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the two cantra pieces,
unable to understand why there should be so much money to his hand.
In the end, still wondering, he slipped them into the pocket of his
jacket.
    Behind him, he heard the lock snap, and
turned, with a bare fraction of his accustomed speed, staggering a
little on the leg that had been crushed.
    Chane dea'Judan stepped into the room, the
door sliding silently closed behind her. He stood where he was,
uncertain, after Eba and two days of silence, what he might expect
from his own kin.
    If Aunt Chane will not speak to me, he
thought, I will not be able to bear it.
    She paused at the edge of the table and
opened her arms. "Ren Zel."
    He almost fell into the embrace. His cheek
against her shoulder, he felt her stroke his hair as if he were
small again and needing comfort after receiving some chance cruelty
from one of his cousins.
    "It's gone ill, child," she murmured at last
and he stirred, straightened, and stood away, searching her solemn
face.
    "Ill," he repeated. "But the life-price of a
pilot is set by the Guild. I will take the--" He stopped, struck
dumb by the impossible.
    Aunt Chane was weeping.
    "Tell me," he said then. "Aunt?"
    She took a moment to master herself, and met
his eyes squarely.
    "A life for a life," she said. "Jabun invokes
the full penalty. Council and Guild uphold them."
    He stared at her. "The flight box. Surely,
the Guild has dumped the data from the flight box?"
    "Dumped it and read it and sent it by direct
pinbeam to a Master Pilot, who studied it and passed judgment,"
Aunt Chane said, her voice edged with bitterness. "Jabun turned his
face from the Master Pilot's findings--and the request to hold open
review at Casiaport Hall! He called on three first class pilots
from Casiaport Guild to judge again. I am told that this is his
right, under Guild law." She took a deep breath and looked him
squarely in the eye.

    "The honored pilots of Casiaport Guild find
you guilty of negligence in flight, my child, the result of your
error being that Pilot Elsu Meriandra untimely met her death."
    But this was madness. They had the box, the
actual recording of the entire flight, from engage to crash.
    "Aunt--"
    She held up her hand, silencing him.
    "I have seen the tape." She paused, something
like pride--or possibly awe--showing in her eyes. "You will
understand that it meant very little to me. I was merely astonished
that you could move so quickly, recover so well, only to have the
ship itself fail you at the last instant..." Another pause.
    "I have also read the report sent by the
Master Pilot, who makes points regarding Pilot Meriandra's
performance that were perhaps too hard for a father to bear. The
Master Pilot was clear that the accident was engineered by Pilot
Meriandra, that she had several times ignored your warnings, and
that she had endangered both ship and pilots by denying you access
to your board during most of the descent. That she was not webbed
in..." Chane let that drift off. Ren Zel closed his eyes.
    "I heard her scream, but I could not--the
ship..."
    "The Master Pilot commends you. The
others..."
    "The others," Ren Zel finished wearily, "are
allied to Jabun and dare not risk his anger."
    "Just so. And Obrelt--forgive us, child.
Obrelt cannot shield you. Jabun has demonstrated that we will
starve if we reject this Balancing."
    "Demonstrated?"
    She sighed. "Eba has been released from her
position, her keys stripped from her by the owner before the entire
staff of the shop. Wil Bar was served the same, though the owner
there was kind enough to receive the keys in the privacy of the
back office. Both owners are closely allied with Clan Jabun."
    Gods. No wonder Eba wept and would not see
him.
    "We will mourn you," Aunt Chane said softly.
"They cannot deny us that." She glanced at the clock, stepped up
and offered her arm.
    "It is time."
    He looked into his Aunt's face, saw sorrow
and necessity. Carefully, tender of the chancy leg, put his hand on
the offered arm and allowed