Montray demanded, “What did she say?” and his son began quietly repeating Jaelle’s words, as Jaelle went on.
“My Lord, my Lady and respected off-worlders,” she added, turning to the Terrans. “I wish to present to you mestra Millea n’ha Camilla, Guild-mother of Thendara House.” Millea was a tall and bulky woman, conventionally dressed, and as feminine as Rohana herself, “Mestra Lauria n’ Andrea, the head of the Independent Council of Craftswomen, and Domna Fiona n’ha Gorsali, Judge of the City Court of Arbitration.”
Rohana thought, admiringly, Oh, Jaelle, you are far more clever than I ever believed! The women seating themselves in a dignified row across the room were no ordinary Amazons; they were three of the most powerful women in the city of Thendara. The Guild of Craftswomen had successfully fought for the right to be recognized among the city’s businesses; Domna Fiona was the first woman ever to be appointed a judge in the history of Thendara. Hastur could not dismiss them as unimportant.
Jaelle said, “Will you grant us the right to hear your deliberations, nobles?”
Hastur looked a trifle annoyed, but nothing could ruffle his long discipline in diplomacy. He rose and bowed politely to the three women. “I will not welcome you to this Council, for you came uninvited,” he said, “but this is no secret conclave to work tyrannies; no concerned citizen may be denied the right to hear, and in turn, be heard.”
Montray said, his son translating, “We welcome the chance to be heard by any citizens of Thendara. Be welcome, ladies.”
Hastur addressed himself to Montray. He said, “When you were last before us, we granted permission for your employee, Magdalen Lome”-Masda, seated among the Amazons, noticed that he did not hesitate or stumble even slightly over her Terran name-“to venture into the hills and negotiate for the rescue of your employee, the man Haldane, held captive at Sain Scarp. As I now understand the matter, the Lome woman encountered a band of Free Amazons under the command of Jaelle n’ha Melora, and was required, according to their custom and the laws of their Charter, to swear an oath of allegiance to their Guild. Is this an accurate account of the affair?”
The Guild-mother Millea said, “According to the reports we have had from our sisters, this is true.”
Hastur said, “I do not quite understand the difficulty. It seems to me that this is a matter for private agreement among the parties concerned, or at least for the courts of arbitration.”
Montray listened with an angry frown; he said something, and his son shook his head, refusing to translate it.
Hastur turned to Magda and said, “Miss Lome, did you have these women brought here that you might petition, in the presence of all concerned, to be released from your oath?”
Magda’s voice was low, but very clear. She said, “No, my Lord Hastur. I am willing to abide by the oath I swore, and to honor it till death. But I am not certain that the Terran authorities will allow me to do so. They may possibly hold that my oath is not valid, or that because of prior loyalties I had no right to swear it.”
Montray said something again, and the young translator said, just audibly, “I told you so.”
Rohana, watching, realized that Magda had done an exceptionally clever thing. In private, the Terran ambassador might state that he did not believe in the validity of a Darkovan oath. But if he said so, in the presence of Hastur and three Guild-mothers from Thendara, he destroyed the credibility of every Terran on Darkover for decades to come. And if he didn’t know it, and judging by his expression he hadn’t, he was finding it out in no uncertain terms, both from the young and expert translator, and from Peter Haldane! From the look of frustration on his face, Rohana could tell, even without need for a scrap of laran, that he was consigning all of them, especially Magda, to whatever his Terran equivalent was for the coldest of Zandru’s hells!
Domna Fiona said, “The noble guest from Terra appears to find some difficulty in accepting the decision; may we hear it, with Lord Hastur’s permission?”