'I meant no disrespect -' She almost said 'sister' again. But it. was not thefamiliarity that had caused offence: it was the word itself. The woman wastravelling incognito, and Wess had breached her disguise. No mere apology wouldrepair the damage she had done.
A drop of sweat trickled down the side of her face. Chan and Aerie and Quartzwere all poised on the edge of defence. If Wess erred again, more than oneperson would die before the fighting stopped.
'My unfamiliarity with your language has offended you, young gentleman,' Wesssaid, hoping the tavern-keeper had used a civil form of address, if not a civiltone. It was often safe to insult someone by the tone, but seldom by the wordsthemselves. 'Young gentleman,' she said again when the woman did not kill her,'someone has made sport of me by translating "frejojan", "sister".'
'Perhaps,' the disguised woman said. 'What does frejojan mean?'
'It is a term of peace, an offer of friendship, a word to welcome a guest,another child of one's own parents.'
'Ah. "Brother" is the word you want, the word to speak to men. To call a man"sister", the word for women, is an insult.'
'An insult!' Wess said, honestly surprised.
But the knife drew back from her throat.
'You are a barbarian,' the disguised woman said, in a friendly tone. 'I cannotbe insulted by a barbarian.'
'There is the problem, you see,' Chan said. 'Translation. In our language, theword for outsider, for foreigner, also translates as "barbarian".' He smiled,his beautiful smile.
Wess pulled her chair forward again. She reached for Chan's hand under thetable. He squeezed her fingers gently.
'I meant only to offer you a place to sit, where there is no other.'