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

She nodded, wariness very apparent.

"So," said Val Con briskly. "It is high time for you to be made known to your clan and to make your bow to your delm. Now that you are informed of your connection, you would be woefully rude to ignore these duties."

"And besides, you told your brother to meet you there, so that ends that. Might just as well go there,first ," Miri glared at him. "I just hope you know where it is, 'cause I sure don't."

"I know exactly where it is," Val Con said, taking her hand and smiling at her.

Miri sighed, though she did return the pressure of his fingers. "Why don't that surprise me?" she asked.

"No," Miri said flatly, teacup clenched tight in a hand gone suddenly cold.

"Cha'trezЕ"

"I said no!" She glared at him over the cup-rim. "This is your idea, Liaden, not mine. You wanna visit a buncha strangers and claim favors,you take sleep-learning to find out how!"

"I already know how," Val Con snapped. "And the case is, my lady, that you will be claiming not favor, but rightful place, based on kinship. Proof will be properly offered, in the form ofЧ"

Miri slammed the cup down. "A piece of enamel-work my grandma most likely swiped from some poor sot in an alleyway somewhere, along with everything else in his pockets!"

"Е a gene test," Val Con finished, as if she hadn't spoken.

She took a hard breath against the upset in her stomach.

"Don't need to talk to get a gene test done. Comes to that, I can talk, some. You taught me Low Liaden. No reason why you can't teach me enough High so I don't embarrass you."

"MiriЧ" He sighed, raising a hand to stroke the errant lock of hair out of his eyes. Miri bit her lip, knowing as plain as if he'd spoken that he'd noticed her upset inside his head, just like she could see his frustration inside hers. And he'd figured out she was far more upset than she should be, given the request, given the partnership, given the love.

"It is not a question," he said now, "of shaming me. We are lifemates, Miri: I am honored to stand at your side. But there is this other thing, when one is lifematedЧwould you send me into battle without insuring that I knew the field as well as you?"

"Huh?" She shook her head. "Likely get you killed, holding back information. And I'd have to give you everything I had, 'cause you never know beforehand what's gonna be important."

"Exactly." He leaned forward, holding her eyes with his. "We speak of the same situation, cha'trez. LiadensЕ Liadens are very formal. VeryЧstructured. There are six ways to ask forgivenessЧsix different postures, six distinct phrases, and six separate bowsЧand none of the six is what a Terran would call anapology . Apologies areЧvery rare." He pushed at his hair again, leaning back.

"You speak Low LiadenЧadequately. You have some High Liaden from book-studyЧenough to get by, I think, if we merely work together on your accent. But language is such a small part of communication, Miri! It is as if I gave you pellets, but failed of giving you the gun."

She closed her eyes; opened them. "You studied this Code-thing, right?"

"Right." He was watching her, very wary. "I grew up in the culture; studied the Code through sleep-learning to correct my understanding of nuance; took what I had learned and shaped it in keeping with my own melant'i. Your melant'i is not mine, Miri. I cannot teach you how to present it. But your lifemate may counsel you on how best to guard it."

"Is there a book?" She was conscious of her breathЧ shortened and half-desperateЧof blood pounding in her ears and sweat on her palms. "Can I study it out of a book, and then you and me can work on the accent?"Does it have to, HAVE to be sleep-learning, gods ?

"TheЧbookЧis actually several volumes," Val Con said softly; "several large volumes. I used to stand on them to reach the top shelf in my uncle's study, when I was a child."

"Must've been an easier way up than that," Miri said, half-grinning.

"There was," he said repressively; "but I was forbidden to climb the bookshelves. My uncle was quite clear on the point."

She laughed. "That uncle of yours had his share of trouble."