Free Days Of Light And Shadow by Greg Curtis Page A

could accuse her of being anything other than proper.
     
    So instead when she heard the comments she maintained her composure, and suffered the criticism stoically. Still it hurt when they sometimes said she could be quite pretty if only she would allow a smile to grace her face now and then. Sometimes she wondered what her betrothed Berris of House Allel must think of her. Though he too was of the great houses and surely knew the same rules. Perhaps one day, when they were married, she would ask him.
     
    For the moment though, in the privacy of her own home and walking with her father, she thought she should have just a touch more freedom. Especially given what Finell had decreed.
     
    “Calmly yes father, but firmly. It is not just the cost to the house that must be argued against. It is the indecency of the edict.”
     
    “House Vora has always been known and respected as a house of fairness. And this tax, it is both unfair and indecent.”
     
    “It is both.” Tenir stopped to study one of the orange blossom trees. “And we shall speak against it. But with our arguments in order. Finell will not listen to accusations of inequity. Not while that black blood whispers in his ear.”
     
    He was right. She knew that. Not only had their cousin been ascended to the Heartwood Throne when he was too young, even now he was only nineteen, he had the worst of all advisors in Y’aris. A man of poisoned heart. Yet the two of them made an oddly apt pair. The boy with a permanent sneer on his face matched perfectly by the by his arrogance and endless mockery. And the advisor filling his head with dreams of greatness, and his heart with suspicion. Finell would not listen.
     
    “We must speak to the financial cost. To the burden that will have to be carried by all the trading houses that deal outside of Elaris. Because we will all employ outsiders in our business, and to have to pay an extra tax for them, will leave us at a disadvantage to the other traders from other lands. Elaris will be weakened by this unjust tax.”
     
    “And of the inequity? The indecency?” Sophelia was dismayed by the thought they could ignore such a grievous injustice.
     
    “We will ask Elwene to dinner when she returns and put the case to her. She has far more sway with her brother than we do. And she will support our argument.” He was probably right, she hoped. Elwene would support them. But as to how much she could achieve, that was another matter. Finell loved her. Of that she had no doubt. His sister was probably the only one in the entire world he cared for. But would he listen? She doubted it when she already knew his justification for the tax.
     
    Supposedly it would encourage the houses to hire only their own people. So there would be fewer elves without work. Save that there were no elves without work. There was a shortage of workers in almost every calling. But it was still an excuse to use, and she worried that Elwene might fall for it.
     
    Sophelia loved her cousin. Often she wished that she could be more like her. Built of faith and with an eternal smile on her face. But she did not have the sharp mind of a trader. She could be fooled.
     
    “We will have to teach her well of all the arguments, both good and poor.”
     
    “In sooth daughter.” Done with the tree her father moved on at a leisurely pace through the garden, and Sophelia walked with him. She knew that there was much more still to discuss about the tax, not least how House Vora would deal with it. Because she knew that Finell would not overturn his edict quickly.
     
    They couldn’t dismiss their workers simply because of their blood. It would have been dishonourable and a breach of their agreement. Besides which most were in their house’s employ because they could provide services that others couldn’t, like familiarity with other realms. So they would have to pay the tax and take the loss.
     
    But maybe, she thought, just maybe, they could take that cost out