Lois McMaster Bujold The Sharing Knife 02 Legacy

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Pakona waved, and Dar reluctantly handed the stick around via Omba to Dag.
So how did you make those cords? asked Tioca in curiosity.
Fawn and I made both cords together, Dag said tightly. Assome of you may
remember, my right arm was broken at the time he made the old
sling-gesture and the other is, well, as you see. Lakewalker blood or no, I
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was quite incapable of weaving any cord at all. Fawn wove the cord she now
wears, I sat behind her on the bench with my arms along hers, and I cast my
ground into it in the usual way. I don t see how anyone in his right mind can
maintainthat cord is invalid!
Pakona waved to quell him again, but murmured, So, go on. What about the
other?
I admit, I attempted to aid her in catching up her ground to weave into the
second cord. We were having no luck at all when suddenly, all on her own, she
cut open both her index fingers and wove while bleeding. Her ground welled
right up and into the cord. I didn t help her any more than she helped me;
less, I d say.
You instructed her to do this, then, said Tioca.
No, she came up with it
A few nights earlier, Dag and I had been talking about ground, Fawn put in
breathlessly, and he d told me blood held ground after it left the body,
because it was, like, alive separately from the person. Which I thought was a
right disturbing idea, so I remembered it.
You ve not been given leave to speak here, girl, said Pakona sharply.
Fawn sat back and clapped her hand over her mouth in apology and alarm. Dag
set his jaw, but added, Fawn is exactly right. I recognized it as a technique
that any of us here who have been bonded to sharing knives have likewise seen,
but I didn t suggest it. Fawn thought of it herself.
They used aknife-making technique onwedding cords, Dar said in a voice of
outrage.
Groundwork is groundwork, Hoharie says, Dag shot back. I defy you to find
a rule anywhere says you can t.
Tioca s eyes narrowed in considerable intrigue. Medicine-making does have to
be a little more& adaptable than some other kinds of making, she allowed.Such
as knife-work hung implied. In a kindly sort of tone. Dag allowed himself an
instant of enjoyment, watching Dar s teeth grit.
One brother s word against t other s, rumbled Ogit Muskrat from his end of
the row. One s a maker, one s not. Given the matter is making, I know which
I d trust.
Fawn, her lips pressed tight, cast a look up at Dag:But you re a maker, too!
He gave her a small headshake. He was letting himself get distracted, wound up
in side issues. This wasn t about their cords.
Very canny of Dar to try to make it so, though. It dropped the whole
smoldering issue of threatened banishment against a, what was that word
Fairbolt had used,notable patroller, into the lake. Was that part Cumbia s
doing shaken by doubt of her son s allegiance despite her harsh words to Fawn?
A reaction to whatever reputation Dag had won in Raintree? It certainly
avoided complicated and possibly ferocious campwide debates over the council s
right to force a string-cutting. If Dar could make it stick, it made
everything simple and the problem go away, without anyone having to change
anything.
And if Dar couldn t make it stick, there was still the other strategy to fall
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back on. But Dag doubted there was a person on council who wouldn t prefer the
simpler version, Fairbolt not excepted.
But if you rule the girl s cord is invalid, said Laski Beaver, scratching
her head, yet Dag s is not, does that mean he s married to her but she s not
married to him? Makes no sense.
Both are invalid, snapped Dar. Pakona, with admirable even-handedness, gave
him the same quelling glower and headshake she d given Dag, and he subsided.
Pakona turned back, and said, Bring those things up here, Dag. We need a
closer look. She added reluctantly, The girl, too.
Dag had Fawn roll up the soft fine fabric of his left sleeve and dutifully
rose to walk slowly down the row of councilors. Fawn followed, silent and
scared. The touches, both with fingers and groundsense, were for the most part
brief enough to be courteous, although a couple of the women s hands strayed
curiously to the fabric of his shirt. Tioca, Dag was almost certain, detected
his fading ground reinforcement being slowly absorbed in Fawn s left arm, but
she said nothing about it to the others. Fairbolt, at the end of the line,
waved them both away: I ve seen em. Repeatedly.
Dag and Fawn recrossed the circle and sat once more. He watched her head bend
as she straightened her skirts. In the green dress, she looked like some lone
flower found in a woodland pool, in a spring-come-late.Very late. She is not
your prize, old patroller, not to be won nor earned. She s her own gift.
Lilies always are. His only-fingers traced her cord on his arm, and fell back,
gripping his knee.
There s our vote, then, said Pakona. Is this unusual cord-making to be
taken as valid, or not?
There s this, said Laski, slowly. Once word gets out, I d think others
could repeat this trick. Acceptance would open the door to more of these
mismatches.
But they re good ground constructions, said Tioca. As solid as, well,
mine. She wriggled her left wrist and the cord circling it. Are cords not to
be proof of marriage anymore?
Maybe all cord-makings will have to be witnessed, hereafter, said Laski.
A general, unenthusiastichm as everyone envisioned this.
I suggest, said Pakona, that we set the future actions of future folks
beyond the scope of this council, or we ll still be arguing as the hundredth
candle burns down. We only have to rule on this couple, this day. We ve seen
all there is to see, heard from the only ones who were there. Whether the idea
for the thing was Dag s or the farmer girl s seems to me not to make a great
deal of difference. The outcome was the same. Ano vote will see it finished
right now. Ayes vote will& well, it won t. Dar, is this agreeable to Tent
Redwing?
Dar leaned back for a low-voiced exchange with their frowning mother. Cumbia
had run out of cord to play with; her hands now kneaded the fabric of her
shift along her thin thighs. A grimace, a short nod. Dar turned back. Yes, we
accept, he replied.
Dag, you?
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Yes& , said Dag slowly. He glanced aside at Fawn, watching him in trusting
bewilderment, and gave her a little nod of reassurance. Go ahead.
Dar, expecting more argument, looked at him in sharp surprise. Dag remembered
Fairbolt s word picture of the sitting tactician. Wise man, Fairbolt. He
settled back to watch the candle burn down as Pakona started down the row.
Ogit?
No! No farmer spouses! Well, that was clear.
Tioca?
A slight hesitation. Yes. I can t reconcile it with my maker s conscience to
say that s not a good making.
Rigni, called upon, looked plaintively at Tioca and at last said, Yes.
Laski, after a bit of a struggle, said, No.
Pakona herself said, No, without hesitation, and added, if we let this in,
it s going to be every kind of mess, and it will go on and on. Dowie?
Dowie looked down the row and made a careful count on her fingers, and looked
appalled. Ano from her would finish the matter. Ayes would create a tie and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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