LITMIR.BIZ

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showed him the other government buildings, some adapted from the old, pre-Tanis days, others more recently constructed.

      “Your Council is made up of Opiri, humans and half-bloods?” he asked.

      “Yes,” she said. “They also serve as judges on those rare occasions when a citizen breaks the law beyond the scope of the Lawkeepers and must be evaluated.”

      “No juries?” Daniel asked.

      “Witnesses are called during the hearings,” she said. “All testimony is accepted.”

      “But the Council makes the final decision.”

      “An elected Council,” she said quickly. “All citizens have their vote.”

      As they left the vicinity of the Hall, they passed a number of Lawkeeper patrols as well as a few guards who served in other capacities, and Daniel noted that none of them appeared to be human. Isis was compelled to admit that guards and Lawkeepers were by custom either half-bloods or Opiri. Daniel’s terse nod forced her to realize that the lack of humans in law enforcement would seem strange, even problematic to an outsider.

      She had never even thought about it.

      “That building, there,” Daniel said, indicating the featureless walls of a two-story structure at the far edge of the plaza. “What is that?”

      Isis felt a strange reluctance to answer. “The blood depository,” she said. “It is where humans go to—”

      “Contribute blood.” Daniel’s expression was neutral, but she felt the tension in him nonetheless.

      “As I said before, no human is forced to do it,” she said.

      “But this city would collapse if the human population refused.”

      “They know that as well as you do,” Isis said, her words sharp with annoyance.

      “They’d be compelled to donate in short order,” Daniel said, still staring at the building.

      “That is why Tanis is built upon cooperation and sacrifice. Our citizens do not allow themselves to surrender to their instincts, no matter how powerful they may be.”

      “That is reassuring.”

      But his doubt was apparent, in spite of his attempts to hide it.

      Isis was relieved when they caught a private shuttle that took them away from the clusters of multistory buildings and deep into the human sector, where older, lower buildings had once housed the Citadel’s many Freebloods, former Opiri vassals who had yet to establish a Household or claim a serf.

      “And now Freebloods live in the towers with the ranked Opiri?” he asked.

      “Most do,” she said reluctantly. “Though many chose to leave and seek their fortunes elsewhere when Tanis was established.”

      “Rogues,” Daniel said. “No Citadel would take in Freebloods from another Citadel, and the only way they can live outside is by running in packs and ambushing free humans or raiding colonies.”

      Isis knew she shouldn’t be surprised by his knowledge of Freebloods. He would have seen many in Vikos. But if he knew about the packs...

      “Were you assaulted on your journey to Tanis?” she asked, trying to imagine Daniel fighting off a dozen rogues and escaping with his blood and his life.

      “I was able to avoid most of them. But I saw them. I saw what they could do.”

      “You said that you received help from humans hiding in the wilderness,” Isis said. “We know that there are a few colonies in this area and in the mountains to the west, small human settlements that move frequently if they feel threatened.”

      “I stayed in one for a time. It was under nearly constant attack. People died.”

      “I am sorry,” she said, meaning it. “We are also aware of colonies built upon the same principles Tanis follows, where both Opiri and human citizens are welcome.”

      “Colonies, not cities,” Daniel said. “Before I was sent to Vikos, I heard of them. But it was said that they were no safer than the human settlements outside the Enclaves. Even if they managed to maintain their principles of coexistence, it wouldn’t mean much if they couldn’t defend themselves from the Citadels and rogue raiders.”

      And was that, Isis wondered, why Daniel had come all the way to Tanis...to find a place that could defend itself and would still permit him to live in freedom?

      She wanted...needed for him to see that Tanis was that place.

      They left the central avenue and entered the maze of narrow streets between the residential buildings of Bes’s ward. The little Opir wasn’t there, and most of the human residents had gone to their jobs for the day. The older children were in school, while the younger ones stayed with one of their parents or a caretaker.

      The buildings were neat and well-kept, with flower boxes on windowsills and decorations on doors and walls. The small neighborhood plaza was green with trees and grass, crisscrossed with well-tended paths. A few older humans congregated near a bench, gossiping among themselves. They grinned and shouted greetings to Isis, their eyes shining. She acknowledged them with a wave of her hand. A group of children walking with their teacher brought her a bunch of hand-picked flowers. Daniel looked on in silence.

      As they turned the corner from one street onto another, a middle-aged man stepped up to speak to Isis, dipping his head in a gesture of respect. He told her of plumbing problems in his building, and Isis promised to see that Bes looked into the situation. Several other men and women approached with similar concerns, ranging from quarrels with neighbors to questions about the Council elections coming up in two months’ time. Again, Isis assured them that she would speak with Bes as soon as she was free.

      One young mother emerged from her ground-floor residence to greet Isis, holding an infant in her arms. Joy flooded Isis’s heart, as it always did when she saw mother and child. Once humans had brought their children to her to be blessed, and mothers had prayed to her for the health of their families.

      So very long ago.

      The mother slipped the infant into Isis’s hands, and Isis kissed the boy’s soft, round cheek. Daniel gazed at her with a slight frown between his brows, as if he could not imagine her with a child in her keeping.

      “Hold him,” she said, gently laying the infant in Daniel’s arms.

      He held the child awkwardly; not as if he had never done so before, but with an almost excessive caution, as if he didn’t trust himself to do it properly. After a moment he returned the infant to its mother with a nod and a half smile.

      “Thank you, Lady Isis,” the woman said, backing up a few steps before returning to her apartment. Daniel stared after her.

      “The boy’s eyes,” he said. “He’s a half-blood. His father was Opir.”

      “The child’s a dhampir, yes. Did I not tell you that we have mixed couples in Tanis? Not as many as I would wish, perhaps, but it is a new beginning.”

      “Have you ever had a child, Isis?”

      She was too surprised to be angry over the impertinent question. “You know it is possible?” she asked.

      “I learned in the Citadel that Opir women could give birth in a mating with a male human. It was kept secret because no Opiri wanted to admit that a female of their kind could have a child by a serf.”

      “Then you know the origins of the Darketans.”

      “Humans call Darketans ‘Daysiders.’” He looked keenly into her eyes. “Unless you spent all your time since the War wandering in the wilderness, you know that the Citadels take them from their mothers when they are hardly more than infants and treat them little better than serfs, even though they rely on them to do their daytime spying in the zones around the Citadels.”

      “We

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