Surely they weren’t— Surely they hadn’t— until the night we shared, I wouldn’t have recognized him from his eyes alone— didGeeta-auntieof all people recognize his rings?
Geeta-auntie reached over and patted Sami’s hand.
“None of the rest of us mind a bit if you don’t want us to notice that you’re an Imperial scholar,” she told him earnestly.
“Geeta,”Hoda-auntie groaned.
“But why should we mind? The Temple is swarming with traveling priests and scholars lately. And I know there are many very fine people who weren’t fortunate enough to be born here in Tel-Bastet! Did you know the God-Emperor’s prophet makes his residence up in thehaveli?”
“I had heard that, yes,” Sami agreed faintly.
Ashar bit his lip and bent his head over his fussing with Sami’s sleeves, to make sure Geeta-auntie wouldn’t notice his grin.Bless Bastet’s mischief,he thought.If he would be able to pull this off anywhere, surely it would be in Bastet’s own Temple.
“Have you met ourshahzada?” Geeta-auntie asked, and she was clearly trying not to sound too eager about it, because Hoda-auntie would sniff and look down upon her enthusiasm. Still, many of the neighborhood considered the God-Emperor’s brother to be their own local celebrity: a comfortable power to be gossiped about with a parental, proprietary air, as though the Catsprowl aunties’ approval were essential to the God-Emperor’s prophet’s legitimacy.
“We have met on occasion,” Sami admitted.
“I knew it,” Geeta-auntie said triumphantly. “So of course we don’t mind if you’re a scholar. We also don’t mind if you’re not a scholar, or even if you’ve gone and renounced your faith and taken up another priesthood—why, our very own Shai Vishal has?—”
“Shai Vishal,” Shai Vishal cut in dryly, “is notyour very ownto puppet in the drama-plays, Geeta.”
“Well, how are you going to stop me then?” Geeta-auntie tossed back, eyes sparkling like a magpie.
“Truth speaks for itself, however loudly the gossip wishes to drown it out,” Shai Vishal said. “And I fully trust that this man is a dutiful servant of his God-Emperor, his Empire, and his Ministry.”
“Orthodoxy?” Basima-auntie asked, sour.
“Finance, actually,” Sami said, fretting at the fold of the leaf bowl he was shaping.
All of the aunties stared at him suspiciously at that, because no one was glad to see the tax collectors.
Ashar put an arm about Sami’s shoulders for support. “Now who is being rude to our gentle guest?” he asked them.
“Imperials are human too,” Mreret the calico catfolk said, a bit arch, because Ashar was certain she didn’t entirely mean ‘human’ as a compliment. “Tax collectors, though? Those are a different breed.”
“Hush, you,” Geeta-auntie said. “Sami, dear, men do whatever they can to earn a living, don’t they? It’s not as though you set the tax rates yourself.”
“Oh, certainly not,” Ashar said, amused. He let his hands linger on the familiar warmth of Sami’s shoulders as he traced a fingertip over the gap in his collar; that would be more difficult to correct without stitchery. “Ladies, do any of you have a pin or a needle to spare? A more beautiful wrapping invites a more sensual unwrapping.”
“Take your hands off our Sami, you shameless creature,” Hoda-auntie said, snapping her hand-towel at him like a stray cat to be startled away from the milk-jar. “Wasn’t it just three days ago you were parading your priests around the neighborhood?”
“But I am entirely shameless,” Ashar said happily; at the moment, with his sweet treasure in his hands, it was true again. “And you cannot fault anyone for a fascination with this intriguing man of mystery, can you?”
“Um,”his darling said, hands knotted tightly together.
“There, you see? You’ve made him uncomfortable,” Hoda-auntie said, winding up for another warning snap. “It’s a — well, it’s anadequatedisguise. And you keep callingattentionto it. Hands off!”
Perfect,Ashar thought.Hira would be proud of me.Because the more of an inquisitive nuisance a cat or a shameless man made of himself, the more vigorously the aunties would defend Sami’s modesty; they’d all lived through that sort of vexationfrom uncles and teenagers and cats who would pounce on any fluttering headscarf or veil. But he should at least pretend to be chastised, or Hoda-auntie might actually hit him with that towel.
“Surely I have overstepped, causing such a modest gentleman distress,” Ashar said, trying for wide-eyed, even if he didn’t think he could manage penitent at the moment. “I bid you all joy in your service and comfort in your faith.”
He reached for his basket, felt an unexpected tug, looked down, and realized that Sami had caught hold of his sleeve.
“Yes…?”
“Stay,” Sami murmured. “Please. I… I would hear your voice as well, in the court of common opinion.”
“Truly? Thank you.” Ashar put a hand over his, and made sure to hide his rings when he did. “Shamelessly, I will say that my opinions are not at all common. But in the inverse, common opinions do not always speak admiringly of mine. What is the topic to be judged?”
