Free 03 - The Eternal Rose by Gail Dayton Page B

speeches, especially when she had to give them herself. Unfortunately, the Daryathi en-Kameral seemed determined to give each Head of the Hundred Lines the chance to have her say.
    For the first few speeches, Kallista entertained herself by translating the Daryathi sentences using what she'd learned from Obed over the years, and comparing them with the official translation. She did quite well, which pleased her. But after five or six speeches, even that entertainment lost its value. The vast chamber, filled with well over one hundred bodies, grew warm. Kallista began to have trouble keeping her eyes open.
    She propped her elbow on her chair's padded arm, propped her chin on her fist, and hoped that when the inevitable moment came and she fell too soundly asleep to catch herself, she would not fall onto her head and totally humiliate all of Adara. She was a soldier, for heaven's sake. Not a connoisseur of oratory.
    “ Majesty. My Reinine.” The harsh whisper had Kallista jerking awake.
    She straightened in her chair and wiped her damp knuckles on the seat cushion, slanting her eyes this way and that to see if anyone had noticed. Torchay had, by his half-smothered smile. He always did, curse him. Stone and Fox likely had, the way they were whispering together and snickering. No one else. She hoped.
    She cleared her throat. “Yes, Ambassador?"
    The woman who'd awakened her was Namida Chand, Adara's Ambassador to Daryath. “My Reinine, the speeches will go on until you indicate you have heard enough. They do not wish to disturb you if you are listening to what they wish to tell you."
    “Might have been nice if somebody had told me this,” Kallista muttered. Her backside was as flat as the chair she'd been sitting in, cushion or no.
    “Apologies, my Reinine."
    “What do I do to let them know ‘enough'?"
    “You stand."
    “That's a simple thing. Thank you, Namida Aila.” Kallista braced her hands on the arms of the chair and heaved her flattened backside out of it.
    Immediately, the Head of Line speaking at the lectern fell silent. She stepped to one side, bowed, and the entire en-Kameral rose to their feet.
    With the executive council leading the way, everyone filed out of the meeting chamber and through the building to a lovely shaded courtyard where the splash of fountains cooled the air and tables laden with food waited to be piled on plates and eaten. Too bad Kallista hadn't known about the standing-up-to-end-speeches thing far, far sooner.
    Obed and Torchay took turn about at eating so that one of them was always hands-free to guard while Kallista chatted with the various Kameri who presented themselves before her. All the chatting made it difficult to eat much of the excellent food. Having to watch every word against a slip of the tongue made it nearly impossible. She could eat back at the embassy afterward.
    But the woman she most wanted to talk with never came close. Now and again, Kallista could see the Head of Habadra Line across the courtyard. Occasionally, Habadra Khori would meet Kallista's gaze, always without smiling but without challenge either. Whenever Kallista tried to work her way through the crowd to the place where the Habadra stood, a half-dozen Kameri, mostly of the lesser Lines, would appear and request introduction.
    With Namida Ambassador at her elbow, Kallista couldn't be rude and shove past them, though she wanted to, badly. Especially when she realized the interruptions were orchestrated by Shakiri Shathina. Kallista was beginning to dislike Obed's aunt. Still, it was early days yet. Time enough for rudeness and head-bashing later. The reception couldn't last forever.
    * * * *
    Padrey edged nearer the front of the crowd, pulling his hood forward to shade his face. It was more a guard against notice than protection from the sun, but it served as both. His hair tended to bleach in the sun like cheap cloth, acquiring streaks of gold no respectable Daryathi would ever sport, and his skin would