Protector: Foreigner #14 by C.J. Cherryh

in the back halls. So will I.”
    “One understands,” Geigi said. “One prefers to hear it en route, for security’s sake. Such things too easily escape the bag. Advise me if I can be of use tonight. Meanwhile, I see the head of Transport. I do need to speak to him before I leave.”
    So it went. It was the better part of an hour, with minor lords and department officials trickling away, and the major ones becoming more and more significant in the room, before the first of the senior Guild showed up at the door of the reception hall to gather up their own.
    The trickle of departure became a flood. Maidin left. Haidiri had gone some time ago. Paturandi departed. Bren took up a position near Damiri, testing the atmosphere, then walked close to her, bowed, and said, under his breath:
    “I shall be leaving soon, daja-ma. My assistance, for what it is worth, is always available to you as to your husband, with greatest good will.”
    “Everyone in this hall has attempted to place servants on my staff,” Damiri said somewhat sharply. “Are you the sole exception, paidhi-aiji? Or will you disappoint me?”
    “I have no such proposal, daja-ma. I only offer—”
    “Information?” Damiri asked. “Dare one suppose you will tell me what the dowager said? Or what my husband said?”
    “Both were gratified by your choices tonight, daja-ma. Your husband is no fool. Nor is the aiji-dowager. Nor, may one say, is your son.”
    “You are not my confidant, paidhi-aiji. Do not presume!”
    “I shall not, daja-ma, but neither shall I ask a confidence and then break it. I serve your husband primarily; and the dowager at times, yes. But your interest is my concern, because your happiness affects your husband and your son. If I can ever be of service, I say, I will serve your interests as man’chi allows.”
    “A sentiment humans notoriously lack!”
    “We have compensatory sentiments. I offer them. Bluntly, I have wondered myself whether the dowager would seek to influence your daughter yet to be, and I have been concerned. The answer is, bluntly,
no.
She will not.”
    That had gotten a sharp, mistrustful look. “She has said so?”
    “She has said everything that makes me believe it.”
    “Then you do
not
know, and yet you present it as truth!”
    “I would certainly wager my credibility on it. She is not your enemy, nor wishes to be. She finds no profit and a great deal of disadvantage.”
    “She is a—!”
    “And you likewise have an agenda regarding the dowager. Forgive me, daja-ma, but I am not a fool. Here is the dowager’s position. It is specifically in her interest and in the interest of your husband that you and she not be enemies. For her to interfere in your custody of your daughter would assure that you would be. The situation that brought Cajeiri to her will not be repeated. The Guild action in the south is assuring that. So have no doubts. Nothing is being discussed that will separate you from your child.”
    Damiri shot him a look that, were it a weapon, would have gone straight through him. Question. Doubt. Apprehension. The mask atevi wore over emotion was quite, quite gone. Are you threatening me? she might have asked. Or: What did my husband say to you? Those seemed to be the thoughts behind that look.
    “You
say that, with inside knowledge?”
    “With no hesitation, daja-ma. The dowager is not your enemy, nor in any wise wishes to be. If she could make alliance with you, it would well serve her—and you.
And
your husband and your son.”
    The look was only marginally less intense. “You have taken a great deal on yourself, paidhi!”
    “In concern for the house I serve, daja-ma. Yes. I am concerned. Deeply so. I have no wish to see any harm to this household—including you, daja-ma,
and
your daughter.”
    A long, long stare followed that. He did not look away. He was aware Geigi had come close. And that Tabini had.
    “One asks,” he said quietly, “the favor of your patience, daja-ma, with a