“Oh, very good!” said Pat Rin admiringly. “You have the touch of a poet, cousin.” He gently disengaged his mother’s hand and ignored her glare as he circled Val Con thoughtfully.

After a few circuits, he shrugged. “There is a grain of something there, I allow. It might be possible to adapt it quite successfully. What do you call it?”

“A skimmer,” sand Val Con gently.

“Indeed? Don’t you find that perhaps a bit—vulgar?”

“Ah, but you see, I find myself to be a vulgar person. Which I believe is the topic my aunt wishes to address. Let us allow her room, kinsman.” He turned his eyes to the outraged Lady. “Aunt? You have something to say?”

It took her a moment to find her voice. “I will speak with you in private, sir.”

Val Con inclined his head. “Lady, I regret. I am here. If you wish to speak—and since you came in search of me—you must perforce speak here.”

Pat Rin’s eyes sharpened with speculation and he stepped back to his mother’s side.

The Right Noble stared at her nephew. A moment stretched to two… neared three…

She moved her eyes first.

“very well, sir. if you wish all the world to hear it…”

“If your topic causes you shame, madam, pray do not speak, but wait. Call on me at home and we will discuss the matter privately.” Val Con’s voice was unremittingly gentle. Shan winced and swept a quick glance around the gathering crowd.

Lady Kareen moistened her lips. “That Lord yos’Galan is so lost to propriety as to continue to race skimmers in the face of defeat and ridicule, I can readily believe. That you, of the Line and blood of one of the oldest and most respected of the Clans, should, after receiving the instruction of the eldest of your Line, persist in this scandal is insupportable. Why should you race skimmers, sir? In all the generations since the Clans came to Liad no one of Korval has ever raced skimmers!”