Maia

Dazed, and dripping sweat from every pore, Sencho came slowly to himself and opened his eyes. The Tonildan girl, kneeling beside the couch, was rinsing her mouth from Meris's goblet and groping on the floor for the spray of keranda bloom which had fallen out of her hair. Looking up, she caught his eye for a moment and smiled shyly. The High Counselor, drowsy now but filled with a supreme sense of his own shrewdness in having recognized such an excellent thing when he saw it, fondled her shoulders for a moment, grunted with satisfaction and once more fell asleep.

23: MEWS WHIPPED

"Couldn' be better," said Occula, filling a pink palm with oil and bending over Maia's shoulders. "Couldn' be better! Banzi, I never thought you had it in you!"

"I didn't," said Maia.

"Oh, and witty too! The girl's all talent! Can you sing as well?"

"I want to learn to dance, Occula. What was that dance you said?"

"The senguela. All in good time, my lass, all in good time. Just keep still while I finish rubbin' you down. You do me credit, banzi, that you do."

Even Terebinthia was smiling. On the day following the banquet, after leaving the High Counselor to sleep until the afternoon, she had woken him to a light meal, during which he had first told her of Meris's iniquitous dereliction of duty and then warmly congratulated her upon her advice about the Tonildan girl. No praise, it seemed, was too high for the way in which Maia had acquitted herself. Finally, Sencho, his lust renewed by his own account to Terebinthia, ordered her to fetch the girl then and there, in order that she might personally witness her remarkable talent. Alone with the High Counselor and Terebinthia, Maia at first felt nervous, but then, with peasant shrewdness, realized that, short of smashing a plate over his head, there was virtually nothing she could do which her master, in his present mood, would not find entirely pleasing. Having once more gratified him-while Terebinthia held a mirror to add to his enjoyment-she and the saiyett had left the

High Counselor to sleep and returned to the women's quarters.

The weather, after two days of rain, had turned colder. The stove had been lit and the murmur and movement of the flames, together with the steady, gentle sibilance of the rain outside, made a pleasant background for conversation.

Maia turned over on her back. "Oh, 'twas just lucky, honest," she answered. "Tell you the truth, I was frightened half silly. But I mean, someone had to do something."

"Or you could have been where Meris is now." Tere-binthia, seated near-by, was looking over the clothes and jewels which the girls had worn the night before. "She's the one to blame, the little fool: an experienced girl and simply couldn't control herself. Let that be a warning to you."

"But, banzi," said Occula, "you say Elvair-ka-Virrion came and pressed you, and you sent him away?"

"Oh, I do just about hope that was right an' all!" replied Maia. "Only strikes me as he may go an' take against me now, see?"

"Not he!" said Occula. "Not he! You couldn't have done better! He can' possibly hold it against you; and I shouldn't think any girl's ever treated him like that before in his whole life. He'll be even crazier about you now-you jus' wait and see! He'll think you're the most marvelous thing since Lespa flew away with the goat. He'll probably come round here and ask for you, I expect."

"But-" Maia spoke hesitantly, frowning and stabbing slowly at the floor with a splinter of firewood-"Meris was saying at the banquet that we're never allowed out, and nobody ever gets to see us."

"Ah; but that's just as I may decide, you see," said Terebinthia, holding up Maia's Yeldashay skirt to the light and examining it one side and then the other. "What it comes to is that I certainly don't allow any girl to go out by herself if I feel I can't trust her to do me and the High Counselor credit. It's most unwise to forfeit my confidence." She patted Maia's shoulder. "You've made a very good start, Maia. Mind you take care not to get conceited. What is it, Ogma? Has the High Counselor finished talking to those messengers from Tonilda now? Then I'd better

go and ask him whether he wants to see Meris whipped before supper or after."

"Don't like Meris, do she?" said Maia when Terebinthia had gone. She got up from the couch. "Meris must have rubbed her up the wrong way good and proper."

"Absolutely fatal," replied Occula. "Anyone could see all along that she had it in for her. Even without last night she'd have got Meris sooner or later. It only goes to show, banzi: one thing you must avoid in this game is makin' enemies, and particularly of people who have power over you."

Maia was rummaging in the alcove for her comb. "I say, Occula, what's happened to your Cat Colonna as the pedlar gave you? I thought you left it up here on the shelf?"