The goddess smiled at him.
“You’ve grown quite a bit in your abilities,” she said. “Your teachers had given you some effective lessons, even that exotic goddess you brought to our world. How important was she to you?” Kai asked.
Her tone was deceptively gentle, but Kestrel sensed a sharpness to the question.
“She was only a visitor. She came because she thought her world was boring, but she left because ours is too exciting,” he answered.
“Let her remain in her world and tend to her own people,” Kai said firmly. “You belong to us, not to her.
“Though she was right, our world has been perhaps too exciting in recent years,” the goddess told him. “And it shall be exciting again in the future, but for now, dear Kestrel, thanks largely to your great efforts, it is a time of smaller excitements, not bad ones either, and all of us are glad.
“We all will help you, should you need our help. Call on us,” she affectionately counseled him.
“Even Krusima?” Kestrel asked, partly in gest, partly in seriousness. The human god had seemed less than thankful towards Kestrel by the end of their travels together in the land of the Skyes.
“Certainly. I will make sure that Krusima is among your supporters,” Kai said firmly. She smiled then at Kestrel. “Now, go about the city and learn some surprising news,” she told him. “Enjoy life, Kestrel. Your goddess commands you.”
And then she disappeared, leaving Kestrel alone in the alcove, the white statute glowing in the center of the temple nearby.
He sat and replayed the conversation from his memories, trying to decipher the goddess’s words for anything profound she might have told him. There was nothing profound, he decided. Just some affectionate praise, and the happy news that no new large excitements were going to disrupt life.
He stood up, then left the sanctum.
“Well, will you speak to the goddess soon?” asked the same priest he had spoken to earlier.
“I just did,” Kestrel answered. “She said there are no new big exciting things to worry about,” he reported, then left the man, pulled his hood up, and walked out of the temple. He started walking among the streets again, and several minutes later he arrived at the gate to the embassy.
“Is Lucretia here?” he asked the guard.
The elf looked at his features and build, then opened the gate to allow him in.
“She’ll be glad to see you,” the elf told him. “Do you know your way around inside?”
“I’ve been here before,” Kestrel agreed, and he went into the embassy.
“Lucretia, I’m glad to see you doing some work,” he said as he stepped through the doorway of the embassy office, where Lucretia and Giardell were writing a report.
“Here’s the very acorn the squirrel wanted!” Giardell said.
“We were just talking about you five minutes ago,” Lucretia told him as she stood and came around the corner of the desk to hug him.
“Nobody knew where you were. Where have you been? We’ve been told to look for you,” she asked as she stepped back from him.
“I’ve been in Oaktown the past couple of weeks,” Kestrel replied. He thought about the recent conversation with Kai, in which she had told him there would not be any bad, exciting events taking place. Why else would anyone want to look for him, he asked himself.
“It’s your cousin, Wren,” Giardell said.
Kestrel looked over at the elven guard in alarm. “What’s wrong with Wren?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Lucretia laughed. “At least, she and Creata don’t think so.
“They’re getting married, in a month!” Giardell exclaimed.
“And nobody knew where to find you to invite you,” Lucretia explained.
“Wren is getting married? In a wedding?” Kestrel was momentarily befuddled. He knew of course that his cousin and Creata were engaged, but he had never actually imagined Wren being in a wedding ceremony.
His two hosts laughed. “They’re going to be married in Seafare, since Creata is stationed there. Ruelin has insisted they use the palace for the wedding,” Lucretia told him. “Come sit down with us and have a drink, so we can tell you all about it.”
They walked to a parlor and sat to talk about the news that the embassy had to share. “We received the news from Yulia, who was told to pass it along to the Eastern Forest. All the other guests were apparently pretty easy to find, but you don’t stay in one place long enough for anyone to know how to find you.”
“Wren’s getting married to Creata in Seafare in a month,” Kestrel repeated.
“All your human friends will apparently be there – the royals and nobles from Graylee, for example,” Giardell told him.
“Wren has sent invitations to Firheng, so there may be some elves there as well,” Lucretia said.
Kestrel sat in bemused silence, reflecting on the pending marriage. It called to mind his own lack of a relationship, something reinforced as he looked at Lucretia and Giardell sitting side-by-side on a sofa.
“So, why have you left Oaktown to come here?” Lucretia asked, and the conversation veered off into more mundane topics of trade and rebuilding, which led to Kestrel’s questions about the state of the Eastern Forest.
“Well, they got through the winter pretty well,” Giardell told him, referring to Hampus and his advisors. “The princess has apparently completely left the Eastern Forest and gone east; no one knows if she’ll ever try to come back.
“So now there are questions about who should be the ruler of the nation,” he said.
“Hampus says not to worry about that, but just to focus on rebuilding the damaged places and heal the wounds first,” Lucretia told him. “Miskel agrees, and so do most others, but a few disagree.
“They think someone like you should be placed on the throne,” she told him.
“Not someone like you; they specifically say they want you, and only you,” Giardell clarified.
“What? No! Not me,” Kestrel vehemently denied interest in the kingship. “I don’t want to be king. Besides, can you imagine how half the court would react if an elf with human blood took the throne?” he laughed bitterly.
“Well, you better go to Center Trunk and publically renounce any interest in the crown then,” Giardell advised.
“Or better yet, pronounce your support or Hampus, if you think he’s fit. That’ll make life easier for him,” Lucretia added.
“As soon as I finish things here and return to Oaktown, I’ll take a trip to Center Trunk,” he promised.
“Let’s go fit you into the princess’s schedule, so that she can talk to you about attending Wren’s wedding,” Lucretia proposed. “And then of course, we’ll want to hear her plans for her own wedding coming up not too long after Wren’s.
“It’s a flurry of weddings!” she chirped.
“Who will be next?” Kestrel asked with a sideways look at Giardell. Lucretia blushed faintly, but neither of them said anything, and after a moment, Kestrel stood.
“Let’s go to the palace,” he proposed.
Minutes later they all left the embassy and walked to the palace, with easy admission, and a quick entrance to a small parlor, where Yulia soon came to see them.
“Kestrel! You’re back! You haven’t brought another invading army of elves, have you?” she asked with a smile. “There was quite a commotion over your little sojourn through the countryside.”
“I won’t bring any more elves to Hydrotaz for military purposes,” Kestrel pledged with mock solemnity.
“But, I would like to invite some Hydrotaz humans to come to Oaktown to sell materials we can use for rebuilding our homes and villages,” he told her, and went on to explain the planned markets with the imps.
“So your elves will buy from our humans while the imps buy from you? Like the market you tested last year?” Yulia asked.
“Like it, except our folks really need construction materials this time, so your merchants will see much more demand,” Kes
trel assured her.
“Ferris will be able to work out the details with you after we’re done here. Now, on to the important things. Your cousin is getting married! I’ll leave here in a fortnight to go to Graylee, then travel with Philip to the wedding. Would you like to travel with us?” she asked eagerly. “We’d love to have you along.”
Kestrel paused a moment, as he tried to calculate the time he needed to return to Oaktown, then go to Center Trunk, then return to Hydrotaz. He saw the disappointment emerge on Yulia’s face as the seconds stretched out.
“Of course,” he said immediately. He’d need to rely on the imps for his travels, but after his series of visits to the healing spring with them, he expected to be in their good graces. “We’ll have a marvelous time.”
“I’m so glad you’ll go with us. I’m so glad you’re here!” Yulia gushed. “We received the request to pass along the invitation to you, as the humans closest to your home, and I wasn’t sure about whether you were there, or if we could make an uninvited foray into the Eastern Forest without setting off a ruckus.”
“You mean like I nearly did by bringing my troops into your nation?” Kestrel grinned.
“I was trying to be delicate,” Yulia said primly. “And we can possibly learn a thing or two by attending Wren’s wedding. You know, Philip and I will be married just two months after Wren and Creata, in Graylee. We’d like for you to be in our wedding party, Kestrel,” she said earnestly. “I suppose Philip is supposed to ask you instead of me, but I’ve seen you first. You did so much for each of us, and we owe you so much!”
He smiled politely, while his thoughts drifted for just a moment to consider Lark. He had done a great deal for her too, but she had not felt such gratitude, he thought to himself.
“I’m sure you have other things to do,” Lucretia said politely, recognizing that they had barged in on Yulia’s schedule of appointments. “We’ll go find Ferris to make arrangements for your traders to go to Kestrel’s market.”
They all parted on friendly terms, with promises to see one another, and then went about their other tasks. The elves returned to the embassy by dinner time, after a friendly conversation with Ferris and Greyson, and the next day Kestrel began the return journey to Oaktown. He slept in a tree in the forest that night, and thought of a conversation he’d had once with Gail, explaining that elves slept in trees. He wondered how the girl was doing in Uniontown, and he hoped that her aunt had successfully completed negotiations for Gail to be engaged to Lucius. He drifted off to sleep hoping that Lucius was good enough for Gail, and thought no further thoughts that night.
When he arrived back at Oaktown the next morning, Kestrel quickly asked Whyte about rumors of trouble in Center Trunk. The steward confirmed that there was some talk of dissatisfaction with the regency of the former princess’s fiancé, though he knew little else.
The next morning, Kestrel summoned the imps, and after bargaining that involved both a promised trip to the healing spring and a promised delivery of a few covert mushrooms, he was taken to the outskirts of Center Trunk, and left with a promise of return when needed. He went into the city to see Alicia.
There was a note on the door of her former rooms, telling that she had moved to a different part of the city, one that Kestrel quickly walked to. He found a cheerful office, where a pair of patients waited for visits with the doctor, and he took his place in the line to wait for an interview as well.
“It was time for me to start over fresh,” she told him several minutes later, after she consulted with the other patients ahead of him, then had a joyful reunion with him.
“I’ve left the palace and the guard behind to start over,” she told him as they sat down where she could keep an eye on the unsteadily tottering Silvic. “This is a chance to start a new life, to raise Silvic, and to serve my patients. I’m happy now,” she told him.
Kestrel smiled at her, pleased with the genuine contentment he sensed in her.
“So, what can you tell me about how Hampus is doing?” he asked her.
“I think he’s doing fine, and my patients,” she seemed to serve in a neighborhood of ordinary elves, not the nobility, Kestrel had noted, “seem satisfied with what they hear about him.
“But a few nobles who were favored by the princess, and who were corrupt, are unhappy, and raising a fuss,” she told Kestrel.
“Lucretia told me I should come to Center Trunk to declare my support for Hampus,” he explained.
“She’s right. Especially if you’re a glowing blue blaze of godlike powers when you speak on his behalf. Maybe you could turn a few of the nobles into statues,” she spoke.
“You’re mocking me now,” he accused.
She smiled at him. “You have a certain reputation to live up to now.
“And to think,” she mused, “I was able to practically seduce you as a naïve, gullible boy from the country just a few years ago. Where did that boy go?” she asked.
“He left at about the same time I became a spy,” he answered.
“That’s too bad; I liked him,” Alicia said softly. “But I like the new you too – the strong and resilient and self-reliant elf who’s a leader.”
They sat in awkward silence momentarily, then the sound of a new patient entering the front parlor.
“I better go to the palace,” Kestrel announced as he stood. “Good luck with your medical practice.”
“Come back and visit me the next time you come to Center Trunk,” Alicia said wistfully.
“I will,” Kestrel promised, and then he was gone from the clinic, and on his way through the city streets to the palace.
At the gate to the palace, he saw that much damage to the structures on the ground still remain unrepaired. The guards at gates were veterans of the battle to take control of the city, and they immediately recognized Kestrel’s unique features.
“Come in! His lordship will be happy to see you here!” they told him, waving him into the palace grounds, and giving him directions to where Hampus had established his court amid the ruins. Kestrel wandered over to the armory where Hampus was supposed to be located, and found him with Elder Miskel, going over supply lists. They dropped their work when they saw Kestrel enter their large, open room.
After several minutes of back-slapping, hugging, and cheery small talk, they sat down together at a table.
“What brings you here to see us?” Miskel asked. “Is there some new war about to break out somewhere?”
Kestrel thought about the promises of calm that the goddesses had given him. “None that I know of. None that will affect us in the days ahead,” he answered. “I came to see if I can help for a day or two. Lucretia said that you have some resistance to your efforts to restore order, and I thought that I might help.”
“What do you have in mind?” Hampus asked. “We could use anything! Everything is a challenge; having enough food until the harvest come in, getting the palace and other buildings restored, treating the injuries and the illnesses. And trying to refill the royal treasury – Elwean emptied it out while she reigned; there’s nothing but a few coppers for us to spend.”
“And your nobles are being very helpful?” Kestrel asked.
“Is that what Lucretia mentioned?” Hampus asked. “Well,” he immediately continued on, “there are some that are, and some that are not.”
The conversation continued on, and turned to questions about what Kestrel could do to help his friend calm the uneasy waters of Center Trunk. The result was that Kestrel became a part-time commuter, traveling with the imps every day to spend some time in Oaktown, some time in Center Trunk, and some time at the healing spring. He let the imps enjoy daily baths in the magical waters, and he carried numerous water skins of the healing water to Alicia and the other physicians of Center Trunk, helping to ease some of the pain and disability in the city.
He modestly applied his own powers to help with some of the repairs to the buildings in Center Trunk, lifting large stones and slabs so that the workme
n could carry out their chores of lesser repairs. He even contributed some of the wealth that his own domain received from the mushroom market, so that Hampus could pay his soldiers.
Most importantly, in some ways, he publically declared his support for Hampus to become the new ruling monarch of the Eastern Forest. The dissidents in the capitol quieted down after that.
With the problems in Center Trunk much reduced after a few days, Kestrel also spent time making sure that the human traders had a peaceful trip from Hydrotaz to Oaktown, when they came for the mushroom market with the imps. Though there were few translators available, gestures and other simplified bartering tools allowed all the participants in the market to finish it with satisfaction.
So it was that Kestrel came to the date he was pledged to return to Hydrotaz so that he could journey with Yulia’s company of travelers who were going to proceed to Graylee, and then sail together to Seafare.
“Stillwater, Stillwater, Stillwater,” Kestrel called in the mid-morning.
“Stillwater, today is the day to begin the journey to see our companion Wren get married,” Kestrel told the imp. It occurred to him that he hadn’t advised Stillwater of the impending event previously, even though Stillwater and Wren had been companions on the long journey to defeat the Viathins in the land of the Skyes.
“What? The greatest warrior is going to be wed? Is it still to your human friend, or has she found a bear or yeti to provide a more challenging match?” the imp asked.
“She still is engaged to the human from Graylee, Creata,” Kestrel said mildly. He silently agreed with Stillwater’s presumption that Wren’s temperament was one that would challenge most companions, but he had seen Creata enough to know that the easy-going nobleman managed to soften Wren to a reasonable degree when they were together.
“They will get along well as a loving couple, as long as you and I can find adventures for Wren to go on from time to time,” Kestrel told the imp.
“We can wait a little while to have more adventures, can’t we, Kestrel impatience?” Stillwater asked plaintively.
“We can wait,” Kestrel agreed. “But I need to meet the humans of Hydrotaz today, so that I can journey with them to Seafare.”
A Marriage of Friends (The Inner Seas Kingdoms Book 8) Page 33