Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton Page A

wouldn’t throw you out,” Avan urged.
    “He wouldn’t need to throw me out to make himself so unpleasant, as you put it, that I couldn’t live in his establishment. I don’t think you realize how different it is for me than for you. You can make your way by your own wits and claws, while I must always be dependent upon some male to protect me. Wits I may have, but claws I am without, and while hands are useful for writing and fine work they are no use in a battle. Without them I am completely dependent, and may not turn on those upon whom I am dependent, at least, not without some other protection in prospect. If I had a husband, or if you, my brother, could receive me into your establishment, then Icould turn on Daverak with pleasure. As it is I must bend to his whims, whatever my own wishes are, and dare not join you.”
    Avan bowed his head very low, considering some sacrifices it would be very difficult for him to make. “It would not be an easy life,” he said, after a moment. “It would also be difficult for me, and could not happen quite at once, not at any rate today. But if you truly do not wish to go to Daverak I will take you to Irieth with me. You could not live as the Respected Agornin should, for I could not afford to support you in that way. You would need to work in place of my clerk, or possibly beside my clerk. Nor can I say it would be truly safe, for you would only be as safe as I am, which varies from day to day as affairs in the city and the office change. It would mean some hardship for both of us, but I am prepared to endure that if necessary.” He hardly knew what Penn would think of him, suggesting on one day that Selendra might become a consort and on the next that Haner might become a clerk.
    “Bless you, brother, but it isn’t necessary,” Haner said, kissing Avan on the side of his muzzle. “I can endure to live with Berend and Daverak, as long as you do not ask me to join with you in attacking Daverak in the courts.”
    “Of course I shall not ask it,” Avan replied. “It is only that my case will seem a lot weaker if the three of us do not stand together. But I shall not ask it if that is how things stand.”
    They sat together sadly for a little while more, until Daverak came back, full of his own importance. The boxes of Haner’s dowry were loaded onto the cart, and brother and sister bade each other farewell.
    “Do come and see us at Daverak any time you can get away from Irieth,” Illustrious Daverak said generously as they made ready to depart.
    Avan assented pleasantly, but he and Haner knew that once thecourt case began the offer would be withdrawn and never repeated. He wondered for a moment if it was worth the cost of dividing him from his sister, even if it could succeed without Haner’s help. Yet Avan was so set upon getting revenge in this way that nothing could turn his purpose. He smiled and wished them a pleasant journey. Then he rose up and flew against the wind for Irieth, intending to break his journey that night at Mosswindle. Haner and Daverak went with the wind, west towards Daverak. Haner looked back only once, to see her brother dwindling south and the peak that had been her home already almost lost among the clouds.
     
15. SEBETH
    When Avan returned at last to his lodgings in the capital, late on the evening of Firstday, tired, but not as weary as he would have been if he had flown through the night, he found a great many cards and notes awaiting him. Many were from his acquaintance in the city—Exalt Rimalin had sent a very friendly note—expressing their sorrow at his loss. Some of these were genuine enough, for though few of them knew Bon Agornin, they were sympathetic in their friend’s loss. Others were more speculative, as if they rather intended to reassess Avan’s worth now that he had inherited, or now that Agornin no longer stood behind him. Some of these made him uneasy, and these he laid to one side to consider when he woke. The