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door Kikun had left open a crack. The darkness outside had lightened to a
steely gray and the sounds of dawn were coming in to her, bird twitters, a
honking bray, a motor coughing, its sputter muted by distance. Maybe Rohant
would be back soon with meat to add to
Kikun s tubers and brew. She d stopped feeling hungry, but she knew her
lassitude came partly from lack of fuel in her system.
You should sleep, Shadow. You can eat later. I don t want to sleep, T m too
tired to sleep.
Tired! Huh! I m tired of scratching and scrabbling and it making no
difference. I plan and do and it turns out a waste of time. Like with the
guard and then those bars. Well, you couldn t know that ahead of time. And if
things hadn t turned out like they did, what you did would ve got you out of a
mess. I suppose so. You can t read the future, take a cue from Ginny and trust
your luck. All right, all right. So, see what you can squeeze out of our
resident local. He can probably tell you something about why Ginny s doing
this to you and Rohant and Kikun.
You re good at not answering questions, she said. I suppose you don t want
to tell me your name, but give me something to call you; I dislike very much
having to say hey you when I want your attention, even if it s only implied.
My name is Shadith.
He walked to the door, pulled it shut, came back and settled onto the dirt
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beside her. Shadith, he said. Does it have a meaning?
It s the name my mother gave me, it doesn t need a meaning. Very good at
avoiding answers.
In this place, answers kill people. Side-stepping be-comes a habit which one
means to keep well honed. His eyes drooped half-shut. Need one say,
Kwantawiyal knew one not. A quick flowing gesture, his hand sweep-ing
from head level toward the floor. I am not so memorable a man as to make
recognition immediate. However.... With a wry twist to his mouth, he spread
his hands, dropped them on his knees. One is called Asteplikota, Aste for
those who prefer less of a mouth-ful. It is one s personal name.
Since one s family has cast one out, it is the only name I own.
Aste it is. She blinked sleepily at him. I did notice that you didn t
seem to fit very well with
Silvercreep and his collection of sweepings.
I m flattered. Silvercreep?
He was loaded with it.
Asteplikota chuckled. In every sense.
True. Well?
Doing it again, eh? He shook his head. Ah, habit. Someone I owe a favor
wanted an agent he could trust to act for him; he said he d heard rumors
something impor-tant was going to happen and he d bought rights to be in on it
from Kwantawiyal ... urn ... Silvercreep. One does like that name, it catches
so nicely the essence of the man. A brief smile, charming, shy. His voice was
quiet, musing, a pleasant gravelly tenor, its roughness comfortable like a
worn-out old shirt. No one sane and with a modicum of intelligence would
trust him to stay bought; one was along to keep him honest, though he s a lot
more frightened of the Na-priests than he is of us. We d only kill him. The
holy screws, well.... He didn t want one along, but he was too greedy to
refuse the sponsor s gold. There you are.
Shadith moved uneasily.
Tsoukbaraim, I m starting to like the man. That s a complication, it was
easier when all I
had to do was lie up a storm and get the hell out. It s obvious, what happened
was Ginny pulling the strings and making the puppets dance. That someone he s
talking about, he s either Ginny s man or in Ginny s net somehow. What do I
tell this Aste? Him knowing about Ginny won t change anything. Ginny s
watching us now, bastard! Watching me twist in the wind. Somebody has to
do something about him. Killing a world to titillate ...
gaah! Admit it, Shadow, moral indigna-tion isn t in it, you want to put the
boot where it ll hurt because the d dab s leading you around like his pet
simi and it kills your pride. I
HATE being help-less. I LOATHE being helpless. All right, all right, all
that s given. Settle down, woman. Information you need information. Can t make
a plan till you know the parameters.
She shifted her legs, they were going to sleep on her.
A hiss came from the fire, the water was boiling. Kikun reached under his
tunic, brought out a handful of herbs and dropped them into the pot. He
contemplated them a moment, fetched out a dry stick, and began stirring them.
A faint herbal smell drifted over to her. She sighed, folded her hands across
her stomach. All right, we re important. Why?
Because you mean hope to people who have none and where there is hope, there
is a will to change present evils for future goods. Which means those now in
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