Ingray didn’t know what to say to that.
“There was a small war, after the last supply drop,” Pahlad continued, into her silence. “Even people who’d scratched out their own living and weren’t bothering anyone else wanted those medical supplies. I know no one out here really cares. After all, it’s Compassionate Removal. It’s only what the people there deserve.” Ingray suspected eir words were bitter and sarcastic, but there was no trace of it in eir voice. “I really don’t want to talk about it. If I thought you had any chance of being Netano, I would say more. But I don’t think you do. No offense. It’s better for you if you don’t. If my sister were coming instead of … she might have some chance of doing something about it. If you see her, will you tell her?”
“Yes. Yes, I’ll tell her. And I’ll be here if you want me to, when the prolocutor comes.”
“Thank you.” Eir face was blankly serious.
At home, Ingray did not stop to do anything, not even put down Pahlad’s bag that now hung from her shoulder, but went straight into the reception room. Today the blocks of ruin glass glowed a bright green and blue, and the mossy gray stones, the trees and flowers through the broad wall of windows were lit by the sun. The consul for the Omkem Federacy sat with her back to the courtyard, and Danach next to her, speaking, midsentence. “Consul,” Ingray said before Danach could finish, let alone protest her interruption. “I’m Ingray Aughskold. It appears we missed each other at Planetary Safety. I went there myself first thing this morning to try to speak to the deputy chief, but you were already with em. I went to take care of some other business, and when I came back, you had gone. I must have just missed you.”
“Excellency Aughskold,” said the consul, rising to a startling height even for an Omkem. She wore trousers and a tunic, though it was an outfit that struck most Hwaeans as far too casual for serious business matters. Ingray guessed she wanted to be very conspicuously Omkem just now. “How kind of you. This whole situation is quite unfortunate. I cannot make the deputy chief understand that Excellency Hevom could not possibly have been involved in the death of Excellency Zat. On the contrary, the very reason Hevom was here to begin with was that he was the one person Excellency Zat knew would never harm her.”
Danach frowned, distracted, it seemed, from the matter of Ingray’s entrance not going the way he’d probably hoped.
“Of course he couldn’t harm her,” agreed Ingray. “He couldn’t even speak to her.”
“Nor even touch her.” The consul did not sit. “I will admit, Zat could occasionally be quite abrasive, and she had her enemies. But Hevom could not possibly have been one of them.”
Ingray thought of Hevom’s words at Eswae the day before. It’s a waste of time. So many other important issues to worry about, and this is what we should expend so much on? “You surprise me, Consul. How could Zat possibly have made such enemies?”
“It would be difficult to explain, without first summarizing decades of Omkem politics,” said the consul, with a smile. “I suppose we should be grateful that Hevom hasn’t been detained. But he cannot possibly stay here alone. He ought to at least be able to come up to the Omkem Chancery on the station. Frankly I’m disappointed your excellent mother isn’t here to bring some pressure to bear on the deputy chief. The timing of all of this has been very inconvenient.”
“It has,” Ingray agreed. “Have you had a chance to see Excellency Hevom? He was sleeping when I left, and of course I didn’t want to disturb him, but I knew that Danach would take good care of him.” She didn’t look to see if Danach reacted to that condescension and assumption of authority. Was quite sure, in fact, that he wouldn’t, not visibly.
“I understand he’s only just now ready to receive visitors,” said the consul. That explained why she hadn’t sat back down. “I’ll be going up to see him in a moment.”
“Of course, Consul,” said Ingray. “Please don’t hesitate to call on anyone in the household if you or Excellency Hevom need anything.”
When the consul had left the room, Danach, still sitting, said pleasantly, “Of course, that’s not why you went to Planetary Safety this morning. Has Pahlad turned on you yet?”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” said Ingray. She considered sitting down but decided she didn’t want to get trapped in a long conversation with Danach. She turned to leave, but then reconsidered. Danach would never miss an opportunity to snipe at her in private, but he would always cooperate when the family’s interest was at stake. “Did it seem strange to you when the consul said that Hevom might be the only person Zat would be safe from?”
“That wasn’t exactly what she said.” Danach’s voice was scornful. “And if you’d been here instead of off doing who knows what for the last month or two, you might have had a chance to actually talk to our guests. Zat considered herself to be above politics. She was only interested in the truth, or so she said. But her project here wasn’t as apolitical as she liked to think.”
“Yes,” agreed Ingray, before he could lecture her on the topic. “There would be political implications to evidence that the Omkem were here before we were.”
“There would be,” Danach agreed. “Zat believed that the Omkem—at least, the Ewet Omkem—stopped here on their way to their eventual home system. But quite a lot of Ewet believe that, in fact, Omkem is the original home of humanity, that they—the Ewet—were born there and have always been there.” Ingray frowned. Danach continued. “They can’t both be right. Actually, I’m fairly sure neither of them is right, but I’d never have said it in front of Zat and I won’t say it in front of Hevom or the consul. But if Zat was right, if we can be convinced she was right, the Omkem might have some extra leverage in getting us to let their fleet through our Byeit gate. Which the Omkem Federacy has badly wanted for several years now.”
“I don’t think that would give them leverage, though. Not with us.” Ingray thought a moment, and saw Danach smirk. “It’s not just us they care about, is it. It would also be about the Federacy justifying their actions to their own people.”
“Probably,” agreed Danach. “If nothing else, it lends legitimacy to a certain faction of Omkem.”
“And if Zat was proved wrong—or if she was prevented from ever being able to prove she was right—then that faction loses political and moral leverage.”