A week had passed, and the air had chilled. Mardans and Dinae had performed at the palace on Starday, and while they had received enthusiastic applause, they had not felt fully engaged. Spear and most of Formosis’ men were either dead or in custody, but the kingpins were still at large and Margonne’s dagger still missing. Wherever they were, they were so well hidden that not even Tiena’s agents could catch a whiff of them. Mardans had begun to suspect that they had indeed fled Palisade, maybe even the kingdom.
He and Lirens had questioned everyone in the palace who frequently interacted with the younger Tilantas, but that well had also run dry. Their acerbic personalities had made Formosis and Désira few friends, and both treated the palace servants like slaves. Their closest servants were also gone, probably seeing to their needs wherever they were hiding. Such professional servants, often from longtime serving families, carried deep loyalties for their employers.
Lirens had sent soldiers to their known haunts, but again, they had come up empty. Amancuse had alerted the city’s constabulary, under the Duke of Palisade’s purview, to report any sightings of the pair. Troops in civilian clothes regularly patrolled the streets to look for anything that might lead them to either of the younger Tilantas. Skeptical, Mardans thought their finding anything would be wonderful but pure coincidence.
In other words, the investigation had stalled again.
With a sigh and a stretch of his back, Mardans stood from behind his desk. He needed to do something else after a fruitless hour of trying to think of a fresh approach to solving the riddles before him. Deciding to walk along the cliff-side, he donned a jacket and headed out a little used door at the palace’s rear. A short walk through a garden and up a flight of granite steps put him on a stone path that ran the length of the wall. Trees, shrubbery, and flowers lined the palace side of the path, transforming the never-used defensive wall into a palace promenade. But on this mid-morning, few people took advantage of the peaceful, scenic walk.
Hands in his jacket pockets, unconsciously hunched against the ever-present breeze on the cliff-top, Mardans walked slowly, contemplating his quandary, noticing little of the surrounding beauty. When his plodding stroll reached the path’s halfway point, he suddenly became aware that someone was ahead of him. He glanced up from the stones at his feet to see Liandra standing at the wall, looking down on the lake far below. Boats and barges traveled in both directions, and a few ferries hauled passengers across to the roads west. Stevedores loaded and unloaded scores of river vessels on the docks below.
Turning, Liandra smiled brightly as Mardans covered the last steps between them. A black cape covered her dark blue dress, fending off the slight chill, and the breeze blew her dark hair about. Her face had reddened as if she had been exercising.
Mardans bowed, grinning unabashedly. “Lady Marini, I could not have asked for a more welcome surprise than seeing you here! I hope you have time to accompany me.”
She chuckled and then looked down. “I must admit that from my window, I saw you begin your walk and hurried down here to join you.” Gazing back up at him, she said, “I just told the Dowager that I’d be back soon, and she just waved me away. I didn’t have to make up an excuse.”
“I’m truly glad you came,” he answered. “You have already done wonders for my mood.”
“That’s one reason I came,” she said, suddenly serious. “I know I was looking from far away, but you just seemed troubled. A troubled jester will not do!”
He laughed. “But I am not playing the jester at the moment. Right now, I am the befuddled and frustrated Lieutenant Sam Tinetta, an inept officer of the Palace Guard who can find neither dagger nor murderer.”
“So, you brought your sleuthing troubles outside into the fresh air for a new perspective,” she said. “Has it helped at all?”
He shook his head. “No, but I met an enchanting Satelen lady on the way, and she made everything better.”
Liandra curtsied, grinning. “Happy to be of service, my lord!”
They began walking slowly southward along the wall. For a time, they were silent, both engaged with their own thoughts. But before long, Mardans stopped and cleared his throat, looking into her eyes. “You know,” he said, “when I came back here, to Palisade, to the palace, I never expected to meet someone like you.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, a blush pinking her fair skin.
“Well,” he replied, his own face flushing, “I don’t want this to sound too forward, but I never dreamed I’d meet someone who I’d have an instant rapport with, who I’d feel completely comfortable with, and who seems to feel the same with me. I came back to do a job, to find out if I had what it takes to make something of myself. But meeting you here has been the highlight of it all.”
“I can hardly believe that,” she said, eyes on the stones at her feet. “You’ve experienced ovations from the crowds at your performances, returned to the love of a sundered family, and rescued a beloved friend from kidnappers, for the Shepherd’s sake! Meeting me cannot compare to those accomplishments!”
He shrugged. “Those things were great, but honestly, spending time with you means more. I thought applause and adventure worthy goals, but my thinking is changing.”
She did not reply but looked up at him under long lashes. Her dark eyes searched his, looking for sincerity. She found no pretense.
A long moment later, he said, “Remember when I told you that the Prophetess told me I was a Finder? That I had a gift of Finding that would help me solve this case?” She nodded, and he continued, “It helped me find Red. I was sure—absolutely certain!—she was there in the embassy coach house. I followed that lead, and there she was.
“Little did I know that I’ve been subconsciously searching for something else, something missing from my life, a hidden treasure I didn’t even know existed. And it seems I have found that too.” He laughed nervously, shaking his head. “I know this is way too soon to say such things out loud—”
She grabbed his arm. “No, Mardans, it isn’t! Not to me. I’ve wished to hear such words from you almost from the beginning. Why pretend we don’t already know what we can plainly see?”
“Our elders will say it is too soon,” he said. “We haven’t spent enough time getting to know each other.”
“Our elders don’t need to know!” she said, eyes flashing. She gave him a sly smile. “We are the only ones who need to know. For now. The rest will figure it out eventually.”
He grinned. “Our secret then. One we won’t be able to keep for long.”
Her look became serious. “But we will have to be patient, Dance. I have my service contract with the Dowager, and you have your duty to the king. But we have our whole lives after those are over.”
She continued to hold his arm as they began walking again. “My mother tells me I make decisions too quickly,” she said, “but she just sees the decision, not all the time I’ve been thinking about my choices. You know about my family, right? The role my father plays in Satele?”
“I do,” Mardans replied. “Your family is known for its mediation skills.”
“Right,” she answered. “My father is often asked—hired—to make fair or just judgments and solve disputes between families or individuals or companies. We’ve been doing it so long that it’s become the family business. Our reputation depends on our commitment to impartiality and clear thinking.
“Anyway, for several generations, Marini children—even the girls—have been instructed from an early age in the principles of law, logic, mediation, and thinking skills. To us, it’s as important or perhaps more important than studying history or language or numbers.”
She looked at him. “Frankly, I did very well in those ‘family business’ classes. I know how to line up all the factors and reach a conclusion—to think things through. I am not making a too-quick decision about you.”
Mardans nodded. “The Marinis sound like the Santinettas. The children are always trained in the family business. It sounds like our two family businesses have some overlap. Yours weighs information to make fair and just decisions, and mine, to make business or political decisions. We probably think alike in many ways, which is why I believe I am not making a hasty decision either.”
She gifted him with a beautiful smile. “What will our families think of us?”
Mardans grunted. “In the end, I don’t care. But my mother has already told me not to let you get away. I usually do what she says.”
Liandra giggled. “I love your mother! She is so wise!”
He laughed. “I’m beginning to suspect you two are conspiring against me! What will your parents think?”
Her mood sobered instantly. “I already hinted at my mother’s probable reaction: ‘You decide too quickly! Take it slow. Give it time. Get to know him better.’ Father, though, will think about it in his ‘head of the family’ way. But he will give us his blessing because together, we strengthen both families and thus strengthen Satele. A Santinetta-Marini alliance is, to him, a best-case scenario for everyone. It might be different, I think, if I were his heir. I may be the firstborn, but my brother will head the family eventually. I’ve known that for a long time.”
“Same with the Santinettas,” Mardans agreed. “Mother is the firstborn, but my uncle will one day run the family. Besides, my mother has made Palisade her home. And she doesn’t want the job.”
“I wouldn’t want it either,” Liandra said firmly. “I have no desire to run other people’s lives.”
They walked in silence for a short while before Mardans asked, “The, uh, circumstances of my birth will not be a problem?”
She giggled. “No! It had better not be! Once they meet you, it will make no difference to them, I’m sure. But if it does, I will gently remind them that their grandchildren will be descended from kings, Margonne specifically. You know how revered he is in Satele. Besides, they will not pass up the opportunity to boast about it to their friends for the rest of their lives!”
A note:
Why did Satelens still think highly of Margonne? In 1000 AL, Margonne fled Angeva for Satele, and after many adventures, he settled near Delphino, its capital, as the heir of the Andromacles fortune. Pursuing a desire to go to sea, he learned to sail on Santinetta ships. It soon became apparent that he had a knack for it, and before long, he was captaining a ship. Rather than transport cargo, he outfitted a fast fighting ship and began taking on the pirate vessels that plagued the shipping lanes along the southern and western coasts of Osegra. In a remarkably short time, he had eliminated the worst of the pirates and organized the others into a legal shipping company based on Neva Island, about sixty miles southwest of Wesfair, a Leitani port. He asked his twin, Baldan, to govern the island on his behalf, establishing the Principality of Neva, which is still ruled by Baldan’s descendants and allied with Margonne. Satelens remember that, through his selfless daring and ingenuity, Margonne rid the oceans of piracy, bringing untold riches to their shores.