“Oh, all right, all right. I’ll hide! Tissue samples, Alverd. I need snips from whatever bons have survived. I’ll send one of my people to get those. Samples from the children, too. I need soil samples. From in here and out there. Persun, come with me and I’ll describe what I need. I’ll pack up my stuff. It’s heavy. Send some men over to load it.”
And she was away.
“What about you two?” asked Alverd.
Rigo drew himself wearily to his feet. “There’s nothing we can do just now. Tony’s asleep down below, and there’s no point in waking him until he needs to board the Star-Lily. I think we’ll try to get some sleep. When the ship from Sanctity arrives, we need to be alert. At that time, some misdirection may be in order.”
TheIsrafelbloomed like a star, and like a star remained in the heavens. One small shuttle came down to unload a small detachment of men commanded by a Seraph with six-winged angels on his shoulders. He was met by Mayor Bee.
“The Hierarch wishes to speak to Administrator Jhamlees Zoe at the Friary of the Green Brothers. We have been unsuccessful in reaching the administrator through your communications system.”
Mayor Bee nodded sadly. “The Friary was wiped out by prairie fires,” he said. “We’re searching now for survivors.”
There was a thoughtful silence. “The Hierarch may want to come down and verify this for himself”
“We evacuated the Port Hotel for the Hierarch’s use,” the Mayor agreed. “The fires have burned great stretches of grassland and seven villages. The town is full of refugees.”
“The Hierarch may choose the town, nonetheless,” said the Seraph. “Well, certainly, if he wishes,” said Mayor Bee, nodding. “Though there is sickness in the town which we assumed the Hierarch would wish to avoid.”
The Seraph’s expression did not change, though something wary came into his voice. “The office of the Hierarch will advise you. Any particular kind of sickness?”
“We’re not sure what it is,” said Mayor Bee. “People breaking out in sores.. .” Rillibee had told him what it looked like. Rillibee had told them a good deal more than any of the commoners had wanted to know. The small detachment made room for themselves at the empty hotel, but the Hierarch did not come down to Grass. Instead, he sent for Rigo. Marjorie insisted upon going along.
“For verisimilitude,” she said. “We came here together. Let us support one another.”
“I need you. Marjorie.”
She gave him a thoughtful look “You have never said that to me before, Rigo. Did you often say it to Eugenie?” He flushed. “I may have.”
She said wonderingly, “It’s a different thing, being needed, from being wanted, which you often said to me, though that was long ago. I think the Seraph is waiting for us.”
“Seraph,” he snorted. “Why can’t they call him a colonel or a general? Seraph!”
“We mustn’t betray our biases! This Hierarch is not your uncle. and he may already be suspicious of us simply because we’re outsiders.”
The Hierarch betrayed no suspicion, though it would have been difficult to detect, since he greeted them from behind a transparent partition, calling their attention to it as though they could not see it for themselves. “My advisors,” he said in an annoyingly satisfied though self-deprecating tone. “They won’t allow me to expose myself to possible risk.”
“Very wise,” said Rigo.
“Is there risk here, Ambassador?” The Hierarch was clad in white robes with golden angels embroidered at the hem and in a wide border up the front. Their metallic wings threw a coruscant flicker around him, like an aureole. His face was ordinary. It had no feature more distinguished than the others. It was a face one could instantly forget. One would not forget the robes, however. The Hierarch repeated his question. “Are there deaths? Unexplained ones? Or deaths from plague?
“We don’t know,” said Rigo, remembering it was probable that the Hierarch had an analyzer on them. The least risk lay in disclaiming absolute knowledge. One could almost always do that truthfully.
“People do disappear on Grass,” Marjorie offered honestly. “We’ve been trying to find out how, and why. It might help if we knew precisely what drew Sanctity’s attention to Grass initially. The information we were given was not very specific.”