to record me so she can watch that instead. That way she can keep learning card and coin magic even while I’m busy learning to Trade.
Write to me if you can.
Your friend,
Thalia
* * *
Three hours later a messenger brought a thick envelope containing her unopened letter and a sheet of stationery from the Sylvestri embassy. Thalia opened it in the music room.
Dear Miss Cutler, said the missive. The man you know as Mr. Nutall has no wish to communicate with you. Desist.
It was signed by Peter Viridian, the Sylvestri ambassador to the entire eastern seaboard.
“How annoying,” said Thalia. “For all the ambassador knows, that could have been my suicide note.”
Nell looked up from the Shakespeare play she was reading. “Bit of a crushing disappointment, Mr. Nutall not even opening it.”
“I don’t think Nutall ever knew of its existence.” Thalia resisted the urge to crumple the ambassador’s letter and throw it in the fire. Instead, she set it carefully aside. It was time to think again.
Thalia could ask for help from a third party. Madame Ostrova had always been fond of Nutall. She would be a good place to start.
Thalia cursed softly to herself. If she were a true Trader, as almost any other Trader her age would be, she would not need to beg for help from Madame Ostrova or anyone else. If she were a true Trader, she wouldn’t be endangering every young Trader in the city.
That bitter thought reminded her of Aristides and his business proposal. If Thalia let the Skinner accompany her to Nutall’s sanctuary, he could deal with any manticore that she attracted. If she did not attract a manticore, Thalia would know one of two things. Either she was in control of her Trades enough that she wasn’t drawing manticores to her anymore, or Aristides had killed the last local manticore.
How far did manticores travel, Thalia wondered. How long would it take for a different manticore to come hunt an empty territory? Thalia began to draft a telegram. She had a counteroffer to make.
* * *
The next morning brought Tycho Aristides to the Ryker house in time for breakfast. With some reserve, the Rykers welcomed him and invited him to join them at the table.
“You summoned me, Miss Cutler?” The Skinner was looking particularly spruce. His hair was clean and looked freshly trimmed. His buckskin trousers were spotless, and he smelled of boot polish and good tobacco.
“Very much against my advice,” said Nathaniel Ryker. “We should give our legal representatives time to sort this out.”
“Nat, we’ve talked this to death.” Nell gave Aristides a warm smile as she served him breakfast. “Let Thalia speak.”
“What do you know about the Sylvestri?” Thalia asked Aristides. “You’re well acquainted with Traders, and you are an absolute authority on manticores. How far does your Sylvestri expertise extend?”
Aristides swallowed a large bite of the Ryker household’s excellent smoked fish and cleared his throat. “Let’s start with what you know about the Sylvestri. In the beginning, the world made itself. The first humans who came were the Sylvestri, who helped keep things in balance.”
“Fairy tales?” Ryker asked dryly. “Isn’t it a bit early in the day for bedtime stories?”
Aristides continued, “The Sylvestri moved the mountains, they cared for the forests, and they kept the water clean. After a while, the Solitaires came, and the Sylvestri felt sorry for them, so they shared some of the world with them. Last of all came the Traders, and they bought things and sold things until they ran the parts of the world the Sylvestri had shared with the Solitaires.”
“That’s not the way the story goes,” Nell protested.
“That’s the way the Sylvestri tell it,” said Aristides. “What exactly do you want to know, Miss Cutler?”
“My friend is at the Dakota.” Thalia explained Nutall’s situation. “The ambassador won’t let him receive my letters.”
“Sounds about right. There are a few Sylvestri who tolerate Traders, and more who believe in mixing freely with Solitaires. Such Sylvestri are never chosen as ambassadors.” Aristides paused as Nell refilled his coffee cup. “Thank you, Miss Ryker. Ambassador Viridian is a Sylvestri separatist. He mistrusts most Solitaires and absolutely all Traders.”
Ryker raised an eyebrow and Nell made a small noise of disagreement, but neither actually said anything aloud.
Aristides said, “Solitaires, he considers treaty breakers and weaklings, but he’ll take their money when they come to the embassy for letters of transit to cross Federation territory on the way westward.”
“What does Ambassador Viridian think of you?” Thalia asked.