“And reach the same answer?”
“I think so,” he admitted. “I don’t blame you.”
She smiled, ironic amusement. “Then maybe we will have a brighter future than other humans who have held Nephane. They built this section of the Afen, you know. That’s why there is no rhmei, no heart to the place. It’s unique in that respect, the fortress without a heart, the building without a soul. Did Kta tell you what became of them?”
“Nemet drove them out, I know that.”
“Humans ruled Nephane about twenty years. But they involved themselves with the nemet. The mistress of the base commander was of a great Indras family, of Irain. Humans were very cruel to the nemet, and they enjoyed humiliating the Great Families by that. But one night she let her brothers in and the whole of Nephane rose in rebellion against the humans on the night of a great celebration, when most of the humans were drunk on telise. So they lost their machines and fled south and became the Tamurlin in a generation or so, like animals. Only Pai’s ancestor On t’Erefe defended the humans in the Afen, being chan and obliged to defend his human lord. The human methi and On died together, out there in the hall. The other humans who died were killed in the courtyard, and those who were caught were brought back there and killed.
“Myself, I have read the records that went before their fall. The supply ship failed them, never came back, probably after reporting to Aeolus; it was destroyed on its return trip, another war casualty, unnoticed. The years passed, and they had made the nemet here hate them. They had threatened them with the imminent return of, the ship for twenty years and the threat was wearing thin. So they fell. But when we arrived, the nemet thought the threat had come true and that they were all to die. For all my crewmates cared, we might have destroyed Nephane to secure the base. I would not permit it. And when I had
freed the nemet from the immediate threat of my companions, they made me methi. Some say I am sent by Fate; they think the same of you. For an Indras, nothing ever happens without logical purpose. Their universe is entirely rational. I admire that in them. There is a great deal in these people that was worth the cost. And I think you agree with me. You’ve evidently settled very comfortably into Elas.”
“They are my friends,” he said.
Djan leaned back, leaned on the sill and looked out over her shoulder. The ship was nearly to the breakwater. “This is a world of little haste and much deliberation. Can you imagine two ships like that headed for each other in battle? Our ships come- hi faster than the mind can think, from zero vision to alongside, attack and vanish. But those vessels with their sails and oars-by the time , they came within range of each other there would be , abundant time for thought. There is a dreadful deliberateness about the nemet. They maneuver so slowly, but they do hold a course once they’ve taken it.”
“You’re not talking about ships.”
“Do you know what lies across the sea?”
His heart leaped; he thought of Mim, and his first terrible thought was that Djan knew. But he let nothing of that reach his face. “Indresul,” he said. “A city that is hostile to Nephane.”
“Your friends of Elas are Indras. Did you know?”
“I had heard so, yes.”
“So are most of the Great Families of Nephane. The Indras established this as a colony once, when they conquered the inland fortress of Chteftikan and began to build this fortress with Sufaki slaves taken in that war. Indresul has no love of the Nephanite Indras, but she has never forgotten that through them she has a claim on this city. She wants it. I am walking a narrow line, Kurt Morgan, and your Indras friends in Elas and your own meddling in nemet affairs are an embarrassment to me at a time when I can least afford embarrassment. I need quiet in this city. I will do what is necessary to secure that.”