Sign of chaos

«I'm not sure.»

«We can't keep things waiting any longer,» she said. «And now the seating arrangement's screwed. What did you do, wear her out?»

«Llewella…»

She muttered something I didn't understand in some lisping Rebman dialect. Just as well, probably. She fumed away then and moved off toward Vialle.

«You in a heap of trouble, boy,» Bill commented at my side. «Let's hit the bar while she's reassigning places.»

But the wine steward was already approaching with a couple of drinks on a tray.

«Bayle's Best,» he observed as we took them.

I sipped and saw that he was right, which heartened me a bit.

«I don't recognize all of these people,» Bill said. «Who's that fellow with the red sash, over by Vialle?»

«That's Orkuz, the Begman prime minister,» I told him, «and the rather attractive lady in the yellow-and-red dress who's talking to Martin is his daughter Nayda. Coral - the one I just got chewed out about - is her sister.»

«Uh-huh. And who's the husky blond lady batting her eyes at Gerard?»

«I don't know,» I said. «And I don't know that lady and the guy over to the right of Orkuz either.»

We drifted inward, and Gerard, looking perhaps a trifle uncomfortable in layers of ruffled finery, introduced us to the lady he was with as Dretha Gannell, assistant to the Begman ambassador. The ambassador, it turned out, was the tall lady standing near Orkuz - and her name, I gathered, was Ferla Quist. The fellow with her was her secretary, whose name sounded something like Cade. While we were looking in that direction, Gerard tried slipping off and leaving us with Ferla. But she caught his sleeve and asked him something about the fleet. I smiled and nodded and moved away. Bill came along.

«Goodness! Martin's changed!» he announced suddenly. «He looks like a one-man rock video. I almost didn't recognize him. Just last week-»

«It's been over a year,» I said, «for him. He's been off finding himself on some street scene.»

«I wonder if he's finished?»

«Didn't get a chance to ask him that;» I replied, but a peculiar thought occurred to me. I shelved it.

The music died just then, and Llewella cleared the throat and indicated Hendon, who announced the new seating arrangement. I was at the foot of the table, and I learned later that Coral was to have been seated to my left and Cade to my right. I also learned later that Llewella had tried to get hold of Flora at the last minute to sit in Coral's place, but Flora wasn't taking any calls.

As it was, Vialle, at the head, had Llewella seated to her right and Orkuz to her left, with Gerard, Dretha, and Bill below Llewella, and Ferla, Martin, Cade, and Nayda below Orkuz. I found myself escorting Nayda to the table and seating her to my right, while Bill settled himself at my left.

«Fuss, fuss, fuss,» Bill muttered softly, and I nodded; then introduced him to Nayda as counsel to the House of Amber. She looked impressed and asked him about his work. He proceeded to charm her with a story about once having represented the interests of a dog in an estate, settlement, which had nothing to do with Amber but was a good story. Got her to laughing a bit, and also Cade, who was listening in.

The first course was served and the musicians began playing again, softly, which shortened the distance our voices carried and reduced conversation to a more intimate level. At this, Bill signaled he had something he wanted to tell me, but Nayda had beaten him by a second or two and I was already listening to her.

«About Coral,» she said softly. «Are you sure she's all right? She wasn't feeling ill when you parted - of anything like that - was she?»

«No,» I answered. «She seemed healthy enough.»

«Strange,» she said. «I had the impression she wad looking forward to things like this dinner.»

«She's obviously taking longer than she'd intended in whatever she's about,» I observed.

«What exactly was she about?» Nayda asked. «Where did you part?»

«Here in the palace,» I replied. «I was showing her around. She wanted to spend more time with certain features of the place than I could spare. So I came on ahead.

«I don't think she could have forgotten dinner.»

«I think she got caught up by the power of an artistic piece.»

«So she's definitely on the premises?»

«Now, that's hard to say. As I said before, a person can always step out.»

«You mean you're not sure exactly where she is?» I nodded.

«I'm not certain where she is at this moment,» I said. «She could well be back in her room changing her clothes.»

«I'll check after dinner,» she said, «if she hasn't shown up by then. If that should be the case, will you help me find her?»

«I was planning on looking for her anyway,» I answered, «if she doesn't put in an appearance soon.»

She nodded and continued eating. Very awkward.