Voices of Chaos (15 page)

Alexis was already talking to the official greeting party, which seemed to consist of only three males: Even from five paces away, and even in the unisex loose robes, the lack of long ear-tufts was obvious. Two more steps and so were the white patches flanking the nose, and the longer whiskers.

Two of the males were plainly clad and bore household color-stripes on their sleeves, which meant they were servants of some kind.

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The other wore deep blue silk, one forearm of which was gold with green stripes: One as broad as her index finger was long, the other extremely narrow.
That is Khyriz's elder brother-- but not the heir,
Magdalena thought.

What was going on here? The CLS team had been assured a proper

reception committee: the eldest Prince, a representative of the Prelate and one to stand in for the nobility. Perhaps they were waiting inside the palace, and this harassed-looking young royal--Khedan, she suddenly

remembered--merely there to escort them ... ?

But as she came nearer, Alexis's slightly raised voice told her that wasn't it, either. "Message to our ship? But we didn't receive any message!"

"Apologies, sincere ones," Khedan replied smoothly. "The message was sent and acknowledged by station and my brother's ship." His bow, his gesture, and his whiskers were all very correct and very well composed.

Magdalena turned her head aside momentarily, to hide her surprise and compose her face.
He's lying,
she realized. But this wasn't the place or time to show she knew it. "The Emperor and his Council know your awareness of our culture and our ways, so of course they assumed you would want the full day's time we would give one of our own to prepare for such a meeting--and our own, of course, would come no farther than the second moon base, while you--!"

"Well, yes, of course we have come a greater distance," Alexis replied, as smoothly.
She
wasn't fooled either, Magdalena decided. "But we have proper sleeping and bathing facilities on our ships, so there was no need for the delay ... but, as you say, such things happen, communications do go astray, and certainly there's no need for haste, since we will be here a very long time. And personally, I am looking forward to a long hour in a proper Arekkhi bathing pool." She glanced at Magdalena, then gestured toward her.

"I am Magdalena Perez, the translator for the CLS," Magdalena said, her bow and hand gesture indicating "one who is of another class and who is pleased to meet." Alexis wouldn't introduce her, of course. Arekkhi didn't introduce others; it was considered a gross breach of manners. As Khyriz had

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explained, it dated from a time, not that far back, when vendettas and petty bickering were common: One did not risk presenting one being to another, when possibly there was spilled blood between the two, or one would not wish to be acquainted with the other for some reason.

"I am Khedan, son of His Exaltedness the Emperor Khezan." The Prince glanced at his two companions, gestured for them to speak. Ordinarily, servants wouldn't in the presence of royalty, of course.

"I am Rohf, who has served the Empress ten years."

"I am Edhal, who most recently tended the wardrobe of Prince Khyriz."

Khedan gestured once more; the baggage cart, now full, was easing from beneath the shuttle; Magdalena glanced that way as Bhelan went back into the shuttle and the lock cycled shut behind him. The servants gestured a very brief bow, then went after the luggage. Khedan turned to indicate a pale yellow stripe of color not far from where they stood. "That moving walk will take us to the old palace, where you will be housed." He was silent thereafter, unless Alexis asked him a direct question. In silence they boarded the moving walkway, then entered the main floor of the old palace and walked past the few silent, staring clerical staff who were in the vast open space that led to the ramps or to the various chambers of office.

The middle Prince's ears fluttered constantly, and his whiskers hovered a finger's worth above his fur. Magdalena wasn't buying it.
It's a lie, like his
words; he's acting, so he won't have to talk to us. Not because he's afraid of
us as aliens, or afraid of saying or doing something to bring shame on his
family or his home world... but because....
She frowned briefly. She couldn't begin to decide why.

He showed them how to operate the entry controls to their suite of rooms, then left them outside the beautifully carved double doors that led from the long hallway to the old royal apartments; he grudgingly made a promise to Alexis that he would carry her greeting to the Emperor and the Council.

The two women watched him move back down the sloping ramp to the main floor, then looked at each other. "Wel !" Alexis said. "Shal we?"

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Magdalena managed a lips-only grin; there just might be spy devices outside the new CLS headquarters, after all. "After you, madame," she replied gravely. Alexis pressed the five-sided buttons, waited until the two doors slid back into the walls, then stepped into the flowering, vine-covered entry. "Wow," the translator added dryly as the tangy scent hit her and the doors closed with a faint "snick."

"Whole floor to ourselves, pretty impressive," Alexis said; she sneezed, rubbed her nose, and strode quickly through the entry and into the main room--this was where the emperors of old had entertained guests, and where they would hold any receptions, parties, group meetings.... "Very nice!" the interrelator added as she surveyed the vast, pillared room.

Magdalena gazed around them: dark-paneled walls, dark pillars, darkly timbered ceiling, with gold and iridescent filigree between the timbers. The entire south wall was dark-glassed windows (they'd be clear glass after dark, of course) and balconies galore. At least ten doorways were evenly spaced across the east wall. And central to the room, a vast talking-pit: two small steps down from the floor, the cushion-filled area where Arekkhi could sit and talk, argue, watch vid....
(Yes,
Magdalena thought as she looked around, there was the new holo-vid center that held their own communications gear, as well as a complete Arekkhi entertainment system, and planetary communications.) The matte-black video, sound, and two-way

communications system fit surprisingly well into the corner of the room above the pit, though it was a sleek contrast to the ornate chamber and its furnishings.

Including the being who rose from among the cushions and bolsters: tall and slender, red zhona-silk slithering into place and a padded hat canted at a familiar, jaunty angle between his ears. Magdalena laughed aloud. "Khyriz!"

she cried out happily, and ran to greet him.

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CHAPTER 6

***

translator. She took a deep breath as she came up to him and held out her hands. "Khyriz, my good friend."

The Prince laid the backs of his hands lightly on hers, the Arekkhi greeting between close friends, then spread his arms wide. "Magdalena," he said very softly, and hugged her, human-style. Magdalena hugged back,

burrowing her face against his chest, hands flat against his shoulders. I
was
right about one thing,
she thought.
He's matured; his muscles....
At StarBridge, he'd been so lean, she'd joked that she could count his ribs through silk and fur both. Now a layer of taut muscle covered them and bulked out his shoulders. "And Alexis," Khyriz added as the interrelator came up behind them. "Or should I say 'Revered Interrelator?' "

"Not in these rooms, you won't," Alexis retorted with a wide smile. "I'll think you're being sarcastic ... or I won't remember that's supposed to be
me.
How did you get in, though? I thought all those fancy buttons on the outside door meant it was locked."

"I asked that your servants permit it; I came down as they were leaving to meet your shuttle. I thought it would be more ... pleasant to meet you here, in private." Magdalena glanced

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up at his face as he hesitated over the choice of words;
he sounds tense,
she thought. "And to be certain that you would not need to immediately ...

ah ...
clean
these rooms on your arrival." He held up a hand and wiggled his fingers. Alexis eyed the little patch on his nail, and touched the earring-disrupt she wore so he could see the gesture.

"And ... we are clean?"

"You are," Khyriz said.

"Good. Not that I expected such a breach of manners, of course..."

"If you are sensible, on Arekkhi you always expect that," Khyriz reminded her evenly.

The interrelator nodded. "Well--thank you. Gaudy and handsome as ever, aren't you, O Prince?" Khyriz wrinkled his nose in reply, baring neatly pointed teeth in an Arekkhi attempt at a human grin.

Magdalena had almost forgotten the kind of ham-handed jesting these two had indulged in back at school. Khyriz lifted the hem of his robe to expose short, narrow feet in soft red slippers. "No glass shoes, even now," he said cheerfully. "But your teasing is still amiss: In that vid of Dr. Rob's, it is the Cinderella-she who wears the clear little foot-coverings; the Prince has boots to his second joint." Alexis laughed. "But if
you
brought such glass shoes, Alexis, unpack them soon. My father's council is arranging a special ball to honor your arrival."

"Oh? That's nice of them. When?"

"That is not decided yet. Soon, however. You should perhaps have allowed me to arrange the formal garb for both of you after all," he added. Magdalena looked up at him, puzzled, then at Alexis.

"Arranged ... ? But we both have clothes," she said began.

Alexis briefly met her glance. "Not the fancy stuff. I guess I forgot to brief you on that, with everything else going on; Khyriz offered to pay for fancy dress since it's not normally a CLS expenditure--but, of course, the CLS can't allow that."
Of course not,
Magdalena realized after a moment.
That would have
the appearance of a bribe, and the CLS is extremely careful about
appearances. Considering just Earth political

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history, they need to be.
"But they did come up with a special clothing allowance," Alexis went on. "So we won't have to go to formal events in StarBridge jumpsuits." She glanced at Khyriz. "I don't imagine trousers on human females will be wildly popular here, will they? Though we did see the station baggage handlers in them."

"A few of the working females also begin to wear them ... fish-hunters, and the like. I hope such things will change even more, now you are here,"

Khyriz said. Magdalena frowned. Why did he sound so formal? "Personally, I have hopes of someday wearing my denims outside my rooms." He shook down the red silky sleeves, wrapped an arm around Magdalena's shoulders, and drew her close to him. "I trust my brother Khedan was polite when he greeted you?"

"Very polite," Alexis said. "But it was odd: We were expecting the committee.

You know, your eldest brother, a ranking member of the Prelate's household and one of the noble members of Council, plus a few others."

"Yes, I know; I heard. An emergency--"

"Oh? Oh--so was
that
what that fire was all about? We wondered. I know your pilot said field burning, but it seemed so out of control and such an odd hour. In the Ukraine, we'd've called a burn that size a disaster."

"I had not heard about... a fire," Khyriz said quietly; Magdalena, still pressed against his side, felt his heart thudding rapidly. Alexis appeared not to notice the slight hesitation in his reply.

"Well, an emergency like that would explain why we won't meet the Emperor today. Your brother gave us a rather garbled excuse, something about a message to our ship and the full day of recovery--we never received it, and I'm assuming it wasn't actually sent. It makes a good excuse, of course.

Because, we said from the first that a full day off to recover from travel wasn't needed. We worked that out long ago."

"I am sorry; I didn't... I don't know anything about this," Khyriz said. His voice definitely sounded odd now, and his whiskers were quivering, very near his face. Magdalena eased away from his side to look up at him.

"Oh, I'm not blaming
you
for anything," Alexis assured 104

him. "It was just... an odd greeting ceremony."

"I've told you about Khedan," Khyriz remarked pointedly.

"Khedan ... oh, of course. The would-be priest who can't quite manage to take final vows." Alexis frowned at her fingers and spoke as if to herself.

"Odd they'd send him; if he's so xenophobic...." She shook free of the direction of her thoughts and smiled again. "Guess that explains it."

Khyriz's fingers tightened on Magdalena's arm before he released her. "And this fire.... I had not heard about one; doubtless it was not as vast as it would appear from the shuttle. But Bhelan would know; his people come from halfway around Arekkhi, and they still burn stubble after a harvest, to clean the fields before reseeding. Of course, it may have been wildfire; if so, there will be coverage on the news-vid. Your system will access Arekkhi vid stations, but the standard vid is there." He indicated an enormous, framed mural that took up a large portion of the wall nearest the cushion-filled pit.

"The control is built into the corner, just here," he added and bent down to point out the five-sided buttons.

"I know how to work the television," Alexis said, deliberately patient. "And I'll look for a report on the fire, of course; I just wondered what you knew. Since it was your pilot who brought us in, I thought he'd have told you."

"My pilot," Khyriz murmured; one ear flicked and he shoved his sleeve up to bare the watch. "You see, I wear it always, Magdalena," he said. "Apologies, I must go now; Bhelan was to return for me as soon as the shuttle was cleared, I am needed at my estates."