Free Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton Page B

and Haner to accompany her. The three male dragons sat a while and looked at the view in silence. It was raining.
    “I must speak to the farmers about the crops for this year and next year,” Daverak said, looking at the fields. It was his duty and old Bon’s wish, but both of Bon’s sons felt that it was insensitive of Daverak to be thinking about this already.
    “Will you have a bailiff live here to supervise the Agornin farmers?” Penn asked.
    “Yes, we thought that would answer for the time being,” Daverak said. “I have a cousin who would do well. We considered asking you, Avan, but Berend thought you were doing well enough in your career in Irieth that being bailiff of your father’s estate would be a step down for you.”
    “Yes,” Avan said, mechanically. While it was true that his career was prospering, as far as gold and prospects went, he had no security whatever and could be snapped up at any time. A secure job as a bailiff under his brother-in-law’s protection would prevent him continuing his career, but he could still hope to rise by making judicious investments with his friends in Irieth. It would enable him to give his sisters a home together. He would need to bring his clerk to join him, but that could be managed somehow, he thought, glossing over the difficulties such a thing would cause. It wouldhave been better if Daverak had suggested this before, he would have to give up his intention of a lawsuit. At once a whole edifice of complicated interlocking plans set itself in motion in Avan’s nimble brain. “I think on the whole that it would suit me very well, all the same. Thank you, Daverak.”
    Daverak blinked slowly. “I am sorry you feel like that, we were sure you would not want it. I have offered it already to my cousin Vrimid, who will arrive at Daverak today.” He made a wing motion of slight regret, and put down his foot as if that closed the matter entirely.
    Selendra came back to find Avan sitting drawn up sejant, and glowering, Daverak sprawled out, indifferent, and Penn, uneasily couchant, between them. “I am ready,” she said.
    “Let us go then,” Penn said. “There’s no need for any of you to come down with us. Good-bye, Daverak, blessings on your increase, and give my best wishes to Berend. Good-bye, Avan, and good luck in Irieth, write and tell us how things are for you.”
    Selendra embraced Avan.
    “Take care of yourself,” he said.
    “You be careful in Irieth,” she replied. Then she bowed to Daverak, which he returned coldly. Haner accompanied them to the station, fussing over the boxes that contained Selendra’s dowry and the boxes Amer had brought from the kitchens until the train came. Then she and Selendra clung together as if they would refuse to be parted. Penn and the porters saw to the stowing of the boxes, then Penn hopped up onto the flat bed of the train. Amer followed him up. The whistle blew, warning the tardy that the train was about to depart, and at last Selendra let go of her sister and flew up to her own place beside her brother. She watched until Haner was quite out of sight on the platform behind her, until she could not makeout the gold of her sister’s scales from the gray of the stone, then she set her head resolutely towards the engine and the new life she would find in Benandi.
     
14. HANER LEAVES
    After even the plume of steam from the train was quite out of sight, Haner turned and flew back up to Agornin. She tried to console herself that she was not, like Selendra, going quite away to a part of Tiamath she had never seen before and where she had no friends. She would only be at Daverak, hardly an hour’s flight from home any time she might find someone willing to escort her on such a flight. She had visited Berend at Daverak on several occasions, sometimes for as much as ten days at a time and she knew Daverak well, while Penn’s wife was a stranger. They were not very consoling reflections. She might know the Illustrious