The Dragon Variation Read Free

shrugging into the worn leather jacket that proclaimed him a pilot.
    The papers on his worktable rustled irritably in the breeze from the open window and across the valley the first stars of evening glittered just above the Tree.
     

Chapter Two
The giving of nubiath'a , the parting-gift, by either partner signals the end of an affair of pleasure. The person of impeccable melant'i will offer and accept nubiath'a with gentleness and grace, thereafter referring to the affair by neither word nor deed.
 
    —Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct
 
    "I SURMISE THAT the lady is a two-headed ogre—and ill-tempered, besides?" Daav yos'Phelium splashed misravot into a crystal cup and handed it aside.
    "Another face entirely," Er Thom murmured, accepting the cup and swirling the contents in counterfeit calm, while his pulses pounded, frenzied. "The lady is—very—beautiful."
    "Hah." Daav poured himself a cup of the pale blue wine and assayed a sip, black eyes quizzing Er Thom over the crystal rim.
    "Your mother, my aunt, exerts herself on your behalf. When shall I have the felicity of wishing you happy?"
    "I have not—that is—" Er Thom stammered to a halt and raised his cup to taste the wine.
    In general, he was not as fond of misravot as was his brother, finding the burnt cinnamon taste of the wine cloyed rather than refreshed. But this evening he had a second sip, dawdling over it, while his mind skipped in uncharacteristic confusion from this thought to that.
    He sighed when at last he lowered the cup, and raised his head to meet his brother's clever eyes.
    "Daav?"
    "Yes, denubia . How may I serve you?"
    Er Thom touched his tongue to his lips, tasting cinnamon. "I—am in need. Of a ship."
    One dark eyebrow arched. "Is it ill-natured to recall," Daav wondered, "that you are captain of a rather—substantial—ship?"
    "A quicker ship—smaller," Er Thom said swiftly, suddenly unable to control his agitation. He spun away and paced toward the game table, where he stood looking down at the counterchance board, dice and counters all laid to hand. Had things been otherwise, he and Daav might even now be sitting over the board, sharpening their wits and their daring, one against the other.
    "There is a matter," he said, feeling his brother's eyes burning into his back. He turned, his face open and plain for this, the dearest of his kin, to read. He cleared his throat. "A matter I must resolve. Before I wed."
    "I see," Daav said dryly, brows drawn. "A matter which requires your presence urgently off-world, eh? Do I learn from this that you will finally assay that which has darkened your heart these past several relumma ?"
    Er Thom froze, staring speechless at his brother, though he should, he told himself, barely wonder. Daav was delm, charged with the welfare of all within Clan Korval. Before duty had called him home, he had also been a Scout, with sensibilities fine-tuned by rigorous training. How could he not have noticed his brother's distress? It spoke volumes of his melant'i that he had not taxed Er Thom with the matter before now.
    "Have you spoken to your thodelm of this?" Daav asked quietly.
    Er Thom gave a flick of his fingers, signaling negative. "I—would prefer—not to have the Healers."
    "And so you come on the eve of being affianced to demand the Delm's Own Ship, that you may go off-planet and reach resolution." He grinned, for such would appeal to his sense of mischief, where it only chilled Er Thom with horror, that necessity required him to fly in the face of propriety.
    "You will swear," Daav said, in a surprising shift from the Low Tongue in which they most commonly conversed to the High Tongue, in the mode of Delm to Clanmember.
    Er Thom bowed low: Willing Obedience to the Delm. "Korval."
    "You will swear that, should you fail of resolution by the end of this relumma , you shall return to Liad and place yourself in the care of the Healers."
    The current relumma was nearly half-done. Still, Er