them. They passed hedges with night blooming flowers perfuming the air. An almost eerie peace descended over Brashen. Today had seen an end to so many things. Once more he was cut loose and drifting, with only himself to rely on. No obligations tomorrow, no schedules. No crews to supervise, no cargo to unload. Only himself to feed. Was that bad, really?
The Vestrit mansion was set well back from the public road. The gardens and grounds hosted insects and frogs, all trilling in the summer night. They provided the only sound other than the crunching of his boots as they walked up the stone drive. It was when he stood before the white stone of the entryway, before the familiar door where he had sometimes awaited admittance on ship’s business, that he suddenly felt grief once more clutch at his throat. Never again, he supposed. This would be the last time he’d stand before this door. After a moment, he noticed that Althea had not let go of his arm. Here, clear of the narrow streets and shops, the moonlight could find her. Her bare feet were dirty, her gown draggled. Her hair had come loose of the lace thing she’d bound it in; at least, half of it had. She suddenly released his arm, stood up straight, and heaved a great sigh.
‘Thank you for seeing me home,’ she said, her voice as level and formal as if he had escorted her home in a carriage after a Trader festival.
‘You’re welcome,’ he said quietly. As if the words had awakened in the rough sailor the genteel boy his mother had once schooled, he bowed deeply to her. He very nearly lifted her hand to his lips, but the sight of his own battered shoes and the tattering edges of his rough cotton trousers recalled to him who he was now. ‘You’ll be all right?’ he half-asked, and half-told, her.
‘I suppose,’ she said vaguely. She turned away from him and set her hand on the latch, only to have the door violently jerked open before her.
Kyle filled the door. He was in his nightrobe and barefoot and his pale hair stood up in tousled tufts on his head, but his fury was such that there was nothing ridiculous about him. ‘What goes on here?’ he demanded. He had pitched his voice low, as if for secrecy, but the force of his emotions gave them the same strength as a bellow. Instinctively, Brashen straightened up before the man he had served as captain. Althea initially recoiled in shock from him, but recovered quickly.
‘None of your damned business,’ she declared, and tried to walk past him into the house. He caught her by the upper arm and spun her about. ‘Damn you,’ she cried out, and made no effort to keep her voice low. ‘Get your hands off me!’
Kyle ignored that, instead giving her a shake that snapped her smaller body about like the weight on the end of a lash. ‘This family is my business!’ he growled. ‘This family’s reputation and good name is my business, just as it should be yours. Look at yourself. Barefoot, looking and smelling like a drunken slut, and here’s a rogue sniffing after you like he’d go after some cheap whore… Is that why you brought him here, to your own family home? How could you? On the night of your father’s death, how could you shame us all like this?’
Althea had bared her teeth like a vixen at his wild accusations. She clawed at the hand that gripped her so firmly. ‘I’ve done nothing!’ she cried wildly, the drink all too plain in her voice. ‘I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of! You’re the one who should be ashamed. You thief! You’ve stolen my ship from me! You’ve stolen my ship!’
Brashen stood transfixed by horror. This was the last thing he wanted to get mixed up in. No matter what he did, it was going to be wrong in someone’s eyes. But worst was to stand still and do nothing at all. So. Be damned for a ram as deeply as a lamb. ‘Cap’n. Kyle. Let her go, she did nothing except to get a bit drunk. Given what she’s been through today, I think that’s to be expected. Let her go, man, you’re hurting her!’
He hadn’t lifted a hand, had given no sign that he intended to attack Kyle at all, but Kyle abruptly threw Althea aside and advanced on the sailor. ‘That might be what you expect, but it’s not what we expect.’ Behind Kyle, down the darkened hallway, Brashen caught a glimpse of a light being kindled, and heard a woman’s voice raised questioningly. Kyle made a grab for Brashen’s shirt-front, but Brashen stepped backwards. Behind him, Althea had staggered to her feet. She was crying, hopeless as a lost child. She clung to the door frame, the sweep of her hair hiding her bowed face, and wept. Kyle ranted on. ‘Yes, you’d expect her to get drunk, wouldn’t you, you scurvy dog? And followed her hoping for more than that. I’ve seen you watching her on the ship, and I know what you had in mind. Couldn’t wait for her father’s body to settle to come sniffing after her, could you?’
Kyle was stalking forward towards him, and Brashen found himself giving ground. Physically, he was no more afraid of Kyle than he was of any man larger than himself, but Kyle carried more than the weight of his fists as he advanced. He had all the advantage of Old Trader family line to fall back on. If he killed Brashen right here, few would question any account he might give of the event. So he told himself it was not cowardice, but savvy that made him back up, lifting his hands placatingly and saying, ‘It was nothing like that. I was just seeing her safely home. That’s all.’
Kyle swung, and Brashen evaded it easily. The one swing was all he needed to gauge the man. Captain Haven was slow. And he overstepped his balance. And while the man was bigger, and had a longer reach and might even be stronger, Brashen knew he could take him, and without too much difficulty.
In his brief moment of wondering if he’d have to fight him a woman’s voice sounded from the door. ‘Kyle! Brashen!’ Despite the age and grief in her voice, or perhaps because of it, Ronica Vestrit sounded as if she were a mother rebuking two unruly children. ‘Stop this! Stop this right now!’ The old woman, her hair braided back for sleep, clung to the door frame. ‘What is going on? I demand to know what is happening here.’
‘This son of a pig—’ Kyle began, but Althea’s low, even voice cut through his outrage. Her voice was hoarse from weeping, but other than that it was very controlled.
‘I was distraught. I had too much to drink. I ran into Brashen Trell in a tavern and he insisted on seeing me home. And that is all that happened or was going to happen, before Kyle stormed out here and began calling people names.’ Althea lifted her head suddenly and glared at Kyle, daring him to contradict her.
‘That’s true,’ Brashen added just as Kyle complained, ‘But look at her, just look at her!’
He never could decide who Ronica Vestrit believed. Something of the steel she was known for showed in her as she simply said, ‘Kyle and Althea. Go to bed. Brashen, go home. I’m too tired and heartsick to deal with any of this just now.’ When Kyle opened his mouth to protest she added compromisingly, ‘Tomorrow is soon enough, Kyle. If we wake the servants, they’ll tattle this scandal all through the market. I don’t doubt that more than one is listening at a door right now. So let’s put an end to this now. Keep family business inside the walls. That was what Ephron always said.’ She turned to face Brashen. ‘Good night, young man,’ she dismissed him, and he was only too happy to flee. He did not even say goodbye or goodnight, but walked briskly away into the night. When he heard the heavy door shut firmly, he felt it had closed on a chapter of his life.
He strode back toward the harbour basin and Bingtown proper. As he wended his way down, he heard the first cautious calls of the dawn birds. He lifted his eyes to the east, to a horizon that was starting to be tinged with light, and felt suddenly weary. He thought of the cramped bunk awaiting him on Vivacia, and suddenly realized the truth of the day. No bunk awaited him anywhere. He considered paying for a room at an inn, somewhere with soft beds and clean quilts and warm wash-water in the mornings. He made a face between a snarl and a grin. That would deplete his coin rapidly. Maybe tonight, when he could take a full night’s advantage of the bed, he’d pay for one. But the most sleep he was going to get this morning was a few hours before the light and noise and heat of the day
