Secret Gardens [Evening 1]

[Kannon]

"That is an old title from a name already long ancient even before the time of the Jihad. I would surmise, obscure almost to the point of extinction now. Either Pankratos is particularly fond of, or was taught, truly esoteric plays that scarcely anyone would recognize at the whim of those who commissioned him." Shinah restated the 'false' premise and then paused. "Or the ghola has access to their genetic memory. From a particularly old source, at that."

Cordana leaned against the wall to bring her spine a bit of a relief, her face toward the garden.

"Not as extinct as you may think, Sister. Between the Ptolemaii and the Atreides, there has been a bit of a cultural revival of those ancient tropes here in the Delta Pavonis. Part spontaneous, part nurtured by us, especially here. They have a yearly staging of Aeschylus' 'Agamemnon' on Caladan, you see. We cannot tell how Pankratos might have acquired the access to or fondness for such ancient references. My question is why."

[Nirilli]

"This lament has many versions on worlds the Zensunni have pilgrimaged through. It also acquires different meanings in different environments. On Harmothep, it is mostly nostalgic. On Arrakis, it serves as a vengeful memento, and a canto to a revealing respondu: 'Never to forgive! Never to forget!'." Salomea approached them with her balm and a small spatula for application. "You have been to Arrakis, haven't you."

"Thank you for sharing the verses with me. It would not be sung often here. At least ... my family wouldn't sing such a song often. It is very sad. We try to lighten the bakka's burden." Probably why she was hearing it for the first time here in this garden.

Lady Gray had been to Arrakis? She looked at her curiously, interested to hear more about that place.

"Can either of you tell me about the places mentioned in the song? Bela Tegeuse? Rossak? Poritrin? Are those the names of planets?"

She began a quiet inventory of the places she had been slashed by lion claw, for application of the healing balm.

[Cuyler Gray]

"I have been to Arrakis, yes." She nodded. "As an auditor."

[Nirilli]

Nirilli looked at her curiously.

"What is Arrakis like? What were you auditing? Did you speak to any of the Fremen there? They are Zensunni wanderers, too."

[Cuyler Gray]

"It was a CHOAM audit of the harvesting and refinement of melange." She explained. "Arrakis us a harsh and unforgiving place. How the fremen survive there I can't imagine. I would be curious to ask them, if I had the chance."

[Nirilli]

"What is CHOAM? This is from your background as a chef? A cooking ingredient?"

She had heard it was a harsh and unforgiving place. What had Lady Salomea said? "I hear the conditions are brutal. A place of testing. Sharpening. Knife-like principles. No time for thought. Like jumping in front of a lion."

[Cuyler Gray]

"The Combine Honnete. They control the economy of everything, essentially. They oversee trade and commerce across the cosmos." She explained.

[Nirilli]

That sounded important.

"Lady Gray, you seem like you've had a bit more experience than I have in complicated political situations." An auditor wasn't a diplomat, but it did imply a fair amount of trust from an apparently super important organization.

"Do you have any idea what we ought to do to make this lion attack thing less ... awful? I mean, there's no undoing the grief at the losses. That grief must be honored. Important that it is. But ... to reassure that this can't happen again? Maybe quickly figure out who did it and why? So... it's all ... orderly again?"

[Cuyler Gray]

"You've already done it." She answered. "You, Emcas, and Laila, specifically, subdued the lions without causing them permanently harm. Pankratos will be seen as the hero of the day, of course. But even in that, you held the lion's attention until he could arrive."

"I imagine this will be blamed on the other racers, unless proof is found of another cause." She frowned at that thought. "But, celebrating your actions may lessen the impact of that narrative."

[Kannon]

Salomea may have been following the conversation but her visible attention was on the wounds, plastering them with minimalist efficiency with the pungently herbal balm. For that, she would nevertheless require their cooperation in presenting the injured parts for the treatment. The feeling the paste was giving was cooling and minty.

"Scars will remain."

[Cuyler Gray]

"Understood. Thank you, I'm grateful." She nodded.

[Nirilli]

Nirilli nodded at the reference to scars.

Some performers might have been troubled by that, but her modest style of dress covered everything but her face and hands, which had been spared.

"Thank you for letting me know what to expect. That's fine. No one will see. It is only easing the tightness and pain that will help me perform my best. I can't thank you enough."

Thoughts of duty. Which also made her ask herself ... was she trying hard enough to learn all she could about what happened? How many chances would she get to talk to the intelligent and observant and mystically aware woman treating her?

"Lady Salomea, do you have any thought as to how something like this could have happened? Who could have wanted such a terrible thing to happen? Forgive me if it is wrong to ask. I just want to help."

[Kannon]

"Someone who wants the legitimacy of House Ptolemaios deeply compromised and has the capacity to carry out a multi-faceted plan with secrecy and precision." Salomea said with grim calm. "Someone with knowledge and means to infiltrate us. Someone who is covering their tracks and enacting the next move as we speak. A devious mind who knows this can mean Kanly and still risks it."

[Nirilli]

Nirilli frowned. Terrible to think that such an enemy existed. But they must. It was sobering. Worrying.

"Who could ever want to cause such harm? It's hard to imagine. I ... I feel a little helpless. I am only me. But I'd jump in front of this lion too if I could stop such an awful plot. We all want to find this villain. If there is some way I can help..."

But what could she do?

[Cuyler Gray]

"Such a person likely did not account for our presence." Cuyler spoke up. "Perhaps we can assist more than we have."

[Nirilli]

"Do we know which person was driving the lions that got loose? The woman driver ... did she survive? She was close in the pack with the three behind Pankratos. It is possible she saw something."

The other two competitors near the woman were dead now, right?

"Pankratos was ahead. I am not sure he could have seen what happened. But he knows lions. He knows the course. He might have seen something unusual that would be a clue as to what happened."

[Kannon]

"Such a person likely did not account for our presence." Cuyler spoke up. "Perhaps we can assist more than we have."

"Ultimately we can't know whether they will do so going forward, but your independent actions can at least add to the complexity and thus blur the theatre. Dr Vim and you have intended to journey beyond Hypatea, haven't you? I think the Strategos can be convinced to grant you a clearance and an ornithopter at your disposal. Both Dyrrachion and Ben Ghali, the racers who died in the accident, hailed from local communities in the Thonios Delta. Nirilli could accompany you there as a guide if her mistress allows."

Looking at the Zensunni, Salomea sighed.

"What you can and cannot do is not exactly in my hands, Nirilli. I can hope the Archon shows understanding to your determination to act beyond being a maid and an entertainer. I suppose you won't have a stronger argument than your heroism in the Oon."

[Cuyler Gray]

She nodded. "That was my hope, yes. If it can be arranged, it would be greatly appreciated. And, I would certainly be curious about their histories."

[Nirilli]

She nodded. "I can report to the Archon that you are planning the trip and would welcome a local guide. And she may agree that is a good use of my time. I am sure she wants any information that can be found to address what happened. I think a case could also be made that she is appropriately sending me as her delegate to deliver news to the fallen's family and potentially invite their participation in the funerary events planned. If ... if I had died preventing the lion from harming others, I hope she would have sent a messenger to try to get word to my family."

"Our ways of grieving could be honored." Could. Archon willing. "I would want to know if their kin follow the same practices as my own family. I don't want to assume. But my family... There would be keen grieving, and then an equally fierce joy-having. It is too much for the bakka otherwise. Maybe the people here would welcome that. We find it healing."

Would the Archon have tried to send word to Nirilli's family if she'd died? To Nirilli's knowledge, no word had been sent to her family that she was still alive. But it did seem right to try. And it was different. Getting word to a nearby settlement was trivial. Tracking down a wandering barge on the river-veins was much harder.

[Cuyler Gray]

"I could make a formal request for you to be our guide." Cuyler suggested. "We will need one, regardless."