Crystal Dragon

by Sharon Lee

  Ceremony. All they were set to do was sign some local legal papers, but the kid had built it up in his mind into a ceremony, and had gotten himself dressed up proper to face it. She eyed the tunic—space black, with the star-holding dragon that'd been the chop for Alkia Trade Clan embroidered on shoulder and sleeve in gold and silver thread. He'd brushed his bright hair 'til it gleamed and even shined his boots. By contrast, she felt nothing but grubby in her leathers.

  Ceremony, she thought sourly, and caught a glimmer of wing and branch from the tree.

  "Right," she said, levering herself out of the pilot's chair. "I'll be a minute."

  * * *

  THE NON-DESCRIPT MAN with the surprisingly bold brown eyes was dressed neat and respectful in pale tunic and pants. He had placed two black, silver-edged folios before him on the fold-out work table; a flat wooden box was at his right hand, and a small satchel that looked like a traveling bag sat quietly by his feet.

  Looking down at the table, he touched the flat box—mayhap for luck—took a visible breath, and raised his head.

  "We are ready, I believe," he said quietly. "I am dea'Gauss; I have been requested to oversee the establishment of a clan new to Solcintra and to known space, and I am recognized by the Solcintra Accountants Guild as a member in good standing."

  Here he paused, very briefly, and looked about the tower before continuing.

  "As required by the protocols of the Accountants Guild, I bring with me three persons of known character and unallied clan, each to witness as they will. They arrive knowing that they witness, and they declare themselves individually disinterested observers of the event at hand."

  Cantra faced dea'Gauss across the work desk, dressed as formally as her small kit allowed, the boy at her side. The strangers—witnesses—stood behind them, and behind them was the tree, which comforted her some, even as she could feel it paying attention real hard—and behind the tree stood Argast, acting half as honor guard and half as pilot-in-waiting in case the ship required something during the course of the ceremony.

  Meanwhile, dea'Gauss was talking again.

  "In so far as Solcintra and its population have an interest in the careful arrangement of debts and balances, of property and ownership, of precedence and inheritance, of honor and responsibility, of melant'i and necessity, and of actions which permit the public good, it is meet and fitting that individuals join together into such groups and organizations which present the opportunity for surety in relationships and commerce. We witness here today the signing and sealing of documents representing the establishment of a particular group which names itself Clan Korval. This group..."

  Cantra glanced to the side, caught the kid's eyes on her and the flicker of fingers—acceptable course?

  Korval? Well, it was better than Valkor, the other combo possible from the two syllables deemed most propitious by means she hadn't cared to inquire into—and she had shunted the details of the paperwork to him.

  She returned clear lift! and felt him relax beside her.

  ".... has control and ownership of respectable properties, is peopled by individuals known as reliable and forthright, and has established a clear lineage and succession. Clan Korval honors the absent M. Jela Granthor's Guard as Founder and acknowledges duties, goals, heirs, debts, property, responsibility and melant'i deriving from the Founder."

  Cantra stood, breath-caught, and damn' if she didn't feel tears prickling at the edges of her eyes—

  In her head, a flutter of images: A tree dropped a pod across a thin river, that pod grew into a tree, in its turn dropping a pod...

  "Clan Korval is composed of two lines until and unless the Clan shall choose otherwise. The predominant line is yos'Phelium, currently headed by Cantra yos'Phelium. The subordinate line is yos'Galan, currently headed by Tor An yos'Galan."

  She blinked and sent another glance to the boy, meeting a slight smile. She'd've thought they'd share—but no, he had the right of it again. He was her heir, and his part was to support her—co-pilot to pilot. They both knew that protocol, down deep in their bones. She just hoped any of it lasted longer that them getting out of orbit and starting the transition run...

  "The Clan together acknowledges the duties, goals, heirs, debts, property, responsibility, and melant'i of these line heads as its own and from this day forward all within the Clan will be governed, judged, rewarded, punished, and otherwise dealt with as the Clan requires within its own written code of conduct. All actions performed individually or in unison reflect the Clan and the Clan holds ultimate responsibility for its members. Formed in orbit around Solcintra, Clan Korval looks for council and fellowship from the Fifty High Houses of Solcintra, and the Council of the Fifty High Houses of Solcintra will honor Korval as a member, as well."

  This last was spoken just a little more firmly than what had gone before, as if maybe dea'Gauss wasn't one-hundred-percent certain that the new High Council would find Korval an ornament to itself.

  "Clan Korval exists," dea'Gauss said, back to quiet now. "May its name shine and its deeds endure."

  Beside her, she heard a discreet sniffle, and damn' if she wasn't tearing up again herself. She blinked. Clan Korval. And Jela listed down as Founder, all right and proper. Almost—almost, she could hear him laughing...

  The accountant bowed deeply—first to Tor An, then to herself. Straightening, he opened the right-most of the two black-and-silver folios.

  "If the line heads will be good enough to sign here, with the subordinate line signing first and the predominant line after, we shall witness and seal."

  Sign they did—first the boy, precise and unornamented. He passed the pen to her and stood to one side as she wrote out her name, the ink that same shade of purple that flickered along the far edge of the Rim...

  Cantra yos'Phelium. She blinked down at the shape of it along the cream-colored page; took a breath to steady herself and signed the second book, too.

  She put the pen down, and the tree let loose with a burst of flying dragons so bright and joyous she went back a step—and bumped right into the kid, who caught her arm, and whispered, for her ears alone, and like it was the most natural thing ever—"Jela's tree rejoices. It is rightly done."

  "Who'm I to argue with a vegetable?" she muttered back, and heard him laugh softly while the witnesses filed up one at a time and put their signatures down in the books.

  That done, dea'Gauss opened the flat box and removed a little gizmo, which he activated and touched to her signature and to Tor An's, leaving a disk of green wax on each.

  He stowed the gizmo, sealed the box, and waved a cautious hand over the wax to be sure it was cool before he closed the first book and handed it to her, with a bow so deep she feared for his back.

  "Korval, I am honored."

  It struck her then and only then—that the lines she'd just signed tied her as close as she'd ever been tied in her life. Clan Korval, she thought, half-wildly. Kid, tree, ship and all.

  She took a hard breath and centered herself, managing to return the accountant's bow with the respect he'd earned.

  "Mr. dea'Gauss," she murmured; "the honor is mine."

  * * *

  AFTER A SERIES OF bows and formal well-wishings, the witnesses were escorted out by Argast. Mr. dea'Gauss was carefully fitting the second signed book into an archive envelope, being fussy about seating the corners just so.

  "We are led to understand that the planet itself is in danger," he said, his eyes on his task, "and thus it was only prudence that moved the High-Houses-that-were to bear the archives of Council and Law with them. I cannot reproduce the reasoning which would have caused them to destroy the secondary archives, nor was the Accountants Guild asked to render an opinion prior to this action. Communications from those who had been the Elders of the Service Families directed to the escape ships are rejected." He glanced up.

  "This means that the inception of your clan has not been properly recorded with those in whom authority and law invests."

/>   "Nothing you can do, is there," Cantra said, as the pause got longer, "if they ain't answering comm?"

  "Indeed. However, one attempts to honor propriety and to fulfill the tasks for which one's service was engaged." He finished fussing with the envelope at last, and put his palm flat against the seal.

  "The new council—they call themselves the High Houses, and thus put on a suit which they cannot properly wear. Yet, what choice had they? Lacking the archives and the law, they now stumble to create arrangements and protocols for which there exist no precedent." He gave her one of his straight looks, this one maybe not so much bold as tired.

  "Though the new council has seen fit to disbar me and mine, citing our ties to the old order, I am able to report that they have acknowledged the right of Clan Korval to come among them, to treat and be treated as an equal member of the council."

  He bent, pulled his satchel up onto the desk, and stowed the envelope in an outside pocket, taking care with the seal.

  "It is possible that we who remain on-planet during..."

  Cantra blinked, shot a question-look at Tor An, and took receipt of a baffled stare.

  "Hold that orbit," she said, bringing her attention back to the accountant.

  He paused with his hands on his satchel, and inclined his head, "Korval?"

  "You're planning on staying on-planet, is what I'm hearing you say."

  "That is correct."

  She frowned at him, which he bore with patience. He looked as sensible a man as she'd ever seen, but, yet, she supposed it might be that he hadn't been able to hold the thought of what was coming toward them—

  "You understand," she said carefully, "that Solcintra won't likely exist at the end of the action Captain Wellik's told us is coming?"

  "I have heard this, yes. We will, of course, attempt to lift what ships there are..."

  "No." She waved the hand that wasn't full of black-and-silver book, cutting off the rest of whatever he'd been going to say.

  "This ship here—you drew up the contract! This ship here is set to take on all the members of the Service Families that now style themselves High Houses. There's a place here for your and yours, never fear it, though you'll be needing to sleep—"

  And what, she thought suddenly, if that were it? If dea'Gauss for all his sense and his steadiness and his firm, bold gaze was afraid of slow-sleep...

  "I have not made myself plain," he said, and inclined his head. "The case is that the new council has disbarred Family dea'Gauss. We are seen as holding allegiance to those who have deserted us, and the new council would choose its own—"

  From the tree came a sense of sudden, rushing wind—

  The wind was real, whipping her hair and fluttering the sleeves of Tor An's tunic—and then it was gone.

  Thirty-Two

  Quick Passage

  THE WIND FELL AS suddenly as it had risen, leaving the one known as Rool Tiazan standing disheveled and breathless within the confines of the pilots' tower.

  "What has gone forth?" he cried, as much frightened as angry, or so Tor An thought. He raised a hand and scraped the wild red curls away from his face, the black ring on his first finger winking quick and cunning as a living eye.

  "Problem?" Cantra yos'Phelium asked, one winged eyebrow lifting in unmistakable irony.

  "You may perhaps allow the close attention of the Iloheen—your pardon, the sheriekas!—to be a problem," the other snapped, less breathless now, and with anger perhaps ascending over fear. "And how could they fail to focus upon such a gaudy display of energy and—" He stopped, his gaze having fallen from the pilot's face to that which she yet held in her hand.

  "I... see," he murmured, and extended a hand. "May I—"

  It was, to Tor An's shame, dea'Gauss who moved first and placed himself between the clan's primary and the potential threat.

  "The book belongs to Korval and to none other, sir," he said coolly. "It is not for out-clan to—"

  Rool Tiazan turned his hands palm up and smiled at the accountant. "Peace, peace, Ser—dea'Gauss, is it?—I—"

  "Indeed it is dea'Gauss, though I stand not so high as 'ser.'"

  "Ah. Forgive my lapse; I meant no discourtesy, either to yourself or to—Korval. It is merely that—"

  "Quiet!" Pilot Cantra ordered, loudly, and perforce there was quiet. Rool Tiazan bowed with neither irony nor temper, and properly to Korval's honor, followed by Mr. dea'Gauss, who did not, however, retire from his position between pilot and dramliza.

  "Now, here's what I thought," Pilot Cantra said briskly, and the Rim accent was more noticeable than it had been during the ceremony. "I thought I was captain on my own ship. I thought I was talking with somebody. I didn't think I'd set off any look-at-mes in the direction of the Enemy nor hadn't done anything more remarkable than carry out ship's business. If you got information touching on that, say it out, straight and quick."

  "Captain." Rool Tiazan bowed slightly and seriously. "My information is this: As I was observing actions brought by certain of the free dramliza directly against the Iloheen, suddenly I was snatched, against my will, and with naught I might do to deny it, here, born on the wings of such a maelstrom of luck and possibility as I have never experienced. Something has altered event, noisily. Something has shifted the pattern of the lines of what will be, and the luck swirls not merely about the environs of this star system, or, more nearly, this planet, but here," he stamped, his soft slipper waking an unlikely ring from the decking. "On this ship." He inclined his head. "I suspect that what has been bound into that book which you hold is the cause of these ...unexpected alterations."

  He inclined his head. "May I see and hold the book, Pilot? It is necessary." He turned to the accountant. "Mr. dea'Gauss, I swear to you that I am an ally."

  "He's right," Pilot Cantra said briskly. "I 'preciate your concern, Mr. dea'Gauss, but you can stand down. He's twelve kinds of twisty, and you'll do well to weigh everything he tells you, but I vouch for him."

  The accountant bowed, and retired, face grim.

  Tor An stepped to his side. "Thank you, sir," he whispered, "for your quick action on behalf of the clan."

  That gained a startled glance, and the beginning of a smile. "You are quite welcome, your lordship."

  "Nay—" he began, but there was Rool Tiazan taking the clan book into his slim hands, and he found his feet had moved him forward again, his own hand lifting as if to snatch the precious object back.

  Firm fingers encircled his wrist and held him close. "Steady, Pilot," she murmured. "Let the man look."

  If he looked, it was with senses other than his eyes, yet one could not but be gratified by the reverent stroke of palm across the surface of the cover.

  "Yes. What we have here..." Rool Tiazan sighed. "What we have here is just such an event as cannot be predicted nor planned against. There is a purity of purpose which can only act to confound the Enemy."

  He opened his eyes and held the book out across his two palms.

  "It is done and done well," Rool Tiazan said, and there was a odd resonant sound to his voice, as if his words echoed against the stars. "Prosper, Korval. May your name shine and your deeds endure."

  Pilot Cantra received the book properly into her hands, and inclined her head. "May that be true-speaking," she murmured, the accent of the Rim entirely absent.

  "Mr. dea'Gauss," she said abruptly, and the Rim accent was back, and thicker than ever.

  "Korval?"

  "Comes to me that a brand-new and hope-to-be-respectable clan like we just got through setting up's going to need somebody to oversee our contracts and 'counts. You willing to work for us?"

  The man's face took fire, hope blazing in his tired eyes. "Korval, I am."

  "Good," Pilot Cantra nodded toward the fold-out table. "Sit yourself down and write up the contract—short and simple, mind you, 'cause I got some other things I want you to do." She held out her fist, thumb and first finger extended. "First thing, get your family up here. Second, I want the
word out on the port that this vessel is taking on passengers, whether or not they're attached to any of the so-called High Houses. Got those?"

  "Yes," the accountant said, fervently. "Korval, I do."

  "Make it so," she said crisply, her hand fluttering out of its counting fist and into pilot hand-sign: acceptable?

  Tor An smiled and inclined his head. "Most acceptable, Pilot," he said.

  "That's good, too." She turned her attention back to Rool Tiazan.

  "So we got the Enemy's attention," she said, as if it were the merest nothing. "What'll we do with it?"

  Rool Tiazan smiled. "An excellent question. Perhaps we—" His smile faded into a frown and he lifted a finger.

  "Problem?"