Nau let his hands roam her flanks; he felt the worry slowly subside in her. Lots had gone wrong with this mission, but Qiwi Lin Lisolet could be counted as a small triumph. She had been fourteen—precocious, naive, willful—when Nau took down the Qeng Ho fleet. The girl was properly infected with mindrot. She could have been Focused; for a while he had considered making her his body toy.Thank the Plague I didn't.
During the first couple of years, the girl had spent much of her time in this room, crying. Diem's "murder" of her mother had made her the first wholehearted turncoat. Nau had spent Msecs comforting her. At first that had been simply an exercise in the persuasive arts, with the possible side effect that Qiwi might improve his credibility with the other Peddlers. But as time passed, Nau came to see that the girl was more dangerous and more useful than he had guessed. Qiwi had lived much of her childhood on-Watch during the voyage from Triland. She had used the time with almost Focused intensity, learning construction engineering, life-support technology, and trading practices. It was weird; why was one child given such special treatment? Like so many of the Qeng Ho factions, the Lisolet Family had its own secrets, its own interior culture. During the interrogations, he had squeezed the probable explanation out of the girl's mother. The Lisolets used the time between the stars to mold those girl children who were intended for ruling positions in the Family. If things had gone according to Kira Pen Lisolet's plans, the girl would have been ready for further instruction here in-system, totally dominated by her loyalty toward her mother.
As things turned out, this made the girl ideal for Tomas Nau's purposes. She was young and talented, and desperately in need of someone in whom to invest her loyalty. He could run her Watch after Watch without coldsleep, just as he had to run himself. She would be a good companion for the time ahead—and one who was a constant test of his plans. Qiwi was smart and in many ways her personality was still very independent. Even now, with the evidence of what really happened to her mother and the others safely blown away, slipups could happen. Using Qiwi was a thrill ride, a constant test of his nerve. But at least he understood the danger now, and had taken precautions.
"Tomas—" She turned to face him directly. "Do you think I'llever get the rockpile stabilized?"
Indeed, that was a proper thing for her to worry about. Ritser Brughel—or even a younger Tomas Nau—would not have realized that the correct response was not a threat or even disapproval. "Yes, you'll think of something. We'll think of something. Take a few days' vacation, okay? Old Trinli is off coldsleep this Watch. Let him balance the rockpile for a while."
Qiwi's laughter made her sound even younger than she looked. "Oh, yes. Pham Trinli!" He was the only one of Diem's conspirators she had more contempt than anger for. "Remember the last time he ran the balance? He talks loud, but he started out so timid. Before he knew it, the rockpile was three meters per second off L1 track. Then he overreacted and—" She started laughing again. The strangest things made this Peddler girl laugh. It was one of the puzzles about her that still intrigued him.
Lisolet was silent for a moment, and when she finally spoke, she surprised the Podmaster. "Yeah...maybe you're right. If it's just four days, I can set things up so even Trinli can't do too much damage. I do need to step back, think about things. Maybe we can water-weld the blocks after all....Besides, Papa is awake on this Watch. I'd like to be with him a little more." She looked at him questioningly, implicitly asking for release from duty.
Hunh.Sometimes the manipulation didn't work out as expected. He'd have bet three zipheads she wouldn't take him up on the offer.I could stillturn her back. He could agree with just enough reluctance to make her ashamed. No. It wasn't worth it, not this time.And if one does not forbid,then be wholeheartedly generous in giving permission. He gathered her close. "Yes! Even you have to learn to relax."
She sighed, smiled with a hint of mischievousness. "Oh, yes, but I've already learned that." She reached down, and neither of them spoke for some time. Qiwi Lisolet was still a clumsy teenager, but she was learning. And Tomas Nau had years to teach her. Kira Pen Lisolet had not had nearly so much time, and had been a resisting adult. Nau smiled, remembering. Oh yes. In different ways, both mother and daughter had served him well.
Ali Lin had not been born into the Lisolet Family. He had been Kira Pen Lisolet's external acquisition. Ali was one in a trillion, a genius when it came to parks and living things. And he was Qiwi's father. Both Kira and Qiwi had loved him very much, even if he could never be what Kira was and what Qiwi would one day be.
