Maia

"Oh, banzi, did you think I was aimin' no higher than that? I was tryin' to persuade Domris to set me up as a shearna in Bekla-a free woman. But she wouldn'. Well, it was flyin' too high, really-I can see that. Anyway, she wasn' havin' it. But finally she agreed to sell me to a well-connected dealer in Bekla, on his promise that he'd dispose of me only to some wealthy house where I'd have a good chance of gettin' on.

" 'I'll speak to Lalloc next time I go up,' she said. 'He knows the market and he sells to all the wealthiest Leopard houses in the upper city. And that's the best I can do for you, my dear. But if you manage to get your own head above water-and if anyone can I should think it's you- let me know, and I'll certainly engage you to buy for me- on commission, too.'

"So that was how it was arranged. Lalloc agreed to pay Domris ten thousand down and another two thousand if he was able to sell me for more than fourteen. And out of that two thousand, if it comes off, I'm to have five hundred for myself. It's not much, but it may make a lot of difference to us, banzi, if only we can hide it safe, wherever we get to. That's what all this damned fuss has been for, this last two days-now do you see? I've got a position to keep up. Lalloc told that Megdon fellow to take me over from Domris at Thettit and see me up to Bekla, but of course if you let yourself in for being carted about by bastards like that, they're not goin' to take the trouble to help you to stand out from a bunch of ten-meld sluts. You've got to see to that sort of thing for yourself. And so I did."

"And U-Zuno-you reckon he will?" asked Maia. "Don't mind me sayin' it, but struck me as you were kind of quiet in front of him."

"Well, but he's a wafter, banzi, for Cran's sake! Wouldn' be any good offerin' him anything, would it? Never, never try to put anythin' across a wafter!"

"Whatever's a wafter?"

"You mean to say-oh, banzi!" And forthwith Occula- with many wondering interjections and questions from the uninitiated Maia-explained.

"So we've got no sort of grip on him, have we?" concluded the black girl. "And 'twouldn' be any good tryin' any old smoky tricks on the likes of him. That's a clever young man, if I'm any judge; a man on the way up. All he's concerned with at present are the future fortunes of U-Zuno."

They lay quiet for a time.

"Sleepy?" asked the black girl at length.

"M'mm. Dearest Occula."

"Listen! Did you hear that? Long way off."

"What?"

"Cocks are crowin'."

"I never heard."

"Yes; and it's gettin' light, look."

Maia, rubbing her eyes, slipped out of bed for the second time and crossed to the window. The eastern sky was full of smooth, cloudless light and now she could indeed hear a cock crowing in the distance. A cold breeze was blowing and she shivered, hunching her shoulders.

"Another jolly day all ready for the spoilin'," said Occula. "But they woan' be comin' to unlock us just yet. Come back here, pretty banzi. I remember what misery feels like all right. Oh, I've got to be nice to you, haven' I?"

11: ON THE ROAD

It soon became clear that Occula's assessment of Zuno had been as shrewd as most of her judgments. He was certainly a good cut above Megdon: fastidious, detached and (as the girl had guessed) prepared to treat Maia and herself reasonably well provided they fell in with what he wanted; which, in a word, was deference. Having become part of his equipage, it was necessary that they (like the cat) should reflect his own conception of his personal elegance and

style. Occula, by her docility and readiness not only to comply with but plainly to appreciate the wisdom of his every decision, contrived to convince him that she was an intelligent girl who could be trusted to behave sensibly.

The authority flowing naturally from a man who is well-dressed, constrained in manner but clear and confident in his instructions, ensured that the girls were adequately fed and treated with consideration, despite the innkeeper's wife's obvious wish to see the back of them as soon as possible. (She was hardly to be blamed, for Occula's sense of mischief had led her first to beg the innkeeper-who needed little pressing-to be so good as to look for a fly in her eye and then to take a thorn-which was not there- out of Maia's foot.) They were certainly not hurried into an early start, for it was not until some three hours before noon that Zuno had them summoned to join him outside the tavern.

He himself (with the cat) was traveling in a jekzha-a light, wicker-sided cart with two high wheels and an awning to keep off the sun. This was actually the property of Lalloc (a fact of which Occula took good care to seem ignorant), as were the two Deelguy slaves pulling it. These men, who understood only a little Beklan, clearly expected no attention apart from their orders, but conversed together- and even laughed and joked-in their own language throughout the day's journey.