"yes, sir, it is that. thankfully, as i've said, it is temporary."

"well. i suppose we should thank the good god for your health, and never mind the rest for now."

"yes, sir. i do that every morning when i awaken alive. it's not a thing a man takes for granted, once he has experienced the plague."

"was it very bad, then, in the city?"

and i was pathetically grateful to horrify the poor man with a lurid telling of just how bad it had been. when i spoke of the dead stacked like cordwood on the snowy grounds, i realized that even my father was listening to me. so i deliberately told, with genuine sorrow, of my fellows whose health had broken so badly that they would never soldier at all, let alone continue a career at the academy. i finished with, "and so, of course, ungainly as i find myself at present, you can understand why i am grateful to have come through the experience with my future intact. and with colonel rebin in charge of the academy once more, i anticipate continuing my studies with more pleasure than ever."

"a remarkable tale! and did they ever find what wayward son of a dog brought plague to old thares?" carsina's father was completely in thrall to my tale now.

i shook my head. "it is suspected that it came to the city with some specks who were being displayed at a dark evening carnival."

"what?" horrified, he turned to my father. "had you heard of specks being allowed to travel to the west?"

"it was inevitable that someone would try to smuggle some to the city eventually," my father said with great resignation. "the greatest folly was that one of them was a female. from correspondence i've had with authorities at the academy, she was the likely source of the plague."

"no!" carsina's father was aghast. he turned to me, and suddenly a new light kindled in his eyes, as if he had suddenly worked an equation and was appalled at the answer. his eyes appraised me warily. how had i contracted the dread disease? the question was in his gaze if not on his lips, and i answered it directly.

"there are other ways of transmission beside sexual contact," i hastily insisted. "i've been working with dr. amicas at the academy, simply because of the unique aspects of my case. some of my fellows, i will admit, fell to the plague after having congress with a speck whore. i, sir, was not one of them. nor, for example, was the young son of the former academy commander. and of course, my own girl-cousin epiny was also a victim of the plague."

"and did she die?" i suddenly realized that the circle of my audience had grown. this query came from another listener, a middle-aged woman unwisely dressed in a virulent pink gown.

"no, ma'am, i'm happy to say she did not. her case was very mild and she recovered with no side effects. unfortunately, that was not true for the young new noble cadet she married. cadet kester was forced to withdraw from the academy. he is determined that he will recover his health sufficiently to return, but many feel that his military career is over."

several of my listeners now spoke at once.

"i served with kester! it must be his son. that's a damnable shame! who else fell to the plague, from the new noble ranks?"

"what saved your cousin from the plague? what herbs did she take? my dorota is with her husband at gettys. she and her two little ones. they haven't had it in the household yet, but she fears it's just a matter of time!" there was great worry in that matron's voice as she pushed closer to me.

but the voice i heard most clearly was that of carsina's father. grenalter said slowly to my father, "epiny burvelle-that would be your brother's elder daughter. she married a new noble soldier son who'll have no career? surely you told me that your brother planned to marry her to an old noble heir son?"

my father attempted a tolerant laugh. that was when i knew i'd said too much. "well, you know young people today, grenalter, especially the city-bred ones. they have small respect for the plans of their parents. and in a time of plague, permissions are given that ordinarily would be refused. just as soldiers facing battle will sometimes commit acts that they would otherwise recognize as foolhardy."

"foolhardy. indeed. i've witnessed a few acts like that," grenalter conceded heavily. i could tell he was distracted, and i could almost see him totting up and subtracting the advantages and disadvantages of his marital agreement with our family as if he were an accountant. suddenly epiny's words about being sold as a bride to the highest bidder didn't seem so melodramatic. obviously, my weight gain was a debit to the transaction, but an even larger one was that the branch of the burvelle family in old thares had not sold off their daughter to an old nobility family. did connections and marriages actually carry that much political and social weight, i wondered, and then instantly knew that they did.