The Strangers of Kindness (17 page)

His master didn’t need to mimic human grief today. Its face was gaunt and heavy with sorrow. At the graveside Viladi’s mother wept uncontrollably, crying Viladi’s name over and over. While the priest finished his incantations, the mayor dropped the first handfuls of dirt into the grave on top of the pitifully small bundle of linen. A harrowing wail tore from the mother’s throat. She wrenched away from her relatives and fell into the hole screaming. The crowd surged and tangled at the edge of the grave. Viladi’s father, his sallow face destroyed, threw himself heedlessly upon the ground and reached for his wife. If she felt his hands on her shoulders she gave no sign, only kept up the heart-rending ululations and clung to her dead child’s body.
 

The priest, her husband, her aunts and cousins wept and called to her, mixed-up words of pity and entreaty. Someone jumped down into the grave with her, and in twisting to evade their grasp the woman’s face flashed toward Jared and his master. Her eyes were chips of black ice, circled by grief-bruised hollows. Her transcendent pain hit Jared like a blow. He glanced at his master. Pasha had seen, too, and now there were dark circles under its eyes also.
 

Jared put a hand on its arm and when Pasha looked at him, he murmured, “Careful, Pasha. Watch me.” It wouldn’t do for Pasha in its empathetic sorrow to mimic the mother’s anguish.

Somehow they all got through it. Villagers returned to their homes. There was no commerce the rest of the day. People stayed in their homes, slaves in whatever berths were assigned them. Even Pasha’s friends, the village dogs, were hardly to be seen. By unspoken agreement, Jared did no glass-blowing. He huddled on the side of his bed, exploring the emotions that had unfolded in him since Pasha had bought him in the sun-baked market.

When the shadows outside were long, Pasha appeared at Jared’s doorway. One look at his master’s face told him that for all of Pasha’s wisdom and goodwill, the alien still couldn’t get its
frombur
around his little friend’s death, or indeed the much larger reality of human death itself. Jared held out an arm, and Pasha came to sit by him on the bed. Until the sun went down they rested there, merely holding each other in silence.

* * *

“Thirty-two,” Jared called. Eight stacks of four special
nalshas
each were lined up in the third bedroom. Two weeks had passed since Viladi’s death. Daily life had resumed, and Pasha had applied itself with greater urgency to creating the bowls necessary to escape Earth. “How many do you need?”
 

“Two more.”

Jared went into the front room where Pasha stood staring out the window toward Kalda’s. “You’ll be leaving soon, then,” he said.

“Yes.”

“I’ll miss you, Pasha.”

The alien turned to regard him with wide, wondering eyes. “That’s the first thing that comes to your mind? You’ll miss me?”

A spasm of grief swept Jared’s face. “I’ve never known anybody like you,” he half-sobbed, half-laughed at his absurd statement.

“Of course you haven’t,” Pasha answered, acknowledging the irony. It came across the room and regarded its slave kindly. “The same is true of you, Jared. You are a remarkable creature. I had no idea when I found you how much you would teach me, how deep it would go.

“And now, as we come to the end of our time together, you say you will miss me.”

“You know I will, Pasha.”

“Yes. But are you not concerned with your fate? What will happen to you when I am gone?”

Jared shrugged. “Not much mystery there. I know what’s ahead.” He lifted his head, struck by a new thought. “Why, Pasha? Have you found a new master for me?”

“Not a new one, no.” The morphed lips pursed, whether in humor or hesitancy, Jared couldn’t tell. He squelched the tingle of fear in his belly. Pasha said, “I have made inquiries and have learned that it is quite legal for me to give you your freedom.”

Jared’s jaw dropped.

Pasha eyed him, a smile twitching its lips. “It’s a matter of paying some money to the mayor’s bursar, signing a document, and making a public declaration. Quite a lot of trouble to go to, wouldn’t you say?”

Jared’s chest bucked in a disbelieving sob. “You would do this, Master?”

Pasha tilted its head and aimed a round-eyed stare at him. “Why would I not, Jared? Shards and crystals, you are the best friend I have ever known!”

All the air left Jared’s lungs and tears blinded him. Pasha Sands nearly knocked him over flinging its arms around him in a clumsy, ferocious hug. Jared returned the embrace, laughing and crying, then held the alien at arm’s length. “Are you sure, Pasha? People like Kalda will hate you.”

A carefree hand waved the concern away. “What do I care for that? I’ll be leaving, going home. Nothing he can say or do will affect me.” Pasha’s features darkened. “But I am worried about Anna. How I wish there was something I could do to get her free of them.”

There was nothing Jared could say to that. It was the dark cloud on his suddenly brighter horizon.

Pasha had made a special
nalsha
the night before. It wasn’t ready to undertake another one that evening. Instead, it led Jared to the workshop and placed the old blue
nalsha
on the table between them. In a few minutes Kalda’s voice echoed in the room. “. . . good idea you had, my dear. The mayor’s servant came and bought another assortment of spices today.”

“I told you it would pay to play up to them. Since the brat’s death they’ re especially vulnerable to kindness.” Pasha sucked in air, shocked.

“I intend to visit him in a day or two. There’s a messenger from Jindar due soon; he’ll have news of the vizier’s troubles at court. The mayor’s in a good position to take advantage of the uncertainties. With the information I can put in his ear, he’ll be able to maneuver himself a place in the vizier’s nephew’s circle.”

“He’s been wanting to go to Jindar for years. Do you think he’ll be grateful?”

“Why not?” Kalda’s odious chuckle came through clearly. “Look at yourself, you can hardly wait to pour tea for the women at court. We’ re on our way up, Kriessa, just as you’ve been desiring.”

“It’s about time I found myself among people of quality. I’m getting tired of listening to these country yokels’ boring idiocies.”

Pasha stood up breaking the
nalsha
’s contact abruptly. “I can’t stand to listen to this any more,” it snapped. “I’d hoped to hear how they’ re treating Anna. But this despicable use of little Viladi’s death—what kind of creatures are they?”

Jared patted its arm. “Bad ones, Pasha. Try not to worry. I’ll stay here in this town when you’ re gone and try to look out for her, the best I can.”

Another routine morning went by. They were eating their noonday meal when a frantic pounding at the door startled them. Pasha rushed to answer it.

“Anna! What’s the matter?”

She stumbled in, panting with distress. “The mayor—he’s over there, he’s furious, Pasha! Something has happened—he’s accusing them of terrible things! I’m afraid!”

“Come, sit down, little one, get your breath.”

Jared and Pasha perched on either side of her on the couch. Pasha said, “Can you slow down and tell us more clearly? Why are you afraid?”

“He’s threatening to ruin them. He’s going to tell every body that they’ve been using his family’s sorrow to further their own ambitions—” Pasha and Jared exchanged stunned glances.

She went on, “He called them all sorts of terrible names, said he’ d see to it that they’ re beggars in the streets. He says he’ll tell the whole town that Kalda and Kriessa think they’ re shit. He said God talked to him last night and revealed to him their true evil! Oh, Pasha, if he drives them out of town, out of their business, I don’t know what will happen to me! Kriessa’s always threatened to make me a whore, she always said I’d be worth more to them doing that. What if she does! I couldn’t bear it!”

His reserve forgotten, Jared threw his arms around her. Hideous fear howled through his head and heart. She broke into sobs. “Things were going so well, too. They weren’t hitting me so much, because of you. And they were in much better moods, the mayor was becoming friendly to them. He really appreciated their gift after Viladi died . . .”

“Gift? What gift?”

“Kalda took them one of your little bowls, Pasha. The beautiful one with all the greens and blues in it. It was his favorite, the last one you made? Kalda had Kriessa write a note saying they hoped its beauty would bring her parents comfort.”
 

But Pasha hadn’t heard the last part. It had stood up with an expression of numb horror. “They . . . gave him a
nalsha
? When?” It sat down and seized Anna’s shoulders. “When, Anna? Today? When?”

“No, several days ago. Why—what’s the matter?” The alien stared at Jared, who caught the horror but not the reason. “Pasha...?”

“They must have heard, Jared. Last night, when we did. Oh, Geilsharah, what have I done? I never dreamed they would give them to someone in town! He said he would sell them in other places!”

The two humans stared at him, mystified and frightened.
 

“What, Pasha, what could you have done?”

“I never meant to harm anyone. What a fool I am. What we heard last night, Jared, because the mayor’s
nalsha
is certainly within the bowls’ area of resonance . . . his bowl would have transmitted it, too!”

Jared’s mind raced over what he could remember of Kalda’s and Kriessa’s comments. “She called Viladi a brat,” he breathed, sickened. “And he heard that?”

Pasha nodded. “And their machinations to curry favor, to take advantage of her parents’ grief to advance their political ambitions. Oh, Jared, what have I done?” It paced, distraught, wringing its hands.

Anna tugged at Jared’s arm. “What are you talking about!” He explained it the best he could, with his limited understanding of Pasha’s relationship with its
nalshas
, and how they had listened to the conversations in Kalda’s house.

Anna’s face blanched, her lips thinned, and she glared at Pasha. “It wasn’t right, what you did, Pasha, God forgive me for speaking so to you! I know I’m only a slave and have no right to speak out like this. But listening to them when they didn’t know it—!”

Jared jumped to his master’s defense. “He was worried about you, Anna. He only did it the two times, both times because he was concerned for you. Look at him! No one is more upset about this than he is!”

Anna watched the alien pacing, pacing. Jared could see her mind working behind those intelligent eyes. Her hard expression relaxed, and she told Pasha, “It wasn’t right, sir, but I can see you were only trying to do good. But listen, now; it’s not your fault they used your bowl for evil. Pasha, stop!” It stopped and focused its eyes on her.

“If they hadn’t been so greedy, so willing to use even a parent’s suffering to get ahead, this wouldn’t have happened to them. What you did, you did out of a good heart, Pasha. What they did was horrible.”

Her words seemed to calm the alien down. It squared its shoulders and looked from her to Jared. “The question now is, what do I do about it?”

“There’s nothing you can do to save them,” Anna answered. “Their own wickedness got them into this, and they’ll just have to pay the price.” Her eyelashes glittered with tears, but her chin was up. Jared loved her more than ever. She said, “There’s nothing you can do for me, either. Whatever comes, it’s my life and I have to endure it.” She glanced at Jared, looked away quickly, and continued to his master: “You two have been so kind to me. Do you know what you have given me? Good memories, mine to cherish all my life. They can’t take that away.” She grasped them each by an arm. “Master Pasha, Jared, you’ve got to see what good you’ve done me.”

She wouldn’t release them until they’ d both nodded. “I must go back now. They’ re busy trying to pacify the mayor, they think I’m in the store-room. If Kalda comes here, you mustn’t let on that you know what’s happened.”

The door shut behind her as she left, and Jared cried, “Pasha, we can’t leave her to them! Here, I know what to do—make them a trade, Master, trade me for her. A man’s worth a lot more than a woman, see? I can get a lot more work done for them. They’ d jump at the chance, especially—” he swallowed, hard—“Kriessa. And it would make sense to them, too, since they think you’ re in love with her. Please, Pasha, do this for me, for her.” He was on his knees, the only time he’ d done that since his first night in Pasha’s house.

His master yanked him to his feet. “Stop that.” It scowled at the floor, then at Jared. “You would do that for her?” It searched his face. Its eyes lifted from Jared to the window, out to the spice store’s deserted front.

It shook its head, turned and walked away. Jared started to follow but Pasha waved him off. “Leave me for a little while, please. Go—clean something. I must have time alone. I must beg Geilsharah for forgiveness and guidance.” It retrieved the little blue
nalsha
and disappeared into its sleeping-room. Jared spent the miserable day alone, keeping himself so busy cleaning that he nearly scrubbed through the sandstone walls. The normal dinner time came and went, and Pasha remained closed up in its room. A steady hum seeped from under the door. At last exhausted Jared flung himself onto a chair and prepared to wait until eternity, if need be, for his master to come out. Wondering what was happening across Merchant Street tortured his imagination.