Keffria's mouth had gone dry. She sipped at her wine, but it did not seem to help. Instead she coughed awkwardly, and then choked. She was just getting her breath when her mother spoke for her.

“I am afraid our Malta is a mischievous little thing. Full of pranks and tricks is our girl.” Ronica's tone was light, but the look on her face was sympathetic. “No, Jani, it is not your son's courtship that we look on with disfavor. It is Malta's age and her childish behavior. When Malta is old enough to have suitors, he will most certainly be welcomed by us. And if he gains her favor, we could only feel honored by such a joining. But Malta, although she may have the appearance of a young woman, has only a child's years, and I fear, a child's love of pretense and mischief. She is barely thirteen. She has not yet been presented. He must have seen her in her Trader robe, at the gathering you called. I am sure that if he had seen her as she usually dresses, in a little girl's frocks, he would have realized his ... error.”

A silence descended. Jani looked from one woman to the other. “I see,” she said finally. She seemed to feel uncomfortable now. “This, then, is why the young woman is not present tonight.”

Ronica smiled at her. “She is long abed, as most children her age are.” Her mother took a sip of her wine.

“I find myself in an awkward position,” she said slowly.

“I fear ours is much more ungainly,” Keffria cut in smoothly. “I wish to be completely honest. We were both shocked, just now, at the mention of a scarf and flame jewel. I assure you we had no knowledge of such a gift. And if the dream-box has been opened . . . no, I am sure it has been, for your son has shared the dream . . . well, Malta is the culprit there also.” She sighed heavily. “I must apologize most humbly for her ill manners.” Despite her efforts at control, Keffria found her throat tightening. “I am distressed.” She heard her voice begin to shake. “I did not believe her capable of such deception.”

“My son will certainly be discomfited,” Jani Khuprus said quietly. “I fear he is too naive. He is close to twenty, but never before has he evinced any interest in courting a bride. And now, I fear, he has been precipitate. Oh, dear.” She shook her head. “This puts a different face on many things.” She exchanged a glance with Caolwn and the other woman met it with an uncomfortable smile.

Caolwn explained softly. “The Festrew family has ceded to the Khuprus family the contract for the liveship Vivacia. All rights and debt have been transferred to them.”

Keffria felt she staggered and fell out into the white silence. She scarcely needed the words that followed from Jani. “My son negotiated this with the Festrews. I came tonight to speak for him. But clearly what I was to say is inappropriate now.”

No one needed to explain. The debt would have been offered back as a bridal gift. An extravagantly expensive bridal gift, a typical Rain Wild gesture, but on a scale Keffria had never before imagined. A liveship debt canceled for one woman's marriage consent? It was preposterous.

“Such a dream as it must have been,” her mother murmured drily.

It was inappropriate, almost coarse in its implications. Keffria would always wonder if her mother had guessed what would happen next. As all the women burst into sudden laughter at the susceptibility of men, the awkwardness dispersed. They were all suddenly mothers caught up in the clumsiness of their offspring's rumbling courtship.

Jani Khuprus took a breath. “It seems to me,” she said ruefully, “That our problem is not so great a one as time cannot solve it. So my son must wait. It will not harm him.” She smiled with motherly tolerance from Ronica to Keffria. “I will speak to him most seriously. I shall tell him that his courtship cannot commence until your Malta has presented herself as a woman.” She paused, mentally calculating. “If that is this spring, then the wedding can be in summer.”

“Wedding? She will barely be fourteen!” Keffria cried out incredulously.

“She would be young,” Caolwn agreed. “And adaptable. For a Bingtown woman marrying into a Rain Wild family, that is advantageous.” She smiled and the fleshy protruberances on her face wobbled hideously at Keffria. “I was fifteen.”

Keffria drew a deep breath; she was not sure if she would shriek at them, or simply order them from the house. Her mother's hand fell on her arm and squeezed it. She managed to close her mouth.

“It is far too early for us to speak of a marriage,” Ronica said bluntly. “I have told you that Malta is fond of childish pranks. I fear this may be one of them, that she has not considered your son's courtship with the seriousness it deserves.” Ronica looked slowly from Caolwn to Jani. “There is no need for haste.”