Sitting down with Herring, Theril, Rondus, and Fraegan in the cabin of the longship, Telaeri spends the better part of the day explaining what she knows about the culture, rituals, and leaders of the Reilahren tribe, as well as its trade network representatives. She's learned a lot in the month she spent there, and tries to give Fraegan the benefit of as much knowledge as she can convey in -- and that he can retain from -- a single morning and afternoon. She's much better at communicating visually than verbally -- part of the reason her answers to Theril's Assurance are not among the best -- and conveys the characters of the people she's describing more completely by emulating their body language and facial expressions (often coupled with those typical of tribe members who approach them) than she ever could with words alone. As she explains the tribal culture, it becomes increasingly clear as well that, largely by happenstance, she was the perfect choice for first ambassador to the tribe, since Reilahren's is a deeply visual and tactile culture; Telaeri spends twenty minutes, mostly with one or both of Fraegan's hands in hers, just helping him understand the hugely significant, sometimes non-intuitive meanings of different kinds of pressure and motion in a handshake. She teaches him to recognize the tribe's many ritual dances, some religious, some ceremonial, some apparetly means of self-expression, communication, community building, and even decision making, not by description but by demonstrating them, sometimes with Fraegan himself, teaching him the simple steps of the dances in which he'll most likely be asked to participate.
Fraegan's a quick learner, and he drinks in Telaeri's knowledge with intense concentration, but something more is happening: He didn't want the Grat'han assignment originally -- he was hoping to work in a civilized country -- and accepted it in the end only because Matrix insisted he was the right man for the job, and that it was his best chance to advance in the foreign ministry and eventually be appointed to more important (and civilized) posts. He intended to do the best job he could, and was glad of the opportunity, but his enthusiasm was not for the job itself -- just for using it to help his career and his country. By noon, as he learns from Telaeri, Theril can see that his whole perspective on the assignment has changed. Matrix explained that the trade network and even the Reilahren tribe itself represented a real power in the region, and in some sense a real and civilized country, so of course he knew that already, but if Theril is reading him correctly, something in learning the details of Reilahren's culture and society, or something in the way Telaeri is teaching him, has made him feel it viscerally. Theril herself communicates much better verbally than otherwise, but she hears it in his word choice, among other things: The ambassador to Reilahren in abstract changes for him from "you" to "me," and there's even a shift in the questions he asks and the way he uses "we" that implies he's no longer just thinking, "What does Matrix expect of me here?" so much as, "How can I best use this to strengthen Black Steel in the region?"
It may be a tough assignment. Especially as she goes into details of specific meetings she saw or in which she participated, Telaeri keeps building context for her explanation about the trade network, demonstrating and explaining the things she saw so that Fraegan -- and Herring and Theril as they watch -- can follow the line of evidence for themselves, to see if they reach the same conclusions that she does before she says anything to bias them as to what those conclusions might be. And as dusk begins to gather, and Telaeri closes her eyes and breathes deep, and finally says, "I hope that's enough of the background," Theril can see at least a part of the picture already.
"They're a serpent cult," Theril offers. "Their metaphors, especially the ritual ones, suggest it, but those things you showed us in their dances..."
Telaeri nods, glancing at her. "Absolutely. Not on the surface, but it's deep. Once you see it, you can see how it goes all the way to the heart of their rituals. And you can see how it changed. A lot of those dances were different, and I can see how the old forms have been changed to serpent themes."
Herring raises a brow. "Llaesira explained a little about that sort of thing, but she said it's a very old religion in the jungles. Are you certain it's a recent change?"
Telaeri nods. "You can't see the the old ways at all from the children, and they're obvious when you watch the elderly. It must have changed within the last generation or two at the earliest."
Herring takes her word for it; if nothing else, Telaeri is Black Steel's foremost authority on the art of the dance. "Still, at least it isn't menacing. Snakes don't mean the same thing in Grat'ha as they do to us."
Remembering, Theril suggests, "Perhaps they're just returning to that old religion. Llaesira was telling us about the serpent fetishes in the trade network; even where the religion isn't actively practiced in Grat'ha, serpents are symbols of protection and good luck."
Telaeri slowly nods again. "Maybe in Llaesira's part of the jungle at least. She's out where it's really just a trade network, at least mostly, where maybe someone like her really /can/ have power -- the kind she uses, at least. This deep in though, it's a whole different world. I don't know how much Llaesira even knows about this; the network people here don't work the way she does, and the guy with the serpent teeth, the one she thinks is her equivilant, isn't anywhere near the top of their food chain. He wanted me to think he was, but he couldn't hide ... well, the excuses he made when I talked to him about things he wasn't expecting, just dances and rituals and things; the way he reacted to different situations; his body language; the way things changed when other serpent people were visiting; I don't know if I can describe it all ... but he definitely had superiors, and there were a thousand things he couldn't do or even talk about without getting a decision from them. He was ready for all kinds of questions about trade and power and military forces, but he didn't know what to do with my interest in the culture; I'm not sure he ever even understood it properly. If not for that -- say, if I was like Llaesira, always just talking to him about trading partners and things -- I might never have found out he was working for anybody but him."
Fraegan shakes his head slowly, meeting her gaze. "I don't get it. Why would they care if we know who's in charge?"
"I don't know," Telaeri answers. "It doesn't make sense to me, but it doesn't leave me inclined to really trust them. They seem to want outsiders to think of them as just a trade network, but at least in Reilahren village ... well, you noticed it, Theril. The Reilahren tribesmen are a serpent cult, but they never dress up as serpents; I'm pretty sure it would be sacrilege. And the network people aren't snake worshipers at all; they just /look/ like serpents -- /all/ of them do, at least a little; every one I saw, and every one I heard about. What's more, if you actually watch them interact, the more they look like snakes, the more real authority they have, in the network, and over Reilahren. The tribe doesn't just use serpent symbols and use snaky rituals and things; they practically worship the serpent people from the network, like demi-gods or something. Even the tribal chief is terrified of them -- not just worshipful; you'd have to see his eyes: It's /fear/, even when they aren't around, of doing something they don't want, and just of them." Telaeri spreads her hands. "There's more. I wish I had more time to give you all the details. I'm not sure if I'm explaining properly. As far as I can tell, they don't trust us, and they want to hide a lot of things about their organization and their power from us. And I have to say, because of that, I don't feel like we can trust them." She takes out the flask of nectar and sets it on the table. "Certain things, okay. Of course this will be what we asked for -- why wouldn't it be? -- and I never felt like I was in any danger myself," as her eyes go to Fraegan, "or like you would be. But they're way more interested in Kaiimar than they have any reason to be -- not by their words, but you can /see/ it -- and I don't think what they want there and what we want can work together. With Llaesira, okay, but with these guys ... even if they don't take part in our battle -- and I have a feeling we'd better not really ask them for that, or even give them the chance -- I think it's going to take some doing to convince them what they really want is just trade with the city."
