"Raymond E. Feist - Empire Saga 1 - Daughter Of The Empire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

'My Lady, don't I please you?' The young maid's bearing revealed distress.

Mara frowned, annoyed by her thoughtless lapse. 'Yoa please me well enough.' She surrendered the
hairbrush and sat still as the serving girl began to tend her hair. As the maid worked, Mara conceded to
herself that her decision to see Jican was as much to avoid Nacoya as to; learn more of her estates. The
old nurse had a natural tendency to be grumpy in the early morning. And beyond her normal ill temper,
Nacoya would have volumes to say to the young girl on her responsibilites as Ruling Lady.

Mara sighed, and the maid paused, waiting for some indication from her Lady if there was a problem.
When Mara said nothing, the girl continued, tentatively, as if fearing her Lady's disapproval. Mara mulled
over the questions for Jican, knowing that eventually she would have to contend with Nacoya's scolding
manner. Again she sighed, much as she had when facing one of Nacoya's punishments for some girlish
prank, and again the maid halted to see if her mistress was displeased. After a momentary pause, the girl
resumed arranging her mistress's hair, and Mara became caught up in the questions of estate
management.



Later, dressed and groomed, Mara sat with her elbow propped in a mound of cushions. Her lip was
pinched between her teeth in concentration as she reviewed the latest of a sizeable heap of scrolls. Small,
sun-bronzed, and nervous as a thyza bird, the hadonra, Jican, looked over her shoulder. Presently he
extended a tentative finger.

The profits are listed there, my Lady. As you note, they are respectable.'

'I see that, Jican.' Mara laid the scroll on her knees as Nacoya ducked her head around the door. 'I
am busy, Nacoya. I will see you shortly, perhaps at noon.'

The old nurse shook her head, her hairpins as crooked as ever. 'By my lady's leave, it is now an hour
past noon.'

Mara raised her brows in surprise. She sympathized with her father's impatience with the management
of his far-flung holdings. The task was more involved than she had suspected. Yet, unlike her father, she
found the intricacies of finance fascinating. With a rueful smile at Nacoya's impatience, the Lady of the
Acoma said, 'I lost track of time. But Jican is nearly finished. You may wait if you wish.'

Nacoya jerked her head in the negative. 'Too much to do, Lady. Send your runner for me when you
are ready. But do not delay much longer. Decisions must be made, and tomorrow is too late to consider
them.'

The nurse departed. Mara heard her pause to mutter to Keyoke, standing guard in the hallway
beyond. Then, drawn back to Jican and her lesson in commerce, Mara reached for another scroll. This
time she commented on the balance, without the hadonra's needing to prompt. 'We may lack warriors,
Jican, but we are strong in property, perhaps even prosperous.'

'It is not difficult, mistress. Sotamu left clear records of the years he served your father. I but follow his
example. Thyza crops have been bountiful for three years, while the hwaet blight in the plains provinces
has driven high the prices of all grain - thyza,, ryge, maza, even milat. With hwaet scarce, only a lazy
manager carts his thyza to Sulan-Qu and sells it there. It takes only a little more effort to deal with a
factor from a consortium of grain shippers in the City of the Plains.' The small man sighed in discomfort.