“So what do I do now?”
Lejikh combed his beard with his fingers. “You cannot stay here. Lord Felomar won’t risk helping a sorcerer as powerful as you now that the Raen has returned.” He frowned. “The Raen’s law against teaching others how to travel between worlds applies to Travellers as well, so we cannot continue your training. You must either find a teacher willing to defy the Raen’s law so that you can return to your home world, or find a new home in another world and stay hidden there.
“You’d be safest in your own world,” Lejikh said. “It’s the one place you can be sure he’ll never return to, since he’d be trapped there again.”
“But it isn’t a safe place for a sorcerer,” Baluka pointed out. “Finding a teacher may not be as hard as it sounds. Some sorcerers will resent the return of the Raen’s laws. Some have always defied them.” Then he paused and chewed his bottom lip. “However, they will be hard to find once they learn the Raen is back.”
Ankari reached out and patted Rielle’s hand. “Don’t worry. We’ll help you find somewhere nice either way.”
Rielle gave the woman a grateful smile, then turned to Lejikh as something else occurred to her. “But if the Raen meets one of you won’t he read my location from your mind?”
Lejikh nodded. “We may know who you are learning from, but we don’t need to know where.”
“The Worweau Market is a good place to find a teacher,” Ankari said, looking at Lejikh. “Perhaps we will find one among the Metri. They are similar in appearance and culture to Rielle–though they do not have laws against using magic. Her artisan skills would be valued, too.”
Lejikh frowned as he considered, then nodded with some reluctance. “Metri would be suitable, but Worweau Market is many worlds’ travel away. He looked at Rielle. “It will be a long way back to Rielle’s home world.”
“And from the last place we know the Raen has visited,” Ankari pointed out. “Better that she is safe but with a long journey home than in danger with a short one. And she may like Metri enough to make it her home.” She looked at Rielle. “You should write down what you saw in all the worlds you remember passing through to get to Inekera’s world, in case your memory fades.”
Rielle nodded. Lejikh looked at his wife, then his son, then Rielle. “It is the best option we have, for now. Rielle, you should not allow anyone else to know you accepted an invitation to serve the Raen, or that Inekera tried to kill you. From this moment we must all keep our minds closed unless the need to translate is urgent. You especially, Rielle.”
“But how will I understand you without Baluka translating?” Rielle asked.
He smiled. “The way everyone without magic does. Learning our language will be more useful than you expect. The Traveller tongue is spoken as a trading language in most worlds, so it will allow you to communicate with more than my family and people.”
“And it will gain you respect as well,” Baluka added. “Knowing the Traveller tongue suggests you are educated and important.”
“Not too important, if you are to stay hidden,” Lejikh warned. “Do you have any more questions before Baluka blocks his mind?”
Rielle considered. “When do we leave?”
“As soon as we’ve had a quick morning meal. If you have left any belongings in your room you had better fetch them now. Anything else?”
She shook her head.
Lejikh’s mind vanished from her senses, then Baluka’s. They all rose, the older couple leading the way out of the room. Baluka indicated she should follow him. They walked in silence. When they had reached the corridor leading to her room his mind opened to hers again.
“I know you still believe the Angel and the Raen are not the same person,” he murmured. “I don’t have to read your mind to see that. I’d not want to admit I had been deceived, if I was in your position. But I know it’s more than that to you.” He paused, deciding how he would say what he wanted to say. “You may not realise it, but you may unconsciously fear it means the Angels did not forgive you.”
A stab of horror went through her. He was right. Resentment flared, but the feeling vanished as quickly, replaced by gratitude. At least someone understood, even if that person did not believe Angels existed.
He was looking at her expectantly, so she searched the few Traveller words she’d learned for the right one.
“Thank you,” she said in his language.
His smile was bright and she found herself thinking, not for the first time but never with the freedom to dwell on it before, that he was a good-looking young man. And good natured, too, she added as she ducked into her bedroom to gather up her clothes. One day he’s going to make a Traveller girl very happy.
PART TWO
TYEN
CHAPTER 1