Laldasa (3 page)

“A present, Jivinta.” He held the glass bird in a shaft of watery sunlight and watched her eyes sparkle at it.

“A bird!” She took it from him. “Ah, a falcon! How like you it is—the sharp eyes, the proud head.”

Jaya laughed. “And I thought how like you it was.”

Mina Sarojin was pleased. “Well, we are of a kind, you and I ...
 
You got this at Bazaar?” At his nod, she leaned forward as if conspiring. “Take me with you next time you go.”

“Jivinta, your leg won't carry you over that rough ground,” he protested.

“Then we'll take a palanquin. Promise you'll take me.”

Jaya smiled. “All right, yes, I promise ... ” His smile knotted itself into a grimace.

“What is it, boy? Tell your Jivinta.”

Boy. He sat at the edge of her hassock, scratched at his close-trimmed beard, and mused that every hair in it would be white before Jivinta Mina would stop calling him ‘boy' and expect him to share all his secrets with her. And he would share them—every last one. There were no secrets between him and Jivinta Mina.

“I found a woman at Bazaar today and brought her home.”

“A woman? What kind of woman? Why am I not meeting her?”

“She's sleeping.”

“You wore her out already?”

He ignored that. “I found her wandering—hurt, confused, without id. That was stolen. I think she may be from Avasa, by her coloring.”

“Is she pretty?”

“She is ... ” He tilted his head from side to side. “ ... stunning would be the right word, I think.”

The old woman's eyes sparkled. “Ah, and you rescued her!”

He shook his head. “Unfortunately, the Sarngin saw her. I had to take her to the Bedan-Devaki.”

Mina laid a wrinkled hand firmly over his. “Poor Gauri. And you vowed not to take any dasa to yourself. Well, you can always return her to the brokerage.”

Disgust was quick to engulf him. “What, and have her sold into some ... business?”

“A kaladan,” said Mina bluntly. “You can say the word—I've heard it before.”

“To a kaladan. Or as cunnidasa to a private owner.”

“And what will you do with her? Your mother has wanted you to take a cunnidasa for some time. Perhaps this is an opportunity to appease her.” She tilted her head to study his averted face. “Does she attract you, this woman?”

He nodded. “When I look at her, Jivinta, it's like ... ” He chuckled, making a gesture of dismissal. “I can't describe it.”

“What? My grandson has never felt lust before? Liar.”

“Not lust ... sakti ... the force of life.” He grimaced. “Maybe it's past time for a cunnidasa.”

“Cunnidasa are for the management of lust—for exorcising such demons as cloud perception. Lust clouds, sakti illuminates. Know what you feel before you act on it.”

He smiled at her and she smiled back, adoring him with her eyes. “I've heard father and Uncle Namun both say that.”

“Ah. And where do you suppose they got it?”

“Are you always right, grandmother?” he asked her.

“I try to be,” she said.

Jaya was on the shaded patio overlooking Aridas's artfully curried garden when Helidasa appeared in the doorway behind him.

“She's wakeful, Nathu Rai.”

He glanced at her, only half seeing her at first, then focused on her face. It was set in almost prim lines.

“Have I earned your disapproval, Heli?” he asked.

“I'd have no business disapproving a Lord, Nathu Rai.” Only the words were meek.

Jaya sighed. “Yes, Heli, I have taken a dasa. And yes, I do remember that I swore not to. But it was against my will.”

Helidasa's eyebrows rose questioningly. “How does one enslave another against their will?”

“One finds a stranger wandering, injured and without id, through the Bazaar, and one gets to her just before the Sarngin do. Your next question would be, ‘Why does one take the stranger to a dalali?'”

“That dascree in her palm be hard to remove,” Heli replied, admitting that her curiosity had led her to a close inspection.

“I know. I'm sorry about that. But the Sarngin were watching our every move. They followed us all the way into the dalali.”

She nodded, unbending a little. “She's very beautiful. What will you do with her?”

“First, I'll find out what she was doing in Kasi—if she has any family that can produce more id leaf for her. Then-“ He shrugged.

Helidasa glanced back over her shoulder. “Well, you'll be hearing about that soon, then. Shall I bring her meal out here?”

His gaze going past Heli into the interior of the solarium, Jaya realized his foundling had come downstairs. She was standing near the door to the entry hall, looking out at them.

“Yes,” he said, “bring it out here.” He nodded toward the stone table set like a jewel in the center of a pastel mosaic saroj, a scene from the creation of the universe worked into each of its pale blue petals.

“And you? You are hungry also, Jaya Rai.”

Jaya smiled. It was more command than question. “A little. Thank you, Heli.”

The dasa grunted, satisfied, and went into the morning room. Jaya watched as she directed the other woman toward the mellowly lit patio. Anala emerged into the late afternoon sunshine, her gaze taking in the gardens in a wide-eyed sweep. The setting sun caught the deep copper hair and saffron gown and turned her to a pillar of flame.

Lust clouds, he reminded himself. Sakti illuminates.

“You have a beautiful palace, Lord,” she told him. Her eyes met his and retreated behind a wary screen. “Sarojin ...
 
That's the Taj House of Kasi. Your father holds a seat on the Vrinda Varma?”

“I hold a seat on the Vrinda Varma. My father is in the arms of Tara-rama.”

“He is blessed,” Anala responded automatically, pressing her palms together over her heart. “Why am I here?”

Jaya smiled wryly—blunt. “It was your best option.”

“The others being?”

“The others being sale to the highest bidder or to a kaladan.”

“A what?” She stopped by the stone table, her attention shifting from the bird-filled trees to his face.

He averted his eyes and gestured for her to be seated, then moved to sit across from her. “A kaladan.”

She shook her head. “Is that some sort of prison?”

“Some sort of prison, yes ...
 
You seem to have a fixation with prisons.”

The woman shrugged, causing the soft sunlight to dance in the folds of her gown. “It's what my brothers told me could happen if I was stupid enough to lose my leaf.”

“Where did they hear this?”

“On Mehtar, I imagine. They've both been here several times.”

“Well, they were misinformed. We don't imprison idless people on Mehtar. We have work-farms and kaladans and large houses like this one that need das to run them as their masters require.” His sarcasm was not lost on his guest.

“You mean domestics?” She jerked her head toward the house. “You have them. How can you sound so disapproving?”

“Ari and Heli are family das. I ... ” He hesitated. He'd been going to say, ‘I don't have any,' but that was no longer true. He wondered if Anala understood her position. “Do you have das on Avasa?” he asked.

“We don't call them that, or consider them that. My family has a large compound, so we've had to hire domestics and hands. They do become like family after a while ...
 
How do you know I'm from Avasa?” She shifted in her seat to watch Helidasa emerge from the house with a food-laden tray.

“Where else? Thank you, Heli.” He accepted a bowl of sliced fruit with a nectar sauce glistening atop it. “You know very little about Kasi, you had no cree in your palm—you'd have to be from an extremely rural area at the very least. But then you refer to Mehtar as if you've never been here, so the only logical answer is Avasa. Besides, your ... coloring is ... unusual, as is your accent. Anything I missed?”

“I have an accent?” Anala paused in the act of biting into a fat, red berry. “You have an accent.” She bit into the berry and chewed it thoughtfully. “Is it unpleasant?” she asked after a moment.

“What?”

“This accent you say I have.”

He chuckled. “No, it's very pleasant.”

She nodded. “Yours doesn't grate the ears either.”

“Thank you.” He studied her, considering what tack to take. “Do you understand what happened today?”

She snorted. “I was robbed. I understand that perfectly well.”

“At the Bazaar?”

“No. Close, though. On the avenue that comes in from the spaceport.” She shook her head in disgust. “Stupid. I was so freighted down in that winter cloak—I was trying to juggle my pack and take the cloak off at the same time. I didn't expect it to be so warm here.”

“It's actually cool for Chaitra.”

“Cool is fine—our summers are cool—but I was wearing an insulsuit under that cloak. My brother said it was winter in Kasi this time of year. It's more like late summer.”

“Well, that entirely depends on your point-of-view. I suppose compared to what you're used to, Kasi winters might seem rather mild.”

“I should have expected that, of course, but I'd thought with the elliptical orbit ... ” She shrugged.

He was surprised she understood that sort of thing and let it show in his expression.

“We're not savages on Avasa, despite what the Consortium wants everyone here to think.” She hesitated, giving him a measuring look. “You'd be surprised, Lord, at how civilized Avasa is. We are an honorable people-“

“And a rebellious people,” Jaya inserted for the sake of argument.

Anala flushed, ignoring the remark. “We have much to offer as an independent-“

“Mostly a lot of trouble to the Consortium, it appears.”

“Are we not justified?” She slammed her fist down on the table top, nearly upsetting a bowl of stewed nuts.

Jaya grabbed the bowl. “Eat the kuri, don't bludgeon it.”

Surprisingly, she laughed, then returned to her story. “So, there I was, struggling to get out of this fleece cloak, when four men pounced on me and knocked me senseless. All I remember after that is trying to follow them. Falling down a hill. Everything is a blur. Even meeting you, the dalali ... ” She shook her head. “I'm not sure what I dreamed and what really happened. All I know is, my id is gone—which I suppose means I'll have to leave Mehtar—and my money with it—which means I'll leave empty-handed.” She was suddenly grim. “I'm ashamed to have to go back to father like this. After all his talk about how competent I am.”

“Competence or lack of it has nothing to do with what happened to you, Anala.” He avoided the issue of her return to Avasa for the moment and asked, “What were you to have brought home with you?”

“Mining equipment. Nandin drill bits. That new chemical spray that's supposed to neutralize manda fumes. Protective gear.”

Jaya nodded. “How much money did you lose?”

“Twenty thousand dagam. Damn!” she added, feelingly.

“Why come all the way to Mehtar for mining equipment? Why not buy it on Avasa? Surely they sell it there after nearly two hundred years of mining.”

She gave him an odd look. “It was sold on Avasa, up until about six months ago. Then the Consortium stopped its import.”

“Just like that?” he asked. “They stopped it?”

“Yes.”

She was telling him the truth, he was convinced of it—or at least she believed it was the truth. It was an accusation that the Consortium was putting economic pressure on the Avasan colonies even as it worked to stall their independence through legal means. If that was true, it could mean an indictment for arbitration violation.

He suspected guiltily that if he'd half kept up with the briefs for the upcoming Council sessions, he'd have already known about the import situation.

He shrugged the niggle of concern away and realized he was staring at Anala's hands. They were strong hands with short, neatly filed nails. Workers' hands. Her arms were bare (surely proving that even hot and cold were relative concepts) and unusually muscular. He recalled that her legs were, as well.

“So,” she said, “when do I go back to Avasa?”

Jaya found meeting her eyes very difficult, but managed it. He ignored the tightening sensation under his breast bone and said the words bluntly: “You don't.”

She was so still, she might have been part of the stone bench she sat on. “I don't,” she repeated finally. “Can you explain that?”