Two people were waiting by the opened door to the Buridan elevator. The liaison officer felt an uncanny prickling in her scalp as she saw them, for they looked every bit as exotic as shed imagined someone from Buridan would be. Her first inclination (drummed into her by her predecessor) that any visitation from the lost nation must be a hoax, faded as one of the pair spoke. Her accent wasnt like that of anyone from Upper Spyre.
They sent only you? The womans voice dripped scorn. She was of medium height, with well-defined brows that emphasized her piercing eyes. A shock of pale hair stood up from her head.
The liaison officer made a mid-air bow and caught a nearby girder to halt herself. She struggled to slow her breathing and appear calm as she said, I am the designated liaison officer for Buridan-Spyre relations. To whom do I have the honor of addressing myself?
The womans nostrils flared. I am Amandera Thrace-Guiles, heir of Buridan. And you? Youre nobody in particular, are you but I suppose youll have to do, she said. Kindly direct us to our apartments.
Your The Buridan apartments existed, the officer knew that much. No one was allowed to enter, alter or destroy Buridan property until the nations status was determined. This way, please.
She thought quickly. It was years ago, but one day she had met one of the oldest of the watch officers in an open gallery on Wheel Seven. They had been passing a broad stretch of crumbling wall and came to a bricked-up archway. Know what that is? hed asked playfully. When she shook her head he smiled and said, Almost nobody does, nowadays. Its the entrance to the Buridan estate. Its all still theretowers, granaries, bedrooms and armoriesbut the other nations have been building and renovating
around and over it for so long that theres no way in anymore. Its like a scar, or a callous maybe, in the middle of the city.
Anyway, this was the main entrance. Used to have a sweeping flight of steps up to it, until they took that out and made the courtyard yonder. This entrance is the official one, the one that only opens to the state key. If you ever get any visitors from Buridan, they can prove that they are who they say they are if they can open the door behind that wall.
Come with me, said the officer now. As she escorted her visitors along the rope that stretched toward Wheel Seven, she wondered where she was going to get a gang of navvies with sledgehammers on such short notice.
The demolition of the brick wall made just enough of a delay to allow Lesser Spyres first ministers to show up. Venera cursed under her breath as she watched them padding up the gallery walk: five men and three women in bright silks, with serious expressions. Secretaries and hangers-on fluttered around them like moths. In the courtyard below, a crowd of curious citizens was growing.
This had better work, she muttered to Diamandis.
He adjusted his mask. It was impossible to read his expression behind it. Theyre as scared as we are, he said. Who knows if theres anything left on the other side of that? He nodded to the rapidly falling stones in the archway.
Lady Thrace-Guiles! One of the ministers swept forward, lifting his silk robes delicately over the mortar dust. He was bejowled and balding, with a fan of red skin across his nose and liver spots on his lumpish hands. You look just like your great-great-great grandmother, Lady Bertitia, he said generously. Her portrait hangs in my outer office.
Venera looked down her nose at him. And you are?
Aldous Aday, acting chairman of the Lesser Spyre Committee for Public Works and Infrastructure, he said. Elected by the Upper House of the Great Familiesa body that retains a seat for you, kept draped in velvet in absentia all these years. I must say, this is an exciting and if I do say so, surprising, day in the history of Upper
I want to make sure our estate is still in one piece, she said. She turned to Diamandis. Mister Flance, the hole is big enough for you to squeeze through. Pray go ahead and tell me that our door is undamaged. He bowed and edged his way past the workmen.
He and Venera wore clothing they had found preserved in wax paper in the lockers of Buridan Tower. The styles were ancient, but for all that they were more practical than the contraptions favored by Spyres present generation. Venera had on supple leather breeches and a black jacket over a bodice tooled and inscribed in silver. A simple belt held two pistols. On her brow rested a silver circlet they had found in an upstairs bedchamber. Diamandis was similarly dressed, but his leathers were all a deep forest green.
Its a great honor to see your nation again after so many years, continued Aday. If he was suspicious of her identity, he wasnt letting on. She exchanged pleasantries with him through clenched teeth, striving to stay in profile so that he and the others could not see her jaw. Venera had done her best to hide the scar and had bleached her hair with some unpleasant chemicals theyd found in the tower; but someone who had heard about Venera Fanning might recognize her. Did Aday and his people keep up with news from the outside world? Diamandis didnt think they did, but she had no idea at this point how far her fame had spread.