“I have a statement to make,” Dick Boy announced.
“Zhu Dìqiú.” Tú’àn gave the slightest of sighs. “It is clear you have interfered in what is your brother’s rightful domain. No doubt you had reasons. Those do not interest me at this time, although I’ll confess to some slight curiosity as to why you found it necessary to interfere so . . . obviously.”
Impossible to be sure, given the way moonlight washed everything in silver and charcoal, that Dick Boy flushed. Impossible to imagine a dragon flushing with embarrassment . . . but the spawn weren’t dragons, were they? “I acknowledge my error in damaging a building that is part of my brother’s domain. I will repair it and am willing to make reasonable restitution for the offense. I do not accept Kongqi’s claim upon the human Cynna Weaver.” He answered stiffly.
“She is a prisoner of the Court of Heavenly Justice, and therefore in his domain.”
Dick Boy lifted both brows. “Is she a prisoner? She is housed in the Court, yes, but she was given to Báitóu Alice Li.”
One of the others—Shēngwù, the beauteous Master of Body Magic—frowned at him. His voice was a baritone. “Do you object? Her disposition was announced formally. You did not dispute it then, which is the proper time to bring up any perceived error.”
Dick Boy’s upper lip lifted in unsubtle scorn. “I fear, Brother, that you misunderstand. I do not dispute the right of the current Father of Law to dispose of a prisoner of the Heavenly Court however he pleases. I say that he cannot both give her and keep her. She has been given to Alice. She wears no shoes. Is she not, then, yāoqiú?”
“All prisoners are claimed,” said Shuǐ of the floating hair, “but the current Father of Law holds first claim. Your claim—and mine, and that of our other brothers—is secondary. If this were not so, each of us would have to surrender our claim on every prisoner who was executed, which would be tedious.”
“But is she still a prisoner?” Dick Boy persisted. “She was given to Alice.”
“Prisoners with particularly useful skills are occasionally given where their skills are needed instead of being executed.”
“Yes,” Dick Boy said. “Exactly. Once given, they are no longer within the Court’s dominion.”
“I have never considered that to be so,” said Shēngwù. “If you did, why have you never raised the issue? I do not recall that you ever claimed any of the other prisoners who have been given by the court into other hands.”
Dick Boy spread his hands. “But how else to consider it? A gift is not a gift if one continues to claim it. I did not raise the subject before because I had no particular need for any of the other former prisoners, and it is not our custom to interfere with the secondary rights holders. But custom does not alter my claim. As yāoqiú, Cynna Weaver belongs first to all of us and only secondarily to Alice. I am therefore free to exercise my claim upon her. My claim does not [unknown] that of any of you.” He inclined his upper body a couple degrees in a formal, if very small, bow. “But neither does Kongqi’s.”
“If she is yāoqiú,” Shēngwù said slowly, “Dìqiú is within his rights to use her as he wishes as long as he does not damage her enough to interfere with the claims the rest of us hold.”
Shuǐ spoke again. “But is she yāoqiú? Her name was not changed. When we claim a child, the child receives a new name. Can a person be yāoqiú yet retain her family name?” He shook his head, making his hair sway like underwater fronds. “I think not. Cynna Weaver remains a prisoner and within the dominion of the Court.”
“Prisoners do not give up their names,” Shēngwù observed. “But they are claimed.”
Tú’àn nodded. “Claimed, and yet the status of a prisoner is very different from other yāoqiú. Those we claim as children are special to us.”
No one spoke, but they all looked affirming, even Dick Boy. Shēngwù almost smiled. Shuǐ went so far as to nod, making his floating hair wave like seaweed.
“Very well,” Tú’àn said. “It seems we have two points to examine—the status of Cynna Weaver and the terminology used for the claimed. We may have been sloppy in using the same term for both the children and those who are claimed as prisoners. We did so because it was a simple way to indicate the legal status of prisoners, but it is now causing some degree of confusion.”
“I am not confused,” Dìqiú stated.
Tú’àn gave him the slightest of bows. “We all know how rarely you allow confusion to enter your mind, Brother. The rest of us require deliberation to achieve such . . . certainty. I propose that we postpone our examination of the second issue—the need to differentiate between prisoners and those claimed as children. Nor do we presently need to discuss the manner in which Zhu Dìqiú acquired access to Cynna Weaver. He has agreed to his error there, and the rest of us need be involved only if he and Zhu Kongqi cannot agree on proper restitution for the offense. I will speak to the immediate issue: is Cynna Weaver a prisoner?
“Zhu Kongqi.” Tú’àn turned to face Kongqi directly. “By keeping Cynna Weaver in the Court of Heavenly Justice and allowing her to keep her family name, you appear to be upholding the Court’s claim upon her despite having given her to Alice. Do you indeed assert a claim upon the human Cynna Weaver?”
“I do,” Kongqi said, “and I welcome the opportunity to present my reasoning. My brothers may wish to consider the proclamation of disposition, which states clearly that Cynna Weaver was ‘disposed into the keeping of Alice Báitóu.’ This is the wording traditionally used for a secondary claimant and has never been considered to alter the rights of the first claimant. But is this the correct time and place for a detailed examination of this topic?”
The spawn exchanged glances with each other.
“Perhaps not,” Tú’àn said. “Much more important matters will soon demand our attention.”
Kongqi gave a small, agreeing bow. “But must such an examination [unknown] my primary grievance? You all heard what Dìqiú said.” With the last sentence, his voice thrummed with outrage.
In other words, Lily thought, never mind the part about who gets to torture who. What mattered was that Dick Boy had said out loud that Alice was Kongqi’s granddaughter.
All the spawn turned to look at Dick Boy sternly.
Dick Boy spread his arms. “I acknowledge that, in my haste and anger, I fell into error. I should not have referred so specifically to the honorable Báitóu Alice’s heritage.”
At last everyone had something they could agree on: Dick Boy had screwed up and had to be punished. They all had suggestions for that—suggestions that made Lily think Dick Boy was not beloved by his brothers. Lily supposed one of the spawn could regrow any of the body parts mentioned, but still . . .