Intruder by C. J. Cherryh

once the Edi hold a seat in the legislature, they will have one vote in the hasdrawad and one in the tashrid, and they must obey the law. The Marid, as a district, will have
five
lords, and more than five seats, becoming an important bloc, even weighed against the power of the Padi Valley clans up north. You will become a bloc other interests will court, to your advantage.”
    “We shall have all five votes,” Machigi said. “Is that agreed within these documents?”
    “Not within the documents,” Bren said carefully. “But there having been five Marid clans, from antiquity. By my knowledge of the law of the aishidi’tat, when she says that you should be lord of all the Marid—you would hold all five votes. That is another factor in my urging that you go to Shejidan at once and
use
those votes, by signing into this session of the legislature, to makethat point. In all the other furor, that will likely go marginally noticed, with no argument prepared against it, and you will have laid down the precedent.”
    “Machigi-aiji would be at risk of his life by going to Shejidan,” Gediri said. “He has hereditary enemies on the west coast and in the central regions. They will be lined up at the gates to find an opportunity.”
    “He will be under
massive
Guild protection, nandi, at all hours, daylight and dark, coming and going. Likewise, every minister of your cabinet will be under heightened Guild protection. I am assured the Guild is backing this move of the dowager’s, and anyone who attempts to destabilize the situation will meet intense Guild opposition. I also have Tabini-aiji’s undertaking that he will silently back these efforts, remaining diplomatically quiet during this visit so as not to confuse the issue; this agreement is specifically between you and the aiji-dowager. Once you are her ally, then relations with the aiji in Shejidan will be on that basis, and you will have her support, as you will support her—not in an over-hasty rush to alter everything, but step by step, as trade develops. Meanwhile, you will have those five votes, nandi, and you will find yourself courted for them. One has every confidence that you will use that leverage for the betterment of your people. You will not
need
to go to war to secure more advantage for your region. You are being offered it. And supported in it.”
    The ministers looked marginally happier, perhaps at their inclusion in high security.
    But Machigi frowned. “Still, you ask me to leave matters at a crisis and go off to Shejidan to sign away the West Coast. You are all promises, thus far. You say you bring offers. Let us see them.”
    “Indeed, nandi.” He brought his briefcase onto his lap, opened it, and extracted a thick stack of papers, with tabs between. “If one could, with the assistance of your staff, distribute these…”
    Machigi snapped his fingers. Servants hurried to assist, and Bren quietly distributed the packets, first to Machigi and then to Machigi’s ministers.
    “The copies are identical, for reading at your leisure,” he said. “The original documents Lord Machigi holds in his hands are personally signed by the aiji-dowager, an assurance of intent to complete the agreement, and by Lord Geigi, supporting her negotiations: duplicates exist in the hands of other parties. There are likewise documents from the new lord of Maschi clan and signed letters from the heads of the Edi and the Gan peoples, stating their intent to support the aiji-dowager’s negotiations on their behalf and to support the outcome of the alliance between the aiji-dowager and the leader of the Marid.”
    A massive riffling of papers among the ministers. Machigi sat, not examining what he held.
    “Such documents are indeed here in facsimile, nandi,” Gediri said.
    “The last of the documents, nandiin,” Bren said, “is economic in nature, and it is mine. One proposes that there be a representative of Lord Machigi in Shejidan as quickly as possible to secure a