Free Shadows and Shades (Adventures in the Liaden Universe®) by Sharon Lee, Steve Miller

glorious crush, hosted with grace and style! I daresay you will sleep the day through, now."
      "Not quite now," Pat Rin murmured.
      Luken smiled. "A bit in the upper key, is it? Never mind it—very shortly Lord Pat Rin will find hosting a party three times this to be a mere nothing!"
      Pat Rin laughed. "Verily, Lord Pat Rin shall be nothing more nor less than a fidget-about-town. I wonder how you might bear with so slight a fellow."
      "Now, there," Luken said, with sudden seriousness, "you touch near to a topic I wished to bring before you. I wonder—have you thought of entering the lists at Tey Dor's?"
      Pat Rin blinked, and drifted into the room, across the Tantara, to prop a hip against the desk and looked down into his foster father's face.
      "I had never thought of competing at Tey Dor's," he said then. "Should I have?"
      "You might find that you will wish to do so," Luken said, "as you consider the... affect you wish to sustain. For I do not think, boy-dear, that you would do very well in a long-term role either as fidget or as mushroom."
      "Ah." Pat Rin smiled. "Lord Pat Rin shall be flamboyant, shall he?"
      Luken raised a finger. "Lord Pat Rin, if you will permit me, boy-dear, shall be accomplished ."
      "I'll grant that's a happier thought," his son said after a moment. He inclined his head. "Allow me to consider the matter, when my head is done spinning."
      "Surely, surely." Luken paused before murmuring. "I wonder if you have heard that young Nova takes lessons at the dramliz school now—and has passed the preliminary for third-class pilot."
      Pat Rin inclined his head. "She was by a three-day gone, with a gift for the house. We drank tea and she caught me up with her news."
      "Ah?" Luken said. "And how do you find yourselves aligned, if an old man might ask it."
      "We are—comfortable," Pat Rin said after a moment. "She—I do not know how such a thing might be, but—she remembers both sides of the ...incident, and we have, thereby, an understanding."
      There was a small silence. "Good," Luken said, simply, and pushed himself out of the chair. Pat Rin leapt forward to offer him an arm.
      "Must you leave?" he asked, and Luken laughed.
      "I daresay the two of us might now repair to the Port for a game or six, were I thirty years younger!" He said, patting Pat Rin's hand. "But you must have pity on an old man and allow me to seek my bed."
      "Certainly," Pat Rin replied, walking with him toward the hallway. "I will summon a cab."
      "Assuredly you will, sir!" Luken turned suddenly, face serious. "Lord Pat Rin will have servants to attend to these small matters for him."
      "I daresay he might," Pat Rin retorted, with spirit, "for those who are merely guests. But if Lord Pat Rin should ever fail of attending the father of his heart personally, I shall know him for a worthless dog, no matter his accomplishments ."
      Luken paused, then extended a hand to cup Pat Rin's cheek. "Sweet lad." He let the hand fall away and smiled, softly. "Call for the cab, then, and be welcome."
      Quickly, Pat Rin stepped back into his study and made the call. Turning back, he saw Luken framed in the doorway, his eyes dreaming once more upon the Tantara.
      "Father?" he said, abruptly.
      Luken looked up, face mild. "Child?"
      Pat Rin cleared his throat. "I —do you mind?" he blurted. "The carpet—it is yours; the treasure of your Line. It should—"
      Luken held up a hand. "Peace." He glanced down at the ivory-and-green design, smiling slightly as he once again met Pat Rin's eyes.
      "I allow it to be a gem, and everything that is graceful. Even, I allow it to be a family heirloom. Who best to have the keeping of such a treasure, than my son?"
      Pat Rin's eyes