Ashar blinked, took a breath, and then bit his lip. Because some thoughts he oughtn’t even finish thinking, let alone mention aloud in a cluster of aunties while he sat folding leaves with the God-Emperor’s brother beneath the attentive ears of not only Bastet but also the High Priest of Upaja, who still had the time-worn echoes of a noble Imperial accent in his voice despite his years in Tel-Bastet.
But aside from the subterfuge that Sami was just a minor accountant — if the God-Emperor’s brother was to be questioned for heresy, and the priests of hundreds of faiths were about to gather in Tel-Bastet? Surely the God-Emperor wouldnotapprove of His brother being questioned in the presence of all those rivals. Which meant thatsomeone elsewould be sitting in judgment over the God-Emperor’s brother’s heresy,very soon,and that left Shai Vishal or…No, no, stop right there, Ashar told himself.This is why I don’t want to be tangled into the politics of the whole Empire!
“Oh, in that case,” Hoda-auntie said, considering. “In that case, yes, certainly. But if you find you have need of a good yowling…”
“If you have need of agoodyowling,” Mreret said archly, “you come tome, not one of those clawless old women.”
“Howdare?—”
“If our Sami finds himself in need of a good yowling, I promise I will gatherso manyyowling catsandaunties,” Ashar hurried to say, both hands raised and empty. “None of you need fear yourselves neglected.”
“I am certain you all can yowl more yowling than I could ever have dreamed,” Sami said, and how he managed it without even a laugh-crinkle at the corner of his eyes — that must have beenthe result of years of deportment training. “Will you take my velveted queen for a moment, Master Asharan? I have need of my knees, and she is quite attached.”
It took both of them and all four hands to gently but insistently unhook her claws from Sami’sshalwardespite her grumbling, and Ashar scooped her into his arms the moment Sami’s clothes were free. With a sound of discomfort that suggested he was not accustomed to sitting on bare stone for quitethatlong, Sami leaned on the pillar to pry himself upright.
“Will you come again?” Ashar asked, focusing on petting Sahar’s ears and not quite daring to meet Sami’s eyes full-on, because there was too much his expression could give away.
“Of course,” Sami said, gently. “I must introduce the kittens to Bastet’s Temple, mustn’t I? To the Temple, and to those who gather here.”
A solidly-built tawny tomcat with golden eyes leapt down from Upaja’s statue’s knee with a thump, stalking toward the group of aunties. Ashar hurriedly bent to playing pat-paws with Sahar, because he couldn’t let his face reveal that he recognized that particular cat’s build, or his lynx-tufted ears.
Sami bowed deeply toward the gathered aunties, and then turned to bow his reverences toward Bastet’s sanctuary and Upaja’s shrine as well.
“I do thank you, all of you, for the gift of your voices in community,”
“We’re here every afternoon,beta,” Hoda-auntie said, waving a hand. “The broadleaf bowls don’t fold themselves.”
“Come again,” Basima-auntie said. “And don’t forget that part about the tax-dodging. Unless my husband is here, of course.”
“I won’t forget about the tax-dodging, Basima-auntie. I am ahereticalaccountant, not avillainousaccountant.” He loosenedthe scarf around his waist that had held the pleats of excess fabric in place, and looped it over Ashar’s shoulder.
“I would make of it a gift, if you would accept it,” Ashar murmured. “To remember me by.”
“We have prayed not to draw the zealots’ particular attention to anyone here present,” Sami said. “It is lovely, but it is too distinctive. And I assure you I will remember you most avidly, even without your scarf’s gentle embrace.”
Still, they lingered a bit over shifting Sahar into Sami’s arms, and lingered a bit more over loosening the claws she’d hooked stubbornly into Ashar’s sleeve.
Clearing her throat, Hoda-auntie said, “Where is your other hand, you scandalous rogue?”
Ashar turned a few inches and leaned back so that he could more visibly wiggle the fingers of the hand whose sleeve Sahar had sunk such proprietary claws into.
“Hrmph,” Hoda-auntie said.
The tawny tomcat made a much deeper-voiced grumble. Sahar glanced at him, thumped her tail irritably against them both, and retracted her claws.
“Well, then,” Ashar said, and stepped back before she could change her mind. He offered a careful smile. “Until the fulfillment of your promise.”
“And a good accountant, like a good trader, keeps his promises.” Sami bowed as well as he could with his arms full of Sahar, then took a step, and then managed to turn away.
Kamil did notimmediatelyfollow his person’s steps toward the Temple canal-side docks, but he waited less than a minute before slinking after them.
The moment that Sami’s generous figure passed through the gateway to the docks, though, Hoda-auntie snapped Ashar with her towel again.
“Hey!”
“I never thought you were cruel,” she said. “But to flaunt yourself at that sweet, innocent man?”
“How do you know that I was not overcome by his beauty?”
