"Kate Elliott - Jaran 1 - Jaran" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elliott Kate)

Cee."

He bowed again, obedient. "You would honor me, Lady Terese, if you granted me the
privilege of showing you in to see Hao Yakii Tarimin."

"Await me beyond." Tess waved toward the still open seam in the wall. The steward
bowed to the exact degree proper and retreated. The wall shut behind him.

"God, but it gives me pleasure to see them ordered around for a change," muttered the
guard. Tess flushed, and the man looked uncomfortable, as if he was afraid he had offended
her.

"Are they difficult to work for?" asked Sojourner quickly.

"Nay. Not if you do the work you're hired to do. They're the best employers I've had,
really." He lifted his hands, palms up. "Which is ironic. Say, did you say Sojourner King?"

Sojourner chuckled, and Tess watched, envying her friend's easy geniality. "Yes. I was
named after my great-grandmother, that Captain Sojourner King of the first L.S. Jerusalem. "
She intoned the words with relish, able to laugh at her inherited fame in a way Tess had
never managed. Then she sobered and turned to Tess. "I guess we part here, Tess. Take
this, for luck." She took an ankh necklace from around her neck and handed it to Tess. "Keep
well."

"Oh, Soje. I'll miss you." Tess hugged her, hard and quickly, to get it over with, shook the
hand of the guard, picked up her valise, and walked across the room. The wall opened before
her, admitting her to forbidden precincts.

"And don't you dare forget to send me a message from Odys," Sojourner called after her.

Tess lifted a hand in final farewell as the wall seamed shut, sealing her in to the corridor
with the silent, patient steward. He bowed again, took her valise, and turned to lead her
through the branching corridors. His lank hair and achromatic clothing lent the monotonous
bleached-orange walls color in contrast, or at least to Tess's sight they did. She did not know
what the walls looked like to his vision: like so much else, that was information not granted to
humans.

It was hot, so hot that she immediately broke out in a sweat. Her hand clenched the
computer slate. She felt like a traitor. Because she had no intention of going to Odys. She
was afraid to go there, afraid to tell her own and only sibling that she could not carry on in his
place, that she did not want the honor or the responsibility—that she did not know what she
wanted, not at all. She did not even have the courage to tell a good friend. And Sojourner had
been a good friend to her, these past years.

In the suite reserved for the captain, three Chapalii stood as she entered, bowed in by
the steward. He hung back, retraining his hold on her exalted valise, as the wall closed
between them. Tess surveyed her audience with dismay. To interview the captain was bad
enough. To face three of them. . . .

She refused to give in to this kind of fear. The captain, thank God, was easy to