“I will if Chay allows it. But you must have realized by now that women usually are not invited to conferences such as this. And besides—” She hesitated, then plunged on. “It may not do you as much good as you’re hoping to be seen in my company.”

“And why would that be?”

“Chay and I quarreled the last time I was in Geldricht. He may be far from happy to see me again. I spoke to him briefly when he was in the city, and he no longer seemed to be angry, but he will not have forgotten the quarrel.”

“What did you argue about?”

“Things that don’t concern you,” she said frigidly.

He accepted the rebuke by bowing his head and appearing to think everything over. “I must say I’m getting a little nervous,” he said at last. “What will Chay Zanlan do to me if he doesn’t like what I have to say?”

She gave him a considering look. “And what are the chances that he will like what you have to say?”

“Not very good,” he admitted.

“But you feel compelled to tell him something anyway.”

“I have no choice.”

“Then perhaps he will take that into account.”

“But what will he do? How will he treat me?”

Kitrini shook her head. “I have no idea. I don’t know how he will react to your arrival. I don’t know what you plan to tell him. I don’t know what else he will be in the middle of when we walk in. He has a lot to worry him right now, you realize. His son is in jail, possibly to be accused of murder. The easternmost edge of his land is under assault from greedy indigo imperialists. I happen to know that one of his most lucrative trading contracts is up for renegotiation and that he almost cannot afford to see it fail. How will he view your arrival? Not kindly, unless what you have to say is as important as the questions vexing him already.”

“Oh, it is,” Nolan said. “It makes everything else insignificant.”

She looked at him wonderingly, but still she did not ask. Nolan almost thought he might tell her, if she asked. She said, “Then I’m sure he will deal with you with the respect and consideration you deserve.”

*   *   *