Certain Symmetry by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

others cared so much."
    She had named those others in the course of
her narration and Pat Rin had taken those names to the redoubtable
dea'Gauss, Clan Korval's man of business, who was even now in the
process of checking accounts with various of the masters of the
Accountants Guild.
    Which left Pat Rin free to attend a party in
the deplored and deplorable express mode, with only six hours left
him to correctly place and Balance the error that had brought Fal
Den to his death.
    It was well here to reflect upon Fal Den,
Pat Rin thought, and the nicety of his honor, which had not allowed
him to place a debt of which he was uncertain.
    Pat Rin sighed and gave his lace a last,
unnecessary, shake. Time and past time to get on with the pursuit
of pleasure.
    Express , indeed.
    * * *
    THE ADDRESS WAS in Solcintra Mid-Port, on a
street well-known to a certain set of self-styled adventurers and
high rollers. An adventurer he was not, but in the course of
learning to be a high roller, it had sometimes been necessary for
Pat Rin to attend parties on this street. Now an acknowledged
player, he still received invitations to such parties, but of late
he had more and more often discovered himself, regretfully, with a
conflicting engagement. To be seen in the area during a business
day was unexceptional, of course, but to be seen here in the
evening, dressed in all his finery....
    At least he was not alone. He saw several
vaguely familiar faces in the distance, all of them younger than
he, each carrying their sealed red packet inscribed with the
legend, "To Be Opened Expressly at the House of Chance."
    He bowed distantly in the direction of a
young lady whose name escaped him--her face notable in that Pat Rin
had witnessed the end of a match at Teydor's in which this gentle
became the dozen dozenth of the current year's list. Pat Rin sighed
- no doubt he would be singled out during the Express to give hints
and best wishes, if not to lend countenance to the rather
interesting costume that the lady had found appropriate to wear to
an event that might turn out to be nothing more than an evening of
light play. Indeed, she gained his side as he came up to the
gaudily painted doorway, and just in time he recalled her
name--Dela bel'Urik, Clan Shelart.
    Together, they entered the sen'Equa's House
of Chance, he in his evening lace, and she as she might appear for
an evening among friends to her house; or even friends to her bed.
Assuredly, someone ought to speak to the lady regarding the attire
generally held to be proper for public outings - but it would not
be he.
    A servant, bland-faced, admitted them to the
house, and waved them to a small room to the right of the
entranceway.
    "You may open your envelopes and don your
accessories in this chamber," he said. "After you have
appropriately adorned yourselves, you may find the rest of the
guests in the larger room. Buffets will be laid in the private
parlors at mid-revel."
    It was at this point that Betea sen'Equa
herself appeared, slightly breathless, as if she had run down from
her office the moment the monitor showed his arrival. Immediately
was Dela bel'Urik's costume discovered to be mere commonplace,
quite cast into the shade by Betea's choice of flame red shirt, cut
low across her breasts, form-fitting leather trousers, and
soft-soled leather house-boots.
    Nor was the young bel'Urik's address
sufficient to assure her place at Pat Rin's side. Betea swept
forward, using her height much as he sometimes used his, to clear a
path through a crowd and arrive at his destination unrumpled and
unimpeded.
    "He has not yet arrived," she said, leading
the way into the accessory chamber. Pat Rin followed, but not
without a wistful thought to the bel'Urik.
    "I have been through our
records," she said, pulling what appeared to be a small square of
leather from between her breasts. "Never has the House of Chance
hosted such an event. Why must it be here--"
    "...Is something that we shall perhaps
discover of Hia