A spindly mech came tottering into the courtyard with two boxes. Taucris took them, handed one to Ingray, and shooed the mech away. “It doesn’t make much sense,” she said. “Then again, she is an alien.” She opened her own box and the smell of fried spiced beans wafted out. “But if she’s an alien, why is she she? I mean, aliens won’t work like humans, right?”
“I don’t know,” said Ingray, opening her own box and picking up a round of breaded and fried mashed beans. “Maybe it’s because she has to speak Yiir. We don’t have Geck words for things because we’re not Geck, so that’s the best she can do. Although.” She took a bite. “Oh, this is delicious.”
“It’s from a place around the corner,” Taucris said. “Try the sauce, it’s really good.”
“Although,” Ingray continued, dipping the round in the well of sauce, “Captain Uisine said the ambassador had had lots of different pronouns in the time he’d known her, she was just she right now.”
“They change?” asked Taucris, leaning slightly forward, food forgotten. Her straight dark hair, curling just a bit at the ends, still growing out of child-short, slid forward to rest on her cheek.
Ingray suppressed an urge to brush it back. Took another bite of food. “This is so good.”
“Isn’t it?” Suddenly Taucris seemed to realize how close her face was to Ingray’s. She straightened and looked down at her food. Looked up again. “Nana’s always been one of Netano’s supporters, so of course I grew up thinking of Ethiat Budrakim as a liar. Untrustworthy. But I never …” She picked up a fried round, then put it back down again. “I never imagined he’d throw his own child into Compassionate Removal to keep a political advantage. And such a small one!”
“The last prolocutorial election was awfully close,” said Ingray. Wondering, as she said it, how it was that Taucris suddenly seemed so … attractive. But then, Ingray hadn’t seen Taucris as an adult until yesterday. And not just adult but confident, sure in a way Ingray had never noticed before. “If word about the Garseddai vestiges had cost him just a small percentage of the votes, Netano would be prolocutor now. That’s not a small advantage.”
“It’s not enough to throw your child away for,” insisted Taucris. “As much as I know I’ve disappointed my nother, I don’t think e would ever do anything like that to me.”
They ate in silence for a few minutes, until the boxes were empty even of crumbs. “You know, sometimes I feel sorry for Danach.”
“Sorry for him!” Ingray was astonished.
“I’ve known since I was little that I was a foster-child,” Taucris explained. “That my biological family gave me up. They probably only had me so they could foster me with Nana, because that was a connection that might get them something. Well, they already have quite a lot to begin with, right? Because you can’t just show up at Nana’s door with a baby like that. But, you know. They could have kept me but they didn’t. It doesn’t really matter, because Nana is my nother. Not because I showed I was worthy or anything, just because I’m eir child. I never worried I wouldn’t be good enough to stay in the family. Danach, he has another family, too, and he hardly knows them. And they never really wanted him, they just wanted Netano to foster one of their children. But I think he’s always afraid that if he messes up, he’ll be out, and he has nowhere to go but back to the family that never wanted him to begin with, except as an investment that didn’t pay off. Or, he could go out entirely on his own, but either way he doesn’t like not being important. He’s expected all his life that he would be important.”
“At least he’d have somewhere to go,” Ingray said, unable to keep some bitterness out of her voice. She herself had no one but the Aughskolds. She had lost even the small promise of friendly crèchemates long ago. She took a breath and focused on steadying her voice. “Besides, it’s not like there’s any question. He’s going to be the next Netano.”
“Maybe,” said Taucris. “Probably. It seems like it. But what if Netano doesn’t choose the way everyone expects her to? Or, you know, what if she does but Danach still worries about it?” Ingray didn’t answer, and after a few moments Taucris took Ingray’s empty box and said, “I think I should tell you that Danach has gone to Eswae.”
“What?” She wasn’t sure if she was more surprised by Danach going to Eswae or by Taucris knowing that.
“We’re keeping an eye on everyone in your household right now.” With her free hand she made an indefinite gesture. “We want to be sure we’re not missing anything.”
“Right.” They’d been watching Ingray’s movements, too, then. But she’d only been home, and to Mama’s office, and here. All of them perfectly reasonable places for her to go. “Right, that makes sense. But … Eswae? Do you mean the parkland, or the town?”
“The town,” said Taucris. She walked over to a recycle slot in the wall and shoved the boxes in. “But of course that’s very near the parkland, and I can’t imagine why he would have gone there to begin with.” Eswae Town was mostly shops and services for farmers who lived in the area, and a stop-off for hikers. Not Danach’s kind of place at all. “He’s used a false ID to take a room and hire an excavation mech.” She came back and sat down on the bench beside Ingray again. “It looks a lot like he’s planning to dig in the parkland, but we set guards as soon as we heard what Pahlad said, about telling people the vestiges were buried there. Even though it hasn’t gotten to the news services yet. We could have Danach arrested right now. It would be better for him if we did; your mother would almost certainly get him clear of it one way or another. But the deputy chief is inclined to wait until Danach actually tries digging in the parkland. After all, he might sober up and change his mind, and just bringing him in on the false identification wouldn’t really be worth the effort for us, considering.” Taucris sighed. “I really shouldn’t be telling you this. But Nana has always supported Netano, and you’re … I mean … if Danach tries to dig in the parkland he’ll almost certainly be arrested. And if the news services get hold of something like that, Prolocutor Budrakim will get whatever he can out of it, you know that. Or, I mean. Netano could distance herself from Danach, and probably be all right. But it would be very bad for Danach. And he’s an ass and totally deserves it, but he is your brother. Or if you know he’s about to get himself in trouble, you could make sure you didn’t get caught in it.” She hesitated just a moment, looked away, and then said, still not looking at Ingray, “Or you could take advantage of it. Nana may not be a politician, but I know how these things work.”