was tall for a human and broad, running to fat. His face was ruddy but it had an open, honest quality that even Tyrion could read on a human face.
‘I told him he was an idiot.’
‘You seemed to tell him a lot more than that, or is idiot such a long word in your language?’
The stranger laughed. ‘I was explaining to him exactly why he was an idiot, like his father and his father’s father before him.’
‘And why would that be?’
The stranger cocked his head to one side and inspected Tyrion for a long moment. There was nothing sullen or aggressive about that stare and Tyrion felt no resentment of it.
‘You really don’t know, do you?’
‘I really don’t,’ Tyrion agreed.
‘And you are much younger than you look.’
‘How old do I look?’
‘It’s hard to say. All elves look the same and they could be a thousand years old.’
‘Most do not live that long.’
‘Yes but mostly you die through misadventure or violence. You don’t age the same as we do.’
Tyrion thought about all of the humans he had seen in his wanderings through the Foreigners’ Quarter. Some of them were more decrepit than any elf could ever be. ‘We age more slowly and perhaps differently. I do not know enough about your kind to say.’
‘Nor I about yours.’
‘You seemed to have avoided my question, sir,’ said Tyrion. ‘Why was that man an idiot?’
‘Because he was drunk and because by attacking you he could have gotten all of us banned from Ulthuan and that would be true idiocy, for there is a power of gold to be made in trading with elves, too much to be risked by the drunken stupidity of one ignorant fool with a chip on his shoulder.’
‘That makes sense,’ said Tyrion.
‘Most assuredly it does, sir,’ said the newcomer. ‘Most assuredly. I try to make sense whenever I speak, I would like to think I am a sensible man, sir elf.’
‘You seem so to me.’
‘Thank you, sir. It is a compliment indeed that you should say so.’ Tyrion noticed that the man had been almost imperceptibly guiding him out of the labyrinth of the bazaar as they walked. He found it amusing to have been so neatly manoeuvred and to his own advantage. Clearly the man did not want to say there was the possibility of Tyrion’s presence creating another disturbance deeper in the bazaar, and just as clearly he was trying to avoid the possibility arising. It was handled most adroitly. Tyrion realised that he would have to reassess his opinion of the humans. They were clearly cleverer and capable of greater grace than most elves gave them credit for.
He could not wait to share this information with Teclis. He knew it would amuse his brother.
‘And then with the greatest of ease, he led me out of the marketplace, and to the gates. He was saying farewell in such a natural and easy manner that it seemed only natural that I should pass through them and come back into Lothern proper.’
Teclis laughed but there was something else written alongside the amusement on his thin face, a wistfulness that made Tyrion realise just how much his twin envied him this little adventure.
‘Who would ever have thought you could have a sitting room like this?’ Tyrion said, to change the subject. The chamber was impressively furnished. The table was massive, worked from rich aromatic wood from Cathay and inscribed with intertwined nymphs and godlings. Over two walls hung heavy tapestries of the richest sort. There was crystal in the windows and they had no shutters, only a thick pair of curtains capable of cutting out any draft.
On the wall opposite was a picture depicting merchant ships at sea, the source of their relatives’ great wealth. Near the table was a freestanding mirror in which Tyrion could see his own reflection and that of Teclis. He stood in the light of the lantern, Teclis was partially concealed in shadow.
‘I think the servants have chambers as good as ours,’ Teclis said, his tone caustic.
‘I do not care,’ said Tyrion. ‘I have never seen a room as sumptuously appointed as my own.’
‘That’s because you have so little to compare it to. There are other houses in Lothern as rich as this one and with rooms ten times as well furnished.’
‘How do you know so much about this place already?’
‘Because I read, brother, and because I quiz the maid who comes to make up my room and see to my needs.’