The wind hit her with a shock; it was a physical blow so hard that she gasped. It nearly wrenched the door out of her hands and she had to struggle for a moment she had not wanted to spare to get it closed behind her. She realized that she had gotten only a hint of its force from her window; her room was sheltered from the worst of it by the bulk of the Palace itself.
She found herself at the exterior bend of the L-shaped Herald's wing; just beyond her bulked the Companion's stables. Elspeth was nowhere in sight.
More certain of her ground now than she had been in the unfamiliar wing of the Palace, Talia would have run if she could, but the wind made that impossible. It plastered her clothing to her body, and drove unidentifiable debris at her with the velocity of crossbow bolts. She couldn't hear anything now with it howling in her ears; she knew no one would hear her calling. Now she became vaguely alarmed; with the wind this strong and in the dark, it would be so easy for Elspeth to misstep and find herself in the river—
She mindcalled Rolan for help— and could not reach him—
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Or rather, she could reach him, but he was paying no attention to her whatsoever; his whole being was focused on— what it was, she could not say, but it demanded all his concentration; for he was absorbed in it with such intensity that he was shutting everything and everyone else out.
It was up to her, then. She fought her way around the stables toward the bridge that led across the river to the main portion of Companion's Field.
It was with incredible relief that she spotted the vague blur of Elspeth ahead of her, already across the river, and headed with utter single-minded concentration in the direction of—
There was only one place she could be heading for— the Grove.
Talia forced her pace to the fastest she could manage, leaning at an acute angle into the wind, but the girl had a considerable head start on her, and had already entered the Grove by the time she had crossed the bridge.
The pale blob was lost to sight as the foliage closed around it, and Talia stumbled over the uneven ground, falling more than once and bruising hands and knees on the stones hidden in the grass. The long grass itself whipped at her booted legs, tangling her feet with each step. She was halfway to the Grove when she looked up from yet another fall to see that it was— gods!— glowing faintly from within.
She shook her head, blinking, certain that her eyes were playing tricks on her. The glow remained, scarcely brighter than foxfire, but unmistakably there.
She started to rise, when the entire world seemed to give a gut-wrenching lurch, disorienting her completely. She clutched at the grass beneath her hands, as the only reality in a suddenly unreal world, the pain of her bruised palms hardly registering. Everything seemed to be spinning, the way it had the one time she'd fainted, and she was lost in the darkness with the wind wailing in a whirlwind around her and the Grove. There was a sickening moment— or eternity— when nothing was real.
Then the world settled, and normality returned with an almost audible snap; the wind died away to nothing, sound returned, the disorientation vanished, all in the space of a single heartbeat.
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Talia opened her eyes, unaware until that moment that she'd been clenching both eyes and jaw so tightly her face ached. Less than five feet away stood Elspeth, between the supporting shoulders of two Companions. The one on her left was Rolan, and he was back in Talia's awareness again— tired, though; very tired, but strangely contented.
Talia staggered to her feet; the gray light of the setting moon was lightening the sky, and by it, she could make out the girl's features. Elspeth seemed dazed, and if the contrast between the dark mass of her hair and the paleness of her skin meant anything, she was drained as white as paper.
Talia stumbled the few steps between them, grabbed her shoulders and shook her; until that moment the girl didn't seem to realize she was there.
"Elspeth—" was all she managed to choke out around her own nerveless shivering.
"Talia?" The girl blinked once, then dumbfounded her mentor by seeming to snap into total wakefulness, smiling and throwing her arms around Talia's shoulders. "Talia— I—" she laughed, almost hysterical with joy, and for one brief moment Talia feared she'd lost her mind.
Then she let go of the Herald and threw both of her arms around the neck of the Companion to her right. "Talia, Talia, it happened! Gwena Chose me! She called me when I was asleep, and I came, and she Chose me!"
Gwena?
Talia knew every Companion in residence, having spent nearly as much time with them as Keren, and having helped to midwife many of the foals.
That name didn't belong to any of them.
And that could only mean one thing; Gwena, like Rolan— and unlike any other Companion currently alive— was Grove-born. But why? For centuries only Monarch's Own Companions had appeared in the Grove like Companions of old.
Talia started to say something— and abruptly felt Rolan's presence overwhelming her mind, tinged with a feeling of gentle regret.
* * *
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Talia shook her head, bewildered by the sensation that she'd forgotten something, then dismissed the feeling. Elspeth had been Chosen; that was what mattered. She remembered the mare vaguely now. Gwena had always been one of the shyer Companions, staying well away from visitors. All her shyness seemed gone, as she nuzzled Elspeth's hair with possessive pride. Rolan, who had been supporting Elspeth on the left, now paced forward in time to give Talia a shoulder to lean on, for her own knees were going weak with reaction, and she felt as drained as if she'd had a three-candlemark workout with Alberich. Birds were breaking into morning-song all around them, and the first light of true dawn streaked the sky to the east with festive ribbons of brightness among the clouds.
"Oh, catling! " Talia released her hold on Rolan's mane and flung both her arms around Elspeth, nearly in tears with joy.
It did not occur to either of them to wonder why no one else had been mustered out of bed by that imperative calling both of them had answered— and why no one else had noticed anything at all out of the ordinary even yet.
* * *
Talia managed to convince Elspeth— not to go back to her bed, because that was an impossibility— but to settle with Gwena in a sheltered little hollow, with a blanket purloined from the stable around her shoulders. Talia hoped that when her excitement faded the child would doze off again; the gods knew she'd be safe enough in the Field with her own Companion standing protective guard over her. She wished devoutly that she could have done the same, but there were far too many things she had to attend to.
The first— and most important— was to inform the Queen. Even at this early hour Selenay would be awake and working, and likely with one or more Councilors. That meant a formal announcement, and not what Talia really wanted to do, which was to burst into Selenay's chamber caroling for joy.
However pleased Selenay would be, that sort of action would only give the Councilors a very poor impression of the Queen's Own's maturity.
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So Talia stumbled back to her room again, through the sweet breeze of a perfect dawn, through bird choruses that were only a faint, far echo of the joy in her heart, to get redressed. And this time, as neatly and precisely as she could manage, cringing inwardly at the grass stains left on the knees of the pair of breeches she'd just peeled off. Then she walked— walked—decorously and soberly down through the silence of the Herald's wing to the "New Palace" wing that held the suites of Queen and Court.
As usual, there were two blue-clad Guardsmen stationed outside the doors to the Royal chambers. She nodded to them, dark Jon to the right, wizened Fess to the left; she knew both of them well, and longed to be able to whisper her news, but that wouldn't do. It wouldn't be dignified, and it would absolutely shatter protocol. As Queen's Own, she had the right of entry to the Queen's chambers at any
time of night or day, and was quickly admitted beyond those heavy goldenoak doors.
As she had expected, Selenay was already hard at work in her dark-paneled outer chamber; dressed for the day in formal Whites, massive desk covered with papers, and both Lord Orthallen and the Seneschal at her shoulders. She looked up at Talia's entrance, startled, blue eyes seeming weary even this early in the day. Whatever brought those two Councilors to her side, it did not look to be pleasant...
Perhaps Talia's news would change all that.
She clued Selenay to the gravity of her news by making the formal half-bow before entering, and that it was good news by a cheerful wink so timed that only Selenay noted it. Protocol demanded exactly five steps across that dark-blue carpet, which took her to exactly within comfortable conversational distance of the desk. Then she went to one knee, trying not to flinch as her bruises encountered the floor. Selenay, tucking a strand of gold hair behind one ear and straightening in expectation, nodded to indicate she could speak.
"Majesty— I have come to petition the right of a trainee to enter the Collegium," Talia said gravely, with both hands clasped upon the upright knee, while her eyes danced at the nonsense of all this formality.
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That got the attention not only of Selenay, but of both Councilors. Only highborn trainees needed to have petitions laid before the Crown, for becoming a Herald often meant renouncing titles and lands, either actual or presumptive.
Talia could see the puzzlement in the Councilors' eyes— and the rising hope in Selenay's.
"What Companion has Chosen— and what is the candidate's name and rank?" Selenay replied just as formally, one hand clutching the goblet before her so tightly her knuckles went white.
"The Companion Gwena has Chosen," Talia barely managed to keep from singing the words, "And her Choice is the Heir-presumptive, now Heir-In-Right, the Lady Elspeth. May I have the Queen's leave to enter the trainee in the Collegium rolls?"
* * *
Within the hour Court and Collegium were buzzing, and Talia was up to her eyebrows in all the tasks needed to transfer Elspeth from her mother's custody to that of the Collegium. Elspeth spent the day in blissful ignorance of all the fuss— which was only fair. The first few hours were critical in the formation of the Herald-Companion bond, and should be spent in as undisturbed a manner as possible. So it was Talia's task to see to it that when Elspeth finally drifted dreamily back through the gates of Companion's Field, everything, from room assignment to having her belongings transferred, had been taken care of for her. And toward day's end it occurred to Talia that it behooved her to take dinner with the Court rather than the Collegium. The Queen might make dinner the occasion for the formal announcement of choice of Heir.
She finished setting up Elspeth's class schedule with Dean Elcarth, and sprinted to her quarters and up the stairs as fast as her sore knees would permit. After a quick wash, she rummaged in the wooden wardrobe, cursing as she bumped her head against one of the doors. After making what she hoped was an appropriate selection, she dressed hastily in one of the velvet outfits. With one hand brushing her hair, half-skipping as she 22
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wedged her feet into the soft slippers that went with it, she used the other hand to snatch the appropriate book of protocol from among the others on her still-dusty desk. While wriggling to settle the clothing properly and using both hands to smooth her hair, she reviewed the brief ceremony attendant on the coronation of the Heir. She shot a quick look at herself in the mirror, then took herself off to the Great Hall.
She slipped into her seldom-used seat between Elspeth and the Queen and whispered "Well?"
"She's going to do it as soon as everyone arrives," Elspeth breathed back.
"I think I'm going to die..."
"No you won't," Talia answered in a conspiratorial manner, "You've been doing things like this for ages. Now I may die!" Elspeth was relaxing visibly now that Talia was there to share her ordeal.
Talia had only taken meals with the Court a handful of times since she'd arrived at the Collegium, and the Great Hall never ceased to impress her.
It was the largest single room in the Palace, its high, vaulted ceiling supported by slender-seeming pillars of ironoak that gleamed golden in the light from the windows and the lamp- and candle-light. There were battle-banners and heraldic pennons that went clear back to the Founding hanging from the rafters. Talia's seat was at the table placed on the dais, which stood at right angle to the rest of the tables in the Hall. Late sunlight streamed in through the tall, narrow windows that filled the west wall, but the windows to the east were already beginning to darken with the onset of nightfall. The courtiers seated along the tables below her were as colorful as a bed of wildflowers, and formed a pleasing grouping against the panels and tables of golden ironoak.
When the Great Hall was filled, the Queen arose as the stewards called for silence. It would have been possible to hear a feather fall as she began.
Every eye in the Hall was riveted on her proud, White-clad figure, with the thin circlet of Royal red gold (it was all she would wear as token of her rank) encircling her raival-leaf golden hair.
"Since the death of my father, we have been without an Heir. I can understand and sympathize with those of you who found this a disquieting 23
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and frightening situation. You may rejoice, for all uncertainty is at an end.
This day was my daughter Elspeth Chosen by the Companion Gwena, making her a fully eligible candidate for the position of Heir. Rise, daughter."
Elspeth and Talia both rose, Elspeth to stand before her mother, Talia to take the silver coronet of the Heir from the steward holding it. She presented it to the Queen, then retired to her proper position as Queen's Own, behind and slightly to Selenay's right. She was pleased to note that although Elspeth's hands trembled, her voice, as she repeated her vows, was strong and clear. Elspeth caught her eyes and held to Talia's gaze as if to a lifeline.
* * *
Elspeth was frightened half to death, despite her lifelong preparation for this moment. She could clearly see Talia's encouraging expression, and the presence of the Queen's Own gave her comfort and courage. For one panicked moment halfway through her vows, she forgot what her mother had said just the instant before. She felt a flood of gratitude when she noticed Talia's lips moving, and realized that she was mouthing the words Elspeth had just forgotten. There was more to it than just having a friend at hand, too— with her mental senses sharpened and enhanced by having been Chosen, Elspeth could dimly feel Talia as a solid, comforting presence, like a deeply-rooted tree in a wild windstorm. There would always be shelter for her beneath those branches, and as she repeated the last words of her Oath, she suddenly realized how vital that shelter would be to one, who as ruler, must inevitably face the gales; and more often than not alone. There was also, distinctly, though distantly, the sense that Talia loved her for herself, and as a true friend. And that in itself was a comfort. As she finished the last words and her mother placed the silver circlet on her head, she tried to put all her gratitude to her friend in the smile she gave her.
* * *
As the Queen placed the coronet on her daughter's hair, a spontaneous cheer rose that gladdened Talia's heart. Perhaps now the Brat could be forgotten.
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But as they resumed their seats and the serving began, the unaccustomed dainties of the Queen's table suddenly lost their appeal as Talia realized that there was yet another ceremony to be endured, one about which she knew nothing. As soon as the powers of the Kingdom could be gathered there must be a great ceremony of fealty in which the Queen's Own would play a significant role. Talia reached blindly for her goblet to moisten a mouth gone dry with panic.
Then she took herself firmly in hand; Kyril and Elcarth, as Seneschal's Herald and Dean of the Collegium, would surely know everything about this occasion— and
just as surely would be aware that Talia didn't. There was no need to panic. Not yet, anyway.
The meal seemed to be progressing with ponderous slowness. This was Talia's first High Feast— and it seemed incredibly dull. She sighed, and the Queen caught the sound.
"Bored?" she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
"Oh, no!" Talia replied with a forced smile.
"Liar," the Queen replied with a twinkle. "No one but a moron could avoid being bored by all this. You sit and sit, and smile and smile, till your face and backside are both stiff. Then you sit and smile some more."
"How do you manage this day after day?" Talia asked, trying not to laugh.
"Father taught me a game; Elspeth and I play it now. What are we doing this time, catling?"
"We're back to animals," Elspeth replied, as her mother nodded to an elderly duke in response to some comment he'd mumbled. "You try and decide what animal the courtiers most remind you of. We change each time. Sometimes it's flowers, trees, rocks, landmarks— even weather. This time it's animals, and he's a badger."
"Well if he's a badger, his lady's a watchdog. Look how she raises her hackles whenever he smiles at that pretty serving girl," Talia said.
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"Oh, I'd never have thought of that one!" Elspeth exclaimed. "You're going to be good at this game!"
They managed to keep straight faces, but it wasn't easy.
* * *
Talia sought out Kyril the next day before the thrice-weekly Council meeting to learn that she had three weeks in which to prepare for Elspeth's formal investiture. He and Elcarth pledged to drill her in all she needed to know, from protocol to politics, every day. The Council meeting in itself was something of an ordeal. She and Elspeth had seats on the far end of the horseshoe-shaped Council table, almost opposite Selenay and the empty place beside her. That empty chair was the seat of the Queen's Own, but Talia could not, under law, assume that place until she had passed her own internship. She and Elspeth had voice on the Council, but no vote. Elspeth's own voting rights were in abeyance until she passed internship. The Councilors tended to ignore them because of that lack of voting rights— but not today.
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