She was waiting, wedged into a niche in the ornamental wall opposite his door, still and patient as any of the other statues.
Gem swore under his breath and strode straight across the court, with the intention of snatching her out of her shadow and administering a very sound shaking.
But, before he had gone four steps, she stepped out of the niche and raised her right hand, shoulder-high and open. "Good-day, Anjemalti."
"Gods scorn you for a fool!" He stopped just out of reach, in case the desire to shake her became overmastering; took a deep breath and exhaled it.
"How did you find this place?" he asked, quieter.
She looked at him out of astonished black eyes. "I am of the Crew. It was not difficult to trail you."
"Then it will not be difficult to find your way back. I have told you that I am not the one you seek; and I have told you to let me be. I demand that you cease this harassment and that you remove yourself from my attention." He leaned forward; snapped the last of it with all the power of command Edreth had taught him: "Leave me now!"
Consternation showed in the lean face; and confusion. She shifted in her shadow-pool, eyes narrowed slightly against the glare of First Noon, and gnawed her lip, but she neither left nor effaced herself, to Gem's dismay. Instead, she took a step toward him, and made as if to lay a hand upon his sleeve, though she did not quite touch him.
"Anjemalti," she said, in tones of gentle reason; "kinsman. I cannot know all your whys and wherefores, who have been away from us for so long. But it is foolish to deny your true name to me. I am of the Crew, in line for First, serving as Worldwalker, and Seeker for the Ship. I found the first trace of your uncle's mutiny; followed Sali Than Kermin to the ends of her route and persuaded her to say who had bought you."
She drew herself up. "A year and more I followed Edreth ser Janna, only to a find a dead man at the end of it, and that his apprentice was as skilled in disappearance as the master had been."
A pause, during which he returned her stare, stone-faced. "So," she said softly, "I know you, Anjemalti; and I know that I have found you. Whatever your schemes and business among Grounders, they are nothing, for your Ship needs you and you are called home."
"Damn your ship!" he cried and saw her flinch in horror, hand lifting to ward away the words.
"Damn your ship and damn your crew," Gem elaborated, pressing his advantage. "You know nothing of me, of my business, of my necessities, or my life. You have found Gem ser Edreth, who repudiates you and yours and forbids you to come near him! Come to me again and regret it. . .." He glared at her. "Do you believe that I mean what I say?"
"Yes, Anjemalti, I believe that." Still she stood there, staring at him out of enormous eyes.
"Then leave me!"
"The Tomorrow Log," Corbinye said then, as if all of his ranting had been mere pleasantry, "names the child of a Captain and a Grounder as the Captain who will bring the Ship out of the greatest danger we have faced since the Exodus itself. The danger is not just to Gardenspot, but to all the Ships and all the Crews. You are the one named to save us—"
"The Tomorrow Log is a tale for children—and for halfwits. It has nothing to do with me. Go!"
She stamped her foot, voice rising to a shout. "I have not sought you, world to world, year to year, to take 'nay' from an ill-tempered brat as my final orders!"
"A fine respect," Gem drawled, "to show for the Captain Hero." He snapped forward, put his face close to hers and spoke deliberately. "I am not yours. Go away."
So saying, he left her there, and she let him go, which upon reflection, did not make him entirely easy. He turned the matter over as he went from errand to errand, and made a note to speak to Dart's Captain Skot, when that ship came to port.