by Lee, Sharon
“You are a singer, Scholar Waitley?” he asked.
Blue eyes widened, a flush stained her pale cheeks, and her shoulders stiffened beneath her robe. For an instant, he thought that he had overstepped the bounds of custom, but she recovered herself with a slight smile.
“I'm a member of a chorale,” she acknowledged. “Recreational only, of course. My studies are my life's work.”
“Certainly,” he said carefully, “study illuminates the lives of all scholars. Yet there must be room for recreation as well, and joy in those things which are not study. I myself find a certain pleasure in . . . outdoor pursuits.” The smile he offered was a mirror of her own.
“Outdoor?” She looked at him doubtfully. “Outside the Wall?”
He raised an eyebrow. “There is a whole planet outside the Wall,” he murmured. “Surely you were aware?”
Blue eyes sparkled, though her demeanor remained grave. “I've heard it said,” she replied. “But tell me—what manner of pleasure may be had outside of the Wall?”
“Why, all manner!” he declared, pleased with her. “Gardening, fishing, walking among the trees and growing things, watching the sun set, or the stars rise . . . ”
“Watching the sun set?” Another doubtful look. “That seems a very . . . fleeting pleasure.”
“I have heard it argued that the highest pleasures are ephemeral, and best enjoyed in retrospect,” he said, the voice inside his head crying out, Not so! “Though there are those of us who disagree.”
Kamele Waitley glanced to one side. Following her gaze, he saw that her friend had left them, moving away in the company of a tall, bluff scholar, the braid on his sleeve gleaming new, and felt a pang for her own loss of pleasure.
“Forgive me,” he began, but she shook quick fingers at him—a meaningless gesture, though for a split second he thought . . .
“I think we must have been the last faculty to introduce ourselves,” she said seriously. “Would you like a glass of the Dean's sherry?”
As it happened, he had previously had a glass of the Dean's sherry and found it execrable, though he could hardly say so—and besides, Kamele Waitley was still talking.
“I'd like to learn more about the pleasures of watching the sun set, if you'd be kind enough to teach me.”
It was, still, easier in the dark. In the dark, he could imagine that she was lying beside him, her voice a murmur accessible to the outer ears. Sometimes, in the dark, for whole minutes at a time, he could imagine her head on his shoulder, a silken leg thrown over his . . .
“Aelliana,” he said now, staring up into the darkness. “What are you planning?”
Planning, van'chela?
He snorted lightly. “No, that will not do, minx. Tell me—what necessity drives us to escort Scholar Waitley to a local sunset?”
She asked so nicely, his dead lifemate said. Besides, I like her. Don't you like her, Daav?
“She's well enough.”
Oh, clench-fisted, van'chela! she chided him. How has the scholar offended you?
He sighed, and closed his eyes against the darkness.
“The scholar is blameless,” he admitted, ashamed of his churlishness. “Indeed, I enjoyed our discussion, and would, I feel, enjoy another. She has a ready wit and seems not so bound by local culture as . . . others of my colleagues.”
“In fact,” Aelliana murmured, “she might well be someone who could become a good friend.”
“I did not,” he said tiredly, “come here to make friends.”
Indeed you did not. I only ask you to pity poor Professor Kiladi, separated from clan and kin, wholly unsupported in a strange and cloistered environment. A man in such circumstances might have need of a friend—or even two.
“Professor Kiladi is a fabrication, my lady . . . ”
Professor Kiladi has published widely, his scholarship is noteworthy, and his achievements undeniable, Aelliana said tartly. He is a work of art, van'chela; a work of art with a heart and a soul, sorrows and joys. You owe him at the least a brother's care, yet you drive him and make demands of him and allow him not a single joy or pleasure. I never knew you to be so meager, Daav. It troubles me. Indeed, it troubles me deeply.
Tears pricked his eyes—his or hers, it scarcely mattered. Nor did it matter that the fabrication of Jen Sar Kiladi had begun as a game; twenty years, three degrees, and dozens of scholarly papers, hundreds of students . . . Surely, Jen Sar Kiladi was every bit as alive as—as Daav yos'Phelium.
. . . or perhaps more.
Daav?
“Aelliana . . . ” he gasped, the slow tears suddenly fast and hot. “Aelliana . . . ”
He twisted, burying his face in the flat pillow, sobbing, and seeing it all, all again—the street, the flash, her hair swirling as she leapt to shield him, the blood, the blood . . .
Some time later, as he lay shivering and exhausted, he felt her stroke his hair, then slip close and put her arms around him. And so at last he fell asleep, imagining that she held him.
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Partial Liaden Lexicon
a'nadelm
Heir to the nadelm.
a'thodelm
Heir to the thodelm.
a'trezla
Lifemates.
al'bresh venat'i
Formal phrase of sorrow for another Clan's loss, as when someone dies.
benjali
Excellent.
cantra
Liaden unit of large currency, named for Cantra yos'Phelium.
cha'leket
Heartkin; a person for whom one feels a sibling's affection.
cha'dramliza
A Healer. plural: cha'dramliz.
chernubia
Confected delicacy.
chiat'a bei kruzon
Dream sweetly.
coab minshak'a
“Necessity exists.”
delm
Head of Clan.
delmae
Lifemate of a Delm.
denubia
Darling.
dramliza
A wizard. plural: dramliz (The dramliz . . . ).
eklykt'i
Unreturned.
Eldema
First Speaker (most times, the delm).
Eldema-pernard'i
First-Speaker-In-Trust.
Flaran Cha'menthi
“I(/We) Dare,” Korval's motto.
ge'shada
Mazel tov; congratulations.
Glavda Empri
yo'Lanna's house.
indra
Uncle.
Jelaza Kazone
The Tree, also Korval's Own House. Approx. “Jela's Fulfillment.”
Korval-pernard'i
See “Eldema-pernard'i.”
Megelaar
The Dragon on Korval's shield.
melant'i
Who one is in relation to current circumstances. also who one is in sum, encompassing all possible persons one might be.
menfri'at
Liaden karate.
mirada
Father.
miravot
Altanian wine; blue in color.
nadelm
Heir to the Delm.
nubiath'a
Gift given to end an affair of pleasure.
prena'ma
Storyteller.
prethliu
Rumorbroker.
qe'andra
Person of business, i.e. an accountant.
relumma
Division of a Liaden year, equaling 96 Standard Days. Four relumma equal one year.
thawla
Mother.
thawlana
Grandmother.
thodelm
Head of Line.
tra'sia volecta
Good morning.
Trealla Fantrol
The yos'Galan house.
T
ree-and-Dragon
Korval; a reference to their clan sign of a winged dragon over a tree.
Valcon Berant'a
Dragon's Price or Dragon Hoard, the name of Korval's valley.
Valcon Melad'a Dragon's Way,
the Delm's Own ship.
van'chela
Beloved friend.
va'netra
Charity case, lame puppy.
Standard Year
8 Standard Days in One Standard Week
32 Standard Days in One Standard Month
384 Standard Days in One Standard Year
Liaden Year
96 Standard Days in One Relumma
12 Standard Months in One Standard Year
One Relumma = Eight 12-day weeks
Four Relumma = One Standard Year
THE END
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FB2 document info
Document ID: 1527e37c-fd81-4f3e-8578-17617e8b17b3
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 15.7.2012
Created using: calibre 0.8.58 software
Document authors :
Lee, Sharon
Miller, Steve
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