Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [29]
"Yes, she is." Jess closed his mouth to keep himself from saying more. It wasn't his place. Sadly, for more than a year Jess himself had been deeply in love with Cesca, and he knew the feeling was very mutual. Her betrothal to Ross had occurred long before she and Jess had met, and Roamer honor and politics would never allow her to break the engagement. Neither would Jess's sense of duty to his brother.
Besides, Ross had worked so hard to meet the difficult conditions he and Cesca had agreed on for their wedding. Jess would never do anything to hurt or embarrass his brother, and neither would Cesca. Both were loyal to Ross, and all of them were bound by the complex social restrictions of the Roamer culture. Jess had resigned himself to an unrequited love. He would stand strong and live without her, though Cesca would always be in his heart.
Ross had no inkling of his brother's attraction for his fiancée, and Jess had privately sworn never to let him discover that fact. The cost to all of them would be far too great.
After sharing a meal and playing a few rounds of stargames with three crew workers, Jess slept in a guest bunk. He left the Blue Sky Mine early the following morning, when Golgen's sun was just creeping above the fuzzy horizon.
Bidding Ross farewell, Jess detached the valuable load of stardrive fuel and began to pilot the cargo escort away from the Golgen system to a Roamer transport station, where it would be offloaded to Goose distribution ships.
He also carried gifts and letters from Ross, because after completing his delivery, Jess intended to make his way to the central Roamer complex of Rendezvous. With an ache in his heart but a neutral expression on his face, he would dutifully deliver his brother's romantic presents to Cesca Peroni.
14 CESCA PERONI
The Roamer yacht maintained its position at the arranged meeting point in empty space. The private yacht bore no markings to indicate that it carried the important Speaker for all Roamer clans, along with her protégée. Playing their political cards close to the chest, Roamers rarely resorted to emblems or trappings of power.
Cesca Peroni sat in the copilot's seat, monitoring the emptiness, keeping watch on her sensors. Distant stars glowed all around them, partially muffled by thin wisps of nebular gas. "No sign of the other ship yet." With large eyes, dusky skin, and a sense of humor matched only by her sense of duty, Cesca always kept both her mind and her eyes open.
Beside her the sinewy old woman, Jhy Okiah, stared through the windowport, as if she found every single star worth looking at. "Patience, patience." The ancient Speaker had vast reserves of inner calm and an intelligence that she never flaunted when speaking to others.
A light blinked on Cesca's control panel. "Ah, here he comes."
Jhy Okiah pursed her lips as she studied the starscape to pick out the tiny dot that heralded the diplomatic transport ship bearing the Theron heir, Reynald. For months, the son of Mother Alexa and Father Idriss had worked through intermediaries and scattered messages to arrange this meeting with representatives of the Roamers. His persistence had been admirable.
"He's finally getting what he requested," Jhy Okiah said in her raspy voice. "I can't help but chuckle at how astonished Chairman Wenceslas would be if he knew Reynald had gone to so much trouble just to see a few Roamers."
Cesca looked at the Speaker. "Perhaps this young man understands more about us than other human governments do." Both women knew about Reynald's peregrination, and they respected the young man's interest in all significant societies of the Spiral Arm, including the oft-dismissed space gypsies.
Jhy Okiah frowned. "Or perhaps we haven't been keeping our secrets as well as we think." Though their nomadic society had many ships and a great deal of wealth, the clans kept their operations thoroughly confidential and avoided drawing attention to themselves.
The old woman's limbs were thin and her bones as brittle as dry bamboo, which