Terrano lifted his hand. “Could you all speak in Barrani? I don’t understand more than half of what you’re saying.”
“Sorry—they learned it from Teela,” Kaylin said quietly. “And they know I am much more comfortable speaking Elantran.” She made the effort to speak in Barrani. “We need to know what you taught them.”
“We didn’t teach them how to walk into Ravellon and walk out again, carrying one of its occupants.” Sedarias exhaled. “Terrano was the best of us. Mandoran was next, but he was not Terrano’s equal. Terrano had a map of the interior layers of Alsanis, and even when those layers shifted, he could still see their edges in the new locations. He was capable of circumnavigating the Hallionne, by the end—he could leave. We could not.”
Kaylin nodded; this much she knew from personal experience.
“Understand that we had given up on our kin, just as they had—long since—given up on both us and Alsanis. We understood that the Dreams of Alsanis—the eagles—had become blighted nightmares. We did not desire Alsanis’s destruction.”
“You didn’t care about Orbaranne.”
“Not as much, no. We could not speak True Words. Ah, no. We could not speak them into being, the way the Ancients could. We could recognize them, and we could—with effort—manipulate their shapes, but never enough. But we understood the theory: they are Alsanis. They are the Hallionne.”
“They aren’t all of the Hallionne!” Kaylin replied. She then flushed and repeated the words in Barrani.
“No. There is some core, some essential sentience, at the heart of the Hallionne; it is why they all differ. And it is irrelevant. If that core drives the Hallionne, if they command the power that resides within, they are nonetheless dependent on the shape of the words themselves for the almost limitless power they access within their own walls. I do not believe that the intent of the intruders was to destroy Alsanis.”
“You think they were here to destroy you.”
“Yes.”
“You specifically.”
Serralyn said, “That is not relevant.” Which Kaylin took as a yes. Sedarias glared at Serralyn, who fell silent but obviously begrudged it. “The intruder was my older sister.”
“The intruder you killed?”
“We have perfect memory, Lord Kaylin; you do not labor under that burden. But yes.”
“Did Teela tell you that someone tried to assassinate her?”
Silence.
“...I’ll take it that’s a no.”
“She’s not happy with you,” Eddorian said. “And yes, we knew something had angered her, and we had a few guesses. Teela doesn’t like to share when she can avoid it.”
“She can’t avoid this.” It was Bellusdeo who spoke.
“No. I believe she understands that. Mandoran says she has moved in with you, but adds, ‘unfortunately, she brought Tain as well.’”
“More like she couldn’t ditch him.”
“Mandoran thinks Tain is devoted to Teela.”
Kaylin said, “No comment.”
“You don’t agree?”
“I don’t think it’s safe for me—or anyone else, even you—to talk about Teela’s personal life.”
“We were talking about Tain,” Eddorian pointed out.
“You were talking about Tain in relation to Teela. And she won’t be happy about that. And regardless, what you can get away with, I can’t. Tain is a Hawk. He’s Teela’s partner. When things get ugly, he has her back. That’s what I know about the two of them, and that’s really all I need to know.”
“Have you no curiosity?” Serralyn asked.
Kaylin shrugged. “They were Hawks when I joined. They joined the force together. I once asked if there was something between them, and once was enough. They’re partners and they’re Hawks, and that’s what really matters.” She shook her head. “And you’re distracting me. You killed your older sister.”
Sedarias’s shrug was cool. “This is not the first attempt she’s made on my life.”
“You spent most of your life here!”
“Yes.”
“And you were all considered children when you were brought here.”
“Indeed.”
“So you’re saying she tried to kill you when you were children?”
“No. I was considered a child; she was not. And before you ask, she was not the head of the line. Nor is she now.”
“She’s dead now.”
“Fine. She was not the head of the line when she died, either.” Sedarias rose. “Spike, will you accompany me?”
Spike failed to answer. The familiar glanced at Kaylin, and when Kaylin failed to do something—the nature of that something having not been communicated—squawked loudly in her ear.
Terrano stood and held out his left hand. “Spike,” he said, in an almost aggrieved tone. “Will you accompany me?”
Spike whirred and clicked and floated through the air to land in Terrano’s outstretched palm.
Sedarias glared—whether at Terrano or Spike was unclear—and pushed herself out of her chair. “I would like Spike to take a close look at the war band for later study.”
“You said you have perfect memory,” Kaylin pointed out.
“We do, yes. But we are not all magically inclined, and we are not Records in any sense of the word. I think we’ll want to be able to reproduce what we see in a more tangible way.”
Kaylin shot Spike a dubious glance. “I’m not sure Spike would be considered entirely objective or acceptable as a legal source of information.”
“We use what we have at hand,” Sedarias replied, with an almost martial shrug. She started to leave the room, stopped, and turned back to Terrano. “Are you coming?”
*
Kaylin ate dinner when it appeared on the table. She became mildly self-conscious when the only people offered food were she and Bellusdeo. The Dragon, however, didn’t seem self-conscious at all. She watched the cohort as they fell silent, and occasionally asked them questions. Having Mandoran as one of Bellusdeo’s housemates seemed to have blunted the edge of their racial Dragon hostility. And given how often one of the cohort started a comment with Mandoran says, it was almost like they were at home.
Kaylin understood that Barrani families were not like mortal families, or at least not like the families of the mortals she personally knew, but still found Sedarias’s attitude toward her dead sister disturbing. To be fair, she believed, as Sedarias did, that that dead sister had been trying to kill Sedarias—the rest of the cohort likely being collateral damage—so she didn’t particularly judge Sedarias. If Sedarias had been obviously angry or obviously upset, it would have been easier. Sedarias, however, seemed to consider it the effective equivalent of bad weather—a simple fact of the life she had led before she had been brought to the green.
Kaylin had often daydreamed about having sisters and brothers of her own. The whole attempted murder element of family did not play any part in those daydreams. It was hard not to envy beautiful, healthy Immortals—but envy was not what she felt at the moment. She was therefore quiet while she ate.
Before Sedarias returned, Alsanis did. “The Consort wishes to speak with you now, if you are available.” Although the phrase was politely worded, it wasn’t really a request. Kaylin rose. She glanced at Bellusdeo, who shook her head. “I’ll stay with the cohort.”