Settling in

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"You won't mind being down here alone for the most part?" he asked.

"Oh, no, it'll make things easier." Than he could know.

"One thing I do insist upon," he said seriously. "You must come up and eat in the dining-room at least once during the day. Or go out with others, if you want to see somewhere else occasionally."

"What do you mean?"

"It does no one any good to sit alone and not talk to, or interact, with anyone else for day after day. I've seen it happen all too often."

It sounded like heaven to me. But I wouldn't have, anyway. Too much depended on people liking me, or at least interacting with me. Getting them to confide in me, share information that could be useful to my boss, and only appearing to give anything in return. And to get invited into private areas so that I could plant a few more of my bugs. I had a couple dozen more I could use.

I allowed myself a little laugh. "I won't lock myself up somewhere, I promise," I said. Much as I would like to. "I'll go and get my equipment, then I can get right to work."

Mr. McLichtensen shook his head. "Tomorrow will be soon enough," he said.

"But . . ."

"Ms. Hoi, after this morning, I want to make sure that you are well and rested and ready to work before you begin." He looked down at me in concern. "What if you fainted like that when you were alone down here? Who would look after you?"

I fought the anger rising inside me. I was supposed to smile and not argue with him, to make myself agreeable. But I couldn't stop myself. "You enjoy running other people's lives don't you, Mr. McLichtensen? Mine, Mr. Olmin's, Jasin and Belinda's, everyone you can."

"Wait, what?" He looked genuinely confused.

"You insist that I eat with people, that I take today easy, that I stay here in this building; you control everything."

"Now, that's hardly fair," Mr. McLichtensen said. "Staying here is just to make things easier for you, and I had the room. If you'd prefer, I can put you up at one of the hotels. Even an apartment. You inquired about the rooms here very early in the negotiations, well before I offered."

Dorst. I had forgotten that. And leaving here was the last thing I wanted.

"No, no. That's all right," I said quickly. "I haven't even seen my room yet. I'm sure it'll be fine."

His eyes narrowed a bit as he looked at me. "All the more reason to wait a bit before starting. Let you unpack and settle in." He beamed down at me.

I glared at him for a moment, then mentally stepped back and drew a deep breath. I was supposed to be winning him over, not attacking him. So I took a deep formal bow to allow myself a bit more time, and said, "I suppose you might be right."

"Hmm? What's that?" he said, looking surprised, and perhaps just a touch disappointed.

"You might be right. I am tired, and it probably would be better to start fresh in the morning, after I settled in, had a good night's rest."

"Anything you like, Ms. Hoi," he said, apparently recovering his equilibrium. "I'll take you to your room. And should you desire a snack or anything, the kitchen is always at your disposal."

"Is it?" I said. I put a little mischievousness into my voice. "I wonder if I can come up with anything that would stump them."

He gave another one of his booming laughs. "You are welcome to try, Ms. Hoi. You are welcome to try."

He led me back out the door, and locked it behind him. "Your key-card isn't good until tomorrow, anyway," he mentioned to me.

"Still needing to be in control?" I said to him, with a hint of a smile showing so that he wouldn't think that I was completely serious. "I promise I'll be good."

Today, anyway.

"It's my place, after all," he said, defensively. Then he smiled down at me, almost shyly. "I do hope you'll enjoy yourself here, Ms. Hoi. I want you to make yourself at home here."

"I'm sure everything will be fine," I said, smiling up at him. It'd be nothing at all like 'home'. "I already know the food is wonderful."

He nodded. We had arrived in the back room of the kitchen. He looked around a bit, and bellowed, "Belinda! Where are you?"

After a moment, she popped into the room. "Really, Uncle Tolly? Where am I? Well, some of us have to work around here. Don't have time to spend half the day gallivanting around."

"Hey! I was working!" he said.

"But you were enjoying it."

"That's what you think," he muttered.

Watching them banter confirmed my impression that the way to go with this man was to stand up to him, not let him run over you. Which meant I still had more research to do, so that I could understand the topics he was interested in, and argue them intelligently. Because I would need to argue intelligently. He didn't suffer fools gladly.

I wondered again at the file I had read about him. How could anyone have put it together and not note his intelligence? It had made him look like a big oaf, with no brains. The little time I'd spent with him had shown me that he was nothing of the sort.

"I need you to show Ms. Hoi to her room," he continued.

"What, no 'please'?" she said. "And what will you be doing in the meantime?"

"My 'work', obviously. Which you've said I've been neglecting." Then he smiled slightly. "Actually, I think I need to . . ." he glanced at me. "Never you mind. I'll talk to you later."

"As you say," Belinda said. Then she looked at me. "Are you quite recovered from your . . . fall earlier?"

"How did you—?" I began.

She laughed. "Oh, things get around here pretty quickly. You'll find that out once you stay here long enough."

I filed that information away. It did reinforce the notion that I would have to come out and talk to people frequently. Which I had planned on doing, even before my little spat of temper with Mr. McLichtensen.

"You'll want to take this elevator," she said, leading me into yet another one. "This one takes you straight up to your room level."

"How many elevators are there?" I asked, allowing a plaintive note to slip into my voice.

She laughed again. "Well, with Uncle Tolly's leg, he tends to want as much convenience as he can get." She thought for a moment. "Well, the one that goes down to the crypt is on its own. The ones that go up to the other two room areas are technically in different buildings, so they shouldn't bother you. The one Uncle Tolly brought you down on only leads to some offices and the front door, the one I said you should have come in at. Oh, and Uncle Tolly's apartment. That takes up most of the top floor. So, let me think, that's three you have to think about." She smiled. "Don't worry, you'll find your way around here fast enough."

"I'm sure I will."

"There's a map of the building in your room," she continued. "The place kind of grew rather than being designed, so it sometimes comes off strange."

"So I've heard," I said.

"So, what do you think of Uncle Tolly?" she asked as we stepped off the elevator, and into a small sitting area.

What to say? The truth? "I like him," I said, smiling at her. 25, conspiratorial camaraderie. "But I wasn't really expecting him to be so . . . much larger than life."

"No one does," she said. "That's one reason I told you not to let him frighten you. Not that he wants to frighten people. Often."

"What happened to his leg?" I asked.

"Old war wound," she said, curtly. "Before my time."

"What war?"

"You'll have to ask him," she said. "He doesn't like to talk about it much."

Other people didn't either, apparently.

"Anyway, I'm glad you're getting along. He seems to be quite taken with you."

He was? I really needed to get to know these people better.

"This is your room," she continued, unlocking a door in the far corner of the sitting area. "It's one of our nicer ones. Of course, they all are pretty nice. But you get two rooms, plus the use of the sitting room here. There is a small refrigerator and a quick cooker in the sitting room, and a full, albeit small, kitchen in your room."

I walked through the door, into a comfortable bedroom. The bed was large, with a plethora of pillows. My suitcases were on a bench by the windows, between the dressers. The next room was partly a kitchen, like Belinda had said, and had a table with chairs, and overstuffed sofa, and a small bookshelf with a few dozen books.

"I'm sure I'll be comfortable here," I said, bending down to look at the book titles.

"If you don't like those, there are plenty of other ones to choose from," Belinda said, looking over my shoulder. "Uncle Tolly tends to walk out in the afternoons and come back with an armload of books. Once he's read them, they tend to get scattered around. A nuisance, really."

"He doesn't keep them?" I said, running my fingers over their spines.

"Only those he really likes. You should see his own bookshelves. He has to clear them out occasionally, or they'll collapse under their own weight."

"Like the Crypt," I said.

She laughed. "Well, yes, I suppose so. Uncle Tolly tends to collect things. But the books are much cheaper, and easier to carry, so he collects them much faster." She smiled at me. "Do you need anything else at the moment?"

I shook my head.

"I'll just leave you to unpack then. Feel free to explore." She paused, then continued, "You shouldn't have to share the sitting room with anyone, unless An shows up. Right at the moment, no one has contacted us about holding a retreat or conference, which is usually the only time these rooms get used. Uncle Tolly rarely rents them out otherwise."

"They must not pay for themselves," I murmured.

Belinda laughed. "Well, I'm not sure about that. They are pretty expensive. Jasin would probably know. But really, I think Uncle Tolly is more interested in having rooms available for his friends than the money he could make in this particular venture. And having it here for people he's doing business, like you." She smiled at me. "But you might end up sharing the sitting room with An for an occasional weekend or two while you’re here. We'll try to give you warning so you won't be too surprised, but we seldom know more than a few hours beforehand, ourselves."

"An? Who's he?" That name didn't sound familiar. I frantically tried to remember anyone in the files whose name could be shortened to An. Annet? Antol? Ansen?

Belinda laughed again. "Not 'he'. 'She'. Though I can't blame you for being confused. An is Jasin's sister, Anilyne. Her schedule varies, but she does try to visit often." She paused again. "His other sister, Thrandri, doesn't visit as often. She has her own family to tend to."

"I see." I smiled and nodded. Jasin's sister, Anilyne, had half a page in the file, as did the other sister, Mithrandri, and her husband, and three young children. As well as another half page for Belinda's brother, and her parents.

But it hadn't mentioned the nickname 'An', and it should have, especially since it was such an odd name for a woman. Though I would have shown confusion in any case.

"That will be fine," I said again, smiling, 12, gracious guest to host.

"I hope you will be comfortable here, Ms. Hoi," she said. I was startled, her welcome seemed to be genuine, not just professional.

"Please, call me Glorina," I said, smile 17, friendly confiding.

She smiled back. "Call me Belinda. My husband is Jasin; he has an accounting office next door. Technically the next building, but you couldn't tell it by looking. You'll see him around a lot. He frequently works a couple hours in the restaurant in the evenings and weekends. And our daughters are usually here as well, somewhere, in the evening. Doing homework, trying to stay out of the way." She smiled fondly. "Uncle Tolly just dotes on them."

"Yes, I saw their artwork in Mr. McLichtensen's office," I said.

She smiled again. "Come down to dinner whenever you're ready. If you call ahead, we'll have a table ready for you. The number's by the phone."

"I'm sure I'll be fine," I told her once again, with smile 30, pleasant but firm dismissal.

"I do hope we'll get to know you better while you're here, Glorina," she said, and left.

I quickly unpacked and put my clothes away. Then I organized my other equipment, my computers, both to document my work with the art, and keep track of my other activities.

I frowned, and added an antenna to my art computer, which I would take with me down to the Crypt tomorrow. I doubted I'd have much reception down in a sub-basement. On the other hand, this was the middle of the RingGelf Forest, where the unicorns dwelt. One of the centers for the magic that was returning. So, it was entirely possible that there would be more of a problem trying to prevent something from joining the lattice rather than trying to get it to join.

I set up my other computer, noted that I had no recording for the one bug I had set up yet. Not surprising, Mr. McLichtensen had been with me most of the time. Later, perhaps. I would take the remainder of the afternoon and rest, just like had been suggested. No, ordered.

Tomorrow, though, I would take time out to explore the building, and find other places where I could hide my bugs. I was sure that I could find something I could use there.

And my boss was interested in everything, no matter how small.

But I would only be sending him daily updates of the high points of what I discovered, not the minute details. He'd go over the rest when I brought the computer back.

I checked over the art camera, glad to find that they hadn't decided to change it on me. It was always interesting trying to break in a new camera. The easel and the carrying cases were also familiar.

I nodded. In spite of the rough start, this should be a fairly routine job.

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