Traitor's Moon

think.”
    Nyal gave her a slanting smile. “Perhaps the Khatme have been right all these years. Let the Skalans into Sarikali and suddenly we have fistfights in the streets.”
    â€œWell, we’ll be gone soon enough.”
    â€œLeaving havoc in your wake. This simple request of yours has brought a good many simmering clan disputes to a boil. Now, with the deaths, everyone suddenly has new reasons for distrusting their enemies.”
    â€œHave the clans ever gone to war among themselves?” Beka asked. Such a thing hardly seemed possible, even with all she’d seen lately.
    Nyal shrugged. “They have, though not for a long time. It’s not murder, to kill in war, but lives are cut short nonetheless. For a ’faie to shed ’faie blood—ah, Aura forbid! It’s the worst thing imaginable.”
    Perhaps if she hadn’t been so tired his words would not have rankled so. As it was, they burned like salt in a fresh wound.
    â€œWhat do you know of war?” Beka snapped. “Your people sithere, clucking their tongues at us, but when we try to get help saving a few hundred of our short lives, you sit on your hands, debating whether we’ll pollute your blessed shores! Never mind that you’ve murdered one of our people and maimed Klia so that she may—”
    She broke off abruptly, seeing the sentries nearby shifting in embarrassment. She was practically shouting.
    It wasn’t Nyal’s fault, not any of it, but right now he seemed to stand for every slow-talking, law-spouting, way-blocking Aurënfaie in the land.
    â€œI’m tired, and there’s so much left to do,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut.
    â€œRest awhile,” Nyal said softly. “Sleep if you can.”
    She sighed. “No, we’ve got a pyre to build.”

36
T ESTING THE W IND
    T he confrontation with the Haman left Seregil oddly pensive.
    â€œDo you think Nazien was telling the truth when he said he’d support Skala?” Alec asked when the others had left the hall.
    â€œIt’s plausible. We’ll go have a listen around town, see how the wind blows once word of all this gets around.”
    â€œIf we split up—”
    â€œNo,” Seregil shook his head, frowning. “I still don’t want any Skalan out alone anywhere.”
    Alec grinned. “Suddenly cautious, are we?”
    Seregil chuckled. “Let’s just say even I can learn from my own poor example.”
    That evening, they wandered the city’s taverns and squares, picking up threads of outraged opinion.
    They went openly among the friendlier clans and heard Virésse alternately denounced and defended. Less was said against the Haman; word of Alec’s discovery had not yet spread.
    Later, they ventured into enemy territory, going so far as to scale the wall of Nazien í Hari’s garden to see how the Haman were conducting themselves in the wake of the accusations.The house lay in darkness, with no smell of an evening meal.
    â€œA sign of humility and atonement,” Seregil whispered to Alec as they crept away. “Nazien’s taking his nephew’s actions hard.”
    By contrast, Virésse tupa was ablaze with light well past midnight. Keeping to the shadows, they spotted the sen’gai of half a dozen clans among the people out on the streets. The house of Ulan í Sathil was too risky to burgle, but lurking nearby, they saw the khirnari of Khatme enter, accompanied by Moriel ä Moriel of Ra’basi.
    Despite this apparent show of support, bands of Virésse watchmen patrolled the boundaries of the tupa, where angry supporters of Klia roamed looking for a fight. Many wore the green-and-brown sen’gai of Akhendi.
    â€œDo you suppose that’s a spontaneous show of support, or is our friend Rhaish í Arlisandin making certain his greatest rival is made uncomfortable?” asked Seregil.
    â€œPerhaps we should pay Akhendi tupa one last visit.”
    The whole of the Akhendi delegation seemed to have taken to the streets for the night, and Seregil and Alec were hailed as friends, commiserated with, and plied with liquor and questions.
    News of the poisoner’s ring had sealed Ulan’s fate in the minds of most, and some were convinced that the Haman were in collusion with him. All agreed that it was a great coup for Akhendi, having their most hated opponent besmirched with even the hint of scandal.
    â€œWe knew