The Temporal Void (85 page)

‘What do you suggest we do?’ Ronark asked.

‘Let him vote. He only ever had an exclusion warrant against him because it was useful to me. They’ve all served their purpose, I suppose we should cancel the outstanding ones. And persecuting Cherix now would make me seem petty.’

‘All right, I’ll longtalk the Lillylight captain.’

Edeard kept watch on the voting hall. After a couple of minutes the clerk suddenly found Cherix’s entry in the ledger and handed over his ballot papers. Edeard thought the lawyer looked surprised when it happened. He definitely looked relieved as he walked to the privacy booth.

Was it deliberate? Was Owain trying to stir up a little sympathy, or was Cherix just wanting to know where he stood? Lady, I’m on edge.

‘Are you all right?’ Kristabel asked.

‘Yes,’ he smiled reassuringly.
Actually, if that’s the worst Owain can do today, I’m perfectly all right.

Edeard was back at the Jeavons public hall when the Grand Master of the Guild of Clerks stood on the Orchard Palace balcony again to announce the end of the voting. He watched the clerks sealing up the slots on the voting boxes, signed the dockets to say he’d seen it, and watched as two squads of constables carried them out. Dinlay was assigned to accompany them to the Orchard Palace.

‘Eighty per cent turnout,’ the Master of Clerks said as he picked up his own papers.

‘High then,’ Edeard said.

‘I’ve never known that many voters bother before; and this is my twenty-second election.’

‘A good sign, then?’

The old Master gave him a dry smile. ‘For someone.’

There were a couple of hours between the time the voting officially ended and the counting began. Edeard took a gondola down to Sampalok. It was all right now voting was finished, there were no political consequences to his visiting.

The gondola dropped him off at the Mid Pool concourse, and he made his way along Zulmal Street. The families who lived along the street gave him a guarded welcome. As always his footsteps slowed as he passed the baker’s where Boyd had been shot. Just about all the shops and businesses had re-opened, helped by money from the Diroal family’s fortune. It was the same across the district, most of the damage from the riots had been repaired. Commerce was back on its usual uncompromising path.

When he finally reached the central square, the new hexagonal mansion was over twelve feet high, and the second storey was forming under the first that had grown up. According to his design, there were another six to come, each one larger than the previous, giving it a stepped outline. A conservative reckoning was another four months before it would be complete. Which meant the new Master and Mistress had set up their temporary home in the Bea’s Bottle tavern on the south side of the square.

Edeard waved cheerfully to the tavern’s landlord as he walked in. After the first couple of days the man had come to accept the situation, especially as it meant renting out every room he had to the clerks who were sorting out the Diroal family finances, and providing them with food and drink, along with everyone else who came visiting the new Master and Mistress – there were a great many.

Macsen and Kanseen had taken over seven rooms on the fourth floor. One had a balcony overlooking the square, where they could watch their new mansion rising. Edeard found them sitting there sharing a bottle of white wine. When they offered him a glass he took a look at the label. With Kristabel educating him he’d come to recognize quality. ‘Nice,’ he said appreciatively, and took a sip. ‘Definitely.’

‘Yes,’ Kanseen said, and stretched out on her chair. ‘A girl could quite easily get corrupted by this life.’

Edeard took a look at the boxes and bags piled up in the room behind the balcony. The shop names were from many districts, all frequented by the women of Grand Families as they commissioned their exclusive clothes. It wasn’t just wines he was becoming familiar with these days. ‘Nice to see you’re rising above it.’

Macsen chuckled, and raised a glass. ‘There are certain expectations. District Masters must act the part.’

‘And dress for it, too.’

‘Yes, I was most careful with that; I made sure I used the same tailor Kristabel gets your uniforms from.’

Edeard groaned and gave up, taking a larger sip of wine as he settled into a chair next to his friends. ‘So how did the election go in Sampalok?’

‘Relatively honest, I think,’ Kanseen said. ‘No fights at the district hall, anyway. The constables had to step in to stop a few heated disputes over residency, but nothing they couldn’t handle.’

‘Any idea which Representative got elected?’ Edeard asked.

‘Nope. You’re going to have to wait along with the rest of the city.’

‘Lady! How do the candidates stand this?’

Macsen eyed him lazily. ‘Lady help us, what are you going to be like when you finally stand for Mayor?’

‘I never will. Not now I know what it’s like.’

‘Ha!’ Macsen took a sip of wine.

‘I heard our old friend Cherix had crawled back into the public domain,’ Kanseen said.

‘Yes.’ Edeard eyed the wine in the glass. ‘Life just wouldn’t be the same without him.’

‘You need to watch that sentimental streak,’ she said. ‘They’ll exploit that.’

‘Who?’ Macsen said indignantly. ‘There’s nobody left to reinstate the gangs. Owain is going to lose. The families will accept Edeard and they’ll adapt as they always do. For them very little will change, but for ordinary citizens things will get a whole lot better. And best of all, Bise will slowly lose his influence along with his so-called friends. Argian told me his old allies are growing tired of him already. This election should see the end of him.’

‘Lady, please let it be so,’ Edeard muttered. ‘Did Bise manage to save anything?’

‘Nobody knows,’ Macsen said sourly. ‘The clerks have been reviewing the Diroal estate for two weeks solid; and all they can tell me so far is that it’s going to take years to track down every last farthing. A lot of it never will be recovered, I suspect. Bise and his ancestors were good at covering up the full extent of their holdings. Just like the rest of the Grand Families, they know how to avoid their full tax liability. It’s one of the principal reasons they all became so wealthy.’

‘There will be funds he can draw on to keep him in fancy clothes and fine wines for the rest of his life,’ Kanseen said. ‘In fact, it might be a good idea to let that be known among his old friends. I suspect the Gilmorns wouldn’t be quite so free with their coinage if they knew he had lands and money stashed away.’ She grinned evilly. ‘Would you like me to tell Ranalee?’

Edeard tipped his glass at her. ‘I’ll think about it.’

‘Even without a full inventory, we’re still incredibly rich,’ Macsen said. ‘As are all the businesses that suffered during the riots. The clerks are still paying out compensation on a pro-rata basis. I’ve heard it said that people are smashing up their own homes and claiming it happened during the riot simply to qualify for new furniture and clothes. There’s so much coinage flooding the district it’s changing the whole economy. The pro-Bise candidates have been accusing you of trying to buy the election.’

‘I hadn’t thought of it,’ Edeard admitted. ‘I also didn’t think what spending all of Bise’s money would do to Sampalok. But, as I suspect most of it was squeezed out of the residents here for the last few generations, I suppose there’s a kind of poetic justice to handing it back.’

‘Except those that aren’t getting any compensation are resentful,’ Kanseen sighed.

‘Another noble gesture goes chronically wrong,’ Macsen said.

‘I didn’t realize how much half of the Diroal estate would be. Maybe the rest of the money could go into some kind of general fund to benefit Sampalok?’ Edeard suggested.

‘Ah, now you’re changing things, going back on your word.’

‘Yes, but I didn’t intend to— Oh Lady take them. It can wait until after the results. And then it’ll all be your problem anyway.’

‘Thanks for that,’ Macsen said.

Edeard lowered his voice, casting a strong seclusion haze. ‘How are you two coping, anyway?’

‘Just that,’ Kanseen said. ‘Coping. We don’t have much Lady-damned choice. A whole load of Bise’s staff are lobbying to continue in their old jobs once the mansion’s fully grown. I don’t like the idea of using people who devoted their lives to the Diroals, but how else are we going to stop things from sliding back to how they were before? And when we sit on the local council we have to make fast decisions that’ll affect people’s lives, without any reference as to what went before. So far we haven’t hurt too many residents.’

‘Sounds like you are in control and setting a good example. I can’t ask for more. How has the Upper Council taken your appointment?’

‘Owain welcomed us like we’d been sitting there for five hundred years,’ she said. ‘The rest just fell into line with that. Of course, there’ve only been three sessions since the riots. We’ll see what happens after the election.’

‘It was so unbelievably sweet seeing my dear half-brother’s face when I walked past him in my robes,’ Macsen said with a far-away gaze. ‘I’m as rich as him now, and I have a seat on the Council, which he doesn’t.’

‘We have a seat on Council,’ Kanseen pointed out.

‘Yes, dear.’

Her third hand gave him a sharp tweak. Edeard laughed at the wounded expression on his face. ‘Ah, married life. I have all this to look forward to.’

Kanseen narrowed her eyes and gave him a shrewd look. ‘And what about you? What are your grand plans?’

‘It all depends—’

‘Let’s just assume Finitan gets in tonight, shall we?’ she said brusquely. ‘What do you do next?’

‘Nothing dramatic,’ he said, and gestured down at the square with its embryonic structure. ‘I intend to support Finitan because I believe he’s right. First, consolidate the city, and to do that you need to implement the rule of law. It doesn’t take that much, the Grand Council let things slip, but the organizations and concepts Rah founded are still there, they just need revitalizing, that’s all.’

‘People are generally happier now that the gangs have been beaten,’ Macsen agreed. ‘You’ve shown them things can be put right no matter how bad they seemed. But, Edeard, you also showed people what you are and what you’re capable of.’

‘I’d never abuse the trust the city puts in me. You know that.’

‘We know that, hopefully the rest of the city will accept that in time. You’re going to have to work on that.’

‘I know. That’s one of the reasons I pushed Marcol into being a constable.’

‘Yes,’ Macsen said, sitting up and leaning forward with considerable curiosity. ‘I didn’t get that. I’ve talked to Dinlay. He says the boy isn’t really constable material.’

‘I disagree. He’s trying,’ Edeard said defensively. ‘He’ll make it to graduation, he’s got a huge incentive.’

‘But why?’

‘Remember when we all wondered why I’d been chosen by the Lady to do what I could do? What if I haven’t been chosen? What if, instead, her teachings have started to take hold? I mean
really
taken hold.’

‘I can’t believe you of all people would say that,’ Kanseen exclaimed. ‘We’ve spent a year down on the streets fighting those bloody gangs. They never followed her teachings.’

‘The gang members didn’t, no. But what about everyone else? They all knew it was wrong, even if they couldn’t see a way out. Once I banished them everything changed. You said yourself the city is a happier place already, and it’s barely been two weeks. The Lady’s teachings are everywhere, they’re an ingrained part of our culture now, here in the city and out in the farthest province. It’s the one thing that truly binds us, the one commonality. We all know instinctively that we should be striving to better ourselves, to live a more righteous life even if we don’t quite know how.’

‘That’s just human nature.’

‘Maybe. But the Lady endorses it, encourages us to follow that instinct and provides a strong justification to develop it. Her Mothers have spent two thousand years preaching it. You can’t tell me anything would endure that long if it wasn’t accepted as a fundamental truth. We know the Skylords are out there waiting to guide us to the Heart; and, as I showed everyone, we have souls that desperately need that guidance.’

‘What in the Lady’s name does this have to do with Marcol?’ Macsen demanded.

‘I have the strength to influence the city, and I have the certainty how that strength should be used. Suppose I’m not the only one to have that strength? Suppose I’m simply the first? Suppose this is the time when Querencia has reached the level of decency and fulfilment it takes to summon the Skylords back?’

Kanseen stared at him, making no attempt to cover her astonishment. ‘Marcol? Marcol is like you?’

‘He’s got a damned powerful psychic ability,’ Edeard said. ‘What if that’s part of reaching the fulfilment the Lady talks of? What if there are others starting to emerge, if all the kids start to show this potential?’

‘Lady help us,’ she grunted. ‘Marcol?’

‘Stop saying his name like it’s a curse,’ Edeard said crossly. ‘He’s just a kid like any other. What he becomes depends a great deal on his environment. He didn’t have the best start with those parents; well now I’m trying to help him become something better. The very last thing we need is division among those of us with stronger than average psychic powers – it’s bad enough the Grand Families distort the balance in their favour. We have to show Marcol and all the others like him who come along that real fulfilment is found through a strong society which cares for individuals, where people try to help each other as well as themselves.’

‘And that’s going to bring the Skylords back?’ Macsen asked incredulously.

‘Tell me what else will?’ Edeard countered. ‘I’m happy to try something else. You saw Boyd and Chae leave; they’re out there somewhere trying to reach Odin’s Sea. You know that part of the Lady’s teachings is real.’

Macsen ran his hand through his hair. ‘I know,’ he admitted. ‘But . . . Marcol!’

‘And others,’ Edeard said.

‘Have you sensed others?’ Kanseen asked. ‘People with stronger powers?’