Danach said nothing.
“Well,” said Nuncle Lak. “I’ll be honest, nephew of mine, if Ingray had decided to leave you to your fate tonight, I wouldn’t have blamed her. And no, don’t tell me what your mother would or wouldn’t have done in that case, this is not the time to be playing games like that. Though I’m well aware you’re not the only child of my sister’s to be playing games right now. I’ve been trying to understand what’s been happening, and I’ve come to some conclusions. Ingray, we’ve already talked about exactly why you went to Tyr Siilas. I think you need to share that information with your brother.”
Ingray took a breath. Couldn’t bring herself to speak. But if Nuncle Lak wanted Danach to know, Danach would know, whatever Ingray said or didn’t say now. “I went to Gold Orchid to ask them to bring Pahlad back from Compassionate Removal so I could ask em where e’d hidden the Budrakim vestiges.” Danach didn’t say anything, didn’t visibly react.
“And Gold Orchid obliged you.” Nuncle Lak’s voice was unbelievably calm, as though e were talking about a catering order, or the wording of an announcement to the news services. “How much did you pay them?”
Ingray, acutely aware of Danach standing beside her hearing her confess, wished she could be anywhere but here. Out in the woods in the mud, or walking miserable through town in the rain. Better yet, somewhere nicer, where she was safe and the people around her didn’t demand so much of her. Still aboard Captain Uisine’s ship, maybe. She named the sum.
“That’s what I thought,” said Nuncle Lak, then. “If you’d had a little more information you’d have realized that was far, far too small a price for what you were asking. And all of this, including what I’m about to say next, does not ever go beyond the three of us.” E looked at Danach, who made an indignant noise. “Ever. Ingray is not the first Aughskold to ask Gold Orchid to bring someone out of Compassionate Removal. They—and every other broker approached—refused. They explained their refusal—and they never explain their refusals—by saying that they would never, under any circumstances, undertake such a commission, which would not only involve kidnapping but also would very directly undermine law enforcement in another polity.”
“But who …” began Danach. “Why would …”
Nuncle Lak cut him off. “Your grandmother was a piece of work. More than that I will only say to Netano.” By that e meant, e wouldn’t answer Danach’s questions until Danach himself was Netano. “The price Ingray offered is only a small fraction of what Gold Orchid refused on that occasion. What changed?” Silence. “And I can’t help but wonder if Pahlad is acting on Tyr instructions.”
“E was in a suspension pod when I picked em up,” said Ingray. But then she remembered Pahlad saying I think I’d like to visit the Incomers Office. “But the captain wouldn’t let me take em on the ship without em saying e wanted to go, so we thawed em out. And e acted like e didn’t know who I was, and said e wasn’t Pahlad, and went to the Tyr Siilas Incomers Office. E didn’t want to come to Hwae, I had to find em and convince em to come with me.”
“Maybe it wasn’t you who convinced em,” suggested Danach. “It suited someone for Pahlad to come back.”
“It suited Tyr for Pahlad to come back,” corrected Nuncle Lak. “And Tyr may have been able to compel Pahlad to come back to Hwae, but now that e’s here e has nothing to lose and might as well do as e likes. Of course, the Tyr Executory isn’t stupid and likely knew what e would do, once e got here, whatever instructions they may have given em.”
“It suited Tyr to embarrass Prolocutor Budrakim, then,” said Ingray. “But I don’t see how what Pahlad is doing helps Tyr at all.”
“I can’t help but notice,” said Nuncle Lak, “that the prolocutor has recently spoken in favor of seriously considering the Omkem Federacy’s request that we allow their military through our gates, so they can reestablish contact with Byeit.”
“Why would Tyr care about Omkem’s access to Byeit?” asked Danach.
“We’re not just one gate away from Byeit,” Ingray said. “We’re also only one gate away from Tyr.”
“A lot of traffic goes through Tyr,” agreed Nuncle Lak. “A lot of information, and a lot of money. I don’t think I’d like to try their defenses, but perhaps the Federacy would disagree. Perhaps they’re not interested in Byeit. Or, not only interested in Byeit. Perhaps they would like to have a foothold here, too, especially now they’re cut off from the system that used to be their easiest access to Tyr. And that thought has occurred to plenty of people right here. I’m sure the possibility has also occurred to the Tyr Executory.”
“But surely,” protested Ingray, “if that’s their plan, Prolocutor Budrakim wouldn’t take part in such a thing.” And then, at a thought, “If he knew.”
“He’d be stupid not to know,” asserted Danach.
“You yourself didn’t know, a moment ago,” reproved Nuncle Lak. “But I imagine he does know, or at least suspects what the Omkem Federacy’s aim is in this. Ethiat Budrakim is many things, but he is not stupid and he is not a traitor. He probably thinks it doesn’t matter much to Hwae who’s controlling the Tyr Executory, but it might be useful if whoever it was owed Ethiat Budrakim favors for helping put them in charge. And besides, I’m sure he thinks he can take Omkem money and wiggle out of any obligations they think they’ve put on him. Your mother thought the same, despite my advice otherwise. Though it’s true Excellency Zat didn’t care at all about whether Federacy military had access to Hwae. If anything, she was against it, or so Netano told me.”
“Hevom cared,” said Ingray. “Hevom killed Zat.”
“And the ambassador is so eager to get him back,” agreed Nuncle Lak. “And, coincidentally, so eager to have Pahlad stand trial in the Federacy, for a murder committed on Hwae. Perhaps as a favor to Ethiat Budrakim. Or perhaps they just see an extra opportunity to take offense when their demands are refused.”
“They want an excuse for military action against Hwae,” guessed Ingray. It seemed ridiculous. Unreal.
Nuncle Lak gestured agreement. “The Geck have interfered, at least as far as Pahlad is concerned. I imagine the committee will rule that Pahlad is Geck and send em up to the ship. From what I can tell, they don’t have much choice about it. What that will mean for Pahlad, I have no idea. E seems entirely unworried at the prospect. But then, as I said, e has nothing left to lose.”