Maia

Back in Tonilda, Maia's path had very seldom crossed that of rich men. Once, when she was no more than nine and swimming in the lake, some noble of Serrelind, sailing his boat, had shouted to her to get out of the way as the bow came gliding swiftly down upon her. Frightened, she had had time to stare up a moment into his intent, else-. where-gazing face as the boat swept past, leaving her bobbing in its wash. And again, during a festival in Meerzat, she had watched as two roistering young blades, in great boots and feathered hunting-caps, set upon a fisherman and then carried off his pretty young wife, laughing at her screams and shouting that it was all in sport.

Now the room was full of such voices and such men, dressed in splendid robes or brilliant, open-weave shirts and silken breeches, carrying silver goblets and tooled leather knife-cases, conversing with confident indifference to everything but themselves and their own affairs. They made her so nervous that as a group approached the dais it was all she could do to remain seated on her stool. 'Keep still!' whispered Meris. 'Stop fidgeting!'

Among the guests walked several shearnas, and at these Maia looked with some surprise. She had been expecting a galaxy of outstanding beauty, and at first felt puzzled and rather disappointed that while some were certainly beyond argument beautiful, as well as being magnificently robed and jewelled, many struck her as nothing out of the ordinary. Suddenly (and thereupon feeling even more acutely her own lack of experience and maturity) she recalled what Occula had said about authority and style. These girls were strolling, talking and laughing among the nobles with assurance, treating them as equals and giving every appearance of being entirely at ease.

In that moment it dawned upon her that a girl like Meris was nothing but a pretty face one end and a hot tairth the other, and that this was Sencho's compass-all he could rise to. She realized intuitively that for all his wealth and

power, few of the girls sauntering among these nobles would care to consort with the High Counselor, any more than an intrepid hunter would want to go ratting. They fairly emanated style, accomplishment and wit. Whom they would they encouraged and whom they would they teased or brushed aside. What they were offering to their admirers, she grasped with some awe, was their company; just that; as much out of bed as in. Occula, she remembered, had remarked that they themselves had got to be better than the others. Well, here were the others. She felt disheartened. 'S'pose they feel like I do when I'm swimming,' she thought. And then, 'But where do such girls come from, I wonder, and how do they get to be-'

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted and she started. Through the colonnade, not forty feet away from her, appeared the young man who had spoken to Occula and herself in their jekzha at the top of the Khalkoornil. Dressed in a saffron-colored robe embroidered across the breast with a snarling, crimson leopard, he was talking animatedly to a brown-haired, demure-looking girl who, as Maia watched, smiled at him sidelong and then said something which made him turn towards her with a quick burst of laughter, laying one hand on her wrist.

A moment later he glanced towards the Lord General's table, caught sight of Maia, stared for a moment and then, murmuring a few words to his companion, came across to the foot of the dais and smiled up at her. Maia, uncertain what to do, got to her feet; whereupon the young man raised his palm to his forehead, at which her color rose.

"Well, well, the princess with the golden hair!" said the young man. "We met in the Khalkoornil, didn't we, the day they were bringing in the new statue of Airtha? Do you recall?"

"Yes, my lord," replied Maia, forcing herself to smile and look him in the eye.

"But I didn't introduce myself, did I?" said he.

Maia felt a sudden access of courage. If he wanted to tease, well, she might as well try her hand, seeing as he seemed so friendly.

"No, my lord, you must have forgot; but you're that notorious, see, I know who you are; only that's part of my business, that is."

The young man laughed, apparently delighted. "The

devil it is! And is business good? You got yourself sold all right, then? Who to?"

"To the High Counselor U-Sencho, my lord."

His face fell. "Oh. Oh, well; I suppose you had no choice in the matter, had you? And your pretty black friend?"

"The same. But she's not here tonight."

"I'll hope to see more of you later on: I must get back now, or my friend'll be wondering what on earth I'm up to. Come to that, she could be right, you know." Thereupon, with a quick wave of the hand, he was gone.

"Bloody basting Cran!" said Meris. "Wasn't that Lord Elvair-ka-Virrion?"

"M'm-h'm."

"You've met him before?"

"Oh, ah."