Mistress of the Empire. Janny Wurts

      The merchant gave back a Tsurani shrug. ‘That is the name of the herb, or rather the leaves of the shrub. When someone in LaMut says “tea,” this is what they speak of, not the blends of plantstuffs steeped in hot water you drink here. Yet of this delicacy there are a multitude of varieties as well, robust, subtle, sweet, and bitter. One selects to suit the occasion.’

      Now fascinated, Mara nodded. ‘What else?’

      Janaio selected another pot from the Acoma supply and prepared a second hot beverage. ‘This is a far different drink.’

      A black liquid that smelled rich and heady was presently handed to Mara. This time, Jican supplanted her taster, his excitement overcoming caution. Mara could barely wait for her hadonra to try his share before she sipped at her sample. The drink was bitter and yet piquant. ‘What do you call this? It reminds me vaguely of chocha.’

      Janaio bowed at her evident pleasure. ‘This is coffee, mistress. And like the tea, it has a thousand different cousins. This you drink grows on plants high upon the hillsides of Yabon. Good, robust, but hardly a delicacy.’ He clapped, and one of his servants brought forth another basket, smaller, and tied with festive ribbons. ‘Let me offer a gift. Here are a dozen samples for you to consume at your leisure. Each is clearly labeled as to the type of bean used to make the drink and instructions for preparation.’

      Mara set aside her half-empty cup. While this sampling was diverting her from her troubled marriage, the day was waning while she tarried. She was reluctant to forgo the hour she always spent with her son while he took his supper. Justin was recently five years of age, too young to understand delays.

      Sensing her impatience, Janaio raised a hand in appeal. ‘The most astonishing drink remains yet to be sampled.’ Quickly, before the Lady could rise and take her leave, he asked her servant, ‘Please, may I have needra milk?’

      Mara might have taken issue at this man’s presumption, except that Midkemians could be expected to act impetuously. She hid her tiredness and motioned for the servant to run the requested errand. In the interval, Saric bent close to his Lady’s ear. ‘Don’t miss the subtleties,’ he advised. ‘This man was Tsurani-born. He apes Midkemian brashness, almost as if he knows that you had a fondness, once, for such behavior. I do not like the smoothness of this play upon your sympathies, my Lady. You will be cautious, please?’

      Mara tipped her fan against her chin. Her adviser was right to wish restraint. ‘This Janaio drinks from the same pot as I. Surely there will be no harm in enduring one more sample. After that the interview will be ended.’

      Saric returned a half nod, but a glance exchanged with Jican caused the little hadonra to pause. When the servant returned with a small pitcher of milk, Jican suggested that he also would like a cup to taste, separate from the slave that would continue to perform his office.

      ‘But of course,’ Janaio agreed in pleasant tones. ‘You are a shrewd man, who wishes to understand every nuance of the trade your house may undertake.’ While Mara’s councilors looked on in wonderment, the trader poured equal portions of milk and hot water into the final pot. His chain sparkled as he leaned toward his basket, speaking all the while. ‘Occasionally, you may wish to use only milk, as it gives added richness to this drink.’

      His preparations were completed with yet more flourish than before. Again he passed the tray of filled cups to the servant, indicating Mara should choose hers first. She did not, but waited until Jican and the taster had selected. The smell of this drink was intoxicating. The little hadonra shed his anxiety and sipped. He recoiled with a smothered yelp as he burned his tongue.

      The trader had the grace not to laugh. ‘My apologies, my Lady. I should have thought to warn: this drink is served very hot.’

      Jican recovered his aplomb. ‘My Lady,’ he said excitedly, ‘the taste of this rarity is incredible.’

      Both hadonra and Lady looked at the slave who served as taster. More careful than Jican, he had not burned his tongue, and he was slurping the drink with such evident relish that Mara motioned for the servant to pass her the tray.

      As she chose from the last two cups, Janaio said, ‘If coffee reminds you of chocha, then this wonder may remind you of the chocha-la you make for your children. But I humbly submit, that chocha-la is to chocolate as my humble station is to your grandeur.’

      Mara sipped and closed her eyes at the marvelous taste. Unable to hide her surprise and pleasure, she sighed in pure happiness.

      Grinning, Janaio accepted the last cup from the tray and drank deep. ‘This is chocolate, mistress.’

      Unable to help herself, Mara thought of Kevin, who had commented on more than one occasion that he missed the chocolate sweets of festivals in his homeworld. At last she understood.

      Blinking back the moisture that gathered in her eyes, and passing off the indiscretion as if she avoided steam from the cup, Mara said, ‘This is a wonderful thing.’

      Janaio set aside his emptied cup and bowed. ‘I wish permission to be granted exclusive license to import, mistress.’

      Mara shook her head with open regret. ‘I cannot grant that, Janaio of LaMut. My patent from the Imperial Government is limited to certain items.’

      Obviously disappointed, the trader gestured expansively. ‘Then perhaps a trading agreement. If exclusivity is beyond your means, then at least let me broker through the mightiest trading house in the Empire.’

      Mara drank more of the delightful liquid, recalled to caution at last. ‘What of the Matawa?’

      Janaio gave a deprecating cough. ‘Their offer was insulting, no, demeaning, and they lack the experienced factors you have in your employ. They require interpreters, still, to transact business, an uneasy situation for one in the luxury market, as I am. I desire no avenue that is ripe for misunderstanding, or even the outside chance of exploitation.’

      Savoring the dregs of her drink, Mara said, ‘That much I can grant.’ Regret tinged her tone as she added, ‘I can’t limit others in bringing these beverages to us, but perhaps some shrewd buying in LaMut might hamper others from competing effectively against our interests.’ Then, content to entrust the disposition of final details to Jican, she prepared to take her leave.

      The trader bowed, touching his forehead to the ground. ‘Mistress, your wisdom is legendary.’

      Mara stood up. ‘When we are both made rich from the importation of chocolate to our Empire, then I will accept the compliment. But now other matters require my presence. Jican will draw up the documents sealing the partnership you request.’

      While servants hurried in to collect the dirtied cups, and Jican’s brow furrowed as he confronted the intricate issues of trade, Mara left the room, helped by Lujan and Saric.

      Outside, screened from view by the gloom of an inner corridor, Saric turned a sour eye on his mistress. ‘You took grave risks, my Lady. Any trader from Midkemia who was originally Tsurani-born could once have been sworn to the Minwanabi.’

      Left short-tempered from missing her rest, Mara answered tartly. ‘You all saw. He drank equal portion.’ Then she softened. ‘And those rare drinks have made me feel wonderful.’

      Saric bowed, his silence indicative of displeasure.

      Mara moved on toward the nursery, where, even one wing distant, enraged yells could be heard from Justin. Her sigh turned into a laugh. ‘I am late, and the servants plainly have their hands fall.’ She laid a hand on her uncomfortably swollen middle. ‘I am anxious for this baby to get himself born, though with another, there will none of us get any peace.’ She headed in the direction of Justin’s ruckus with a girlish smile. ‘I may well come to miss being pampered when once again I must sit without the aid of two healthy young men.’

      Lujan grinned in sly appreciation, his expression mirrored by Saric. ‘Hokanu will do his best, I am sure, to keep you with child indefinitely.’

      Mara laughed, the bitter undertone not missed