"Debra Doyle & James MacDonald - Mageworlds 06 - The Stars Asunder" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doyle Debra)

The crimson piping and insignia on the man's coverall told 'Rekhe that he was a clerk-tertiary, not long
out of his own training days.
"Arekhon sus-Khalgath?" the clerk said.
 "Reporting for instruction, sir." Everyone outranked an apprentice-even when the apprentice
came from the family's senior line-and 'Rekhe took pains to keep his voice respectful. Natelth had made
it plain that he would not have his younger brother disgracing the family by causing trouble and
discontent.
"Come with me." The clerk-tertiary led the way into the coiling three-dimensional labyrinth of the
Ribbon's interior, and 'Rekhe followed.
He tried to memorize the route as they went, but in spite of his efforts he knew that he would
have to spend time with the ship's map-models later. The ground-based portion of his prentice-training
had given him an understanding of the basic principles of ship construction, but each ship had its own set
of variations on the common design.
The clerk-tertiary halted before an airtight door like all the others they had passed by, or through,
on the way inward.
"Prentice berthing," he said. "Stow your gear and report to the junior wardroom in an hour."
With that, he departed, leaving 'Rekhe to confront the door alone. Fortunately, it was merely
closed, rather than dogged down tight. 'Rekhe pulled it open and stepped over the sill.
The compartment held four bunks, stacked two deep on either side of the door. Corresponding
lockers filled the rest of the available space along the bulkheads. The bunks were rigged with the
cushions and webbing to double as acceleration couches.
A girl sat cross-legged on one of the lower bunks, reading a flatbook and making notes on the
margin-pad with a stylus. She wore prentice livery like 'Rekhe's own-more dark blue trimmed with
crimson-and her short brown hair curled around her bent head in a loose mop. She looked up as 'Rekhe
stepped into the compartment.
"It's first-come, first-served on the bunks," she said. "You might as well take the bottom one on
the other side before somebody else does."
"I like the top bunks," said 'Rekhe. "Nobody steps on your face every night and morning."
The girl shrugged. "No accounting for taste. I'm Elaeli Inadi, by the way."
"Arekhon sus-Khalgath," he said, sketching a bow.
And the eiran that had hung like cobwebs around Ribbon-of-Starlight's dark metal hull began
to weave themselves into a newer pattern.

On the day that the Ribbon left Eraasi for her trading voyage to Ildaon and beyond, Serazao
Zulemem was at work in the outer office of the Harradi Group, a firm of legalists specializing in the
financial affairs of Eraasi's middle and upper nobility. The Demaizen estate was about to pass into the
hands of its final inheritor, and Serazao had drawn the work of sorting and filing all the hardcopy that the
case had generated during two decades of legal contests.
Serazao's parents, Alescu and Evya, had come to Hanilat from Eraasi's antipodal subcontinent
because well-trained legalists-and they were both well-trained-could prosper in the employ of the
merchants and star-lords who made the city their base of operations. Her father soon achieved
membership in the Harradi Group; her mother, more combative by nature, kept her own office as a
court-litigant.
Serazao herself was a quiet, industrious child. From the time she was old enough to make plans
for her future and have others take them seriously, she intended to become a legalist like her parents. To
that end, as soon as she reached the age of employment, she worked part time-full time during the school
intervals-at her father's firm.
The litigation concerning the Demaizen estate had come near to outlasting the family lines that
contended for it. Serazao knew from her parents' dinner-table conversation that only the death from old
age of one of the parties involved had brought the matter to a conclusion. Now the remaining heir was