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use getting the lawmakers angry; they stay that way for such a very long time..."
Her look was wry. Lee couldn't help but smile. "As for your specific investigation," dil'Estenv said, "my
master has expressly required that you be given whatever you ask for in terms of data regarding outworld
homicides. All of that would normally be held by the Bureau of External Affairs, which, as you might
imagine, is most eager to keep the in-formation right where it is. But they must obey the Laurin no less
than I ... so if they give you any trouble, let me know."
"And has there been trouble, madam—Dierrich?" Gelert said, noting her expression, jocularly warning.
Dierrich allowed herself only the slightest smile. "When has an intelligence organization ever
wholeheartedly coop-erated with orders to give up its hard-won data?" she said. "Oh, there've been
some small ructions, disagreements over protocol and precedence ... but nothing that should now
in-terfere with your work. If there is any further interference, contact my office. Our interest is in having
your work here go smoothly and with speed."
They talked for a little while more before Dierrich moved on, making her rounds of the committee. Lee
found herself impressed by the woman. She was no less beautiful than any of the rest of the Alfen, but in
her case that beauty was tem-pered by something else—a sense of mind, of thoughtfulness, and of power
contained; and small as she was, the way she bore herself made her seem taller than those around her.
Lee was reminded strongly of what she had almost-Seen in the Elf-King, that night in the restaurant, and
found herself suddenly able to understand why this woman would have risen to the post of his
second-in-command. There was a kinship of their styles of power; a weapon, but one kept in reserve.
Lee looked after her when she finally moved off to go talk to Mellie Hopkins and a couple of the others.
"A very nice lady," Gelert said. Unusually so for an Alfen.
That's not what I'm thinking about at the moment, Lee said. That woman's the local equivalent of
the Young Em-peror of the Xainese, or the UN SecGen. I wonder where her security is?
Where it doesn't show, most likely. Even our own people know how to be discreet at events like
this.
Lee nodded. I suppose... she said. It's just that our blue-eyed dil'Hemrev and her "concerns" about
my safety are still on my mind. Just because ExAff seems to have had its wrist slapped doesn't
relieve me entirely. And when we get up into the "rose garden" tomorrow, or whenever ... that
concerns me a little, too.
Well, we'll be together, Gelert said. For the garden, any-way. For the data, you don't need me; you
can savage ExAff yourself, after what Madam Dierrich there says. And, he said, grinning, as he
turned away toward the buffet table, you can find out whether she's really to be trusted...
*10*
The next morning, after breakfast, the committee met in-formally for an hour or so to coordinate details
about who they would be meeting for the next couple of days, and to discuss their findings so far. The
scheduling part of the meeting went well enough, but as for the rest of it, Lee thought to herself as she and
the others prepared to leave that she had never heard so much doubletalk and obfuscation in one place in
her life. Everyone on the committee was certain that they were being even more closely watched and
listened to than they had been in Ys, and everyone was in-tent on giving absolutely nothing away to the
listeners. As she got up, Lee hoped it was as frustrating for them as it was for her.
Gelert was shouldering into his doggie pack as Lee glanced over at him. "So you finally get to do the
Homicide end of things," he said. "I envy you, but I'm still stuck with the numbers team..."
Don't envy me too quickly, Lee said. It remains to be seen if ExAff is going to be as cooperative as
dil'Estenv thinks they are.
Gelert grinned. Should be interesting.
"But don't worry," Lee said. "I'll be recording everything for analysis; you'll have plenty of time to look it
all over later."
"Right. See you for lunch?"
"I don't know."
"Well, you have the commcode of the offices they've as-signed us over at the Exchequer; call me there if
you need a break."
"Right."
ExAff's buildings turned out to be unusually beautiful ones, built more or less in the shadow of the Laurins'
House, at the edge of the city closest to the bottom of the rising ground that led up to the cliffs. That
whole area had been turned into a sort of vast, naturalized rockery, planted with rhododendron, hardy
alpines, and other trees and plants na-tive to the area. The effect produced was of a natural land-scape
that had laid itself out in an unusually ordered manner, masses and colors balanced, but not so balanced
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