’s branch of the Fidraks is fairly remote from the present holder of the title.”

  “You may not know him, but he is a connection of yours of whom you may be justly proud,” said the Exalt.

  “I am not ashamed of my father!” she replied, much too loudly. Everyone turned to look at them. Penn, who had been talking to Blest Telstie on the other side of the room, took a step towards them.

  “I was not suggesting that you should be,” said the Exalt, soothingly.

  “Merely that I should not mention him in polite society!” Selendra retorted, her violet eyes blazing and whirling rapidly. “I loved my father, and I am proud of him.”

  “Selendra—” Penn said, warningly. Blest Telstie looked confused. Felin’s teeth were bared in distress. In the other room the servants had stopped arranging the feast and were openly watching the unexpected drama.

  Gelener tried to exchange a pitying look with Sher, only to see that his eyes were blazing. “She’s quite right, mother,” he said.

  Selendra turned to him, grateful for help from such an unexpected quarter.

  “Bon was a splendid dragon,” Sher went on.

  “Nobody is saying he was not,” the Exalt said, icily. “Selendra misunderstood the intent of my words.”

  Selendra knew that everyone was looking at her. She was quite aware that she needed to apologize to the Exalt if she was to salvage the evening, but she could not quite control her voice. She hated to lie in such a position, and she knew that she had not misunderstood. She wanted to run out of the room to cry in peace. “I am sorry if I misunderstood your intent,” she said stiffly after a pause that was much too long.

  “That’s all right, my dear,” the Exalt said, and pressed her arm before moving across the room to speak to Blest Telstie.

  Sher abandoned Gelener and took the two strides necessary to bring him to Selendra’s side. Penn and Felin exchanged a glance, after which Penn moved towards the abandoned Gelener and Felin headed towards Sher and Selendra.

  “Don’t cry,” Sher said quietly. “I don’t know what my mother said, but I know what a ridiculous snob she can be. Don’t take any notice. Anyone who knew Bon Agornin appreciated that he had the true qualities of a gently born dragon, which count for so much more than empty titles won by distant ancestors.”

  Felin joined them in time to hear the latter part of what Sher was saying. “I’m sure the Exalt meant to speak no harm of Bon,” she added. “Do calm down, Selendra, unless you would rather I took you back home to rest.”

  Selendra could hardly speak. “My father earned his own title,” she said, gulping between words.

  “He did, and there was none better for him unless the Majestics of old should return and begin again naming dragons Honorable,” Sher said solemnly.

  Felin’s eyes whirled faster at that. She knew Sher from long experience to be carelessly kind to the broken-winged, unless it gave him inconvenience. She did not want Selendra to become one of his cases. Everything caused him some inconvenience in the end, and he would not persist through it. Felin had taken over the work of caring for a baby muttonwool who had lost her mother, a cat with a broken leg, and a farming family whose lease Sher had promised to investigate. More recently, she had had to deal with the distress of her children every time he went away without saying good-bye. “Would you like to leave now, Selendra?” Felin asked again. “I told the Exalt you were perhaps too soon bereaved for company. She’ll understand.”

  “Perhaps I should,” Selendra acquiesced gratefully.

  “No,” Sher said, putting out a claw to Felin. His dark eyes were grave, turning slowly in the depths. “If she runs away now, she hands my mother the victory claw, and besides it will allow everyone to feel sorry for her and discuss her in her
absence. If she stays, it will soon be forgotten.”

  “I had no idea you were so experienced in social gaffes,” Felin said.

  Sher laughed. “You have no idea,” he agreed cheerfully. “Well, Selendra?”

  Felin’s own gray eyes speeded up a little in surprise. She had not known they were on personal name terms.

  “I will stay,” Selendra said, in control of her voice now. “I am not a coward, and I am not ashamed of my father, nothing could make me be.”

  “Stay, let it pass over, that makes it nothing,” Sher said.

  Felin looked at the Exalt’s magnificent back as she spoke to Blest Telstie. Penn was engaging Gelener in conversation. She thought the incident was more likely to be forgiven if the Exalt were allowed to get away with it for now and then Felin did her best to smooth things over later. There was no arguing with Sher in this mood however, nor, clearly, with Selendra. Felin spread an inward hand and gave up the affair. The Exalt would be furious if Gelener was scared away, but she herself would be happier to see Sher with a partner who might bring a smaller dowry but who had a sense of humor. All the same, as they went through at last into the Dining Room, Felin felt her wings tremble a little on the winds of the storms ahead.

  8

  The Writ Is Received

  29. THE COMFORTS OF DAVERAK

  Haner’s life in Daverak Place was in many ways delightful. She had her own attendant, a graying maiden called Lamith, who had no other duties than to obey Haner’s wishes, burnish Haner’s scales, and make up becoming headgear to Haner’s satisfaction. The family breakfasted in their rooms, enjoyed the afternoon as they chose, and came together for dinner, for which there were often guests. Afterwards there was frequently dancing and jollity until late into the night.