Heart of Gold

by Sharon Shinn

  “But there’s nothing wrong with it. I know a lot of women—my sister, even—”

  “Please. I don’t want those details. I have to admit, my emotions side with Colt on this one, even though my brain tells me it is an irrational prejudice brought about by a cultural schism. But I don’t like to think about it.”

  “But among the gulden, there are men who—well, what the men do with each other is even worse than what the women do!” Nolan burst out.

  Pakt smiled faintly. “Now, to me, a male homosexual is an understandable and acceptable individual. Many of them are the orphans, the young men with no father or uncle to take them in. But many of them are the most powerful clan leaders in Geldricht, who do anything they choose and dare anyone to question them.”

  Nolan felt queasy at the very images the talk conjured up, but he continued to listen; he wanted to understand. “Why would it be like that,” he asked, “jahlas among the indigo and—and whatever you call those men among the gulden?”

  Pakt shrugged and spread his hands. “The anthropologist Anton Solvano said that women are always drawn to power. Among the indigo, the women have the power, and among the gulden, it’s men. Those with the power have the women.”

  Nolan was fascinated but still unsure. “And men? What are they drawn to?”

  Pakt laughed. “The availability of sex. If it were not such a cultural taboo, believe me, you would have homosexuals among the indigo. Indigo men profess to despise all guldwomen, but who are the customers for the gulden whores? Most of them are blueskins, did you know that? They’re drawn by the availability of sexual favors. But blueskin whores don’t entertain gulden men. Even a low-caste blue-skin woman has more prestige than a guldman, and a woman does not engage below her station. First law of the species.”

  Now Nolan’s head was beginning to ache. “The law of the indigo species?”

  Pakt smiled. “No, you innocent, the human species. A woman who mates with an inferior produces inferior children. They will not be as strong, as big, as intelligent as their cousins and rivals. Therefore, they will not be able to win the most attractive and fertile women of the next generation, and eventually the bloodline thins out and vanishes. All human behavior can be traced back to the biological imperatives. Most of it, anyway.”

  “And men’s desire for sex?”

  Pakt flung his arms out over his desk. “Procreate everywhere! Produce hundreds of sons! Make sure your lineage never dies out!”

  “Well, but if a man is taking another man as his lover—”

  Pakt laughed again. “True, no children will result. At times the biological impulse gets cross-wired. But it’s always in there working.”

  Nolan thought a moment, sighed, and pushed himself to his feet. “I don’t know. You might be right. But my life seems more controlled by outside forces than anything ticking inside my head.”

  “Well, yes, when culture reinforces biology, your destiny can seem pretty inescapable. Even so, the individual will sometimes surprise you. More often than you think.”

  * * *

  * * *

  The rest of the day passed calmly enough, though there was still little interaction among the races—indeed, among anyone. They all kept to their own offices, working diligently. Nolan spared a thought to regret that Cerisa was gone this day and so did not have a chance to observe how industrious they all had become.

  And the next two days, though Cerisa was among them again, she might as well have been absent. She locked herself in her lab and did not emerge even for lunch. Melina and Colt returned that second day, each of them appearing both chastened and defiant, and, like the others, confined themselves to their workspaces. Nolan noticed that Melina was no longer wearing her lover’s necklace, though she was wearing a shirt whose collar was embroidered with Julitta’s family colors. He guessed that Colt was not conversant enough with the heraldry of the mid-caste indigo to recognize the symbolism of that pattern. In any case, the guldman did not react to the provocation.

  The afternoon of her second day back, Nolan stopped by Melina’s office and asked her to lunch. “That would be fun,” she said in her usual decisive manner, and so they left the building together, chatting idly. Over the meal, they talked mostly of their work, but conversation gradually turned to more personal topics.

  “So. I saw you talking with Colt this morning. Have you two smoothed things over?” Nolan asked cautiously.

  She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Yes. You know we fight all the time, and we never stay mad at each other for long. In some ways, he’s my best friend at the lab. We’re so much alike.”

  “You and Colt?” Nolan said incredulously. “Alike?”

  She nodded vigorously. “Oh yes! We’re both the oldest in our families, and we each have four sisters and brothers, so there’s a lot of pressure there to do well and set a good example. My mother would be so mortified if I came to the city and didn’t do something distinctive with my life. And Colt’s father—he’s told me his father would disinherit him. Which means even more to the gulden than it does to us,” she added thoughtfully. “For us, it means losing money and land and—well, prestige. A place in the community. For them, it means losing family, becoming—I think he called it a ghost. Someone who is no longer alive. I didn’t quite understand it. But I knew what he meant.”

  “I don’t think you’re alike at all.”

  She laughed again. “Oh, we are! We were both brought up to believe we’re the most important person in the room and everyone should do whatever we say, whether or not we say it nicely. The only reason Colt doesn’t completely lord it over everyone else in the lab is Pakt—because he was brought up to respect the dominant male. And the only reason I’m bearable is Cerisa. Same reason.”

  “You and Pakt,” Nolan said, shaking his head. “You make it all sound so complicated. Like there’s more going on than just a few individuals in a room.”

  “There’s always more going on than that,” she said wryly.

  Nolan wasn’t sure how to reply to that, but there was never any need to strain for conversation with Melina. “How’s Leesa?” she asked a few minutes later. “Are you going to see her anytime soon?”

  He nodded. “As a matter of fact, she’s coming to the city in a couple of days. Business, she says, but I think she really wants to attend Corzehia Mallin’s big event.”

  “Oh, are you going to be there? Good! You can meet Julitta. We’ve been invited, of course. I think even Cerisa will be there.”

  Nolan grimaced. “I thought she’d been invited, but I was hoping she wouldn’t go. The crowd will be a little young for her, won’t it?”

  “Actually, I think Corzehia’s invited everyone—all the Higher Hundred in the city. So you’ll have to come in formal dress. Which I know you love.”

  “Anything to impress Cerisa,” he said, and she laughed again.

  They headed back to the Complex together, but Melina veered off to stop at a public news monitor. He waited a moment while she scanned the screen, her finger on the “hard copy” button in case she wanted a record of anything.

  “What are you looking for?” he asked when he got bored.

  She shrugged. “Just looking for news of the day. Go on, I’ll catch up with you later.”

  He nodded and strolled on down the sidewalk till he came to the nearest entrance of the Complex. It was on the far side of the building in relation to the Biolab, closest to the government offices, a region that was somewhat unfamiliar to him. He wondered where Jex Zanlan was being held—in this quarter of the building, he thought, but undoubtedly not on the ground floor—and whether Chay Zanlan was anywhere in the vicinity. Probably not. Most likely, all the diplomats were out lunching with Ariana Bayless and the gulden king. In fact, these corridors seemed almost deserted.

  Which was why the lone figure, sitting on the marble floor with her head in her hands i
n a pose of absolute dejection, caught his attention. She was a blueskin, though he could tell little about her caste from her clothing or her hidden face, and she looked as though she could weep until the world ended.

  Unthinking, Nolan crossed the smooth stone in a few quick strides and put a hesitant hand to her shoulder. “Hela?” he said in a soft voice. “Can I help you? Can I get you anything?”

  At his touch, her head had jerked up, and as he spoke, she scrambled to her feet. High-caste was his first thought, before he registered the wild, almost frightened look on her face. “Are you all right?” he asked more urgently.

  She backed a step away from him and tried to push her heavy hair from her forehead. Her hands were shaking and the deep color of her face seemed bleached and insufficient. Nonetheless, there was something regal about her, something that scorned him for even presuming to aid her.

  “Yes. I’m fine. Just go on.”

  His training urged him to obey her curt words, but his compassion made him linger. “I can take you to a doctor if you need help. Or I can fetch you a glass of water—”

  “I’m fine,” she said even more sharply. The color had returned to her cheeks on a wave of anger or embarrassment; she seemed to grow calmer and more assured as he stood and watched. “Thank you. You’re quite kind. But please leave me.”

  Well, she seemed capable of speech and motion, and she clearly did not want him nearby, so he nodded once and turned away. He had only gone a few yards down the echoing hallway when quick footsteps hurried up behind him, and Melina fell in step beside him.

  “What were you saying to her?” she asked incredulously. “I didn’t know you knew her.”

  “I don’t,” he replied, surprised. “She was sitting all hunched up on the floor. I thought something was wrong and went over to offer her help. Which she didn’t want. Why? Who is she?”

  “Anton Solvano’s daughter,” Melina responded. “The disgrace of the Candachi family.”

  Even Nolan had heard of renegade blueskin anthropologist Anton Solvano; in fact, Pakt had mentioned the name just the other day. “She’s a disgrace because she’s Solvano’s daughter? That’s not really her fault, is it?”

  “That isn’t, no. But she’s also chosen to become Jex Zanlan’s mistress.”

  Nolan couldn’t help himself; he pivoted on one foot to look back at the girl who had huddled so miserably on the floor. But she was nowhere in sight. “That’s incredible,” he said.

  Melina shrugged. “True, though. She never makes an attempt to deny it. They say her family is completely mortified by the situation, but they haven’t disinherited her. Yet. Which you have to give them credit for, because surely the temptation must be strong.”

  Nolan resumed walking toward the lab, Melina beside him. “Guess she won’t be at Corzehia’s ball, though,” he said.

  Melina laughed so hard she almost couldn’t catch her breath. “No,” she said at last, “I guess she won’t.”

  * * *

  * * *

  Two days later, she told him more about Kitrini Candachi. They were drinking their first cups of coffee in Melina’s office and celebrating the calm that had descended upon the city with Chay Zanlan’s departure. The thought of Chay Zanlan had reminded Nolan of Jex, which had reminded him of the dark, despairing woman he had spoken to so briefly.

  “Tell me about her,” he said to Melina. “How did she even get to know Jex Zanlan?”

  “What do you know about the Solvanos? Her father and her grandfather?”

  “Not much. I think they’re mid-caste or high-caste but not Higher Hundred. They did some famous studies in anthropology.”

  “Right. Well, her grandfather, Casen Solvano, was this brilliant but sort of demented scholar who went off to live with the gulden when he was a young man. This was fifty or sixty years ago, you understand, when the city was maybe a third of the size it is now. There were very few gulden in the city, and most of them were the engineering specialists who had only agreed to come in because they were paid a great deal of money. The gulden built the city, you know—the indigo didn’t have the technology for it. The gulden were the architects and the engineers, and that’s what really gave them a foothold in the city.”

  “This is like talking to Pakt,” Nolan said. “Always some kind of history lesson.”

  “Well, you asked.”

  “I asked about her.”

  “Right. Well, so there had been almost no contact between the two races since the indigo drove the gulden out of the valley two hundred years ago. So the fact that Casen Solvano went off to study the gulden was this amazingly shocking thing. He would resurface every few years and give anthropological papers on ‘The Lifestyle of the Gulden Tribe’ and things like that. Then he’d disappear again. He was considered a nutcase, but he was actually pretty valuable because he brokered some of the deals between races that got more of the city built. There’s a plaza named after him somewhere on the west edge of the city. I’ve never been there.”

  “So then, this girl,” Nolan said patiently. “Kitrini? Is that her name?”

  Melina nodded. “Solvano had a son named Anton—who took his father’s name, by the way, not his mother’s, though I’ve never been too clear on what kind of strange woman he could convince to marry him. Probably some low-caste girl willing to take any husband. But this Anton, he was like some wild man. He was practically brought up among the gulden—I heard some story that he never saw his grandmother’s land till he was ten years old. They sent him to City College, and he blew away all their test scores. I mean, he was brilliant, but he was totally lunatic. He started agitating for the admission of gulden to City College, and for equal rights in the city for guldmen and guldwomen. Until Anton Solvano came around, you know, the gulden couldn’t own property in the city. They still can’t own it in-country, of course, and I don’t expect that will ever change. But he did a lot for the gulden within the city limits.”

  Melina took a sip of her coffee while Nolan waited impatiently. “Like his father,” she continued, “he had studied anthropology, and he produced all these really inflammatory papers about the differences between the indigo and the gulden. I mean, pretty brutal assessments of the indigo, calling them a primitive matriarchal feudal system and questioning all sorts of inheritance laws that had been in existence for centuries. Most people tried to ignore him but he did have an impact, and all sorts of debate groups were started to discuss some of his observations.” Melina smiled. “Anton Solvano is probably the reason you’re here in the city today. He called the female-dominated blueskin society barbaric, inefficient, and repressive, and he made a lot of young men his age start questioning their roles in their mothers’ houses.”

  “And then he had this daughter,” Nolan prompted.

  “And then he got married to Roetta Candachi,” Melina obligingly went on. “Which was something of a scandal for the Candachis, as you might guess. I mean, they don’t come any purer than the Candachi. Roetta, they say, was completely headstrong—not to be held by love or honor, as my grandmother would say. They married, and had a daughter within a year.”

  “Kitrini.”

  “Kitrini. So of course old Lorimela Candachi was pretty happy about that, though she already had another granddaughter. What’s her name—Sereva, that’s it. She’s a couple years older than Kitrini. Anyway, everything seemed fine, everyone expected Anton to settle down and become more normal—and then his wife died. And he took his daughter and went back to Gold Mountain.”

  “Why did Lorimela Candachi allow that?”

  Melina smiled. “I don’t think he asked her. One day, they were just gone. I guess Kitrini was four or five by then. And for the next twenty years, she spent most of her life in Geldricht, and only a few months of the year with her mother’s family. So you would have to guess she’s not your ordinary blueskin girl.”

  “Have you ever m
et her?”

  Melina shook her head. “The Candachis live pretty far up-country, not at all close to my mother’s estates. They haven’t come my way much, though Lorimela Candachi would recognize me if she saw me on the street, and I’ve met Sereva a few times. Lorimela is a bitch, but I like Sereva.”

  Now Nolan smiled at the casual epithet. “You shouldn’t speak so slightingly of your high-caste elders.”

  Melina laughed. “Well, you know what I mean. My grandmother’s the same way—so’s yours, probably. Lays down the law absolutely, expects everyone to obey every word she says. Completely inflexible. Completely unwilling to entertain a new thought. I know, I know, they’re the ones who have made Inrhio the prosperous country it is today, but you can’t have a conversation with one of them without wanting to run screaming from the room.”

  “So Kitrini grew up in Geldricht, and met the ruler’s son, and fell in love with him. And didn’t know any better,” Nolan said thoughtfully, “because she hadn’t had a mother to tell her how to behave.”

  “And her father was hardly a role model.”

  “It still seems incredible,” Nolan said. “I mean, except for the gilt girls, you never see an indigo with a gulden. And I’ve never seen an indigo woman with a gulden man. Not ever.”

  “Well, and you wonder how long Lorimela Candachi will let this go on. Kitrini’s living at her house right now. Surely the old lady has some influence over her.”

  “So tell me,” Nolan said. “How do you know so much about these Solvanos? I’ve heard the names, of course, but I didn’t know half that stuff.”

  Melina grinned. “My dad knew Anton Solvano at City College. My dad was in the first class of men that were allowed in the university, and I guess they were all fairly close. And I think they all found Anton Solvano pretty amazing. But I don’t think they stayed in touch much after Anton moved back to Geldricht.”