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picture they presented made him uneasy. It came to him that not one of the men
surrounding Teidez was under thirty. None followed the boy for friendship, or
even anticipated friendship; all were there for self-interest. If any of these
courtiers had their wits about them, Cazaril decided, they ought to bring
their sons to court now and turn them loose and let nature take its course. A
vision not without its own perils, but . . .
Orico lumbered on around the stable block, the ladies and Cazaril following.
They found the head groom Umegat, evidently forewarned, waiting decorously by
the menagerie doors, open wide to the morning sun and breeze. He bowed his
neatly braided head to his master and his guests.
  S Umegat, said Orico to his sister, by way of introduction.  Runs this
place for me. Roknari, but a good man anyway.
Iselle controlled a visible twinge of alarm and inclined her head graciously.
In passable court
Roknari, albeit improperly in the grammatical mode of master to warrior rather
than master to servant, she said, ~Blessings of the Holy Ones be upon you this
day, Umegat.~
Umegat s eyes widened, and his bow deepened. He returned a ~Blessings of the
High Ones upon you too, m hendi,~ in the purest accent of the Archipelago, in
the polite grammatical form of slave to master.
Cazaril s brows rose. Umegat was no Chalionese half-breed after all, it
seemed. Cazaril wondered by what convoluted life s chances he d ended up here
. Interest roused, he ventured, ~You are a long way from home, Umegat,~ in the
mode of servant to lesser servant.
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A little smile turned the groom s lips. ~You have an ear, m hendi. That is
rare, in Chalion.~
~Lord dy Cazaril instructs me,~ Iselle supplied.
~Then you are well served, lady. But,~ turning to Cazaril, he shifted modes,
now to that of slave to scholar, even more exquisitely polite than that of
slave to master, ~Chalion is my home now, Wisdom.~
 Let us show my sister my creatures, put in Orico, evidently growing bored
with the bilingual amenities. He held up his linen napkin and grinned
conspiratorially.  I stole a honeycomb for my bears from the breakfast table,
and it will soak through soon if I don t rid myself of it.
Umegat smiled back and conducted them into the cool stone building.
The place was even more immaculate this morning than the other day, tidier by
far than Orico s banqueting halls. Orico excused himself and dodged aside at
once into one of his bears cages. The bear woke up and sat up on his
haunches; Orico lowered himself to his haunches on the gleaming straw, and the
two regarded one another. Orico was very nearly the same shape as the bear,
withal. He unwrapped his napkin and broke off a chunk of honeycomb, and the
bear snuffled over and began licking his fingers with a long pink tongue.
Iselle and Betriz exclaimed at the bear s thick and beautiful fur, but made no
move to join the roya in the cage.
Umegat directed them to the more obviously herbivorous goat-creatures, and
this time the ladies did go into the stalls, to stroke the beasts and
compliment them enviously on their big brown eyes and sweeping eyelashes.
Umegat explained that they were called vellas, imported from somewhere beyond
the Archipelago, and supplied carrots, which the ladies fed to the vellas with
much giggling and mutual satisfaction. Iselle wiped the last carrot bits mixed
with vella slime on her skirt, and they all followed
Umegat toward the aviary. Orico, lingering with his bear, languidly waved them
on without him.
A dark shape swooped from the sunlight into the stone-arched aisle and fetched
up with a flap and a grumble on Cazaril s shoulder; he nearly jumped out of
his boots. He craned his neck to find it was his crow from his window this
morning, judging by the ragged slot in its tail feathers. It flexed its clawed
feet in his shoulder and cried,  Caz, Caz!
Cazaril burst into laughter.  About time, you foolish bird! But it will do you
no good now I m all out of bread. He shrugged his shoulder, but the bird
clung stubbornly, and cried,  Caz, Caz! again, right in his ear, painfully
loudly.
Betriz laughed, lips parted in amazement.  Who s your friend, Lord Caz?
 It came to my window this morning, and I attempted to teach it, um, a few [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]