Текст книги "Intruder"

Автор книги: C. J. Cherryh

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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 23 страниц)

“Understated,” Machigi suggested with a circular wave of his hand.

“Of that nature, yes. Tasteful. And understated.”

“You are a scoundrel,paidhi-aiji. One would like to hear your description of a proposed assassination. We hope to bribethe head of the opposition.”

“We hope to adjust his view of the south, nandi. As I think will happen if he begins to concentrate on the cultural opportunities in the agreement.”

“Diri-ji, can you arrange it? Price will be no object. Quality is paramount. Deliver it with the other to the paidhi’s bus.”

“Yes,” Gediri said, making a note in a small book. “Would the paidhi wish to examine the items before they are crated?”

“One would by no means doubt the quality of your selection, nandi,” Bren said. “I shall utterly trust your choice, since the lord of the Marid entrusts the matter to you.”

“So we please the lord of the Atageini,” Machigi said with an airy gesture. “We cast our collective lives on the willingness of the aiji-dowager to turn up from her holiday in due season. We cast our reputations, nand’ paidhi, on yourpromise for an exchange of votes between us and the Edi. One had as soon expect the sun to rise in the west, but you have a gift for turning things on their head, so I should not wager on that event, either, if you had a finger in it. Now on what date, nand’ paidhi, may I expect the Guild to begin to obey my orders?”

Change of line. A very dangerous one. Fast thinking and, very carefully, no change in expression. “Again, nandi—”

“Upon signature on the line, do I take it? Or at some future date?”

“One cannot speak for the Guild, nandi. What my aishid would tell me, I know: make a request through your own aishid, and you should find that the Guild responds now, through them. Each of you who have Guild protecting them should feel no hesitation in making requests. And this will be the case with allthe Guilds. Your local Guild members should represent you.Always.”

That drew at least a thoughtful stare from Lord Machigi, and attention from the others.

“One urges, once the master document is signed,” Bren said, venturing further, “that the Tasaigin Marid become signatory with allGuilds of the aishidi’tat. The same with the other Marid clans. If Dojisigi and Senji had accepted the Guilds before Murini’s coup, they would have gotten much better advice. If they had taken a proper cue from the Guild in Shejidan, nandiin, and understood that they were not gaining recruits, but harboring an outlaw splinter of the Guild, they would have asked for help and gotten it. But they were otherwise inclined. Which is why Lord Machigi—” He paid a little nod of respect toward Machigi, who sat stone-faced. “—is now in authority over the whole of the Marid. And why he will remain so.”

“The East does not bow to the Guild,” Trade said grimly.

“The Dowager does not bowto the Guild. But she has them at her right hand. Now so do two of her neighbors, to their benefit. Others are considering it. The Marid is ahead of the East, in that regard. And will profit from it. She envisions the Marid as having the same status as the East: signatory, but a separate district.”

Machigi had his chin on his fist. Extended two fingers, intent to speak. “This is new.”

“It is in line with the dowager’s proposal, nandi. I have no hesitation to say it. Her district has not entirely trusted the aishidi’tat as it was first constituted. But the independence of the East has kept the aishidi’tat honest. She sees in your regional strength reinforcement for the independence of the East. She has kept it from becoming an entirely Ragi institution. You are not Ragi. And if you both employ the Guilds and put your own young people into the Guilds, you gain a voice in the Guilds, forming policy and enforcing the law in the aishidi’tat.”

“Interesting,” Machigi said, and dropped the hand and leaned back.

Bren said, quietly, “I represent the dowager’s proposals, nandi. And I have never known her to go back on what she said she would do.”

“More than can be said of her husband when he ruled,” Machigi said in a low voice. “But then, there are rumors, are there not, regarding his demise?”

“One could not comment, nandi.”

“We shall sign her agreement,” Machigi said with a glance at the others. “We shall sign it in Shejidan. And you may now partake of the brandy you have been pretending to drink, paidhi. You have won our agreement. We shall see how it goes. Lighter topics, if you will. What about these porcelains?”

Bren risked an actual sip. Two and three. The rest of the session was brief, more about trade, and porcelains, and the Isles.

It was a vast relief when Machigi signaled the end of the session, and Trade and Gediri took their leave.

A guest of the house routinely left last; Machigi stepped between Bren and the doorway, not threateningly, but definitively.

“You will be at breakfast,” Machigi said.

“One would be honored, nandi,” Bren said.

And still Machigi did not clear his path.

“You are not pressed for time tomorrow, are you?”

A test? A challenge? Reminding him that he left the premises when Machigi was willing to let him leave?

“I shall be in no haste, nandi. I shall not call for a plane until I am on the road, and it will still make it to the airport before I do. I shall leave at your convenience.”

Machigi nodded. “Well enough,” Machigi said, and let him pass.

It was curious, Machigi’s last actioncthe insistence on making a personal impression, part threat, part—whatever it was. Banichi and Jago had not seemed alarmed. Tema and his partner had not been.

Bren thought about it on the way up to the suite, in company only with Banichi and Jago. He likedthe man, that deadliest and most mistaken of human reactions toward atevi, who had their own attaching emotion, man’chi, quite as strong—strong as life and death—but notquite what humans called love or even liking, and it was a basic mistake ever to start using that word with atevi, in any degree. Machigi was potentially a scoundrel himself, aiming at whatever he could get in excess of the agreement, but who, in Machigi’s place, would not have to be, if only for the sake of those with man’chi to him? Machigi was as alone as an ateva ever tended to be, for one thing. Machigi’s relatives were mostly dead, his attachments all fallen to assassination, his immediate circle disrupted. His clan was around him, but members of his immediate family had been casualties of the feud with Dojisigi clan—a fact Machigi had been pragmatically ignoring in order to work with Dojisigi clan, to survive and keep Dojisigi from moving in and taking over Taisigi.

That indicated that Machigi knew how to make critical compromises. He feltman’chi to no one. That was characteristic of an aiji, a leader, and there was a reciprocal emotion, which, oddly enough, atevi rarely discussed or attempted to define. He receivedman’chi from two clans besides his own, and it stayed with him through gunfire and threat. That indicated he had character and attractiveness. And he reciprocated adequately, making the best of the best of his people stand by him, for the sake of theirconnections.

But things had changed. Machigi potentially had power over the Dojisigi, who had made his life hell, and over everything and everybody in the Marid. The Guild wasn’t going to give up its position of advantage and let things swing back to normal for the Marid. No, they were going to be at the shoulder of every minister andMachigi himself. And thatwas going to be interesting: Machigi’s face had shown just a little emotion when he’d made that remark about Machigi’s own bodyguard being his best link to the Guild proper.

Maybe he’d surprised Machigi a little, informing him that the four bodyguards he had trusted would get authority—an authority that was only going to increase, as the Guild found Tema and his men had the brains and the guts to bethe bodyguard of a lord of the aishidi’tat. And the Guild would find exactly that. These four knew their district as outsiders did not. They, working practically solo, had kept their lord and their district out of the hands of Guild that they had, on their own, decided were up to no good—they’d been entirely right– andthey’d organized a resistance to that movement that had kept their lord alive and free, while the Guild in Shejidan delayed taking action.

Brains. And guts. They’d become a major target of the shadow Guild, right along with their lord, and they’d stayed alive.

What he hadn’t said was that that very smart foursome had decided, long before Machigi had, that if push came to shove, they would have to link with the Guild in Shejidan, and hope.

That probably had happened one particular evening when he had arrived in Tanaja the first time. The Guild in Shejidan had likely told Machigi’s bodyguard to talk to Algini—and they’d done it, possibly without a real clue what Algini actually was.

He’d love to have thatstory out of Algini. But the Guild buried such details; and just knowing what the channels had been at any given time was more information than one normally ever got out of the Guild.

He’d been entirely accurate in what he’d just told the ministers, however. He was sure of it—as he was sure Tano and Algini had been talking to half of Machigi’s bodyguard while he’d been having brandy with Machigi.

He was veryglad to see the rest of his bodyguard in good spirits as they reached the suite. Hand-signs flashed. That sigh and relaxation as Banichi sank into a comfortable chair and leaned back said everything.

They were in. They were safe. Machigi was going to survive this and have the Guild behind him if Machigi used half the sense that had gotten him this far. He was protected by four very remarkable men—and the aishidi’tat owed those four a debt it probably never would repay.

Algini sat down, too, in a state of relaxation. Tano generally looked pleasant and cheerful. When Algini let a sparkle get to his eyes, it was outright celebration.

Jago—Jago just took his coat, and said, in prim formality, “The household servants wish to attend you, nandi. Shall they start the bath?”

Mmm, yes. They were bugged. Anybody in this room was bugged. Maybe now it was Shejidan Guild doing the listening. Or maybe it wasn’t. Any great house was complex.

“One understands,” he said. “Yes. That will be good, Jago-ji.”

The servants came in, bringing a rolling cart with a small buffet for his bodyguard. They had had neither food nor drink yet under this roof. And they would still enjoy it two at a time.

A servant went into the back hall to start a hot bath running. And he could take off the damned protective vest and relax. All indications were that their follow-up mission was going well, so far.

Oh, that was good. That was very good.

“Work it out,” was all Tabini had given him in the way of instruction, aside from what Ilisidi had told him. “If you can make this mad scheme of my grandmother’s work, do so.”

His job was onlyto bring an eighth of the continent under a central authority it had resisted for centuries.

His job was, besides that, to nudge the very traditional, generally backward Marid into the current century, and get all the Guilds and their regulations accepted in the south, which had no habit of education outside the parents’ trade at all, and no institutions of higher learning except the esoteric college of kabiu.

One step at a time, he told himself. It was miracle enough that they were here and that Machigi had just figured out that he did actually command the Guild, if he only used it creatively within Guild regulations.

First somebody had to educate Machigi in what those regulations were—and that would have to be Tema and his men, once theyfigured out the figurative rule book as it now existed in Shejidan.

All of that was somebody else’s job. Tano and Algini, not to mention the Guild assigned here by the Guild in Shejidan, might have already made a start on it.

Meanwhile, the paidhi-aiji was going to take a long, soaking bath. And go to bed.

Morning came none too soon, in a discreetly solitary bed and with far too much to think about to lie there for long. The servants had arrived—it was an even earlier start to their day—and one was very glad to get moving on what was, however it turned out, going to be a long day’s agenda. One hoped it was going to be a day ending in Shejidan. But that might depend on how breakfast went.

It was at least not the formal dining room for breakfast, with ministers and spouses and all. It was an intimate breakfast room decorated in white porcelain tile and a table set, thank God, only for two.

Machigi came in, which signaled the kitchen, and for a time thereafter it was a conversation confined to the dishes, which were numerous and delicate, though small, and every dish considerate of a human’s dietary restrictions.

One had to do the meal proper courtesy.

“Your remarks about the Guild,” Machigi said at last, over tea.

“Nandi.”

“My aishid reports an encouraging expression from the Guild this morning.”

“Excellent news, nandi. One hopes to see a good outcome. The center of local Guild authority will be here, in this building– in the architecture one hopes to see established. But that will be yours to establish. The Guild, quite naturally, prefers notto see its members set at each other when there is a more reasonable answer.”

“We want to see the final draft of this promised document, nandi. And mind, we shall not tolerate last-moment surprises, especially in public.”

“It will be exactly as you have seen it, nandi. And once that all-important association exists—and this is the best news from Shejidan, which I have particularly wanted to tell you in some privacy, nandi—”

“Say it.”

“Tabini-aiji will recognize the new Marid association as an official region of the aishidi’tat. That will require a realignment of Guild structure and a formal agreement with the new regional structure—that is to say, you,nandi. The various Guilds will each present more papers, which you may or may not sign, but which the dowager will strongly suggest you signc”

“A region.”

“Just so.”

“What do youadvise, paidhi?”

“One advises you sign them as they are crafted. These will be organizational and routine, recognizing you as the aiji of the Marid Association: it is all the same language as the ordinary agreements, nandi, but words in this case that have power to revise reality. As the executive of the Marid, you will be the channel for all Guild applications, down to every scrap of paper. One recommends the establishment of clerical offices to deal with it. One recommends, in fact, computers.”

“Computers. We do not have phonesin the villages, paidhi.”

“You will have both in fairly short order, in fact, as you admit the Messengers’ Guild. They will bring them in.”

Machigi frowned and rested his chin on his hand. “Computers. And who will run these machines?”

“Foreigners, until you educate Taisigi youngsters in their use. Which you can do if you allow the Academicians’ Guild to establish a school.”

“Computers. Schools. Guilds. Are we to becomeShejidan? We are notShejidan, paidhi! Nor are our fishermen going to send their sons to a school! You have no idea!”

“They may, however, send their daughters.”

“You are speaking of the utter overthrow of custom.”

“You will never become Shejidan, nandi, but you willbe the Marid, a modernAssociation within the aishidi’tat, and your people will have hospitals, schools, phones, and, one hesitates to say, television.”

“We have not bargained for the utter overthrow of tradition.”

“You will sign what seems logical to you to sign, and the Guilds must present their case to you for each of these changes. Things will change at whatever pace you decide, and your leadership, nandi, one is quite confident is equal to the task. When your people prosper, you will have their man’chi, one has no question. And your sons anddaughters will, one predicts, be working in space, beside Ragi and Maschi, Edi, Easterners—and humans. One would be dishonest to claim things will stay the same. But you will not have people dying of sickness a local hospital could cure with a single dose of medicine or of injuries a surgeon could heal. You will not have villages festering in situations one single phone call to your offices could relieve. That is power,nandi. That is power no lord in the Marid has ever wielded. Computers. Phones. Satellites to warn your ships of weather. Within the Marid, you will have the same authority the aiji-dowager has over the East and Tabini has over the Ragi and Lord Geigi has on the space station; and when you visit Shejidan, you will do so with the ceremony and respect of a regional lord. But, nandi, one first needs the guilds to make these things happen. And one needs at least a few schoolscnot for everyone. But schools there must be. Your urging can populate them.”

“You will get me assassinated.”

“You will need Guild protection, I have no doubt, but you have it. I have been threatened by persons claiming the shuttles pierce the sky and may let the planet’s atmosphere leak away into the ether. I have been personally attacked by an individual claiming his telephones are spying on him at nightcthese things will happen. You will not find it advisable to walk on quayside without your bodyguard, I regret to say. You will not find it advisable at any time to ignore your bodyguard’s warnings. That I can promise you, from personal experience. There are dangers. Not everyone will be pleased at every step of the way. But there are compensations.”

Machigi gave a long sigh. “You need not tell me about threats. But to have them coming from my own people—”

“The perception that I am harming the atmosphere is now confined to a very few of limited education or unstable mind, and the Guild will not accept a Filing on such grounds. I understand your hesitation, nandi. I understand it very well. At times I have caused great distress, and I have suffered from it. In my worst fears, Iam responsible for the disturbance that led to Murini’s rise. But I feel—I feel very strongly—that I have done what had to be done for people to live good lives—and long lives, safe from hazards that come from above the earth as well as on it. Baji-naji, it is terrifying to bethe flex in the universe. A very few cando it. The aiji-dowager has wagered heavily on your having the intelligence and the courage to be one of the few. You are far too intelligent to keep your people at a technological disadvantage. And I think your nerve will not fail you.”

“If I were that intelligent,” Machigi said glumly, “I could think of another answer.”

“ Youwill shape the Marid, nandi. You will influence the Guild in dealings with other clans. You will influence the succession in those clans. The Guild will accept advice. Make your choices well disposed to you. And agreeable.”

“Of the good will of Dausigi and Sungeni, one has no doubt, at present,” Machigi said. “The doubtful thing is to keep that good will, with the things you propose.”

“Use the Guild, nandi. Wrap it around you. In this one thing, you must benorthern. Everything else is adjustable. You have to stay alive, or everything falls back to chaos.”

A short, sharp laugh. “Paidhi, it is decent advice.”

“Tell me: with your knowledge, nandi—what would you advise the north now, about the succession in the northern Marid? Is the Guild moving in the right direction?”

“One is less concerned for the new lord in Senji: Bridai is old, and quiet. He will cause no trouble to me, and if the Guild is truly capable of being persuaded, I can steer his choice of a successor. Thenthere is Dojisigi. And Mujita.”

One hardly liked to hear that assessment, but one already knew it. Hisintercession had saved the man, perhaps his daughter. A child. A child as humans reckoned it. But not necessarily so.

“Mujita is a fool—but his daughter, Tiajo, is dangerous. One has come to know that child all too well, and her father will be lucky if he dies of old age. Nand’ Gediri thinks Ishould marry the girl and set an heir in place over Dojisigi. But I’ll not have her serving mytea. Or teaching any of mysuccessors.”

“Again, —” he began.

“—advise the Guild.” Machigi concluded, and leaned back. “So. They guard her. They guard me. Who prevails.”

“She will have to deserve the man’chi offered her. To the death. That is not so easily done, by a person of bad character.”

“She is an attractive little baggage. She would use that gift to the utmost.”

“The Guild does not train fools,” Bren said. “If she is what you say, she must convince the Guild she is the better ruler, or take her aishid down with her to ruin. And one suspects in her instance, the Guild may frustrate her inclinations and withdraw support entirely—which would not be a comfortable situation for her orher father.”

“What was the Guild’s position when they replaced Tabini-aiji? One is curious. One is quitecurious.

Blunt question. Very blunt question. And maybe a test of honesty.

“What is not widely stated, but what I do know—and in confidence, nandi—there was a coup, with bloodletting, inside the Guild, shortly before there was one inside the aishidi’tat. There was a countercoup, when the will of the people put Tabini-aiji back in power, and those we now call the renegades fled south, a number at first and then a slow trickle of those less exposed. A handful of those of ill intent came into Shejidan from outside, to use force; and force ultimately resettled the matter at Tabini-aiji’s return. It is unfortunate that Dojisigi sheltered these people. It cost them and everyone else. But you may now have confidence that the trouble has solved itself and that the Guild in Shejidan has declared man’chi to Tabini-aiji.”

“You say so.”

“One has great confidence in the persons who assured me so.”

“And who are they?”

“One is constrained from saying, nandi, but one does believe them.”

“Nand’ paidhi,” Machigi said. “You are one of the most curiously honestindividuals I have met, yet you represent two of the most devious alive! I am very reluctant to let you go. You will become corrupted by them.”

Bren gave a little bow of the head. “I shall be the same. I shall never forget our recent association, nandi, and I shall try to find a mutually agreeable course, fair to you and fair to the aiji-dowager. Standing between is my value in a situation.”

“Dispense with subtlety and give me your best advice. What would you advise in the next number of days?”

“Dispatch the representative to Shejidan as soon as possible—there will be curiosity from all Guilds, once they know the Assassins’ Guild has achieved agreement. Sign with the Merchants’ Guild first; they are reasonable people with a reasonable objective. Transport will have a standard agreement. Be cautious with the Messengers’ Guild, and read their agreement carefully. Bargain hard with them, and ask the Merchants’ Guild if you distrust a clause—they will give you an honest answer. Sign the agreement with the aiji-dowager, and move on all convenient programs. Immediately loose rumors of a great trading venture contingent on that agreement.”

“And then?”

“Simutaneously be ready to send representatives to the East to set up a trade office on the coast; and outfit an expedition by sea. Within the Marid, establish clinics in key places: that will immediately see benefits to the people. Sign with the Academicians and establish a small school in Tanaja with high prestige and technical assistance from the Engineers’, the Messengers’, and the Physicians’ Guilds; concentrating first on those three disciplines and having a relationship with those Guilds. Erect windmills for power in the villages, not neglecting Senji and Dojisigi. The Engineers’ Guild will assist at your request, and Shejidan will assist you in that effort with materials and technology. The Messengers will provide broadcast radio for every village, each village to have at least one receiver, and let that network inform the villages for you. Speak to the people on a fixed schedule and inform them on progress and new programs and how to access them. Rumors in the Marid will then become scarcer than fact. Once people see benefits from change, their opinions will become more favorable—not universally, but with medical care and more prosperity, they will be more favorable. And thatwill secure your future.”

Machigi laughed softly. “Paidhi, you have it all laid out in your head, do you not?”

“One has thought about it, nandi. One has thought about it incessantly, in a desire to have the most benefit the fastest. That is what will make this work.”

“I shall miss you, paidhi, indeed. My ministers have no sense of humor.”

“I shall, I hope, see you again, nandi. I am more than willing to bridge gaps for you and to convey messages in, one hopes, a delicate way.”

“I have gifts for you,” Machigi said, “on which I have labored personally.” Machigi drew two small cylinders from his pocket, and offered it to him. “Use these as you see fit.”

“Shall I open them?”

“One is a polite letter for the aiji-dowager, which you only need deliver, and the other is reading for your journey.” Machigi stood up. The guest was obliged to do the same. The meeting was over. “I shall bid you farewell now, paidhi. The requested items will be aboard your bus by now. Staff will have carried your belongings down, and your small army of Guild will, I am told, be going back to Najida, to keep it safe from—whomever. I shall see you soon in Shejidan, nand’ paidhi.”

Bren slipped the two cylinders into his own pocket and bowed. “One will look forward to that meeting, nandi, not alone officially.”

“Flattery.”

“Yet true.” A second bow. “Baji-naji, nandi, we shall do this.”

He was done—sooner than he had expected, as well. The meeting could have gone far longer, or taken days, had the discussion gone wrong.

But it had not. They were both satisfied.

And it was time to get the hell out of the district and let the Marid take care of the Marid for a while without his interference rousing controversy.

He gathered his aishid, Tano and Algini conveniently arriving on the main floor with their own luggage and three servants carrying the rest. No expressions changed. No expressions betrayed any satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the proceedings. His bodyguard was on strictly formal behavior, communicating with short-range, and if there was any authority on the premises besides Lord Machigi—such as a local Guild officer—none appeared to wish them good travel.

Outside, under gray skies and a light sprinkle of rain, the bus stood waiting. The last baggage went aboard as they lingered at the bus steps.

Then the cargo doors shut. Bren caught the hand grip and climbed the first tall step, with Jago right behind him.

But someone hadnow appeared, in an official capacity: Tema, Machigi’s senior bodyguard, with his partner. Banichi delayed and joined Tano and Algini in that conversation outside the bus.

Jago put the briefcase on the seat and awaited his coat. Bren extracted the cylinders from his pocket before he slipped it off and offered it to Jago to hang for him—ostensibly servant duties, but at no point did his bodyguard leave him to fend for himself under still-questionable circumstances.

He settled in. The air in the bus was a little chill yet, but a welcome chill, considering the heavy vest his bodyguard would not let him omit. He set his briefcase on the floor by his feet, the driver started the engine, and the meeting at the bus steps ended with a fast exchange of signs, apparently cordial.

The rest of his bodyguard got aboard in uncommonly good spirits for the situation, the door definitively shut, and the bus rolled, meeting a light spatter of rain on the windshield as it left the wind-shadow of the building.

Communications would be going out from the bus about now on long-range equipment, a summons for the plane to meet them at Najida airport, a communication with the local Guild that they were on the move and that they would be passing through the streets.

Bren let go a long sigh, sheer relief to have gotten things this far, with Machigi’s general agreement. On the other hand, one hesitated to rejoice too soon.

The ink had not yet landed on the bottom line. There was a lot, lot more to attend to before that happened.

Banichi and Jago sat down in the seats facing his. Tano and Algini hung on in the aisle as the bus negotiated the downslope of the driveway.

“So, nadiin-ji?” he asked them.

“We found good agreement,” Banichi answered him. “His aishid is troubled at so much responsibility falling in their laps. But the Guild is carefully loading them with what they can bear, instructing them in procedures, assisting them with modern equipment. He was fortunate in them. He was very fortunate. You advised him well, Bren-ji.”

“One hoped one would receive a sign, if not.”

“Well-spoken, Bren-ji,” Jago said. “At all points.”

Bren let go a slow breath and melted back into the seat. “One is gratified by your confidence, nadiin-ji. Terrified at the scope of it all, but gratified. —Tano-ji, how are you holding up?”

“Quite well,” Tano said. Tano had taken it in the arm not so very many days ago. He was doing rehabilitation in between standing duty. Banichi and Jago and Algini had lasting scars– from keeping the paidhi-aiji in one piece despite his very best efforts to get himself killed.

“Rest,” he said. “Let the juniors manage the details for the rest of the trip. I have absolutely no needs. But,” he said, “one imagines you would care to read what Machigi has said.”

“One would be a little curious,” Banichi admitted.

“So am I,” he said, and uncapped the cylinder addressed to him, while they were still making their way through Tanaja’s streets. “Unbearably so.”

4

  Machigi lord of the Marid to Bren-paidhi, salutations.

The Dojisigi and the Senji agreed together to back Murini of the Kadigidi in a coup against the Ragi Association to overthrow Tabini-aiji.

The plan was presented to me. Their scheme seemed to me no more likely to succeed than what their predecessors had done in every generation, but if it failed, and if we did not actively participate, I judged that Tabini would likely content himself with removing only the most active aggressors. In our perception of the situation, saying yes would delay a problem with Tori of the Dojisigi. So we said yes—but delayed lending any forces to their effort, expecting any day to hear that the plan had come down on their heads and that they were dead by Guild action.

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