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18

Overcoming the temptation to frivolously decorate myself with one of the dark cherry roses, I slowly, but without slowing down on purpose, trudged along the path that led to the back porch of the Ra-Ken mansion, once again mentally chastising my friend for neglecting safety.

No guards, no heavy magical bolts - well, what good is that? It can be said that he is one of the first statesmen - and he does not care about his life at all, when even such an idiot like me has personal bodyguards ... I remember that we once quarreled about this so much that we even got into a fight. By the way, it was at that time that I first became convinced: if Vig is a little weaker than me, then he is noticeably superior in resourcefulness and imagination. Suffice it to say that in terms of the number of cracks in my own bones, I won, while Ra-Ken, who was already a re-amer at that time, for the most part escaped with sprains. And then... Then we healed the wounds. Together. In one room. Locked up. Because Kallas rightly judged: either we will still find a common language, or we will finally beat each other, and the problems associated with our quarrel will disappear by themselves. And so it happened. We buried the hatchets. And they promised never to teach each other how to live again.

A few years later, I began to understand why Vig insisted on refusing protection. I still can’t approve his desire, but I understand. Probably would have done the same. In similar circumstances...

All any significant government positions in Antrey are hereditary. There are positives and negatives to following this tradition, but I personally think there are many more positives. Judge for yourself: if your ancestors knew that a century later their place in the office would be taken by a direct descendant, and several more generations would follow, it is unlikely that even the most stupid campaigner would have thought to spoil his own grandchildren. No, of course, exceptions happen, and very sad ones, but they are fought with. Quite successful. Appointing capable assistants. However, if you monitor the health of the blood and make due efforts to train young minds, then with each new generation of hereditary skills will only increase. In fact, even hunting dogs are grown by crossing individuals with the necessary qualities and monitoring the purity of the breed.

So, Viger's father (both grandfather and great-grandfather) also served in the City Guard in high ranks. And it is not surprising that the father's grip was transferred to the son to such an extent that soon after the first appointment it became clear: the young man would go uphill. Rise, which is typical, no one began to interfere. For a very simple reason: if there is a draft horse on which to shoulder the brunt of the cases, it is safer and more peaceful for everyone else to step aside. And so they did, quickly raising the rank of Vig to a re-amer. Around the same time, Ra-Ken met his love...

They were happy, but not for long. And not completely, because, as a high-ranking officer, Viger was supposed to be under vigilant guard day and night. And a couple of guards in the bedroom does not contribute to the manifestation of tenderness between spouses, right? Moreover, the guards could not protect from trouble.

After the birth of Lelia, Lanna became very weak and one day she caught a cold that ended in death, no matter how hard doctors and magicians tried. Having buried his beloved, Vig stated in an icy tone that he did not need protection. Will never need again. I don’t know what arguments he gave to the queen and his immediate superior, but the demand was satisfied: not a single guard was left in the Ra-Ken house. But ... Remained bewilderment. My. Long time left.

Honestly, I would even agree to hundreds of curious people standing around my bed, if only ... If only Nais was next to me.

— Ur-r-r-r-r! – quietly, but seriously came from below.

A lobed head, large dark beady eyes, hidden by long bangs - how they see anything at all, I have no idea. White wool, the length of each strand of which is at least a cubit, covers a muscular body, hiding proportions and creating a deceptive impression of a bump and a toy. A very big toy.

- Hi.

The leather patch on my wet nose wrinkled as I sniffed, and I was again rewarded with a disgruntled growl.

- Did you smell the cat? So this is your friend.

Snorting, indicating that dogs fully understand human language.

- What's up, Brush? Shall we say hello or what?

A moment of delay, and shaggy front paws lie on my shoulders, and a rough tongue like a washcloth is rather passed over my face.

In fact, Dassian Shepherds are ferocious animals, and my acquaintance would shamelessly gobble up any trespasser if he felt threatened in him. Actually, I could have been crippled, although I appeared in this house solely through my efforts: I even chose the puppy myself. From the new litter of mom's pets. Viger did not want to agree to such a "guard", but Lelia, then still a wonderful little one and a half years old, squealed so joyfully and clutched at a shaggy ball that the re-amiter sighed and yielded. Me and my daughter. But, despite our friendship, I insisted that of all the inhabitants of the Ra-Ken mansion, Brush considered only Vig and Lelia as “his own”, which they achieved through careful training. So you shouldn't have to worry about that at least.

- Well, it will be already ... You have become too heavy to hang on me, Brush. Well, get down!

The dog complied with my request, but only because it was expressed extremely politely and affectionately: any aggressive note was regarded as an order to attack.

Are you back in town yet?

Surprised wide eyes on a sleepy face. Again half the night did not go to bed? Should I keep track of his timely departure to bed? Here's another!

- He wanted to and returned. I don't have the right?

Viger shook his head, adjusting his hastily thrown over coat.

- You have. Are you all right?

- What do you think?

Brush, utterly delighted that his master had stepped out into the garden, took his place at the feet of the Re-Amiter, feigning fidelity and devotion with all his canine strength.

- You look good. Do you feel?

The question was subtext. Very deep. The fact is that my appearance in no way correlates with my inner well-being. It comes to the ridiculous, by the way: after the heaviest drinking, any court beauty can envy the freshness and blush of my cheeks. And it’s best to work when, looking at me from the outside, you might think: here’s a goner, another minute, and he’ll fall down without strength and consciousness.

I smiled.

- Not really. But it has nothing to do with work.

Vig darkened.

- Again?

- Nonsense. Do not pay attention.

- Not nonsense! Let's go to the house. And you, - an unambiguous order to the dog, - stay here. And do not grumble! I'll go for a walk with you, I'll definitely go! Only later.

The dog, having forced a generous promise from the owner, wagged its tail, disappearing into the bushes, and I followed Vig into the "summer" living room - a room, one of the walls of which moved apart like a screen, connecting the house and garden into a single whole. Very nice, by the way: you will need to equip your own house like this. When Nais moves into it. If Nais moves into it ...

Viger brought a ladle from the kitchen and poured the fragrant dark liquid into the cups. I won’t say that I like the taste of avak – the grains of the southern shrub, which are harvested, roasted, finely ground and boiled in boiling water, but it is believed that this potion gives vigor to the spirit and body, and few people can argue with the opinion of society. So I choke and grimace, but I drink. And my friend, on the contrary, finds real pleasure in the absorption of this muck.

"So why did you come back early?"

- Think before! Just for one day.

“Which you should have usefully spent in nature,” Vig summed up sternly.

- With benefit, without benefit ... Do you already know where all this nature is? Under the throat. Tired.

“You didn’t make up with Nais?”

Why should I...

A sudden insight made me cut off the sentence in the middle. Really?

- Did you tell her?

- About what? Viger tries to back out, but it's too late.

- About everything! Thickened paint, confess? Otherwise Ney wouldn't have come.

He happily asks:

So she did come?

- Yes!

- And what are you dissatisfied with?

- Everyone!

Just in case, Vig crawls over the chair to a side slightly further away from where I can reach.

- I thought…

- Truth? And how long?

“Ray, really… It was such a wonderful moment for reconciliation!

- Yeah, weird.

- Is not it so? A loving wife hurried to her ailing husband - why not a plot for a fairy tale with a happy ending?

- Story…

I knocked over the entire contents of the cup into my mouth in order to fill the bitterness of my thoughts with the taste of avak. At least for a few minutes.

Wiger looked at me, fearing, as I suppose, no longer for the integrity of his own jaw, but for my peace of mind.

- Did something bad happen?

- Yes.

The conciseness of my friend's answer did not satisfy:

- What exactly?

- No matter.

"Ray, look at me, please!"

I reluctantly raised my eyes, meeting a gray and soft as ash look.

- What happened?

- Yes, so ... There is only one trifle.

“A trifle would not upset you,” Vig concluded reasonably. “Remember, I won’t stop until I know enough to—”

To cause more trouble? I know.

Ray, what's wrong?

- It is said: a trifle! It had to happen. One day. But I expected that everything would happen a little later than it did.

I went out onto the terrace and leaned on the openwork grating of the fence.

- It's bad, right? - a timid question.

- Yes.

“Listen… I'm sorry. I did not want.

- I know.

Vig's hand rested uncertainly on my shoulder.

“You see, I… I can’t do this.

- How?

“When I look at you and Nais, I always remember Lanna and how happy we were.

"And you want to make us happy?"

- Well ... Sort of.

I turned to face Viger.

“No need, okay?

— Sorry. He lowered his eyes in annoyance.

I don't blame anyone, you understand. I needed quite a bit of time to ... Ah, what to talk about now!

- Ray...

- All have forgotten. Actually, I came to you on business.

- Namely?

“First, I wanted to ask if the inquiry into the fire is complete.

"Completed," Viger nodded. “I will have a report submitted to you.

“Today, if possible: I am going to visit the orphanage.

- Deal. Something else?

- Secondly, I want to know who was involved in the case of those children from the market.

- As expected, Guardianship.

- And more specifically?

— Dan Ragin.

An old friend of your father's? Great: no problem with inquiries.

"Then I'll go straight to him."

"Are you really feeling well?"

They still don't want to believe in my mental health. By the way, he does the right thing: I have a real twilight in my soul. That is the most suitable state for work.

- Don't worry. Everything is fine.

- Uncle Ray!

A happy face, painfully reminiscent of the re-amer's face. Fists rubbing sleepy eyes. The lace shirt is an elbow longer than the height of a six-year-old girl.

I take Lelia in my arms:

- Hello, fly! How are you doing?

“Oh, but I’m forbidden to leave the house for three days,” the child immediately begins to eagerly sneak. “And they tell you to stay in bed all the time. But I do not want! I want to go for a walk!

But there must be a reason, right?

The girl sniffs angrily:

“I told my dad, but he doesn’t believe me!”

— Into what?

- I'm very, very healthy!

- Truth? Look, fly, just don't lie, you know I see a liar right away!

- I am not lying!

Capricious pouts her lips and at the same time looks ingratiatingly into my eyes.

“That’s right, you’re lying,” Wiger sighs.

- I'm not lying! Lelia objects hotly, and then whispers in my ear, hoping in vain that her request will remain a secret for her father: “Tell him, Uncle Ray… I’m healthy… Well, almost completely already!”

- Ok I will tell.

I lower the child to the floor.

“She seems to be getting better. In any case, a walk in the fresh air will not hurt. And you know what... Maybe send her out of town? My mother will be just happy to host this young daneke.

Vig frowns.

- Sure?

- Completely. Inis loves children. And certainly does not allow them to get sick, I know for myself!

Antrea, Copper Quarter,

start of day watch

It's good that my mother's worker, who was assigned to deliver me to the city, agreed to take Mikis to the Toris mansion: I can imagine how I would look with a cat under my arm, heading to the office!

The guardianship service, once numerous and vital, in my memory experienced hard times. At least she had to share a large three-story building with the Customs Corps, and then completely move out to one of the courtyard outbuildings, since the archive with reports of the appearance of uninvited aliens within Antreya was slowly but surely decreasing in size due to the fact that the number of aliens also did not want to grow. More precisely, if every six months someone decided to change their place of residence, choosing my city as their final address, we can assume that the Service was provided with work. At least some. And all the rest of the heels of elderly men and women, despondently waiting for the right to leave for a well-deserved and long-awaited rest, were looking for other ways to have fun. Of course, young recruits periodically appeared within these walls, but it didn’t stay long: who wants to breathe the dust of events that have sunk into oblivion, if you can just as well be located in a clean and bright office of the Customs or the City Guard? That's right, no fools.

Dan Ragin, who remembered me as an unintelligent little boy (however, evil tongues say that since then I have not changed a bit in terms of reason), groaned for only two minutes, taking out the report, since the latter rested at the very top of a stack of dusty folders. I had to wait another minute and a half until the old look in the lines of trembling letters found the name and other information about the person who took part in the fate of the newly arrived settlers. But if you think that immediately after that I left the archive room, then you are deeply mistaken: I was kept in a sagging chair for another quarter of an hour talking about the weather and well-being, both mine and my mother. And only after completely and completely finishing the tedious ceremonial, which is considered indispensable in a noble society, did I manage to break free. Relative, of course: how can you consider yourself free,

And why couldn't Wiger get used to being guarded? I got it. True, not immediately and not without difficulty, but I came to terms with the presence of bodyguards, and they ... I hope with me. No, I’m lying, they didn’t reconcile. Even Ballig, deep down, is perpetually dissatisfied with me, to say nothing of the others? But I don’t allow myself much - so, I joke sometimes. And even then in recent years I do it less and less. I'm getting old, I guess. Look, a couple more years, and I won’t bother my guards at all. I will quietly and peacefully go to work, sitting watch from bell to bell, I will diligently draw up boring reports and write rare protocols, I will ... I will be covered with mold, in general. And what, a living example right before your eyes: old Callie. It seems that recently he was a tomboy, and now - the ruins of the former luxury. However, unlike me dan The Counselor is burdened with problems to the very neck, and therefore does not have time to take care of himself, his beloved, properly. And he has not married until now ... True, he has so many cousins ​​\u200b\u200bthat there will be someone to inherit the family business. What should I do? And do you need to do something?