"Liaden Universe - 04 - Plan B" - читать интересную книгу автора (Miller Steve)

Miri grinned again, slid her hands in her belt and wandered over to look out the window, squinting a little against the sun.

"There's your tree, boss."

"So?" He came over, shoulder companionably touching hers as he took in the view. "But that is not my Tree, Miri. That is Erob's tree. Mine is much olderЧand taller."

"Sounds like a quibble to me," she said. "If this one's a seedling off yours and yours is the only one there is, besides its own seedlingsЕ" She stopped, cheeks heating in an unaccustomed blush.

Val Con laughed.

"Ah. Clan becomes discovered."

"Real funnyЕ" she began, and then cut off as the door clicked.

Val Con went silently toward the center of the room, Miri half-a-pace behind his right shoulder.

The woman who entered the salon had not run full-tilt down the hallway, but she hadn't dallied, either. She was gray-haired, gray-eyed and golden skinned, wire-thin and charged with energy. Two heavy lines were grooved horizontally across her high forehead; more lines ran starkly from nose to mouth. Still more lines radiated from the corners of her eyes, puckered now as she stared against the sun. She was dressed simply, in what sleep-learning told Miri was house-tunic, and tight trousers tucked neatly into a pair of buff-colored short-boots.

All business, she marched across the buttery carpet, stopped a precise four paces before Val Con and bowed crisply, hand over heart.

"Emrith Tiazan," she said in a low, clear voice, "Delm Erob."

Val Con made his own bow, more fluid than hers, though as deep. "Val Con yos'Phelium, Clan Korval."

Miri tensedЧbut the old eyes stayed on Val Con.

"Yes," she said. "You have your father's look."

Val Con bowed again, slightlyЧand with irony, Miri thought.

Emrith Tiazan might have thought so, too; she lifted a sharp-bladed shoulder, and let it fall. Miri again tensed to make her own bow, but the old woman seemed intent on ignoring her.

"I'll tell you plain, Korval, before we sit to tea and cake and behaving as though we're civilizedЧit's no joy to see you at this time, tree-kin though we be. We're just through with a matter that will heal in a generation or twoЧif all goes well and no one breeds another hothead like Kel Bar Rentava. I am aware that Erob owes a contract-wife this term, but while plain speaking's in force I'll tell you that the one we'd settled on went the soulroad in the war." The old face shifted then, all the lines tightening, but her voice stayed smooth.

"They shot her downЧClan Kenso. She was the very best we had, and they shot her down. Her ship crashed in the rock plain, east of here. I expect we have all the pieces, by now."

She closed her eyes briefly; lifted her shoulder again. "I'll have nothing of such excellence to offer Korval until Alys comes to her growthЧnine years, perhaps. Alys should do very wellЧbut she'll be no Kea Tiazan."

There was a silence.

Miri's mind raced, but nothing from her own experience or from the sleep-learned stuff helped her make sense of this one. The old lady was clearly at the end of her rope, worn to skin, bone, and character. Her mind might even be wandering, though Miri doubted that. It might have been that Val Con's clan and Clan Erob had sealed an alliance with a marriage, when this lady had been a young delmЕ

"Forgive me," Emrith Tiazan was saying to Val Con, "if my frankness offends. I've no time for wasteful courtesies and it is certainly not necessary for Erob to stand upon ceremony with our old ally, Korval. We have always understood each other very well."

"In this instance, however," Val Con said neutrally, "understanding may have fallen short. I assign no blame, nor does frankness offend." He reached out to capture Miri around the wrist and drew her lightly forward to stand at his side. "I present my lifemate, Miri Robertson Tiazan, Lady yos'Phelium."

The gray eyes in their golden net of wrinkles went wide, then narrowed as they swept Miri from face to feet. The glance scathed, lingering longest on the leaf before whipping back to Val Con.

"So! You discover a houseless favorite and youdare bring her tomel I shall acknowledge her, shall I, and give her place among the clans? Korval presumesЧand presumes too far. I will remind you that youguest with Erob. Your whim is not law here!"