55: "WHERE IS OCCULA?"

"I haven't been able to find out anything at all, miss," said Ogma.

It was three days later. Maia, during the night after Nennaunir's visit, had lain awake for several hours, fretting over Occula. Might she perhaps already have died in the hands of the temple authorities, before Ashaktis had brought the queen's message to the chief priest? That would account for no one having seen her or heard anything of her. It seemed more probable, though, that she had been sent to the queen: and if so, then either she was still with her, or else the queen, finding her not to her liking, had dismissed her as she had dismissed Maia. Either that, or else the queen had—what had been her own phrase? "got rid of her".

Maia forced herself to look at the matter calmly. She knew intuitively that she could not go to Fornis and inquire what had become of Occula. This—especially in the light of the warnings she had had from Sessendris and Nennaunir—would be not only useless but dangerous. Besides, Fornis herself had assured her that if ever she were to disclose one word of what had passed between them, she should hang. The idea of alluding to it, even obliquely and in private, to this ruthless, cruel woman—and in the dark there rose before her inward sight the mane of glowing, red hair and the dominating, ice-green eyes—frightened her very much: for though Maia knew that she had all Bekla at her feet, she also knew very well that she lacked sophistication and experience, and was not at all sure how far she could safely go in asserting herself. She had been strongly advised to avoid doing anything likely to bring herself to the queen's notice; and with this advice all her own instincts accorded.

Occula, of course, had had many admirers among the young Leopards. Before the murder of the High Counselor she had been—with Terebinthia's connivance—much in demand. But (and this again was Maia's instinctive guess) since the murder and her arrest and disappearance, things had changed. Neither Shend-Lador and his friends, when they had come to see her, nor Sarget, had made any reference to Occula, though none of them could possibly have forgotten that she and Maia had been together in Sencho's household The plain inference was that it was no longer felt to be entirely wise to recall Occula or show any interest in her. Wryly, Maia remembered one of Occula's own favorite maxims. "Never get ill, banzi, and never get into trouble: before you know where you are the water's up to your venda and the bastards are all runnin' like rats."

Besides, if—as she surely would—the queen were to learn that she had been inquiring about Occula in the upper city, notwithstanding that she knew very well whither she had last been summoned, this would be as ill-received and therefore as risky as knocking on the queen's front door.

Early next morning she had taken the only practicable step she could think of. Calling Ogma in before the time at which she herself was usually woken, she took her into her confidence, omitting mention only of her own relationship with the queen. She told her of her anxiety for Occula's life, of her virtual certainty that Form's had taken her from the temple to her own house; of the warnings she had received to keep herself out of the queen's eye; and of the consequent impossibility of pursuing inquiries on her own account.

"Ogma, dear, do you think you could try to find out something? I mean, do you know any of the queen's servants, or perhaps someone who does?"

"No, that I don't, miss, I'm afraid. I was hardly ever out of the High Counselor's house, you see, and in those days I never went into the lower city. That's why it makes all the difference bein' here with you, only now I—"

"Where's Terebinthia, do you know?" interrupted Maia.

"Oh, she cut and run, miss. Didn't you know? Lord Elvair-ka-Virrion helped her to get out of Bekla quick— he'd paid her a lot, you see, for letting him take Miss Milvushina away with him before she could be sent down to the temple with the rest of us. Yes, the temple people were too late to catch the säiyett. When they asked about her, she'd already gone. I seem to remember she said something about she meant to go south—down Belishba way: that's where she came from, you know. They still want her for letting Miss Milvushina go, only they don't know where she is. Ah, well, but Terebinthia, she was always that artful, wasn't she, miss?"

Nicely set up with all our lygols, thought Maia, letting Ogma run on for a while. And she's one person who probably could have helped me—specially if I'd made it worth her while. She'd have known some girl in Fornis's households—or if she hadn't, she could probably have found me one without exciting suspicion. But Ogma? Looking at the ill-favored, half-crippled girl, not particularly intelligent, clean or tidy; one of the countless army of decent, stupid drudges content to look to their betters for a little security in return for scrubbing the world's floors all their lives, she realized the total impracticability of sending her off to make a friend among Fornis's servants and then discreetly ask about Occula. The very idea was absurd. She tried to imagine Ogma going about to delude Ashaktis. It recalled to her one of old Drigga's most hilarious and delightful stories, in which the ox, while intending to deceive the monkey, unwittingly reveals to that perspicacious animal everything which he supposes he is keeping cleverly concealed.

"Something amuse you, miss?" asked Ogma, with an air of resentment against she could not tell what.

Like most people of her sort, the notion that others might be laughing at her was never very far from poor Ogma's mind.

"Oh, I was only just thinking of old Terebinthia," replied Maia. "That time when the High Counselor told her to—" and hurriedly invented the rest of the episode, to the delight of Ogma, who naturally, had hated the säiyett— a domestic tyrant if ever there was one.

"Well, Ogma, dear, when you're out shopping, just ask around the market and so on, as if you were gossiping about the murder, but don't let on to anyone as it was me was wanted you to, d'you see? I know you were nearly as fond of Occula as what I was, and you must want to find out what's happened to her as much as I do. But just make it look like natural curiosity—don't go trying to get hold of anyone in the queen's house or anything o' that. Only we could both land up in trouble then."

Perhaps these last words of hers had frightened poor Ogma a little too effectively, thought Maia now, listening to the total blank which was all she had to report after three days among the shops and stalls.

She might not have been trying particularly hard. Yet the more sinister explanation would not leave Maia's mind: that Occula might have died weeks ago, her body disposed of in some way no doubt well-established between Fornis and Ashaktis, her name no longer spoken, any mark she had made on Bekla obliterated—another item from the High Counselor's liquidated household.

"I haven't been able to find out anything at all." And there was something about the way Ogma spoke which seemed to Maia to carry the meaning "And don't ask me to try any more." Yes, for sure she'd frightened her too much with her talk of the queen; but no more than she'd frightened herself. Fair's fair, she thought; I can't blame her.

But I'll be damned if I'll give it up myself. My Occula! My darling Occula, who saved me from that bastard Genshed and gave me back something to live for, and taught me all I've learned and even took care to send me out of the way before Sencho was killed, although she was half-crazy with fear on her own account! Occula, the only one who ever really loved me; except for—oh, how I wish I could tell her about Zenka! If she's alive, does she know—has she heard—about me? She can't not have. Then why hasn't she tried to send me some message? And thus once again the all-too-likely explanation returned upon poor Maia.

"Ogma, will you tell Jarvil, please, to ask for my soldiers to come this afternoon, as soon as it begins to get cool? I'm going to the temple to see the chief priest, tell them."

Maia took this committal decision as unreflectingly as she had plunged into the Valderra. It was like mucking out the cows: the thing had got to be done and that was all there was to it. The thought that she could still desist, and the implication of what she was going to do—these notions crossed her mind only momentarily, to be brushed aside. How closely Fornis might be in the chief priest's confidence was something that it hardly occurred to her to consider, just as on the river bank she had given herself no time to think.

Having arrived at the temple precinct and been deferentially handed down from her jekzha by Brero, one of her soldiers, she climbed the broad steps to the portico watched by a small crowd, some of whom had followed her from the Caravan Market. The Tamarrik water-clock was just upon four hours after noon and even as she alighted, the purple-lacquered kynat released its silver ball to roll down the spiral and be caught in his cup by the divine child. Once she would have stopped to watch. Nowadays her public status required an air of more detachment and composure. Without turning her head, she passed between the two center columns and, as the acolyte seated at the bronze doors rose and bowed, gave him her most gracious smile (he was no eunuch, she sensed) and asked to see the chief priest.

Nothing could have been more courteous than her reception. A senior priest escorted her up a staircase to a pleasant, cool room on the south side of the temple, sent a slave for serrardoes, thrilsa and Yeldashay, and sat down to converse with her until the chief priest should appear. Maia, who not unnaturally felt herself to have gained a good deal in poise and self-confidence since the days of Sencho, replied to him with what she hoped was restraint and assurance about her own health, the waterways of Suba, the iniquities of the Chalcon rebels and the certainty of their early defeat by Elvair-ka-Virrion. At length the bead curtains at the doorway clashed lightly (reminding her on the instant of Terebinthia: she nearly found herself springing to her feet) and the chief priest entered, followed by an attendant, who remained standing by the door. The other priest bowed and left them.

Apart from Durakkon, this was Maia's first encounter, since her return, with any leading representative of the Leopard regime. There was no least trace of hostility, but nevertheless she began almost at once to sense that certain atmosphere of which Nennaunir had warned her. Last year she had been just a little girl for the basting, no one's enemy, a nobody whom there was no reason to harm. Now, the chief priest—who had last seen her trembling, dishevelled and filthy from days of imprisonment—was plainly wondering, behind his careful air of being honored by a visit from the city's beautiful heroine, what she wanted from him and what her real purpose might be. Quite early on in the conversation he contrived to stress the salutary and beneficial detachment of the temple from imperial politics and the value to the city of a priestly order of integrity which served Cran first and the secular rulers second. Maia could not help wondering whether, if he really supposed that she had wanted to sound out his view about herself as a possible successor to the Sacred Queen, she would have been quite such a fool as to come and do it face-to-face in a formal interview of this kind.

"My Guardian," she said, using the correct and formal style of address to the chief priest by ordinary citizens, "it's only a small matter I've come to ask you about. You'll no doubt remember the black girl, Occula, who was brought here the day before I came myself to be—er—prepared for my journey to Suba. You know, I expect, that she and I were close friends: we were in the High Counselor's household together. Now that I've recovered my health, naturally I want to take up with my friends again. May I ask you whether Occula's still here in the temple, and if not, where she is?"

"Well," he replied slowly. "Well—what do you think yourself—don't you think—while these difficult times last— that's something of a matter—isn't it—which ought to re-main, perhaps, between the temple and the Lord General? As you know, the girl—your companion, you tell me— was involved in the murder of the High Counselor, wasn't she?"

"It's not for me to contradict you, my Guardian, but I reckon otherwise. In any case, I beg you to take pity on my anxiety about a dear friend to whom I owe more 'n what I can say. At least please tell me whether you positively know her to be dead—that is, whether she died here in the temple during the time I was gone from the city."

He made no reply, only looking down at the table, patting it with his fingers in a gentle rhythm.

"If she is dead, my Guardian, surely it can do no possible harm to tell me? It seems—well, a small thing to ask, like."

He evidently thought so, too. She could discern in him a certain feeling of anti-climax. This public idol and acclaimed beauty, this new, unassessed and still uncommitted personality in the upper city's endless currents of power-maneuver, had sought him out for a talk. Yet now it transpired that apparently all she wanted to know was the whereabouts of a black concubine.

For an instant she saw him almost imperceptibly shake his head in perplexity. Then he looked up, smiling.

"If I positively knew her to be dead, Serrelinda, I would tell you as much: I hope that helps you."

"Then she is not?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you any more."

"Where is she? Is she—?" But here she checked herself. She dared not even imply that she knew about Fornis.

He smiled again and spread his hands, as though embarrassed by a question that she should really have known better than to ask.

She covered her lapse, speaking of other things, and a few minutes later thanked him and took her leave, the chief priest courteously wishing her all prosperity and summoning yet another priest to escort her from the temple.

"One more—oh, very trifling thing, my Guardian," she said.

He turned at the door.

"There is a young man here, serving a sentence. His name is Sednil. He used to be a friend of someone—well, of someone I know."

He smiled patiently. "I believe—I can't really be certain—that we have three or four men here—of that kind. My officer of the household would know, of course, and I'm sure he'd be very ready to talk with you. It would— er—be most pleasant for him, I'm sure."

He was gone, leaving her, thus put out of countenance, to cover her embarrassment by conversing with the priest. They returned along the corridors and down the staircase.

Arrived in the principal interior court below, where numerous suppliants, priests and servants were coming and going about their business, she had just contrived some remark about the swallows flitting in and out under the cornice when suddenly she caught sight of Sednil emerging—in a furtive manner, or so it seemed—from a doorway opposite. He was stooping under a great pannier strapped to his back, which appeared to be full of masons' rubble or something of the sort.

It was, in fact, a few moments before she recognized him, but in those moments he had nevertheless already attracted her attention by reason of being easily the dirtiest and most wretched-looking person in the whole court. Indeed, it was rather startling to come upon such an object even casually present in a beautiful and imposing place designed and used expressly to confer credit on the city.

Maia, inclining graciously towards the priest as an indication of thanks and farewell, walked swiftly across the court and touched Sednil on the shoulder. Starting and jerking up his head, he plainly did not remember her for a moment. Then, uncertainly, and plainly not in the least knowing what he might have to expect, he said, "Maia! Well—of course I'd heard—" but on the instant broke off, turning away. She had the impression that if it had not been for the heavy basket he would have shrugged his shoulders.

"Sednil, listen; I want to help you—"

"O Cran!" he said. "Don't you start, too—"

"I mean it—"

"—Like Nan and all the rest. Why can't you let me alone?" Yet he made no further move to go.

As she hesitated he said, "I can't stop about here. You'll get me into—"

"Sednil, I must know; where's Occula? Tell me, quickly. Is she still here or not?"

"What's it to you?"

"Oh, Sednil! You want money? Aren't I your friend—"

He gave a quick, bitter laugh and seemed about to reply, but she cut him short.

"At least tell me if you know she's dead. Please!"

"I don't know she's dead."

"Then do you know she's alive?"

As though finally maddened by her insistence—f or she had him by the arm, and under the weight of the basket he could not break free—he burst out, "She was taken away by the queen's woman—the Palteshi woman. Now will you—"

"When? The same day as I was brought here?"

"No, the day after: the chief priest didn't want—"

At this moment a burly, scowling man in a sacking apron came hurrying out of the doorway near which they were standing, caught sight of Sednil and immediately dealt him a swinging buffet on the side of the head.

"What the hell d'you think you're doing? You know damned well you're not supposed to carry that stuff across this court, don't you? You lot go round the back, where you can't be seen. Just because that's heavy—next time I'll have you whipped—"

Maia, who had never been in a position of authority in her life, had in the first instant felt more cowed and caught in the wrong than Sednil, who looked about as startled as an ox by the all-too-familiar blows of its peasant master. Now, however, like someone suddenly remembering that she has unaccustomed money in her purse and therefore need no longer stand hungry outside the cookshop, she sprang into action. Looking the overseer—or whatever he was—straight in the eye, she said firmly, "It was me as called the man: I wanted to speak to him."

The overseer looked at her in surprise. The intervention of a priest or a noble being within his comprehension, he would have known his proper response, but girls who looked like demi-goddesses, clad in authority and diamonds, had not come his way before. After a few seconds he opened his mouth to reply, but had got no further than "Säiyett—" when Maia stayed him with an uplifted hand. "Please don't trouble yourself further; I shan't keep him a moment. You may leave us now."

She turned back to Sednil. "Then you think she's still with the queen?"

"Yes. Without she's dead she is."

There was a cough at her elbow: she turned to see the priest who had accompanied her down the staircase.

"Er—säiyett—I wonder whether I may perhaps—"

"Well," said Maia to Sednil, "that's what Nennaunir asked me to tell you! And to give you this, with her love."

Thereupon, very deliberately and taking her time, she took out a hundred-meld piece, pressed it into Sednil's hand, put her arms round his neck, kissed both his dirty cheeks and then walked slowly out of the temple.

"Oh, it makes me that wild!" she exclaimed to her soldier, Brero: but when he asked her what, she merely replied "Don't matter," and said no more.

It was during this return journey from the temple that she encountered Selperron and received his gift of flowers. When he first stopped her jekzha she thought, for a split second, that he was an assassin. She recovered herself instantly, but did not altogether forget the moment.