`` if , perhaps , maila might have conveyed privately- '' he glanced at laurence and added hurriedly , `` not to suggest she should violate a true confidence , but any suggestion-any cause to believe-she would need only hint- '' `` i am quite certain she has no such thing , '' temeraire said , and stalked away to the courtyard and went aloft to go and take a couple of vicuna for dinner ; when he had brought them back , however , gong su was already occupied : maila had sent over a brace of pigs-real pigs , which had been acquired from trade with the colonial nations-as a gift ; and iskierka was sitting in the courtyard watching gong su roast them on spits , with an expression that one could only call smug .