Maia (72 page)

"My dear," said the old lady, taking her hands, "Anda-Nokomis told us-we were most pleased-that you-"

Suddenly she stopped, catching her breath. "Oh!" Still holding Maia's hands, she stared at her intently, with an air of amazement. "Anda-Nokomis told us, but I never imagined-of course, it's more than sixteen years now-"

"Excuse me, saiyett," said Tescon, who had followed them into the hut, "but U-Nasada asked me to explain to you that Maia hasn't been told anything about this yet. He's going to have a talk with her later this evening."

"Oh, I see." The lady, who in any case had recovered herself almost at once, took this smoothly in her stride. Still gazing at Maia, however, with a kind of mannerly-controlled wonder, she went on, "We're very glad you'll be staying with us tonight. You too, my dear," she added politely to Luma, who put her palm to her forehead but made no reply. "One of my girls will bring you some hot water" (I can't believe it! thought Maia), "and then she'll get your supper. Please don't hesitate to ask for anything else you want. My name's Penyanis, by the way," she added smilingly. "I'm U-Makron's wife. I hope you're not too tired after your journey?"

Although her Suban accent would have marked her out instantly in Bekla, Maia could nevertheless understand her well enough-better than she could understand Luma- and guessed that in years gone by she must have spent some time in one of the cities of the empire. She herself, of course, had virtually no experience of talking to ladies of consequence, but for the few minutes until the hot water arrived she did her best and felt she had come out of it at least passably; perhaps because the old lady seemed almost bemused merely by looking at her, and on that account hardly concerned to pay any very close attention to anything she actually said. Soon she took her leave, hoping they would be comfortable and once more begging Maia to ask for anything she lacked.

An hour later Maia was feeling, if not altogether at ease, at least less uncomfortable than at any time since leaving Bekla. Her shin seemed almost to have stopped hurting. She had washed from head to foot with soap, combed her hair and cleaned her teeth with a frayed stick. The supper, though nothing more than fish, eggs, and fruit, had been good and Penyanis's maid had served it well. The wine, too, had been a delightful surprise, for it was Yeldashay- even Sencho might have appreciated it-and there was

plenty of it. Having thanked and dismissed the maid, she refilled her cup and stood at the window looking out into the twilight, where supper fires were burning behind the huts and lamps shone from windows. In the cool, mud-smelling mist beyond, the frogs were rarking far and near, and a belated heron flew slowly over, with back-bent neck and trailing legs. "Go on-fly to Serrelind," she said aloud. "Tell Kelsi her sister's in a mess and needs her." And oh! wouldn't she just about be glad, she thought, to see Kelsi come walking up through the village now, in her sacking smock and bare feet?

Whom she actually saw a moment later was Nasada, deep in conversation with an even older man who was walking beside him, leaning on a stick. At once she waved, called out "U-Nasada!" and then, mischievously, "Sha-greh?"

He looked up and raised his hand. "We're coming to see you."

"Luma, help U-Nasada and the other gentleman up the ladder."

"Shagreh."

A minute later they were in the room and Luma, at a few murmured words from Nasada, had left it. Nasada smiled at Maia, nodding approvingly.

"Well, you don't look as if you'd come twenty miles down the Nordesh. You look as if you'd just come from your upper city in a litter."

She curtseyed, tossing back her combed hair.

" Tisn't true, U-Nasada, and I reckon you know that; but it's nice to have anyone say it, specially you."

Nasada turned to his companion. "Were you ever in the upper city, Makron? It must be a dangerous place, don't you think, with girls like this about?"

"I've never been to Bekla, Nasada," answered the old man. "But now I've seen
her
I don't think I need to."

"Well, I suppose we shouldn't go on talking about her like this, us two old storks," said Nasada. "I'd better introduce you. This is U-Makron, elder of Lukrait-Maia of Serrelind."

Maia curtseyed again and raised a palm to her forehead. "Thank you very much for the beautiful wine, U-Makron."

"Oh,, you liked it?" he said. "That's good. King Karnat sent it to me a year or two back, but we're not really expert in such things here, you know. I'm glad to have been able

to give it to someone who appreciates it. Still, I dare say you've been used to better in Bekla?"

She shook her head and smiled. "None better, sir."

There were several stools in the room. She motioned to them to sit down, rinsed two cups and poured more of the wine. The elder inquired about her escape from Bekla and the dangerous Valderra crossing, and went on to deplore the discomfort of Suba to anyone not used to its mists and marshes. To all of this she replied as she hoped he would wish.

"And-er-you grew up in Tonilda?" he asked at length. "On Lake Serrelind? That's near Thettit, isn't it? You've really lived there all your life?"

"Almost all sixteen years of it, U-Makron!" she smiled.

"Something over sixteen years since you were born?" said he, sipping his wine with a thoughtful air. "Well, I myself never saw Nokomis, you see, though my wife did." He paused. "She tells me it's more than strange. I'm glad to have had this chance of seeing
you.
I wish you luck: but I must leave you now. I've got to talk to the young men before they go to Melvda tomorrow." She stood up, and he took her hands. "We shall meet again before you go. I feel honored to have met you, Maia of Serrelind, bringer of good fortune-as I'm sure you are."

"Good-night, U-Makron." (And I wonder what he'd call me if he knew how I lived in Bekla?)

As Makron went down the ladder Nasada picked up one of the lamps and put it down by Maia's bed.

"You've had a long day: why don't you lie down? You'll be more comfortable."

She did so. He remained standing, sipping his Yeldashay and looking down at her.

"You'd like a man in that bed, wouldn't you?"

She looked up quickly, angry for a moment; but his tone was entirely matter-of-fact and there was no mockery in his eyes.

"Yes, I would."

"Natural enough, wouldn't you say, for someone who's lonely and anxious in a strange place? Who likes being alone in the dark?"

"I never thought of it that way, U-Nasada: I just like- oh, well, I just enjoy basting, I suppose."

"Great Shakkarn!" he said. "Any reason why you

shouldn't? People do, or none of us would be here, if you come to think of it."

"Well, that's one thing, U-Nasada, but-" She stopped.

"Well, what's another thing?" He sat down beside the bed. She pondered, and as she did so realized with delight that he was in no hurry and glad for her, too, to take her time.

"Well," she said at length, "I suppose I meant that in Bekla men just used me, really, same as they might use a hawk or a dog, for sport; and I enjoyed it-or a lot of it I did-'cos it meant they admired me and wanted me. It was a sight better 'n working in a kitchen, too, wasn't it? But some of them despise you as well-for what you are, I mean-even though it's none of your own choosing; and that just about makes me mad. It's crazy, really, U-Nasada. You're supposed to like it, because that's what they want-to think they've made the girl enjoy it: but then there's some people, if you act natural they just despise you, like Lenkrit and the others that night when I took my clothes off to cross the river."

"Well, I don't despise you," he said. "In fact, if you want to know, I very much admire the way you seem to be able to stand up to anything and still keep your spirits up. But Lenkrit, yes; I'm glad you reminded me of him. Can you remember what Lenkrit said when he first saw you? I'd be interested to know."

"Let me think. Only I was that frightened that morning- Far as I can remember, Bayub-Otal said to Lenkrit as he must be forgetful-something like that-and to look at me again. And then Lenkrit said something about he wondered he hadn't seen it before, only the light was that bad."

"And that's all?"

"Far's I can recollect. No, wait! I remember now, he asked Bayub-Otal whether I was his sister; that's right."

"But you don't look much like him, do you?"

She laughed. "I don't reckon old Sencho'd have given fifteen thousand meld for me at that rate, do you?"

"You're proud of that, aren't you?"

She nodded.

"I'm not surprised. Why shouldn't you be? And Bayub-Otal?"

"Well, then he kind of cut Lenkrit off short. But I was that upset and moithered with everything-you ever had

a knife held at
your
throat, Nasada, have you?-tell you the truth I wasn't really taking in all that much of it."

"What do you know about Bayub-Otal? Do you know about his father and mother, and how he grew up?"

"Oh, he told me all about that, yes: how his mother was sent to Urtah as a dancing-girl, and how the King-High Baron-whatever 'twas-fell in love with her and hid her away in Suba to save her from his wife. And about the fire-why, Whatever's the matter, U-Nasada?"

To her horror, she saw tears running down his rough, wrinkled cheeks. For an instant he actually sobbed.

"You're very young, Maia: young people are often unfeeling-until they've learned through suffering themselves. It wasn't really so very long ago. Nokomis-she was like moonlight on a lake! No one who saw her dance ever forgot her for the rest of his life. All Suba worshipped her, even those who never actually saw her. When she died, the luck ran out of Suba like sand out of a broken hour-glass. You never saw Nokomis-"

"Well, how could I?" she answered petulantly. "I wasn't even born when she died."

"As far as any of us here can make out, you were born more or less
exactly
when she died. The night of the tenth Sallek?"

Maia stared. "What do you mean, my lord? Why do you say it like that?"

He drank off his wine and put the cup down on the table. "And then," he said, as if continuing, "last night I asked you whether you were sure about your father. You were." He paused. "So that just leaves us with the will and power of the gods, doesn't it?"

"The gods? I don't know what you're on about, U-Nasada, honest I don't."

"Arid you say Sencho paid fifteen thousand meld?" he went on. "Well, for what it's worth, that's what Nor-Zavin, the Baron of southern Suba, paid her parents for the daughter they'd called Astara. I happen to know that. I'm not sure who first nicknamed her Nokomis, but I suppose that doesn't really matter."

It may seem incredible that no inkling had dawned earlier in Maia's mind. Yet just so will a person often fail to perceive-resist, even, and set aside-the personal implications of a dream plain enough to friends to whom it is told.

"U-Nasada, are you saying that I look tike Nokomis?"

He paused, choosing his words. At length he answered, "To someone like myself, who remembers her well, it would be quite unbelievable-" he smiled-"if it weren't here before my eyes."

She reflected. "Then why doesn't everybody see it? Tes-con, say, or Luma?"

"Because they're too young. It's more than sixteen years, you see, since Nokomis died. But as well as that, you have to realize that Suba isn't Bekla. This is a wild, marshy country and most people seldom travel far. Everyone in Suba knew the fame of Nokomis-she was a legend-but thousands never actually saw her. No one in that little village we left this morning, for instance, had ever seen Nokomis. But Penyanis, Makron's wife-she saw her more than once. How did she take it when she met you this evening?"

"She seemed-well, kind of mazed, like."

"And Makron-well, did you think it strange that they didn't ask you to have supper with them?"

"I never really thought."

"Anda-Nokomis had already told them what to expect, you see. They have some old servants, some of whom would also remember Nokomis, and they thought it better not to set the whole place buzzing with tales of witchcraft and magic and so on. I suppose-"

She blazed out, interrupting him. "But why didn't Ba-yub-Otal himself tell me all this in Bekla? Why? Or Eud-Ecachlon, come to that? Cran and Airtha! I went to
bed
with Eud-Ecachlon! I-"

"I doubt whether Eud-Ecachlon ever saw a great deal of Nokomis. In fact he may quite possibly never have seen her at all. Younger boys are brought up rather secluded in Urtah, you know. He'd have been-let me see-scarcely nine when Nokomis left Kendron-Urtah in fear of her life, so in any case he wouldn't have a very clear memory of what she looked like. As for Bayub-Otal, this is really what I came to talk to you about." He paused. "What do you think of Bayub-Otal?"

She said nothing.

"You can trust me, Maia."

"Well, tell you the truth, not a great lot."

He took her hand. "I think I know why, but I'd like you to tell me."

"Well, I can't make him out, U-Nasada, and that's the truth. He's not like any ordinary man. In Bekla he didn't want to make love to me and yet he wouldn't let me alone. And then he kept on saying sort of spiteful things-nasty, contemptuous things-about-well, about me being a bed-girl," (she was crying now) "as if I could help that! And about me being with Sencho and taking lygols and all such things as that. As if all the girls didn't take lygols!
That's
the real reason why I was what you called-what was it?- defensive just now, when we were talking about basting. He was always so sort of scornful and sneering in his talk, like. And then, when he'd as good as ordered me to dance the senguela in the Barons' Palace-I couldn't never have done it if he hadn't made me, but afterwards everyone thought the world of me-and I wanted to show him how grateful I was and I as good as told him I'd like him to make love to me, he-he just said-" And here poor Maia rolled over on the bed, sobbing with the recollection of that humiliating mortification and beating her fists on the pillow.

"How very disappointing," said Nasada, "for an ardent, warm-hearted girl like you! Anda-Nokomis really is a fool sometimes. Obviously you must have felt very upset. But he had his reasons, hadn't he? as you can no doubt see now."