* * *
The rest of his guests were, in Kaylin’s estimation, half the High Court. This half included the Consort; to her surprise, it did not include Nightshade. Severn wasn’t the first person through the portal; he was close, though. Teela was on his heels.
They both relaxed—marginally—when they saw her.
“I’m fine,” she said quickly. “Where is everyone else?”
“They have elected to bypass the hospitality of the station for the evening,” Teela said stiffly.
Kaylin frowned. “Why?”
“Because the Hallionne is awake.”
Her frown deepened.
Teela rolled her eyes. “You’ve been closeted with the Hallionne for the better part of an hour, and you don’t understand?”
“…They don’t want him to read their minds.”
“No. It is a singularly unpleasant experience.”
“Kariastos is like Tara,” Kaylin offered.
“The Avatar of the Tower of Tiamaris?” When Kaylin nodded, she said, “And how often have Barrani guests visited that Tower?”
“Well…”
“Does Castle Nightshade possess such an avatar?”
“Not that I’ve seen.”
“I invite you to consider the reasons for that. We value our privacy highly; it is the reason we are able to take advantage of immortality.”
“Oh. But you’re here.”
“Yes. I am aware that the Hallionne are not my kin. They value peace; they protect their domains. I am willing to take the risk of what the Hallionne sees in my thoughts; were he sleeping, he would touch them in his dreams, regardless. Many, however, are not.”
“The Consort is here.”
“The Consort is one of the few who has less choice; she woke him.” Teela’s eyes narrowed as she glared at the small dragon who occupied Kaylin’s shoulders. “I would like to know why it was necessary; awake, he did not seem to feel your pet was a threat at all.”
The small dragon growled. It was the first time that he’d made that particular noise.
Teela raised a brow, and Kaylin turned to Severn, hoping the shift in position would break what looked to be the beginning of a staring contest. If Teela were intent on it, she could probably outstare a tree, or at least stare at it while it grew, aged, and withered, which counted as a win in Barrani books.
The Consort was indeed present. She glanced at the table and then took the chair that Kaylin hadn’t occupied for thirty minutes; Kaylin stayed on her feet while the denuded Court assembled around her. There was the usual jockeying for position, but the entire atmosphere was subdued. Kaylin wasn’t certain why she thought that, either. The Barrani were talking, as they always did; they ate, they drank, they seemed as animated as they’d been at any other meal.
“Lord Kaylin,” the Consort said, lifting her chin. “Come. Keep me company while I dine.” There was one empty place beside the Consort.
“It can’t be any more dangerous than eating with the Hallionne,” Teela whispered. “Go.”
* * *
Hallionne Kariastos did not stay for the meal. He welcomed the Barrani into his home and then spread his wings. They put Aerian wings to shame, they were so long and so utterly perfect in shape and form. “Welcome,” he said as he rose. “I will see that your horses are properly stabled and cared for. Eat and drink in peace.” He then flew up toward the center of the ceiling—and vanished.
“I’m sorry,” Kaylin said, as she took the seat that the Consort had indicated. Severn and Teela were relegated to the safe end of the table, which was the one Kaylin had been occupying.
“You do not seem uncomfortable in the presence of the Hallionne. It is unusual.”
High Barrani, Kaylin. “Perhaps, Lady. Or perhaps it is because I am mortal.”
The Consort raised a white brow. For a moment, she reminded Kaylin of Teela.
“I spend time in the Tower of Tiamaris. I’m accustomed to the Avatar of the Tower, and Kariastos seems a lot like the Tower’s avatar. Except more Barrani.”
“The Avatar of the Tower reads your thoughts, then?”
Kaylin nodded. “I don’t think she tries. But thinking is equivalent to talking really loudly if you’re anywhere in the Tower. She can listen to any conversation held in the fief itself, but that does take concentration and effort. Hallionne Kariastos is a little like Tara. He hears the words I’m doing my best not to speak out loud.”
“You do not feel this is deliberate on his part?”
Kaylin thought about this for a long moment. “No,” she finally said. “I really do think he’s barely aware of the difference between what’s spoken and what is thought.”
“This does not disturb you? Mortals have feared the Tha’alani for as long as both races have been forced to coexist.”
Kaylin had been one of them. “I don’t fear the Tha’alani now,” she replied, keeping heat out of her voice with effort. “Because I understand them better. If every thought we’ve ever had could be examined and understood by every person we came in contact with, we would have a better idea of what people were really like.”
“You, of course, feel this would be beneficial.”
“I don’t think we’d be so quick to judge others.” Kaylin shrugged. “Maybe if we could stop doing that, we wouldn’t spend so much time judging ourselves, either.”
“And perhaps where mortals are concerned that might be an improvement; you spend far too much time on your regrets and your past fears.”
Kaylin managed to keep her initial response to the words to herself. They were probably true, after all.
“Do not look so ill-pleased, Lord Kaylin; the Hallionne is likely to blame me, and it appears you have his favor. The Barrani do not spend the time in…introspection…that mortals do. If we did, eternity would be a curse; it is not. My kin therefore do not suffer the Tha’alani gladly—or at all.”
“The Hallionne—”
“With luck,” the Consort continued, “and a modicum of self-control, the High Court will not be severely denuded by the absence of the station’s intercession. Be that as it may, they will remain on the far side of the river, awaiting us in the morning.”
“But you’re here.”
“I am less concerned with the Hallionne.”
Kaylin raised a brow, and the Consort grimaced. It was the most natural expression she’d willingly offered Kaylin since they’d left the City limits. “And, as you refrain from pointing out, I woke him. If all my Court chose to absent themselves from this station for his waking hours, I would nonetheless be required to attend him.”
“Would apologies help at all?”
“In this case, perhaps. I believe that the regret you feel at the necessity of the intercession is genuine; if you had the ability to constrain your…friend…you would do so. It is time,” she added and rose.
The Court fell into the usual hush that resembled manners. “We will retire,” she told them as she stepped away from the table and glanced at the flat surfaces of large nascent mirrors that were placed evenly against every wall. Kaylin expected them to shift and change as they opened portals into the rooms in which the guests would spend the evening.
“That is what would normally occur,” Hallionne Kariastos said. Kaylin looked around the room; his voice was present. He wasn’t. “I am currently occupied; there is some minor difficulty on the surface.”
The Consort stiffened.
“Yes,” he replied, although the Consort hadn’t chosen to put the thought into words. Kaylin glanced at the rest of the High Court; they were now watching the Consort in a deliberate silence that seemed almost predatory.
“Predatory?”
Damn it.
“Lady,” the Hallionne said, “I find her entertaining. The rooms will be active now,” he added. The mirrors began to form images.
Kaylin wondered if she’d have a room of her own or if the station, confused by the stigma of mortality, would assign her yet another roommate.
“You will be assigned a room, Lord Kaylin,” the Hallionne replied in a distinctly less friendly voice. “It appears at least one of our guests wishes you harm.”
They were Barrani. If none of them wished her harm, that would have been shocking.
The Hallionne laughed, and Kaylin froze at the sound of his voice; it was a sudden rush of unadulterated enjoyment, and it made her skin tingle. Sadly, that was literal.
* * *
The Barrani High Court emptied the halls without any of its usual lingering. The Consort did not leave first, as was the normal custom. She remained in the dining hall, indicating with a regal nod that the High Lords should feel free to precede her. Teela and Severn stayed behind, until they were two of the only people in the hall, the others being the Consort and Kaylin herself.
Only then did Hallionne Kariastos choose to join his voice by making an appearance. He wore different clothing, in shades of green and brown. It wasn’t the clothing that caught Kaylin’s attention first. There was blood on his right hand.
The Consort glanced at Teela; they didn’t speak. Kaylin was surprised that the Hallionne remained silent, as well.
“Kitling.” Teela’s eyes were blue.
“You’re staying the night, right?”
“I am. I believe Lord Severn had some concerns or some possible business of his own to attend.”
Severn, however, smiled grimly and shook his head. “Not tonight.”
“No,” the Hallionne replied. “If the Court wishes to reside in the realm of insects, wildlife, and inclement weather, it still resides within reach of my power. If you wish to kill Lord Iberrienne, you must do so on a different evening.”
Severn nodded.
Lord Iberrienne. It was the first time she had heard him named. She looked at Severn; he met her gaze without blinking or flinching. Or moving. This was the man he’d been sent to hunt. No, she thought, feeling cold and still. This was the man he’d been sent to kill. And Hallionne Kariastos knew it.
One look at Teela and the Consort made clear that they knew it, as well.
The Hallionne chuckled. “Lord Kaylin, if I killed all the visitors who planned to execute—or assassinate or, more generally, murder—other guests, I would have no reason for existence.” When Kaylin frowned, he added, “They would all be dead. It is the nature of children.”
It was absolutely not the nature of children.
“Very well. It does not concern me if Lord Severn intends harm to another guest; it is my responsibility to insure that no attempt is made within my domain. The death of a visitor is a profound failure on the part of the Hallionne. If the Hallionne is, as I am, wakened, it is also considered one of the very few profound insults any sentient being can offer. We are not concerned with the wayward damage caused by rabid—or dangerous—pets, or rather, we take no insult from the damage they do.” He glanced pointedly at the small dragon before he gestured.
All of the panel portals instantly dimmed; images of rooms—which, for the mortals, looked inviting—vanished. “My secrets,” he said softly, “are my own. I understand why your kin choose to keep theirs from me. Lord An’Teela, or Teela, you alone have walked this road before.”
Teela’s eyes darkened perceptibly.
“We are not kin, you and I, but the Hallionne understand the concept of kin. It is a far weaker concept than that of hospitality and defense, but it is there, and it rises, at last, to the surface. You seek to protect the Chosen for reasons that are unusual. She is not your keep, not your pet; she is not yet your equal. While she resides within any Hallionne, she will be safe.
“Lady, I understand your rage and your grievance, and I find it fair. Therefore I ask a boon of you. I cannot demand it; it is against the nature of the Hallionne to enforce any request that does not reflect their primary responsibilities.”
“If you seek my forgiveness…” she began.
“I do. But not yet. She has committed a crime against you; it is not in her mind a crime, and as her grave risk amounted to little, she has some justification in this view. But her risk removed the Devourer of worlds from the great stretches of emptiness that exist between worlds; if she risked as much here, she is the unheralded and entirely unknown savior of other worlds not yet discovered. And the Devourer now resides within the Keeper’s gardens. He sleeps,” he added softly.
“Wait, you can hear him?” Kaylin broke in.
Hallionne Kariastos smiled. “Perhaps; perhaps it is more accurate to say he hears us.” His smile was radiant. “But you interrupt me. Lady,” he continued, turning once again to the Consort. “If she survives her role as the heart of the tale, she will have done a service that even you could not perform, guardian of all names and all life to your kind.”
Kaylin didn’t much care for the conditional in the last statement. Judging from her expression, neither did Teela; Severn was remote.
“Lord Severn understood from the moment you donned the dress,” the Hallionne told her, which caused Severn to stiffen, “that your life was at grave risk, although perhaps his concern has been for your sanity.”
Kaylin shrugged. “According to the office, I don’t have much of that to begin with.”
The Consort said, “I would not be indebted to Lord Kaylin.”
The Hallionne frowned. “She has been chosen; she wears the heart of the green. Perhaps at a different time, you might petition the Hallionne to allow you to carry her burden—but not on this occasion, Lady. To take her role in this tale is to take almost as large a risk with the fate of the Lake of Life as Lord Kaylin did.”
The Consort said nothing.
“And even so, you would have to wake the all of the Hallionne, and you are, as your kin, very reluctant to do so.” His frown shifted; it was a very Tara-like transformation. “You are angry with her, but you are uncomfortable with the thought of her death. Unusual.”
“Perhaps,” Kaylin said in High Barrani, “she wants the opportunity to enact vengeance herself, and my death in the West March would deprive her of the—”
“You do not even believe that is a possibility.”
“What would you have of me?” the Consort asked. The Hallionne did not answer.
Chapter 19
The Consort exhaled. “She is a child. Wayward, yes, and foolish beyond belief, but ignorant, as children oft are. I would see her punished for the choices she made, but I would not see her perish. She is not here because she is a Lord of the High Court, although you are no doubt aware that she is that. She is here because the mortals required information that could only be obtained if she agreed to make the journey.”
“And she does not understand, Consort, why you are here.”
The Consort’s lips compressed; Teela’s expression didn’t change at all. “Does her ignorance signify that much? She was willing to risk the names, Hallionne.”
“Indeed. But without her intervention, what ruled as High Lord would not be the brother you loved. Nor would the Lord of the West March now reign in the green.”
The Consort did not respond to his statement, not directly. “She does not understand the significance of the heart of the green, but, Hallionne, no one of us do. I was willing to wake you—”
“Because of her.”
“No. Because I am the Mother of the Race and very little in the way of politics in the High Court will harm me. No matter how ambitious they are, the Barrani require children who will wake.”
Hallionne Kariastos inclined his head. “You are all children,” he said softly. “And were your games not so deadly, I would be content to let you play them. Lord Kaylin,” he added, “accompany the Consort. Lord Severn requires sleep, and he does not sleep well in your presence; it is distracting.”
Kaylin avoided looking at Severn’s expression.
“Lord Severn,” he continued, “you will come to no harm in this station, but you must now watch yourself on the road.” That left only one unembarrassed person in the room, which clearly wasn’t acceptable. Hall
ionne Kariastos turned to Teela.
Teela’s eyes were very blue; she’d affected the stance that generally meant “I’m bored, and I’m thinking of relieving my boredom on you if you don’t get out of my way.” The Hallionne was clearly an expert in body language.
“An’Teela. This is the third telling. Listen well, and understand the whole of what it means, and you will be free.”
* * *
The Consort was not pleased to have company. Or at least Kaylin’s company; Kaylin had no idea whether she’d had company at any of the previous stations. She wasn’t about to ask, either, and cringed at the thought that Hallionne Kariastos would actually answer the question anyway.
He was, however, silent.
The room—once they’d cleared the portal—looked like a giant crystal bubble through which floor had been laid. There were no doors between rooms, although there were rooms, one being a significant bath. Kaylin wasn’t certain she wanted to take a bath, though; the water was running from one end of the bubble straight through the other. It was clear; there was no mud bed or small rocks, but it kind of looked as if there should be. With fish.
While she hesitated, the Consort disrobed and entered the water, her white hair spreading like a layer of submersed snow or ice, carried by the currents. “If you intend to sleep at all tonight,” she said in her crisp, exact High Barrani, “you will of course do me the courtesy of bathing first. There is exactly one bed.”
“You don’t need to sleep,” Kaylin replied in Elantran. She did remove the dress and dumped it in a pile near the wall at the farthest point away from the stream. This room didn’t have the corners she’d usually use instead.
“Ah, I forget. You spend time with An’Teela.”
Kaylin splashed as she entered the stream, and almost jumped out again—the water was hot. This caused the Consort to arch a brow. The small dragon—briefly detached at the shoulder while she disrobed—peered out at the consort, flicking air with his tongue as if asking a question.
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