The Evolutionary Void (46 page)

“She said she’ll see you later.”

“Okay, then.”

“And this is Hilitte,” Dinlay said proudly, ushering the tall girl
forward. “We’ve been wed these last seven months.”

This bit was easy. Edeard had done this many many times, every time he
had begun again. So yet again and as always he kept a composed face and smiled
politely as he held out his hand to the robust girl. “Congratulations.” No
disapproval shown, no surprise at her youth (younger than Jiska, easily), no
confusion at the somehow familiar features smiling coquettishly back at him.

Macsen moved behind him, his mouth brushing past Edeard’s ear as if by
chance. “Nanitte’s daughter,” he whispered.

Edeard coughed, hoping to Honious he was covering his shock.

“Thank you, Waterwalker,” she said in a husky voice—yes, definitely
similar to that of her mother. And that coquettish smile deepened, becoming
coy, appraising.

Edeard quickly turned back to Macsen. “Lady, it’s good to be back.”

“So you really went the whole way around the world?” Dinlay asked.

“We certainly did. Ah, the stories I have to tell you.”

“And?”

Edeard knew exactly what the question was. “There’s only us. No one
else.”

Dinlay’s disappointment was all the more prominent amid the rejoicing
inflaming the city. “Ah, well,” he sighed.

“What’s going on outside the North Gate?” Edeard asked.

“Those bastards—” Macsen began.

“Macsen,” Dinlay said awkwardly. “The Waterwalker hasn’t even seen his
family yet after four years. We’ve held the peace for this long; we can wait a
day more. Edeard, it’s nothing to worry about. We have the situation under
control.”

Macsen gave a reluctant nod. “Of course. I’m sorry, old friend. This is
wrong of me. There’s so much I want to hear about.”

“And by the Lady, you shall,” Edeard promised.

It was several days before Edeard found the time to meet privately with
his old friends. The first two days were spent happily enough greeting his
family and getting to know the latest additions; then, for one day, he was
banished to a lounge on the ninth floor of the ziggurat with the other senior
males of the family, to feel worthless and faintly guilty while Taralee, two
midwifes, several Novices, Kristabel, and even Marvane helped the twins give
birth. For once they didn’t synchronize perfectly; Marilee gave birth to her two
daughters a good five hours before Analee produced a son and a daughter. After
that, of course, was the formal Culverit tradition of the arrival breakfast,
where an overwhelmed Marvane sat in a daze receiving congratulations from his
new family.

Lunchtime on the fourth day after the flotilla arrived back saw Edeard
take a gondola down to Sampalok. He walked along Mislore Avenue to the square
at the center of the district. Every building he passed was occupied. No matter
how small or awkward, every cluster of rooms had someone living there:
bachelor, bachelorette, couple, small young family, stubborn old widower or
widow. There was nothing left for any newcomer.

At the end of the avenue the six-sided mansion was a welcome sight. He
always felt a mild satisfaction every time he saw it, something he’d created,
something oddly reassuring.

This time, the square around it had none of the makeshift camps of
stopover visitors awaiting guidance. It was back to a pre-Skylord normality,
with Sampalok residents strolling around the fountains while kids played
football and hoop chase in the sunshine. Stalls on either side of Burfol Street
were doing a good trade in sugared fruits and cool drinks.

People smiled graciously at the Waterwalker in his customary black cloak.
Once there was a time when he would have welcomed such a greeting from the
citizens of Sampalok; now he found it hard to return those smiles.
But I’m being unfair. It’s not just this district that’s to blame
.

He went into the mansion via the archway on the lavender-shaded wall and
hurried up the stairs to the fifth floor, where Macsen had his private study.
It was a simple room opening onto a balcony. Today the tall windows were shut.
The desk was covered in leather folders, often with the ribbons untied to let
the papers spill out; the tables were also piled high, as were various shelves
and cabinets. Some of the chairs were also pedestals for the chaotic paperwork.
It used to be an immaculately tidy room, Edeard reflected. As if reading his
thoughts directly, Macsen gave a conciliatory grin as he got to his feet.
“Before you ask: Yes, it has only got like this since she left.”

Edeard eyed the food (or wine) stains down Macsen’s shirt but said
nothing. Some of the chairs already filled with paperwork had cloaks and robes
draped over them. “Something that big will take a while to adjust to,” he said
diplomatically.

“Have you seen her?”

“No. Not yet. Kristabel visited her last night.”

Macsen shook his head and sank back into the chair behind the desk. “She
doesn’t even live in Sampalok anymore.”

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“Oh, Lady, no. She said I was losing my focus or drive or something; the
usual rubbish women spout. You know what they’re like. Nothing I did was ever
right.”

“Yeah, I know what they’re like.”

“What? Even Kristabel?” Macsen seemed pathetically eager for
confirmation, to know he wasn’t alone in his suffering.

“Especially Kristabel,” Edeard assured him, wishing he was being
completely dishonest.
But … Lady, she’s changed since we
got back. And it’s all supposedly my fault
.

Macsen picked up a crystal decanter and poured out some of the
double-blended spirits the Rassien estate was famous for. He squinted at the
golden brown liquid as it swirled around the tumbler, then swallowed it in one
go. The decanter was held out to Edeard.

“No thanks.”

“You pity me, don’t you?” Macsen burped loudly.

Oh, Great Lady, I don’t need this. Not on top of
everything else
. “I don’t pity you. I’d like the old you back, but I’m
prepared to wait.”

“Oh, Edeard, how I wish we’d gone with you. None of this would’ve
happened. No Our City movement, no Doblek winning the election, none of the
squalid blockade camps.”

“I heard they call themselves Our City; Rolar told me. Of course, I
sensed the camps and the militia as soon as we reached port.”

“The militia has to be there to keep the peace. I even voted in favor of
Doblek’s proposal to deploy them, may the Lady forgive me. There was no choice,
Edeard. We were facing citywide riots, possibly a massacre worse than anything
Buate ever planned. Ilongo had endured two days of anarchy after Our City
prevented the stopovers from using any of the free housing. What else could we
do?”

“You did the right thing,” Edeard assured him. “You acted to save lives.
That’s what we always did; that’s what we’ll always do.”

“What’s happening to the world, Edeard? Didn’t we do enough, saving it
from Bise and Owain and the bandits? I tell you, in the Lady’s name the
Skylords will stop coming if we don’t mend our ways, Edeard. I know it.” He reached
for the decanter again, only to find Edeard’s third hand clamped firmly around
it.

“Dinlay will be here soon,” Edeard said. “We’ll talk about the blockade
and Our City then.” His farsight already had identified Dinlay walking across
the square outside the mansion. “So tell me, do you both still attend the Upper
Council?”

Macsen shook his head, on the verge of tears. “Jamico has been going on
my behalf this past half year. I couldn’t face it anymore after the vote for
the regiment. He’s a good man, and I’m proud to be his father. He’ll do better
than I ever did.” His hand swept around in an expansive gesture. “I try and
keep up with the petitions, Edeard, really I do, but people expect so much. I
am not Rah, but they don’t understand that. They whisper I’m turning my back on
them as Bise did. Can you imagine that? To be accused in such a fashion?
There’s nothing I can do to stop the insidious, malicious,
vicious
whispers. It’s Bise’s old people behind it, you know. I’m sure of it.”

Edeard wanted to use his third hand to haul Dinlay through the air to the
study’s balcony. Anything to break up this bitter tirade of self-loathing.
“Dinlay’s almost here. Speaking of whom …”

“Ha!” Macsen managed half a smile as he shook his head. “You saw her.
Exactly the same as all the others. Edeard, I swear on the Lady that somewhere
out in the provinces there’s a secret guild that just keeps using the same mold
to produce them. How else does he find so many of them?”

Edeard smiled. “A Dinlay-wife-sculpting guild. I like it. But Nanitte’s
daughter …?”

“Aye! Ladydamn. I knew it the minute I saw her; she didn’t even have to
tell me who she was. It triggered all those memories, the ones I’d tried so
hard to forget. Then she claimed she and her mother quarreled incessantly and she
couldn’t stand living at home anymore, so she spent the last four years on the
road before she came here. Viewing the world, she claims. You know, I was one
of the first people she came to. She said her mother had given her the names of
people in the city who would help her if she ever got here. Not much of a
quarrel, then, eh? I bet the bitch sent her here to ruin us all.”

“Knowing Nanitte, more than likely.” Edeard checked again. Dinlay was
through the archway in the dappled gray wall, asking a servant where the master
of Sampalok was. “Where did Nanitte make her home eventually?”

“She worked her witch magic on some poor rich bastard in Obershire,
apparently. He married her a month after she arrived, and they live in a fine
house on a big farming estate.”

“Good for her,” Edeard muttered.

Macsen snorted in contempt.

“But don’t you see?” Edeard responded. “She’s changed. She’s become a
part of our society. It’s an acknowledgment we are the right way forward for us
all. A timely reminder we mustn’t falter, if you ask me.”

“Whatever,” Macsen said wearily. “Anyway, it took Dinlay all of half a
minute to fall head over heels for the daughter. As usual.”

“Well, maybe this time he’ll get it right. He’s certainly had enough
practice.”

“Not a Ladydamned chance.”

Edeard remembered the flirtatious smile Hilitte had bestowed on him as
they met.
Macsen’s right; the omens aren’t good
.

Dinlay opened the door, giving Macsen a cautious look.

“Good to see you,” Edeard said, and gave his friend a warm hug.

Dinlay returned the embrace, contentment and relief apparent in his mind.
“We really were starting to get worried, you know.”

“I know, and I thank you for that concern. But it’s a big world out
there, and we know so little of it. Honestly, the sights I have seen …”

“Really? Tell us!”

“There were huge rock creatures in the southern seas like coral islands
that float. I even stood on one. And trees! Lady, the trees on Parath—a whole
continent on the other side of Querencia—I swear they were the same height as
the tallest tower in Eyrie. And the animals we found. Have you seen the ones we
brought back? They were just the small ones. There was something on Maraca, the
continent beyond Parath, that was the size of a house. It had blue skin and
skulked about in swamps. The jungles, too! Around the equator on Maraca they
make Charyau’s temperature look like a mild winter; they’re like steam baths.”

“You’ve never been to Charyau,” Macsen accused.

“But Natran has,” Edeard countered. “And he gifted me the memories.”

“Lady, I wish I’d come with you,” a wistful Dinlay declared.

“I’ve already said that,” Macsen grumbled. “See what happens when you
leave us in charge?”

“We’re hardly to blame,” Dinlay said hotly.

Edeard and Dinlay exchanged a private look. “All right,” Edeard sighed.
“Tell me what’s been happening in my city.”

The Our City movement had begun soon after the flotilla departed, Dinlay
explained. Some argument in Tosella had sparked it off, apparently. A newlywed
couple had found themselves a cluster of empty rooms in a big mansion between
the Blue Tower and Hidden Canal. The rooms were up in the eaves and had odd
split-level floors with a rolling step, which was why they’d never been
claimed. However, there was a good-size room at one end where the man could set
up his jewelry workshop. But they didn’t register their residency until after
the wedding, as was traditional in Makkathran. That was when the trouble
started. They came back from their honeymoon and found that a stopover family
had moved in.

“Temporary,” Macsen grunted. “That’s all. Two brothers had brought their
mother from Fandine province to Makkathran for a Skylord’s guidance. She was
arthritic and was succumbing to the onset of dementia. They just missed one
Skylord by a week, and there were no approaching Skylords sighted by the
Astronomy Guild, so it was probably going to be several months until the next
one arrived. In the meantime, the brothers couldn’t afford to rent a tavern
room for that long or take one in the new inns out in the villages. The empty
rooms were a logical solution.”