We drifted inward, and Gerard, looking perhaps a trifle uncomfortable in layers of ruffled finery, introduced us to the lady he was with as Dretha Gannell, assistant to the Begman ambassador. The ambassador, it turned out, was the tall lady standing near Orkuz-and her name, I gathered, was Ferla Quist. The fellow with her was her secretary, whose name sounded something like Cade. While we were looking in that direction, Gerard tried slipping off and leaving us with Ferla. But she caught his sleeve and asked him something about the fleet. I smiled and nodded and moved away. Bill came along.
“Goodness! Martin’s changed!” he announced suddenly. “He looks like a one-man rock video. I almost didn’t recognize him. Just last week-“
“It’s been over a year,” I said, “for him. He’s been off finding himself on some street scene.”
“I wonder if he’s finished?”
“Didn’t get a chance to ask him that;” I replied, but a peculiar thought occurred to me. I shelved it.
The music died just then, and Llewella cleared the throat and indicated Hendon, who announced the new seating arrangement. I was at the foot of the table, and I learned later that Coral was to have been seated to my left and Cade to my right. I also learned later that Llewella had tried to get hold of Flora at the last minute to sit in Coral’s place, but Flora wasn’t taking any calls.
As it was, Vialle, at the head, had Llewella seated to her right and Orkuz to her left, with Gerard, Dretha, and Bill below Llewella, and Ferla, Martin, Cade, and Nayda below Orkuz. I found myself escorting Nayda to the table and seating her to my right, while Bill settled himself at my left.
“Fuss, fuss, fuss,” Bill muttered softly, and I nodded; then introduced him to Nayda as counsel to the House of Amber. She looked impressed and asked him about his work. He proceeded to charm her with a story about once having represented the interests of a dog in an estate settlement, which had nothing to do with Amber but was a good story. Got her to laughing a bit, and also Cade, who was listening in.
The first course was served and the musicians began playing again, softly, which shortened the distance our voices carried and reduced conversation to a more intimate level. At this, Bill signaled he had something he wanted to tell me, but Nayda had beaten him by a second or two and I was already listening to her.
“About Coral,” she said softly. “Are you sure she’s all right? She wasn’t feeling ill when you parted-of anything like that-was she?”
“No,” I answered. “She seemed healthy enough.”
“Strange,” she said. “I had the impression she wad looking forward to things like this dinner.”
“She’s obviously taking longer than she’d intended in whatever she’s about,” I observed.
“What exactly was she about?” Nayda asked. “Where did you part?”
“Here in the palace,” I replied. “I was showing her around. She wanted to spend more time with certain features of the place than I could spare. So I came on ahead.”
“I don’t think she could have forgotten dinner.”
“I think she got caught up by the power of an artistic piece.”
“So she’s definitely on the premises?”
“Now, that’s hard to say. As I said before, a person can always step out.”
“You mean you’re not sure exactly where she is?” I nodded.
“I’m not certain where she is at this moment,” I said. “She could well be back in her room changing her clothes.”
“I’ll check after dinner,” she said, “if she hasn’t shown up by then. If that should be the case, will you help me find her?”
“I was planning on looking for her anyway,” I answered, “if she doesn’t put in an appearance soon.”
She nodded and continued eating. Very awkward.
Beyond the fact that I didn’t want to distress her, I couldn’t very well tell her what had happened without its becoming apparent that her sister was indeed an illegitimate daughter of Oberon. At a time such as this, when I had been cautioned about saying anything that might strain relations between Amber and Begma, I was not about to confirm to the daughter of the Begman prime minister the rumor that her mother had had an affair with the late king of Amber. Maybe it was an open secret back in Begma and nobody gave a damn. But maybe it wasn’t. I didn’t want to disturb Random for advice, partly because he might be extremely occupied in Kashfa just now; but mainly because he might also start asking me about my own immediate plans and problems, and I would not lie to him. That could get me into too much trouble. Such a conversation might well also result in his forbidding my attack on the Keep. The only other person I could tell about Coral and get some sort of official response from, as to how far I might go in informing her family, was Vialle. Unfortunately, Vialle was completely occupied as hostess at the moment.