“How do people get from here into the other stoneworks?” Dav asked Binchi one day, after she had just remarked that she had visited some friends in the Ashirdu stonework.

  “There are gates between the stoneworks,” said Binchi, casually.

  “And you just go across, from stonework to stonework?” he wanted to know.

  “Only people who live in a stonework, or have friends there or some other reason to go into the stonework can get through the inside gates,” she said. “Just the same as if we were going through the outside gates.”

  “So if I wanted to go into the Ashirdu stonework, like you did, I would have to know someone there who would let me in?”“I don’t know if that would be enough,” said Binchi, her round pale face looking uncertain. “Except for this stonework, outworlders aren’t allowed into the stoneworks.”

  “Not allowed by whom?” Dav asked, as always, hoping for more details. “Is this part of the ‘no unnecessary contact’ ruling?”

  “I guess,” Binchi said.

  They had been speaking in Mehland, for Dav to practice, but she switched to Arand as if wanting to make sure he understood.

  “The council for each stonework decides who is allowed inside,” Binchi said. “Most stoneworks have become stricter since the Troubles. I don’t know if not allowing outworlders inside began before or after the ‘no unnecessary contact’ rule.”

  “It’s a local decision, then?”

  “In Kyeros the decision is made by the council for each stonework,” Binchi said as if unsure what he meant by “local decision.”

  “And Omik opted to open its main courtyards to outworlders but no other stonework council did?”

  “Omik is a merchant clan; it has always traded with outworlders. Now the other clans are unhappy with the Omik family. The other stoneworks shut their gates more tightly, and even Jaraidans who live in Omik sometimes have trouble getting into the other stoneworks.”

  This was more information than Dav had expected. Although PASS suspected that the people from Omik might be somewhat ostracized by other Jaraidans, this was the first suggestion that they might be right.

  “Have you had difficulty?” he asked.

  “I don’t visit a lot except in Isol and Ashirdu, where I am known. My brother is always grumbling about not being able to move as freely as he used to—but he’s a man,” she said.

  This was the first time he had heard any Jaraidan comment on differences between the accepted behavior for men and women. Generally, they were egalitarian. Taasi had thought she would be safer dressed as a boy, but her guardian had discounted it.

  “How is it different for a man?” he asked.

  “Young men,” said Binchi primly, “like to be free to chase girls all over the city—even if they are not invited. And sometimes there are parties to which my brother is invited, but the gatekeeper turns him back.”

  “Because he lives in the Omik stonework?”

  “That’s what he and his friends say. He has no trouble with Isol and Varin, where we have family, but Ashirdu is stricter, and Kalesthal and Adeni are worse.”

  “You aren’t allowed in those stoneworks?” he asked, curiously.

  “We are allowed if we have business there. I haven’t been in the Kalesthal stonework, but I have gone with Ista to get produce from the Adeni stonework, when they have it to sell and Ista needs help. It is quite lovely. Their courtyards are as beautiful as before Nen Grumiden.”

  “Wasn’t it affected by the blights? Or some of the other things that hurt the plants all over Jaraida?” Dav asked, surprised.

  “Not for long, I think. The Adeni are growers.”

  Dav was torn. Mention of the Adeni was an opening to ask about Gin’va Adeni. But he also wanted to know more about the Adeni stonework. He knew—from Ista among others—that some of the food that was still available in Kyeros came from greenhouses inside the stoneworks, but “as beautiful as before The Troubles,” if it wasn’t an exaggeration, invited questions about just how powerful some of the Adeni could be. Plant growing was a form of psi that was not generally known in the Alliance. If they were able to preserve the plant life inside their own stonework, the Adeni could do more than just help plants grow faster.

  “I knew an Adeni off-world,” he said. “Gin’va Adeni. She attended the same school as one of my friends.”

  Binchi paused before answering, “Some of the Adeni went off world, but I don’t know anything about that. We have no kin among the Adeni or those who work with them.”

  He could sense she was uncomfortable, as she had been other times when he had asked too many questions. Apparently it was all right to ask about the city and the stoneworks, but not about individuals—or at least, not about the Tavi.

  “I don’t think she had the Adeni gift,” he went on, speaking casually, as though he were just chatting instead of asking for information. “My friend never said.”

  “Not everyone in a family has the same gifts,” Binchi explained, relaxing a little.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Gin’va-na was an outstanding telepath,” he said, remembering to use the honorific as Merleth had warned him to do. “Probably an empath also, she was so charming. And attractive,” he added on his own account. He remembered Gin’va as vibrant, her dark hair in an Academy cut framing a face dominated by large purple-blue eyes.

  “Many of the Tavi are strong telepaths,” Binchi said.

  “So I’ve heard,” Dav said. “Do you know anyone in the telepath relays who could help my friend contact Gin’va-na?” he went on.

  Though Merleth, in Trinar, had already tried sending a message through the telepath relays without success, it was possible Binchi knew someone in Kyeros who was a telepath. In any case, it was a good lead into a request for information about Gin’va.

  Binchi said he didn’t know anyone on the relays. Her body language made it clear she wanted the conversation to end.

  Firmly changing the subject she asked, “Do you want some more cider? Anything else?”

  When he said he was fine, she turned away and went to the kitchen. It was a lot like the last time he had asked too many questions—even to Ista coming out to clear the table.

  “I asked Binchi about contacting one of the Adeni, who studied off-world, through the telepath relays,” he said to Ista. “I’m afraid I made her uncomfortable.”

  “Binchi told me. You should stop asking her questions. She doesn’t need any trouble.”

  “Why would a question about contacting a friend bring trouble to Binchi?”

  “Questions about the Tavi often bring trouble to those who are involved,” Ista said. “There are spies everywhere.”

  “You are not a spy, I know,” she hastened to add when Dav looked at her in surprise. “But there are those who are, who might overhear… or get the idea, because you include Binchi’s name in a report, that she knows more than she does.”

  “All I asked was if she knew anyone on the telepath relays.”

  “She doesn’t. Neither do I. We are Estevi, we have nothing to do with the telepath relays.”

  “I see,” Dav said, though the main thing he saw was that Ista and Binchi worried about “spies” and possible harm to come if they seemed to have useful information. There was much here that he didn’t understand yet.

  “I thought the telepath relays transmitted messages for all the people,” he added.

  “When needed, yes,” Ista granted. “But only for important information to a family or community. Not trying to track down a particular member of the Tavi for an outworld friend. You know about the ‘no unnecessary contact’ rule. Protecting the Tavi is one of the reasons. We don’t talk about the Ciardei and we don’t talk about the Tavi.”

  So, though Ista said he was not considered a “spy,” Dav thought, what it came down to was that Jaraidans didn’t trust off-worlders.

  Nodding, he changed the subject slightly.

  “Binchi said the Adeni stonework is still beautiful, like before the Troubles.”

  “She has been there a few times with me, when we couldn’t get the produce delivered, but we don’t interact with the Adeni themselves. We buy through their people—not everyone in the stonework is an Adeni, just like not everyone here is an Omik,” Ista said.

  “What sort of things do you buy? What do the Adeni grow?”

  “I buy squashes and dark-leaf vegetables,” Ista replied easily. “Sometimes beans, though other stoneworks grow beans and are often cheaper. If there is enough of a surplus of berries, sometimes I buy those.”

  “For your delicious jam swirl?” Dav asked, having tasted the delicacy once before.

  Ista smiled, pleased.

  “I haven’t had enough of the ingredients to make jam recently,” she said. “It takes more than berries.”

  Dav had never thought about the ingredients of jam before. Fortunately, a quick search told him that some kind of sugar was necessary, so he was able to ask smoothly, “You are short of sweetener?”

  “There is very little sweetener in Kyeros these days,” Ista said regretfully. “There is some honey, but the plants that we use to make sweetener are better used for other things. So, I have used up my last pot of jam and don’t know when I will be able to make it again.”

  “I could get you some sweetener,” Dav offered. “Sucre-squares?” He had only a vague idea what sucre-squares were, but a check of the base’s stock of sugars showed that they had plenty, and that they were easily portable.

  “That would be wonderful—almost worth the hefty price the Adeni will charge for berries, if they don’t have a surplus.”

  Ista was beaming.

  “I’ll bring some next time I come,” Dav said.

  And then, figuring he should give it another shot, he asked, “And if you hear anything about Gin’va Adeni, you will let me know? My friend is worried.”

  Ista, who had been smiling, shook her head sadly and sighed.

  “A lot of us are worried about friends all over Jaraida,” she said.

  *****

  “You have been communicating with Trainee Caruth, haven’t you?” Leader Hakis asked him during a holo meeting.

  “Yes,” Dav said. “We frequently share information. Her work in Trinar is not that different from what I’ve been assigned to do here.”

  “That’s what I understand,” said Hakis. “Do you feel you work well with her?”

  Dav wondered what this was about. Was there a complaint about Merleth? Was Cho trying to get her in trouble because he didn’t like her idea of reaching out to the homeless orphans?

  “Yes, she is easy to work with—cooperative and well-informed,” he said.

  “You have known her for a few years?”

  Why was she asking? Their records covered all that.

  “I met her when she was in her last year at the Academy and I was just getting started at the College. We have mutual friends, as I am sure the record shows, and we worked with Nadaly Rionan on her Arand language project. Trainee Caruth was also a fount of information on Jaraida, and one of my best sources when I was preparing for this mission. Since she arrived in Trinar, we have been in touch regularly, sharing what we each discover to form a coherent picture of the situation on Jaraida—though coherent may be too optimistic a term,” he finished with a chuckle.

  “I am glad to hear that. How would you feel about mentoring her, if she were assigned to Kyeros? She has not made much progress on her medical practicums in Trinar, and we feel that she might do better her in other ways,”

  Hakis did not specify what ways, but given what he knew about how Cho had responded to Merleth’s orphan shelter idea, he could imagine.

  “I would be happy to mentor her,” he said quickly. “She will be an asset to the mission here,” he added.

  Hakis smiled and looked down for a moment before continuing.

  “Trainee Caruth has had generally good reviews, and we are lucky to have her assigned to us,” she said. “Senior Ncatl, who has been supervising her, finds her work and professionalism outstanding—not surprising, I suppose, given her background. However, he is concerned that her interpreting work has kept her from progressing in completing her last requirement for regular membership, and he feels also that the work she is doing there is not essential.”

  Now what did that mean? Was Ncatl recommending her transfer because her presence caused problems or because Ncatl wanted to protect her?

  “When she was assigned to Trinar initially,” Hakis continued. “It was because there had been a report that her old friend Gin’va Adeni was living in Trinar. She had been sighted outside the medicenter, encouraging Jaraidans to accept the cinderpox vaccine, and –allegedly—she was involved in the city council. Our leadership hoped that Trainee Caruth’s presence in Trinar would … encourage her friend to reach out.”

  As Merleth had guessed, she had been bait.

  “But we have now heard, definitively, that Gin’va Adeni is not in Trinar.”

  “Is she supposed to be here, in Kyeros?” Dav asked.

  “We have no reliable information on her whereabouts—only that she left Trinar at least a threef ago.”

  Merleth had been in Trinar only a bit longer than that.

  “If Gin’va Adeni is not in Trinar,” Hakis went on. “The question is where would Trainee Caruth be most useful. Given her work on the Arand language, and our interest in developing materials for a Mehland teaching program, it was decided that Merleth Caruth could come here. The question was whether she could fit in well with our existing team—especially with you, since you have been the main source of information about the language and other things that Trainee Caruth could work on.”

  “I would be happy to work with her,” he said again, truthfully. Whether she was being sent away from Trinar because Cho was being unpleasant or because there was agreement that she would work well here, he was glad that she was being assigned to Trinar.

  “Merleth Caruth is good at getting people to talk, so she will be an asset to my investigations,” he said. “And her Arand is better than mine, so she may learn Mehland more easily.”

  He did not add that Merleth had beautiful golden eyes and a sense of humor, but he thought it.