The Agent Gambit

by Sharon Lee

  And what good, the old woman thought suddenly, sanely, was a piano to a dead man? She closed her eyes, feeling suddenly close to tears herself. Jerrel Trelu had been a kind man; no one should go hungry for music in his zhena's house.

  Slowly she opened her fingers around the key, turned back, and fumbled a moment with the lock before twisting the knob and pushing the door wide.

  "Thank you, Zhena Trelu," Meri whispered behind her; but when she turned back, the girl was gone.

  The piano was badly in need of tuning. Hakan worked carefully, Cory at his elbow, watching everything he did. On the doublechair to the right of the instrument, Miri and Kem had their heads together over a book. Kem's cool voice occasionally reached Hakan-she seemed to be teaching Miri the alphabet.

  Zhena Trelu sat in the single chair on the other side of the lamp, ostensibly reading, but Cory, looking at her now and then from under long lashes, thought she had not turned a page since sitting down.

  The tuning finally done, Hakan closed the case and waved Cory toward the keyboard, grinning. But the slighter man hesitated, then drifted soundlessly over to stand before the old woman and her book.

  "Zhena Trelu," he said softly, and she looked up, frowning.

  Slowly, with full pomp, he made her the bow of one who acknowledges an unpayable debt. "Thank you, Zhena Trelu. Very."

  She sniffed. "Just don't you let me find you shirking your work and coming in here to play, hear me? Work comes first."

  "Yes, Zhena Trelu." He smiled. "I will work."

  She sniffed again, mindful of three pairs of young eyes on her. "Well, what're you waiting for? You were the one who wanted to play." She flicked her hand toward the piano. "So, play."

  He grinned and moved back to the instrument, slid onto the bench, and ran his fingers up and down the keys. Then he began to play, straightly and without flourish, the main line of the piece Hakan had been running through his guitar, three days past.

  Hakan gave a shout and grabbed his guitar, taking up the weaving minor thread.

  In the doublechair, Miri and Kem set aside the book to listen to the music. In the single chair, Zhena Trelu sat rapt.

  In the manner of such things, one song led to another. At some point during the evening, wine was opened and poured; and, in the manner of those things, was found too soon to be gone. A little time later Zhena Trelu excused herself with a yawn and went upstairs to her bedroom, waving aside an offer of an escort from Kem and Meri.

  Her departure brought Hakan to an awareness of the hour, and he and Kem bundled themselves together, eliciting promises from their new friends to come to supper on Marin evening and making arrangements for Hakan to pick them up.

  When the taillights of Hakan's car had finally faded, Miri leaned back against Val Con with a sigh. "Boss, I think I'm drunk."

  She heard him laugh softly and felt his fingers tighten where they rested on her shoulders. "I am afraid that I am also drunk, cha'trez."

  "Couple of saps," she judged, turning around and grinning up at him. "One of us is supposed to stay sober to carry the other one home and get 'em in bed. Now what?"

  He appeared to consider the problem while he laid his arm about her waist and drew her into the hallway. "I suppose," he said, locking the door with great care, "that we must then carry each other."

  "Okay," Miri agreed, sliding her arm around his waist.

  Leaning on each other, they gained their bedroom without mishap.

  It was not yet dawn when Val Con drifted awake. He kept his eyes closed, feeling Miri pressed tightly against his side, her head on his shoulder, one arm flung across his chest. He was conscious first of a warm contentment; then he heard the song.

  Though "heard" was not precisely the correct word; nor was "song." Cautiously, eyes still closed, he sought the song that was heard only within his head and found it, a thing of surpassing brightness and warmth, singing blithely to itself-and tasting strongly of hunch.

  He regarded it for some time, remembering the old tales, knowing what it must be, joy building within him.

  The gods make you a gift, he told himself gently.

  And the part of him that was Korval replied: As it should be. The gods owe much.

  Alive-and-well, sang the song-that-was-not-a-song from its joylit corner of his self. Miri-alive. Miri-well.

  Fear surfaced for a moment as he recalled the man he now was. But then he recalled that his lifemate had shown no wizardly skills at all, so might not be able to hear him-and the fear was vanquished.

  He moved a little in the predawn, curling around the woman beside him, burying his face in the cloud of her hair. Warm within, warm without, Val Con slid back into sleep.

  VANDAR:

  Springbreeze Farm

  Val Con sat at the piano, letting his fingers roam randomly over the keys. The sound of Zhena Trelu's radio reached him from down the hall, and somewhere close by Borril groaned and shifted. He wondered where Miri was and moved his attention for the briefest of instants to the song of her and its joyous message: Alive-and-well, alive-and-well . . .

  Lips relaxing into a smile, Val Con turned his attention to the notes he played, ear snagging on a series of three that recalled the piece he and Hakan had been working on the previous night. Shaking his head, he ran lightly through the song, then returned to the beginning, playing in earnest.

  Best you practice, he told himself with mock sternness. If Hakan succeeds in getting the two of us a job playing music, you must be ready and able.

  He was unsure of the likelihood of such work, but Hakan hardly spoke of anything else. It seemed there was a fair of some type looming, and Hakan's heart was set upon the two of them playing in one of the exhibition halls. The wages, in Hakan's estimation, were barely less than a joke-in fact, he had suggested that Cory keep the whole sum himself, since Zhena Trelu did not see fit to provide either of her charges with pocketpaper. No, one was given to understand that the sole reason for playing-besides the playing itself-was the exposure. All the world, in Hakan's eyes, attended the Winterfair at Gylles.

  A soundless something called him from his reflections, and he glanced up to see Miri hesitating in the doorway. He let his fingers slow on the keys and smiled at her. "Hello, Miri."

  "Hi." Her answering smile was apologetic. "I didn't mean to bother you. Left my book."

  "It's no bother," he said, watching her go gracefully across the room to the doublechair. She had taken to wearing her hair loose of late, which he found pleased him greatly. It seemed they both considered this world-this place-a sanctuary.

  Miri had found her book and was turning to go.

  "You might stay," he said, wishing she would. "Unless my playing will disturb you?"

  She grinned. "Naw. Thought I'd bother you."

  "It's no bother," he repeated gently. "I would be pleased if you'd stay."

  "Rather listen to you than Zhena Trelu's radio stories any day," she said, curling promptly into the doublechair and opening the book.

  "High praise," he murmured, and grinned when she laughed. His fingers touched the keys, and he began to play once more.

  He moved from song to song, working through the list of eleven that made up their scanty repertoire. The music had his whole attention, though now and then he heard a small sound as Miri turned a page.

  The last of the eleven was a slippery thing requiring sharply curtailed ripples from the keyboard, as well as a jagged staircase of mismatched notes reaching toward an impossible crescendo. Such a line would have been bad enough on an omnichora, yet some demented creativity had thought it suitable for an instrument as clumsy as the piano . . .

  Sighing at his failure yet again to realize the line's potential, he glanced up and saw Miri curled in the chair, head bent over her book, lamplight glittering over the red wealth of her hair.

  Unbidden, his fingers moved on the keys, building a line like laughter, like something lovely and wild half-seen, poised to fly away. His other hand shifted and found the unde
rcurrent of strength, of constancy and surprising courage. The two lines melded, became one, separated for a time, and rejoined, each making the other whole. His fingers found an end of it too soon, and he glanced up, aware that the volume of his playing had increased.

  Miri was smiling. "That was pretty," she said. "What was it?"

  He returned her smile. "You."

  "Me?" Her disbelief was apparent.

  "Certainly, you," he returned matter-of-factly. "Listen." He moved his hands again, picking out a limping, aged phrase, frail without fragility, predictable and obstinate.

  "Zhena Trelu," he murmured, aware that Miri had left her chair and was drawing closer.

  Shifting again, he played a bump-and-tumble bass line, and she immediately laughed and cried out, "Borril!"

  "None other," he said, grinning, caught up in the game. Gods, it had been years since he had indulged in such foolery!

  Fingers touched keys, and Miri stirred. "Kem."

  "Correct again," he said, sliding down the bench to make room for her to sit beside him. Hands at the top of the scale, he ran through a chaos of high-pitched chords, sharps and flats mixed indiscriminately. "And Hakan, of course . . ."

  She chuckled and sat on the edge of the bench, careful, it seemed, not to touch him.

  He tipped his head and began a foghorn melody, running a not-quite-correct underline interspersed here and there with a hasty flutter of sound from the higher end of the board.

  "Edger," Miri said, and he nodded.

  Her ear was excellent: He ran through the short list of their mutual acquaintances, and she named each unfailingly, though one made her crow with laughter even as she protested, "Oh, no! Poor Jason!"

  His hands shifted again, building a solidly balanced, stately top-line, the undermelody as uncompromising as stone, except-did Miri detect the faintest hint of laughter? Of-informality? If it existed, it was a very ghost. Val Con's fingers had stopped, and the last note vibrated into stillness before she shook her head.

  "Got me there. Don't think I know him."

  "Her," he corrected. "My sister Nova."

  "Pleasure, I'm sure," Miri said with a certain lack of enthusiasm. "Hope I never do anything to make her mad."

  He laughed softly and began another line, this one gentle, relaxed, almost absurdly good-natured-until one heard the steel beneath the surface, sharp as any blade. "Shan," he murmured, then moved his hands once more.

  The new tune was like a glitter of dark snowflakes seen briefly in the glare of a lightning bolt, like kittens giving each other chase upon waking. "Anthora," he said.

  He sat back and inclined his head slightly. "Clan Korval," he told her. He reached to cover the keyboard.

  Miri's hand on his sleeve stopped him. "Somebody missing, ain't there?"

  He lifted an eyebrow.

  "Val Con?" Miri asked. "Seems to me I heard he was Second Speaker."

  "Ah, well," he said. "Val Con." His fingers dropped carelessly to the keys, playing a quick ripple of sound in the midrange that was merely an echo of his murmuring voice; then his hands lifted and brought the cover gently down into place.

  "Oh," Miri said.

  He turned to look at her and noticing the tension in the small muscles around her eyes. "Cha'trez? What is wrong?"

  She frowned and moved her shoulders slightly, as if to shrug the problem away. "I-it's stupid, I guess. Just seems like you try to hide yourself from me, or something."

  "Do I?" He turned on the bench to face her fully. "I am your friend. And your partner. And your lifemate. Do I not please you, Miri?"

  "Please?" She looked surprised, then shifted sharply to sit astride the bench and looked him fully in the face. Her own was wide open, so that he knew the answer before she spoke it.

  "I love you so much it hurts. So much I try not to think about it, 'cause I get scared." She clamped her jaw.

  He extended a hand and stroked her cheek. "Such a large present, cha'trez, for someone you do not know." He tipped his head. "And you knew me well enough, did you not, to intercede with Zhena Trelu so I might have use of this piano?"

  "How'd you know that?" She was regarding him with some suspicion. He stroked her cheek again, moving his fingers to trace the curve of her brows.

  "Zhena Trelu told me; so I would know for certain how well I was loved." He ran his fingers down the line of her jaw. "You are so beautiful . . ." There was an ache of wonder in his voice.

  She reached up to brush the hair from his eyes. "Val Con?" There was a pause while she searched his face and eyes; he felt as if she were searching his soul and held his breath, afraid. "You love me," she said finally and very softly, as if the discovery were a new one.

  "Miri," he said suddenly, shifting into the most intimate of modes, nearly singing the Low Liaden words, "you are my wisdom and my laughter, the song of my heart, my home. Best-loved friend; wife and lover . . ."

  She did not understand; the words meant nothing to her, though he saw her following the song of his voice. Almost sharply, he brought both hands up and ran his fingers into her hair, holding her so her eyes had to look into his. Consciously keeping his voice pitched for intimate speech, he reached for the hopelessly inadequate Terran words.

  "I love you, Miri; you are my joy."

  Releasing her, he sat back and was conscious of intense pleasure when she moved her hand to take his.

  "Lifemates means what it says?" she asked, smiling at him just a little.

  He raised a brow. "What else would it mean?"

  "Just checking." She stood, pulling him with her. "Let's go to bed. Betcha it's after midnight . . ."

  DUTIFUL PASSAGE

  "Priscilla," Lina inquired with the straightforwardness of friendship, "is this wise?"

  The other woman looked up from unbuckling her belt, her slim brows arched in surprise. "It's necessary," she said, and laid the belt smoothly aside.

  Lina stifled a sigh. Believing in necessity, Priscilla would pursue her mad course, whether her friend consented to watch or no.

  "Perhaps it might wait," she ventured, watching Priscilla slip her trousers off and fold them neatly atop her shirt, "until Shan is on the ship? He only trades until local dusk, Priscilla. Surely time is not of such-"

  Lina had suspected all along that this enterprise had none of Shan yos'Galan's smile-which boded not so well for Lina Faaldom, if she had to seek him out to say "Old friend, your heart slipped away while I watched her; and the way of her going is such that a Healer may neither follow nor find . . ."

  The bed shifted slightly as Priscilla lay down and smiled up at her friend. "I'm not in any danger, Lina. You'll be with me, after all."

  The smaller woman laughed. "Yes, assuredly! The mouse shall guard the lion."

  Priscilla nodded, quite serious. "Who better? You will watch closely and not rush into danger, as another lion might; and so keep yourself safe and able to assist." She smiled again, softly. "Wise Lina."

  "Pah!" Lina banished flattery with a flick of a tiny hand. "Well, and if you must, you might as well-and quickly."

  "Yes. You have the Words I gave you?"

  "Of course." Priscilla! Lina was to cry, if there came a hint that things were not as they should be. Priscilla, come home! Heart-words, Priscilla had named them, saying that she would hear that phrase and return, no matter how far the distance.

  The ways of the dramliz are wondrous, indeed, Lina thought, and clutched the heartwords tightly in memory.

  Beside her, Priscilla's breathing had slowed and deepened, the pulse in her throat beating with alarming slowness. Healer-sense showed the pattern she recognized as Priscilla Mendoza pulled in upon itself, so dense it seemed that even outer eyes must see it.

  And as she watched, that strangely dense pattern began to rise, until inner eyes placed it above the sleeping body; then even farther above, rising toward the cabin's ceiling, trailing behind it in a single thread no thicker than a strand of silk. Rising still, it faded through the ceiling and was lost
to all Lina's sight.

  The clamor of the galaxy was easier to ignore than it had been the last time. No sooner was the template in place than the aura it represented was found, flaring among the multitudes of lesser lights like a nova amid mere stars.

  She approached slowly, mindful of the lesson that haste had taught her, traveling a time that could not be measured over a distance that seemed at once very great and no more than a roll from one side to another to embrace one who lay beside her.

  Suddenly she was very close. Cautiously she opened a path from herself to him-and very nearly recoiled.

  Temple training saved her from that error; her own necessity drew her close again, to examine what was there.

  Protections. The boy she had known had encompassed no such walls and ramparts, though he had been adept enough at shielding himself. But even at that, with him awake, as he was now, and she with the need and the Aspect upon her, there should have been yet the small ways in, where one might enter and leave a seed-thought, to grow to suggestion and then into dream and so be absorbed into consciousness.

  Disconcerted, she brought template against pattern, thinking that she had somehow erred in her urgency-but no. There could not be two such, matching, edge on edge, protected or wide open. And witch-sense brought her a bare hint of the passion that had previously overflowed him, burning still, but deep within, a bonfire at the heart of a citadel.

  Val Con! She hurled his name, hoping for a crack in those protections, perhaps even a recognition.

  He heard her, of that much was she certain, but the walls stood firm. Almost she turned to leave, defeated-and saw then, with witch-eyes, the bridge.

  A sturdy structure, built with more honesty than skill, vanishing into the very heart of the tightly guarded place that Val Con yos'Phelium had inexplicably become and stretching away to-where?