"Nowhere," said Maz.

"Nowhere!"

Maz laughed at his horrified expression. "Yes, the haut have s.e.xual relations, but its purely a social game. They even have long-lasting s.e.xual friendships that could almost qualify as marriages, sometimes. I was about to say there"s nothing formalized, except that the etiquette of all the shifting a.s.sociations is so incredibly complex. I guess the word I want is legalized, rather than formalized, because the rituals are intense. And weird, really weird, sometimes, from what little I"ve been able to gather of it all. Fortunately, the haut are such racists, they almost never go slumming outside their genome, so you are not likely to encounter those pitfalls personally."

"Oh," said Ivan. He sounded a little disappointed. "But... if the haut don"t marry and set up their own households, when and how do they leave home?"

"They never do."

"Ow! You mean they live with, like, their mothers, forever?"

"Well, not with their mothers, of course. Their grandparents or great-grandparents. But the youth-that is, anyone under fifty or so-do live as pensioners of their constellation. I wonder if that is at the root of why so many older haut become reclusive. They live apart because they finally can."

"But-what about all those famous and successful ghem-generals and ghem-lords who"ve won haut-lady wives?" asked Miles.

Maz shrugged. "They can"t all aspire to become Imperial mothers, can they? Actually, I would point out this aspect particularly to you, Lord Vorkosigan. Have you ever wondered how the haut, who are not noted for their military prowess, control the ghem, who are?"

"Oh, yes. I"ve been expecting this crazy Cetagandan double-decked aristocracy to fall apart ever since I learned about it. How can you control guns with, with, art contests? How can a bunch of perfumed poetasters like the haut-lords buffalo whole ghem-armies?"

Maz smiled. "The Cetagandan ghem-lords would call it the loyalty justly due to superior culture and civilization. The fact is that anyone who"s competent enough or powerful enough to pose a threat gets genetically co-opted. There is no higher reward in the Cetagandan system than to be Imperially a.s.signed a haut-lady wife. The ghem-lords are all panting for it. It"s the ultimate social and political coup."

"You"re suggesting the haut control the ghem through these wives?" said Miles. "I mean, I"m sure the haut-women are lovely and all, but the ghem-generals can be such hard-bitten cast-iron b.a.s.t.a.r.ds-I can"t imagine anyone who gets to the top in the Cetagandan Empire being that susceptible."

"If I knew how the haut-women do it," Maz sighed, "I"d bottle it and sell it. No, better-I think I"d keep it for myself. But it seems to have worked for the last several hundred years. It is not, of course, the only method of Imperial control, to be sure. Only the most overlooked one. I find that, in itself, significant. The haut are nothing if not subtle."

"Does the, uh, haut-bride come with a dowry?" Miles asked.

Maz smiled again, and polished off another chocolate confection. "You have hit upon an important point, Lord Vorkosigan. She does not."

"I"d think keeping a haut-wife in the style to which she is accustomed could get rather expensive."

"Very."

"So... if the Cetagandan emperor wished to depress an excessively successful subject, he could award him a few haut-wives and bankrupt him?"

"I... don"t think it"s done quite so obviously as all that. But the element is there. You are very acute, my lord."

Ivan asked, "But how does the haut-lady who gets handed out like a good-conduct medal feel about it all? I mean... if the highest haut-lady ambition is to become an Imperial monopoly, this has got to be the ultimate opposite. To be permanently dumped out of the haut-genome-their descendants never marry back into the haut, do they?"

"No," confirmed Maz. "I believe the psychology of it all is a bit peculiar. For one thing, the haut-bride immediately outranks any other wives the ghem-lord may have acquired, and her children automatically become his heirs. This can set up some interesting tensions in his household, particularly if it comes, as it usually does, in mid-life when his other marital a.s.sociations may be of long standing."

"It must be a ghem-lady"s nightmare, to have one of these haut-women dropped on her husband," Ivan mused. "Don"t they ever object? Make their husbands turn down the honor?"

"Apparently it"s not an honor one can refuse."

"Mm." With difficulty, Miles pulled his imagination away from these side-fascinations, and back to his most immediate worry. "That seal of the Star Creche thing-I don"t suppose you have a picture of it?"

"I brought a number of vids with me, yes, my lord," said Maz. "With your permission, we can run them on your comconsole."

Ooh, I adore competent women. Do you have a younger sister, milady Maz? "Yes, please," said Miles.

They all trooped over to the chamber"s comconsole desk, and Maz began a quick ill.u.s.trated lecture on haut crests and the several dozen a.s.sorted Imperial seals. "Here it is, my lord-the seal of the Star Creche."

It was a clear cubical block, measuring maybe fifteen centimeters on a side, with the bird- pattern incised in red lines upon its top. Not the mysterious rod. Miles exhaled with relief. The terror that had been riding him ever since Maz had mentioned the seal, that he and Ivan might have accidentally stolen a piece of the Imperial regalia, faded. The rod was some kind of Imperial gizmo, obviously, and would have to be returned-anonymously, by preference-but at least it wasn"t- Maz called up the next unit of data, "And this object is the Great Key of the Star Creche, which is handed over along with the seal," she went on.

Ivan choked on his wine. Miles, faint, leaned on the desk and smiled fixedly at the image of the rod. The original lay some few centimeters under his hand, in the drawer.

"And, ah-just what is the Great Key of the Star Creche, m"la-Maz?" Miles managed to murmur. "What does it do?"

"I"m not quite sure. At one time in the past, I believe it had something to do with data retrieval from the haut gene banks, but the actual device may only be ceremonial by now. I mean, it"s a couple of hundred years old. It has to be obsolete."

We hope. Thank G.o.d he hadn"t dropped it. Yet. "I see."

"Miles..." muttered Ivan.

"Later," Miles hissed to him out of the corner of his mouth. "I understand your concern."

Ivan mouthed something obscene at him, over the seated Maz"s head.

Miles leaned against the comconsole desk, and screwed up his features in a realistic wince.

"Something wrong, my lord?" Maz glanced up, concerned.

"I"m afraid my legs are bothering me, a bit. I had probably better pay another visit to the emba.s.sy physician, after this."

"Would you prefer to continue this later?" Maz asked instantly.

"Well... to tell you the truth, I think I"ve had about all the etiquette lessons I can absorb for one afternoon."

"Oh, there"s lots more." But apparently he was looking realistically pale, too, for she rose, adding, "Far too much for one session, to be sure. Are your injuries much troubling you? I didn"t realize they were that severe."

Miles shrugged, as if in embarra.s.sment. After a suitable exchange of parting amenities, and a promise to call on his Vervani tutor again very soon, Ivan took over the hostly duties, and escorted Maz back downstairs.

He returned immediately, to seal the door behind him and pounce on Miles. "Do you have any idea how much trouble we"re in?" he cried.

Miles sat before the comconsole, re-reading the official, and entirely inadequate, description of the Great Key, while its image floated hauntingly before his nose above the vid plate. "Yes. I also know how we"re going to get out of it. Do you know as much?"

This gave Ivan pause. "What else do you know that I don"t?"

"If you will just leave it to me, I believe I can get this thing back to its rightful owner with no one the wiser."

"Its rightful owner is the Cetagandan emperor, according to what Maz said."

"Well, ultimately, yes. I should say, back to its rightful keeper. Who, if I read the signs right, is as chagrined about losing it as we are in finding it. If I can get it back to her quietly, I don"t think she"s going to go around proclaiming how she lost it. Although... I do wonder how she did lose it." Something was not adding up, just below his level of conscious perception.

"We mugged an Imperial servitor, that"s how!"

"Yes, but what was Ba Lura doing with the thing on an orbital transfer station in the first place? Why had it disabled the security monitors in the docking bay?"

"Lura was taking the Great Key somewhere, obviously. To the Great Lock, for all I know." Ivan paced around the comconsole. "So the poor sod cuts its throat the next morning "cause it lost its charge, its trust, courtesy of us-h.e.l.l, Miles. I feel like we just killed that old geezer. And it never did us any harm, it just blundered into the wrong place and had the bad luck to startle us."

"Is that what happened?" Miles murmured. "Really... ?" Is that why I am so desperately determined for the story to be something, anything, else? The scenario hung together. The old Ba, charged with transporting the precious object, loses the Great Key to some outlander barbarians, confesses its disgrace to its mistress, and kills itself in expiation. Wrap. Miles felt ill. "So... if the key was that important, why wasn"t the Ba traveling with a squadron of Imperial ghem-guards?"

"G.o.d Miles, I wish it had been!"

A firm knock sounded on Miles"s door. Miles hastily shut down the comconsole and unsealed the door lock. "Come in."

Amba.s.sador Vorob"yev entered, and favored him with a semi-cordial nod. He held a sheaf of delicately colored, scented papers in his hand.

"h.e.l.lo, my lords. Did you find your tutorial with Maz useful?"

"Yes, sir," said Miles.

"Good. I thought you would. She"s excellent." Vorobyev held up the colored papers. "While you were in session, this invitation arrived for you both, from Lord Yenaro. Along with a.s.sorted profound apologies for last night"s incident. Emba.s.sy security has opened, scanned, and chemically a.n.a.lyzed it. They report the organic esters harmless." With this safety p.r.o.nouncement, he handed the papers across to Miles. "It is up to you, whether or not to accept. If you concur that the unfortunate side-effect of the sculpture"s power field was an accident, your attendance might be a good thing. It would complete the apology, repairing face all around."

"Oh, we"ll go, sure." The apology and invitation were hand-calligraphed in the best Cetagandan style. "But I"ll keep my eyes open. Ah... wasn"t Colonel Vorreedi due back today?"

Vorob"yev grimaced. "He"s run into some tedious complications. But in view of that odd incident at the Marilacan emba.s.sy, I"ve sent a subordinate to replace him. He should be back tomorrow. Perhaps... do you wish a bodyguard? Not openly, of course, that would be another insult."

"Mm... we"ll have a driver, right? Let him be one of your trained men, have backup on call, give us both comm links, and have him wait for us nearby."

"Very well, Lord Vorkosigan. I"ll make arrangements," Vorob"yev nodded. "And... regarding the incident in the rotunda earlier today-"

Miles"s heart pounded. "Yes?"

"Please don"t break ranks like that again."

"Did you receive a complaint?" And from whom?

"One learns to interpret certain pained looks. The Cetagandans would consider it impolite to protest-but should unpleasant incidents pile high enough, not too impolite for them to take some sort of indirect and arcane retaliation. You two will be gone in ten days, but I will still be here. Please don"t make my job any more difficult than it already is, eh?"

"Understood, sir," said Miles brightly. Ivan was looking intensely worried-was he going to bolt, pour out confessions to Vorob"yev? Not yet, evidently, for the amba.s.sador waved himself back out without Ivan throwing himself at his feet.

"Nearby doesn"t cut it, for a bodyguard," Ivan pointed out, as soon as the door sealed again.

"Oh, you"re beginning to see it my way now, are you? But if we go to Yenaro"s at all, I can"t avoid risk. I have to eat, drink, and breathe-all routes for attack an armed guard can"t do much about. Anyway, my greatest defense is that it would be a grievous insult to the Cetagandan emperor for anyone to seriously harm a galactic delegate to his august mother"s funeral. I predict, should another accident occur, it will be equally subtle and non-fatal." And equally infuriating.

"Oh, yeah? When there"s been one fatality already?" Ivan stood silent for a long time. "Do you think... all these incidents could possibly be related?" Ivan nodded toward the perfumed papers still in Miles"s hand, and toward the comconsole desk drawer. "I admit, I don"t see how."

"Do you think they could possibly all be unrelated coincidences?"

"Hm." Ivan frowned, digesting this. "So tell me," he pointed again to the desk drawer, "how are you planning to get rid of the Empress"s d.i.l.d.o?"

Miles"s mouth twitched, stifling a grin at the Ivan-diplomatic turn of phrase. "I can"t tell you." Mostly because I don"t know yet myself. But the haut Rian Degtiar had to be scrambling, right now. He fingered, as if absently, the silver eye-of-Horus ImpSec insignia pinned to his black collar. "There"s a lady"s reputation involved."

Ivan"s eyes narrowed in scorn of this obvious appeal to Ivan"s own brand of personal affairs. "Horses.h.i.t. Are you running some kind of secret rig for Simon Illyan?"

"If I were, I couldn"t tell you, now could I?"

"d.a.m.ned if I know." Ivan stared at him in frustration for another moment, then shrugged. "Well, it"s your funeral."

CHAPTER FIVE.

"Stop here," Miles instructed the groundcar"s driver. The car swung smoothly to the side of the street and with a sigh of its fans settled to the pavement. Miles peered at the layout of Lord Yenaro"s suburban mansion in the gathering dusk, mentally pairing the visual reality with the map he had studied back at the Barrayaran emba.s.sy.

The barriers around the estate, serpentine garden walls and concealing landscaping, were visual and symbolic rather than effective. The place had never been designed as a fortress of anything but privilege. A few higher sections of the rambling house glimmered through the trees, but even they seemed to focus inward rather than outward.

"Comm link check, my lords?" the driver requested. Miles and Ivan both pulled the devices from their pockets and ran through the codes with him. "Very good, my lords."

"What"s our backup?" Miles asked him.

"I have three units, arranged within call."

"I trust we"ve included a medic."

"In the lightflyer, fully equipped. I can put him down inside Lord Yenaro"s courtyard in forty- five seconds."

"That should be sufficient. I don"t expect a frontal a.s.sault. But I wouldn"t be surprised if I encountered another little "accident" of some sort. We"ll walk from here, I think. I want to get the feel of the place."

"Yes, my lord." The driver popped the canopy for them, and Miles and Ivan exited.

"Is this what you call genteel poverty?" Ivan inquired, looking around as they strolled through open, unguarded gates and up Yenaro"s curving drive.

Ah yes. The style might be different, but the scent of aristocratic decay was universal. Little signs of neglect were all around: unrepaired damage to the gates and walls, overgrown shrubbery, what appeared to be three-quarters of the mansion dark and closed-off.

"Vorob"yev had the emba.s.sy"s ImpSec office make a background check of Lord Yenaro," Miles said. "Yenaro"s grandfather, the failed ghem-general, left him the house but not the means to keep it up, having consumed his capital in his extended and presumably embittered old age. Yenaro"s been in sole possession for about four years. He runs with an artsy crowd of young and unemployed ghem-lordlings, so his story holds up to that extent. But that thing in the Marilacan emba.s.sy"s lobby was the first sculpture Yenaro"s ever been known to produce. Curiously advanced, for a first try, don"t you think?"

"If you"re so convinced it was a trap, why are you sticking your hand in to try and trip another one?"

"No risk, no reward, Ivan."

"Just what reward are you envisioning?"

"Truth. Beauty. Who knows? Emba.s.sy security is also running a check on the workmen who actually built the sculpture. I expect it to be revealing."

At least he could make that much use of the machinery of ImpSec. Miles felt intensely conscious of the rod now riding concealed in his inner tunic pocket. He"d been carrying the Great Key in secret all day, through a tour of the city and an interminable afternoon performance of a Cetagandan cla.s.sical dance company. This last treat had been arranged by Imperial decree especially for the off-planet envoys to the funeral. But the haut Rian Degtiar had not made her promised move to contact him yet. If he did not hear from his haut-lady by tomorrow... On one level, Miles was growing extremely sorry he had not taken the local ImpSec subordinates into his confidence on the very first day. But if he had, he would no longer be in charge of this little problem; the decisions would all have been hiked to higher levels, out of his control. The ice is thin. I don"t want anyone heavier than me walking on it just yet.

A servant met them at the mansion"s door as they approached, and escorted them into a softly lit entry foyer where they were greeted by their host. Yenaro was in dark robes similar to the ones he"d worn at the Marilacan emba.s.sy"s reception; Ivan was clearly correct in his undress greens. Miles had chosen his ultra-formal House blacks. He wasn"t sure how Yenaro would interpret the message, as honor, or reminder-I"m the official envoy-or warning-don"t mess with me. But he was fairly certain it was not a nuance Yenaro would miss.

Yenaro glanced down at Miles s black boots. "And are your legs better now, Lord Vorkosigan?" he inquired anxiously.

"Much better, thank you," Miles smiled tightly in return. "I shall certainly live."