Gateway by Sharon Shinn Page A

attention to his dark eyes. His hair was a deep black except for a streak of gray that waved back from the middle of his forehead, giving him a look of distinction. He leaned forward as he sat on his bench, waving back at the crowd as if he was just as thrilled to see them as they were to see him.
    Daiyu felt her mild sense of disquiet intensify, forming a coil of worry in her stomach. Chenglei didn’t look like a man so terrible that he had to be flung to a different dimension in order to keep a whole world safe.
    As the car pulled out of view, Daiyu glanced around at the crowds just now dispersing. People were smiling or talking to friends with great animation, still impressed and a little awed. “Everybody seems to like Chenglei,” she observed.
    “A lot of people do,” Kalen answered.
    “What do you think about him?”
    “I never thought about him much until Ombri and Aurora came,” he said. This didn’t surprise her. She figured Kalen had probably poured most of his energy into staying alive; he wouldn’t have had much time to think about high-level politics. Which was too bad—she would trust his assessment of Chenglei far more than she would trust Ombri’s.
    Kalen went on, “I’ve been trying to learn more about him so Iunderstandwhythey’redeterminedtosend himaway.Sofar, the worst thing seems to be the way he’s handling the zaogao fever epidemic in the northwest territories. Some people say he’s not sending enough doctors and supplies to fight the fever. And other people say he’s doing everything he can to make sure it doesn’t spread. Feng says thousands of people are dying because of him—”
    “Who’s Feng?”
    “He’s the son of one of the wealthy families, but he’s been disowned. Every few days you can find him in a park or on the street, delivering a speech about what’s wrong with the government—particularly Chenglei.”
    Daiyu smiled a little as she listened to the description. “He’s a dissident. I’d love to hear him speak. Where can I find him?”
    “I’ll ask around. He might be in hiding right now. But even Feng doesn’t know how bad Chenglei can be, Ombri says. Aurora says there’s no end to the misery he’ll bring to Jia. They say he’s destroyed whole cultures on other worlds.”
    And we’ll have to take their word for it that such a thing is true, Daiyu thought, since we can hardly prove it ourselves. She unconsciously tightened her grip on Kalen’s hand as her stomach clenched even harder. “Well,” she said. “I’m glad I got a glimpse of him. Now at least I know who I’m dealing with.”

    They spent another couple of hours wandering around the city before catching a trolley back to Kalen’s neighborhood. Daiyu couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so at ease with a young man her own age. When she was around the boys at school, she usually felt awkward and unsure of herself; she rarely tried for casual conversation. She knew she had a reputation for being aloof, an impression that was reinforced by her habitually calm demeanor. But she found it easy to talk to Kalen.
    They were still talking as they approached the door to his house and caught the scent of something exotic cooking. “Aurora’shome,” Kalen said as they stepped inside. She let go of his hand for the first time all afternoon.
    Daiyu had been half expecting someone as dark as Ombri, but Aurora was almost his exact opposite. She was only slightly taller than Daiyu, porcelain-skinned, blue-eyed, with utterly straight yellow hair that fell almost to her waist. She looked to be about fifty years old, but Daiyu had to wonder. She had gotten the impression that Ombri, at least, had seen a lot of travel; perhaps the servants were as ageless as the gods.
    “Here’s Daiyu,” Kalen said. “She arrived last night.”
    “Hello,Daiyu,”Aurora said, and her voice was low and restful. “I’m so pleased to meet you.”
    “We haven’t seen you for a couple of days,” Kalen