“Ah, but then I’m still left with Tahar for company, which would ruin my sfik-unless I can first discredit Ehrran. And you can’t discredit a dead hero. Bad taste. Martyrdom. No, I can put this simple hani concept in kifish without any difficulty at all: pukkukkta. Revenge. I have to deal with Ehrran in a hani way, in a way that shows other hani what we both know she is-an utter fool. And to do that, I need Tahar.”
“Why should I risk my ships for the sake of your pukkukkta?”
“Sfik. I’m your ally. I can put a stop to a problem. Balance, hakkikt. Equilibrium in the Compact. It’s one thing to climb a mountain, it’s quite another thing to build a house there.”
Kif stirred about the room. Sikkukkut was frozen still with the cup in his hand. Too far, gods, one step too far with him.
But: “For a hani, you have a fine grasp of politics,” Sikkukkut said, and sipped at his parini, a delicate lapping of a long, black tongue.
“Hakkikt, hani may be new in space, but politics is the air we breathe.”
Sikkukkut’s snout wrinkled. “So you want the small matter of seven more hani and a well-armed ship, the behavior of which in our midst you guarantee. And you want the Ehrran ship to deal with too. Kkkt, hani, you amuse me. You may have the Tahar crew and Moon Rising. Kgotok skkukun nankkafkt nok takkif hani skkukunikkt ukku kakt tokt kiffik sikku nokkuunu kokkakkt taktakti, kkkt?”
Something about turning over a thousand kif as well. There was the sniffle of kifish laughter about the room. “So,” said Sikkukkut. “What else did Ismehanan-min have to say when he met with you?”
Gods. To the flank and in. “Beyond the warning about affairs at home, the business about Akkhtimakt moving on Meetpoint. That, mostly. And warned me about the stsho treaty with the han. Which I’d suspected.” Turning over that much truth made a knot of foreboding in her gut, but some coin had to go on the table, and it was the thing most likely Sikkukkut already knew-with former partisans of Akkhtimakt in his hands.
“Kkkt. Yes. And the humans are coming in. Did he say that?”
“He said they were headed this way.” ‘Another lapping at the cup. A flicker of dark eyes. “Be more specific.”
“He wasn’t specific.”
“Tt’a’va’o,” Sikkukkut said. “Go on.”
Pyanfar blinked again. Surprise took no acting. Dissembling outright fright did. The little she had drunk reacted with the medicines and hummed in her blood. “Tt’a’va’o,” she said. “I know the stsho are panicking. The mahendo’sat can’t restrain them. This alliance with Akkhtimakt is the worst thing they could do for themselves, but it’s the stsho’s only hope of getting armed ships, which the han can’t provide in numbers. The kif are a known quantity. The stsho are most afraid of what they least understand. And they think- mistakenly, I think-that they know how to cheat a kif, playing one against the other.”
There was a whisper, a stirring of robes.
“Kkkkt. This place is a mine of information. All sorts of things pour into my ears. Where will the humans come next?”
“The stsho think Meetpoint. They would. I don’t know.” She took the slightest of sips. And took a risk that chilled the blood. “The tc’a may have some part in that decision.”
Sikkukkut’s snout moved. Score one. Fear. “Your estimation? Or the mahendo’sat’s?”
“I got the impression that’s the case. I don’t like it, hakkikt.”
“You say you don’t know the human’s course. Kkkt. You do have one resource.”
“My human crewman? Hakkikt, the mahendo’sat might know. Tully doesn’t. I get the impression the human ships are improvising their course-going where they can go. And Tully left humanity-months back. He hasn’t got any more idea than I do where the humans are going-less, in fact, I’ve talked to Goldtooth.”
“Kkkt.” Sikkukkut gazed at her long and thoughtfully. “Interesting. Interesting, this human. Friend of yours. Friend of mine. I would not take a gift amiss-since you expect my generosity.”
“I’m still hani, hakkikt. We have our differences. I can’t give up a crewman. But pukkukkta’s a fit gift to give a hakkikt, isn’t it? Pukkukkta\ something we have in common. And if I win-Chanur’s going to do some re-arranging back home. Pukkukkta for certain. You want no more hani-stsho treaties, hakkikt, I’ll give you that with my compliments. Common motives. Wasn’t that the way you described a good alliance?”