The Power and the Glory

Book 2 Chapter XIV: A Misunderstanding

"I'm not worried about her," Kiriyuki said. "I just need a drink."

Who doesn't? Kitri thought. "Would you care to join me for a cup of tea?"

~~~~

How had an invitation to have tea turned into a raid on the hotel's bar? Kitri didn't know. She also didn't care enough to figure it out. Especially not when her head was swimming and the table moved around far more than any inanimate object should.

Kiriyuki wasn't in a much better state. After the first two bottles of jarage[1] she began to complain about her uncle. Most of what she said was in Seroyawan with only a few words of barely-comprehensible Saoridhin. Kitri understood only that Kiriyuki's uncle was terrifying. She could sympathise; she had a few terrifying older relatives herself. She started to tell Kiriyuki about her horrifying Aunt Nuashil. After the fourth bottle her story trailed off into gibberish. Half-way through the fifth bottle Kitri fell asleep at the table.

Icy water crashed down on her head. Kitri awoke with a screech. She flailed her arms and legs, instinctively trying to swim, and only succeeded in knocking over the table. Kiriyuki sat bolt upright. She grabbed the closest thing to hand to defend herself. Unfortunately it was a cushion from the chair beside her. Kiriyuki, still not fully awake or quite sober, stared blankly at it as if she'd never seen a cushion before.

Kitri's soaked hair clung to her face like a determined octopus. She pushed it out of the way, rubbed her eyes until she stopped seeing two Kiriyukis holding two cushions, and took stock of the situation. Her eyes narrowed. She turned around slowly with her fiercest glare. hoping to put the fear of the gods into the prankster responsible. Probably it was some other patron of the hotel bar who'd also overindulged in their strongest drinks. What a pity that they, unlike Kitri and Kiriyuki, were the sort of person who'd do stupid things instead of just going to sleep after too much to drink.

At first she saw no one behind her at all. Kitri blinked and rubbed her eyes again. Then someone poked their head out from behind the settee a short distance away. For a minute Kitri thought she was still dreaming. There were plenty of people she'd expect to play a joke like that. This wasn't one of them.

"Irímé?"

If it was Arafaren she would have expected it. If it was Abihira she wouldn't have been a bit surprised. But Irímé! What was the world coming to?

Kitri shook her head sadly. He's spent too long around Abi. She's rubbed off on him.

"I'm sorry," Irímé said. "I tried to wake you, but you were too drunk. So I had to get a bucket of water."

Kitri spluttered indignantly. "I was not drunk! I was just tired."

Behind her Kiriyuki had gone back to sleep. She snored peacefully, oblivious to everything around her. Unlike Kitri she had been lucky enough not to get drenched by the water.

"Of course," Irímé agreed. He sounded more like someone who was accepting an explanation to prevent an argument than because he believed it. "Sorry to interrupt your sleep. You're a magistrate, aren't you? I need you to draw up a contract."

Four and a half bottles of jarage would dull the intellect of the most intelligent person in the empire. Not even an hour's sleep and a bucket of water thrown over her head could shake off all its effects. Kitri's mind was still slow and sluggish. She heard the words "magistrate" and "contract" spoken by someone who she knew mainly as her friend's future husband. Naturally she jumped to what seemed to her to be the most obvious conclusion: a marriage contract.

He still wants to marry Abi after everything? Kitri thought in confusion. "What, now?"

"Yes, before my mother objects and demands more money."