Voices of Chaos (22 page)

The female presented herself as Ehna, the once-wife of the elder's third son, lost in an accident the previous winter. In answer to one of Alexis's questions, the elder explained, "Our females seldom go on the hunting boats; it is harsh work, long and hard hours, and the odor mostly unpleasant.

Though the females of most fish-hunting groups are involved in the accounting and often in the preparation of the catch. But our family is not attached to a cooperative and we have no guaranteed purchaser for our take. So it is vital that we have sufficient hands to manage the netting and the spears."

"I come from the land myself," Alexis replied. "And from a family where everyone had to work the harvest. I understand this is hard work." The elder looked both pleased and astonished by this. Ehna gazed at the interrelator steadily from under the broad-brimmed hat, as if memorizing her features and what she said, but spoke very little.

After several minutes, Alexis stepped back and gestured a farewell. "We must not keep you from your livelihood," she said. The younger male gestured a reply farewell, then turned to help his fellow hunters launch the boat. Alexis and Magdalena turned away at once to follow Khyriz back to the hover

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car: The Arekkhi made elaborate gestures or speeches of farewell, but once the moment was over, both sides Were expected to turn away and leave.

Magdalena caught up to the interrelator. "It really
is
a lot like the Simiu," she murmured in Mizari. "If you add in some form of 'good-bye,' of course."

"Different from dealing with Khyriz and Shiksara," Alexis murmured in reply, adding with a faint smile, and in Arekkhi, as Khyriz came up behind them,

"but of course, Shiksara and Khyriz are both half human...." It was an old joke between interrelator and Prince, and she glanced sidelong at the young royal, who quirked his whiskers forward in a smile.

''We Arekkhi are just better at mimicry and acting than you mere humans," he replied loftily and handed Magdalena back into the hover-car with an even more courtly bow than before. "But that was a good deed; their catch will sell early and for good price; everyone who saw you just now will want to know what was said and what you are like."

"Good." Alexis clambered in behind them. "So--where next?"

"It is your choice," Khyriz said. "The designer is that way," he indicated with his head, "and we have until midday. Three Arekkhi hours for exploration, perhaps."

"Well, then ..." Alexis leaned forward to study the city as Zhik brought the flitter up. "Then, that way?" For answer, the young noble worked the controls and brought the machine slightly around, heading south toward what she remembered from maps as one of the busier open-air food markets.

They stopped several times at different stalls, most chosen by Alexis on the spur of the moment: a baker's where a crowd of working-class Arekkhi waited for rolled-up flat loaves enclosing a spicy meat stew; a covered square where news-boards and vid-screens were set up. A shaded park where several females and one young male--an elder brother, they learned--

watched small young at play. The encounters went much the same: The elder Arekkhi were careful not to be caught staring, while the younger were visibly excited by the alien females among them, and curious about the differences

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in coloring and size between the two. Once some brave being--usually young--asked a question, others followed; some seemed to want to know about how others lived and what they looked like, though most questions involved what the alien presence would mean to their families. Crafters and artisans seemed particularly surprised and pleased that their goods might be desired on other worlds.

Only once did Magdalena look up to see three youthful males in priests' dark blue trousers and singlets scowling across the crowd. One met her eyes squarely and challengingly, then all three turned and walked away. "Newly made priests," Khyriz told her quietly.

"Unfortunate--but to be expected, I suppose," Magdalena replied with a faint sigh, and was distracted by another comment before Khyriz could say anything else.

Their final stop before the designer's was yet another park-- a narrow, shaded walkway under trees, vines, and woven archways. Alexis had spotted two elderly females slowly pacing under a vined arbor, a sleekly furred, elegantly collared pet in a blue singlet between them.

Zhik's whiskers were trembling faintly as he brought the flitter to a halt, and this time he remained at the controls. Magdalena hardly noticed: She was out as quickly as Alexis, first speaking to the females, then kneeling to stroke their wide-eyed Asha and speak soft love-words to it. It seemed to please the owners--even more than Alexis's interest in them. Magdalena, denied pets most of her life, was delighted in the Asha, and the little creature--actually, it was nearly Alexis's size--openly fawned on her.

It was an odd encounter, Alexis decided as they returned to the flitter. The females were pleasant but vague--they reminded her of a great-aunt back in the Ukraine. The pet had reminded her a little of her own adored Roxelana, the herd-dog that had been her closest companion when she was a child--

the way it moved its head against the translator's hand, she decided finally.

Khyriz seemed distracted; ordinarily, he watched Magdalena closely, rather like a proud parent. At the moment, his attention moved between the street and the flitter, and he scarcely

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glanced her way. One of his eartips flicked as if something irritated it. Or as if he were upset.
As if he'd had a pet Asha and it died recently?
Alexis wondered.

She remembered all too well how it felt when she'd lost Roxelana. Those awful final weeks, the tumor--not enough money for an operation that would have kept the dog alive. No money in the family for such indulgence for a mere pet. It might not be that, of course. But she couldn't bring herself to walk over and ask him.
Later, maybe, Ortovsky,
she told herself.

The elderly females gestured a farewell to the interrelator as she started back to the gently bobbing flitter, then turned to the translator, who still knelt, cooing love and stroking soft Asha fur while she asked about its training, its diet.
Poor Magdalena. At least I had Roxelana.

Khyriz was already in the flitter, the rear hatch swung open for the women.

Odd, that he'd abandon Magdalena here. Most of the Arekkhi so far had been amused by the formal gestures he made toward the translator. Khyriz had seen that, and played up to it, so far. But as Alexis set her foot on the low step, she hesitated.

The Prince was up by the controls, one hand on his cousin's arm as he spoke rapidly to a trembling, flat-eared Zhik: "It is all right, Cousin, don't fret so, we are nearly gone,
he
will not know."

"He'll... he'll learn, he learns--"

"No. I swore to you. You will be safe, Zhik. I am proud of you, so far. Ah-Naul would--"

"No! Do not... do not name ..."

"No. I will not. But I think that--" Khyriz broke off sharply and his voice smoothed as the interrelator pulled herself into the air-cushioned flitter, rocking it slightly. "Alexis, you startled me! You walk as quietly as ... as that...

as the little creature." He gestured toward the two elderly females and their pet, who were resuming their slow promenade; but he didn't look in that direction, and Zhik's eyes closed. Alexis filed the strange moment for later consideration and moved aside so Khyriz could edge past her to help Magdalena. He murmured something too low for her to catch; Magdalena 151

wrinkled her nose at him impudently and wrapped green fabric around one hand to free her legs. The Prince spat laughter that was somewhere between a hiss and a snarl, and let her climb back into the flitter by herself.

Zhik adjusted inner controls as Alexis resumed her forward seat; the canopy darkened to block most of the sunlight, the side-ports slid sideways to let in outside air. It was nearing midday out there and getting warm. Fewer Arekkhi on the streets, and the ones they could see were in shade and not moving much: under canopies, roofed-over pavilions, or the news squares, walking or sitting beneath the vines that covered the promenades and filled the air with a sharp, tangy perfume.

Magdalena was suddenly very excited, chattering because of it. "What a delightful creature that was! Ai-Fenha, they called her, Ai because female, they said, but what a pretty name! And so
sweet.
I wish..." She sighed. "Well, it wouldn't be practical, would it? I would never have the time to take good care of a pet, and I won't be on Arekkhi that long, anyway." From the corner of her eye, Alexis saw Khyriz's ears go utterly flat to his skull; he brought them back up with what seemed to be a visible effort, his eyes black and all pupil as he gestured sharply in Zhik's direction. It was hand-language, but something she didn't know. Private code?
Don't let them know you saw that,
she thought warily. When she dared glance at the Prince, his ears were where they belonged and he was patting Magdalena's shoulder but his eyes were still too dark.

"The little beings live as long as we do," he said sympathetically. "And they form life-bonds with those who ... who keep them."

"Oh." Magdalena sighed faintly, then managed a smile. "Well, the CLS won't let me stay here
that
long, I guess, so ..."

Khyriz rubbed the back of his hand against her green-clad arm. "You can stroke me," he murmured. "I won't object."

"You!"
Magdalena laughed cheerfully and gave him a shove.

Alexis cleared her throat ominously and said, in English, "Okay, so they're more like our parrots than our dogs, as far

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as how long they live. But if you two don't mind, I'd like to keep my breakfast where it is. And my 'ewwwwwww!' meter just pegged."

It was an old joke from her childhood that, once she'd explained it to him, Khyriz had adored. He broke into spluttering Arekkhi laughter once again.

Zhik eyed them all sidelong, finally mumbled something dark under his breath, and turned back to the flitter controls.

A few Earth-minutes later, he settled the flitter neatly under a shaded roof, onto a pair of padded blocks marked in royal yellow, and managed a weak joke. "How useful, having my Cousin Khyriz here. Alone, I must leave the flitter on noble-class blue-blocks---those, way over. But since Khyriz is with us--"

"Since that, you can settle the flitter on royal blocks. Though, it would be better to park upon the noble, since you and your cousin could both use the exercise," Khyriz retorted cheerfully. "But--let it pass. Go pull the designer's toggle; it is the reddish one."

"I can read the designer's name and craft," Zhik replied waspishly, but his whiskers were curved so far forward they nearly touched. He crossed the wide, deserted boulevard as Khyriz aided Magdalena out and offered a hand to Alexis-- who stuck out her tongue at him.

He smirked, an uptwitch of his whiskers, and walked across the street between the two humans. Zhik had pulled the marker, and now a single note chimed; the outer door slid aside to reveal five corridors, the central marked by a row of small lights. Khyriz bowed the others ahead of him, and the door slid shut.

All done with vid, like our computerized systems nearly two hundred years
ago,
Alexis thought, and followed the lights down the narrow, plain hallway.

A short, sturdy Arekkhi female--the interrelator recognized Fahara from the holo Khyriz had shown her--waited for them where the hall emerged into a screened-over patio lush with plants.

The patio itself was a statement of the designer's financial worth: enameled bricks and colored gravel in swirled patterns, the faint tinkle of water in the garden. A fern-like blue thing

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gave off a pleasant odor when Alexis brushed against it. Lizardlike creatures stalked among the blue ferns, seeking translucent flyers. The designer gestured a bow, then led the way into an open sunroom. Brightly colored cloth was everywhere, piled, heaped, and strewn on a long table against the far wall, where colored drawings hung haphazardly. Shallow glass cases were fixed to the wall in several places. Near one wall, a brightly enameled screen angled across a doorway, and before it, an oval talk-pit filled with cushions.

The designer was the shortest Arekkhi Alexis had seen so far. Even shorter than the interrelator, Fahara was much sturdier in build. Her ear-tufts were obviously dyed: silver and gold stripes. Her eyes gleamed an impossible shade of silver that had to be lenses, and her shaped claws were enameled in the same silver. Her robe was unexpected: white and utterly plain. No hat, no gems, not even a pleat.

The little being she beckoned to her side, by contrast, was as beautifully clad as a porcelain dol Alexis had seen in a museum: Silvery cloth with a subtle red thread that flashed as the little one moved, snug sleeves embroidered and bejeweled, a gemmed hat.

Alexis bit back a startled gasp: This was no child, but an Asha! Unlike the pet Ai-Fehna, it stood upright; she couldn't imagine the gorgeously clad little being crouched at Fahara's feet, or anywhere else. The designer touched the Asha's forearm with the back of her hand and gestured; the little creature copied the basic greeting-gesture, reminding the Ukrainian of her Uncle Vlad's spider monkey: its inevitable hat-tip. Though the Asha was more graceful (and prettier by far). And silent, of course--unlike Arekkhi, the Asha had tails, but did not have vocal cords.

At her side, Magdalena went very still for a long moment, then squared her shoulders and returned the gesture.
Ask her later what that was all about.

But then she saw it: fringe hung from the sleeves, from shoulder to fingertip, swaying nearly to the floor. "Fringe of Dancer." Only the talented few who performed "Fringe of Dancer" were permitted such a costume.

Khyriz drew the women forward to introduce themselves,

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then caught hold of Zhik's arm. "Cousin," he murmured, "you
have
seen Asha before, surely?"

The young noble was staring, astonished, at the little creature, Alexis realized. The Asha gazed back directly into Zhik's eyes, her own eyes wide.