I looked up--for he was half a head taller than I--into his gold-colored eyes, and though their expression was merely contemplative, and his manner mild, I felt my neck go hot. Turning away from that direct, steady gaze, I just couldn't find the words to ask him about his mother's political plans. So I said, "I came to ask a favor of you."
"Speak, then," he said, his voice just a shade deeper than usual.
I looked over my shoulder and realized then that he was laughing. Not out loud, but internally. All the signs were there; the shadows at the corners of his mouth, the sudden brightness of his gaze. He was laughing at me--at my reaction.
I sighed. "It concerns the party I must give for my brother's coming marriage," I said shortly, and stole another quick look.
His amusement was gone--superficially, anyway.
"You must forgive my obtuseness," he murmured. "But you could have requested your assistance by letter."
"I did. Oh." I realized what he meant, and then remembered belatedly one of Nee's more delicate hints about pursuit--and pursuers. "
" So he guessed why I'd come; he thought I'd come courting. And, well, here we were alone.
My first reaction was alarm. I did find him attractive--I realized it just as I was standing there--but in the way I'd admire a beautifully cut diamond or a sunset above sheer cliffs. Another person, finding herself in my place, could probably embark happily into dalliance and thus speed along her true purpose. But the prospect simply terrified me. He touched my arm, lightly, just enough to guide us back to his window. "It is not merely the sight of water that I find salubrious," he said. "Its function as a metaphor for study is as…as adaptable--"
"You were going to say fluid," I cut in, almost giddy with relief at the deft change of subject.
Once again I saw that brightness in his eyes that indicated internal laughter. "I wasn't," he insisted. "I would never be so maladroit." For an instant I was back in that corner room in the State Wing, with Shevraeth standing opposite me.
I dismissed the memory as Flauvic went on, "As adaptable, to resume our discourse, as its inherent properties. The clarity, the swift change and movement, the ability to fill the boundaries it encounters, all these accommodating characteristics blind those who take its utility and artistry for granted and overlook its inexorable power." As if to underline his words--it really was uncanny--the threatening downpour chose that moment to strike, and for a long moment we stood side by side as rain thundered on the glass, running down in rivulets that blurred the scene beyond.
Then he turned his back to it. "How may I be of service?"
"My brother's party. I want it to be special," I said. "I should have been planning it long before. I just found out that it's a custom, and to cover my ignorance I would like to make it I've been planning it a long time, so I need some kind of new idea. I want to know what the latest fashion for parties in the Empire's Court is, and I thought the best thing I could do would be to come to you."
"So you do not, in fact, regard me as an arbiter of taste?" He placed a hand over his heart, mock-solemn. "You wound me." His tone said, Once again I blushed, and hated it. "You you're an arbiter of taste, Flauvic," I said with some asperity. "If you think I'm here just to get you to parrot out Erev-li-Erval's latest fad, then you're--well, I know you don't believe it. And I didn't think you fished for compliments."
He laughed out loud, a musical sound that suddenly rendered him very much more like the age we shared. It also made him, just for that moment, devastatingly attractive. I realized that I had to get out of there before I got myself into trouble that it would take a lifetime to get out of.
"Speak, then," he said, his voice just a shade deeper than usual.
I looked over my shoulder and realized then that he was laughing. Not out loud, but internally. All the signs were there; the shadows at the corners of his mouth, the sudden brightness of his gaze. He was laughing at me--at my reaction.
I sighed. "It concerns the party I must give for my brother's coming marriage," I said shortly, and stole another quick look.
His amusement was gone--superficially, anyway.
"You must forgive my obtuseness," he murmured. "But you could have requested your assistance by letter."
"I did. Oh." I realized what he meant, and then remembered belatedly one of Nee's more delicate hints about pursuit--and pursuers. "
" So he guessed why I'd come; he thought I'd come courting. And, well, here we were alone.
My first reaction was alarm. I did find him attractive--I realized it just as I was standing there--but in the way I'd admire a beautifully cut diamond or a sunset above sheer cliffs. Another person, finding herself in my place, could probably embark happily into dalliance and thus speed along her true purpose. But the prospect simply terrified me. He touched my arm, lightly, just enough to guide us back to his window. "It is not merely the sight of water that I find salubrious," he said. "Its function as a metaphor for study is as…as adaptable--"
"You were going to say fluid," I cut in, almost giddy with relief at the deft change of subject.
Once again I saw that brightness in his eyes that indicated internal laughter. "I wasn't," he insisted. "I would never be so maladroit." For an instant I was back in that corner room in the State Wing, with Shevraeth standing opposite me.
I dismissed the memory as Flauvic went on, "As adaptable, to resume our discourse, as its inherent properties. The clarity, the swift change and movement, the ability to fill the boundaries it encounters, all these accommodating characteristics blind those who take its utility and artistry for granted and overlook its inexorable power." As if to underline his words--it really was uncanny--the threatening downpour chose that moment to strike, and for a long moment we stood side by side as rain thundered on the glass, running down in rivulets that blurred the scene beyond.
Then he turned his back to it. "How may I be of service?"
"My brother's party. I want it to be special," I said. "I should have been planning it long before. I just found out that it's a custom, and to cover my ignorance I would like to make it I've been planning it a long time, so I need some kind of new idea. I want to know what the latest fashion for parties in the Empire's Court is, and I thought the best thing I could do would be to come to you."
"So you do not, in fact, regard me as an arbiter of taste?" He placed a hand over his heart, mock-solemn. "You wound me." His tone said, Once again I blushed, and hated it. "You you're an arbiter of taste, Flauvic," I said with some asperity. "If you think I'm here just to get you to parrot out Erev-li-Erval's latest fad, then you're--well, I know you don't believe it. And I didn't think you fished for compliments."
He laughed out loud, a musical sound that suddenly rendered him very much more like the age we shared. It also made him, just for that moment, devastatingly attractive. I realized that I had to get out of there before I got myself into trouble that it would take a lifetime to get out of.
( Sherwood Smith )
[ Court Duel ]
www.QuoteSweet.com