People in pain often had this effect on her, if she cared about them at all. And clearly, she did care about Terrano, which came as a bit of a surprise to her, given how they’d first met.
“It is not surprising,” Helen’s voice said. The sound of it pulled Terrano from his thoughts, and he straightened in his chair again. “You have been living with two of his brothers. You’ve fought by their sides, more than once; they’ve come to your aid, and you’ve come to theirs, when there was no certain guarantee of survival. They are your friends. They are Teela’s family. They live in your house.
“Terrano is one of them, to you.” Helen’s Avatar remained with the rest of the cohort; only her voice was present in the room.
“I’m not,” Terrano said, voice low.
“They don’t believe that,” Helen countered. “They are waiting for you, and Allaron is about to leave the room to remind you.”
“Remind me of what? That he’s a giant, overstrong ox?”
“I heard that,” Allaron said. “Look, I don’t care if you don’t want to stay. Sedarias is set on it. I never did understand why the two of you got along so well—you could not be more different.” He lowered his voice as he approached Terrano who was, to Kaylin’s eye, almost sulking. “You know what she’s like when she’s unhappy. Or maybe you don’t. But she’s been unhappy since you left.”
“I can’t talk to her,” Terrano whispered. “I can’t talk to any of you, anymore.”
“You can. You can’t do it the old way.”
“I can’t hear any of you anymore. I don’t have—”
Allaron’s large hand was gentle as he placed it firmly on Terrano’s shoulder. “You did hear us,” he said. “From wherever it was you went, you heard us. You came back for us. Without you, we would have been swept away. We understand. Sedarias thinks you’ve been listening with half an ear since you left.”
“Half?”
“Well, she thinks you never listened before, so half is still impressive.” When Terrano attempted to pull away, Allaron exhaled. “We are not suffering through Sedarias’s deep, personal pain when we have a host of Barrani Lords bent on our destruction. Even if you can’t speak to us and can’t hear us the way you did before, you’re part of our entire history. We’re here because of you. If you’d never started your experiments, we would never have been free. So you’re staying with us until this part is done. Got it?”
“You know you can’t hurt me.”
“Keep it up and I’ll at least enjoy trying. Come on. Everyone’s waiting.” Allaron leaned down, lowering his voice. “Mandoran wants you to teach him not to get stuck in walls.”
“In walls?”
“Seriously. He’s gotten stuck twice now. Or maybe three times.”
Terrano laughed, then, his expression brightening. “He’s an idiot. I can easily show him that.” And he straightened his shoulders and let Allaron lead him to their room.
*
“Well?”
Kaylin blinked. She had forgotten that Severn was in the room.
“You’re worried.”
“There’s a lot to be worried about. The Consort. The Emperor. The Barrani attempt to start a war. The Arcanists who cooperated with Terrano and the cohort before they’d finally been freed. Candallar. Ravellon.”
Severn nodded, raising a brow. Kaylin had practiced raising a single brow for years, and hadn’t become proficient.
“Diarmat’s report. If it’s not at Evanton’s, he’s going to reduce me to ash.” She would have continued, but Severn wasn’t buying any of it, even if all of it was true.
It’s all true, he agreed. But it’s not what you’re worried about.
It’s what I should be worried about.
Yes.
Severn was right, of course. At the moment, she was worried about Terrano. Terrano, who had tried to kill the Consort on Kaylin’s first visit to the West March. Terrano, who had abandoned his name and left his friends behind when Alsanis had finally released them all.
That Terrano occupied none of her thoughts. But this Terrano? He seemed smaller, frailer, and lonely.
“He’s with family. They won’t abandon him.” He rose and held out an arm. “You need sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, and if we all survive it, the day after isn’t going to be much better.” He hesitated for one long minute as Kaylin stared at his arm. “I don’t know if Helen’s mentioned it, but I’m staying.”
She stared at him.
“Until the cohort leaves, one way or the other.” He hadn’t asked permission, but that would have just been awkward.
Kaylin exhaled heavily, but nodded. She didn’t ask him anything either, for the same reason.
Epilogue
“I don’t care if you read my mind,” Teela told Helen, as she entered the foyer. “But at the moment, I do not care to discuss its contents.”
“Not much to discuss?” A voice that was not Helen’s said.
Teela looked up the grand, curving staircase. She had never had the heart to tell Kaylin that the younger Hawk’s sense of appropriate, cohesive architecture was terribly off. Terrano was perched on the left side of the stairs, leaning into the guide rails. He rose as she headed toward him.
“Waiting for me?”
“It was quieter.” Terrano hesitated. “You have your own room.”
“Yes. I should warn you that I share it with my beat partner.”
“He’s not here.”
Teela exhaled. “No. He’s not here, at the moment. He had something else to attend.” Her lips compressed in a do not ask line as she looked at Terrano, the lone member of the cohort who had elected not to return from the green. And yet, here he was, looking much smaller, and much younger—to Teela’s eye—than either Mandoran or Annarion had, upon their arrival.
She headed up the stairs, and Terrano followed her. “I am going to change,” she told him, without looking back. “I need, at the very least, a figurative bath.”
“Spike arrived,” he told her, as if he, like Helen, could read minds. “He’s with Kaylin.”
“And Kaylin?”
“Sleeping,” Helen said. It was the first word she’d spoken since Teela’s arrival. Teela appreciated the silence. Nor did Helen tell Teela that she should be sleeping as well; the Barrani were not a race that required sleep, although they did at times require rest.
She glanced once over her shoulder; Terrano waited, almost fidgeting. He would follow her to her own room if she did not tell him to leave.
She didn’t tell him to leave.
*
Teela’s rooms were open to light and air, and the floors and walls were wooden. Lintels were carved, tall.
“This looks like the West March,” Terrano said, as he entered.
“What do your rooms look like?”