“In self-defense, we are more...primal.”
“And why, exactly, are we talking about your possible death at the hands of the Arkon?” Kaylin glanced at the rest of the company. They all looked amused.
“It passes time,” Bellusdeo replied. “And it is pleasant enough to consider in the abstract.”
Kaylin was never going to understand immortals.
*
Convince Moran to stay with Helen. Check.
Visit the Arkon. Check. She had even managed to sneak in the possibility of an informal Imperial dinner.
Squawk.
She should have felt at least a little accomplished. But sometimes the world—her world—seemed so fragile. One wrong move, one moment of unrelieved ignorance, and it was over. The Devourer had almost destroyed it. The idiot who had hoped to take over the power of the Keeper—without any of the responsibility, of course—could have destroyed it. If the heart of the green had been destroyed, if Mandoran and Annarion had returned to the world without the tenuous link to the names that had given them life, Kaylin thought it likely that the world would have eventually ended, as well.
The fact that it hadn’t implied, strongly, that they’d been collectively lucky. And relying on luck was a mug’s game. The only reliable thing about luck was that it was a coin toss. It could come up heads or tails, good or bad, win or lose. If you played long enough, bad was inevitable.
“Kaylin,” Mandoran said.
She stopped.
“Where are you going?”
“Didn’t you hear the Arkon?”
“I did.”
“Well, then. I’m going to visit Gilbert and Kattea.”
Teela said, “Your stomach is making so much noise I can hardly hear myself think. We’re almost near the midmarket. Pick up something to eat—for all of us—on the way there. Bellusdeo can pay.”
“Oh?” the Dragon said.
“The Emperor will see to any reasonable expense you accrue. Even if he offered to do so for Kaylin, ranks of bureaucracy stand in the way of her refund.” When Bellusdeo failed to respond, Teela grinned. “Look, he has to be good for something.”
The gold Dragon snorted. But she paid.
*
Kattea was far more subdued on their second visit than she had been on the first. Her eyes did light up when Bellusdeo presented her with the basket that contained a late lunch; she didn’t even wilt when Kaylin explained that the day had been so grueling none of them had had time to eat yet.
The small dragon squawked. A lot.
“Is Gilbert in?” Kaylin asked.
“Yes. He’s busy.”
“Does he need to eat? I mean, can you interrupt him?”
“He knows you’re here.”
Kaylin frowned. The difference in Kattea was so marked, she dropped straight into worry. “Did something happen last night?”
Kattea shook her head. She glanced once over her shoulder, and when she turned back, her face was shuttered. She was polite; her body language was deferential. But she might have been an orphan navigating the streets of Nightshade, she was suddenly so wary.
Kaylin knew that wariness well, she had lived with it herself for so long. “Ferals?”
The girl froze. “There are no Ferals on this side of the bridge,” she whispered. As if it were a prayer. As if she almost didn’t believe it.
Kaylin had been there, too. “No, there aren’t. Not unless something goes badly, badly wrong. Was Gilbert injured?” So many shots in the dark. But this one hit its mark.
Kattea nodded.
“Have you eaten?”
She shook her head.
“Eat with us?”
Wariness, again.
Kaylin smacked her own forehead. “This is Annarion, and this is Mandoran. They weren’t here yesterday, but they’re friends. They’re Teela’s friends. They are not the fieflord’s thugs.”
“Are they Hawks, too?”
“Not yet.”
Annarion looked gray green. Mandoran looked as if he wanted to add something. He didn’t.
*
Kattea’s wariness diminished as she ate. Gilbert, however, did not make an appearance, and when Kaylin was certain that her stomach wouldn’t embarrass her, she rose. “Kattea?”
The girl glanced at the Barrani—all of them. Kaylin had a very bad feeling.
“Will you take me to see Gilbert? If he’s injured, I might be able to help.”
Bellusdeo rose, as well. Her eyes were not quite orange yet; her expression suggested that if Kaylin insisted on going to see Gilbert without backup, they would be.
“You can’t help him. He said no one could help. Not even me.”
“Want to make a bet?”
Kattea’s eyes narrowed. “For what?”
She really was a child after Kaylin’s own heart. Since Bellusdeo had paid for lunch, Kaylin fished around in her pockets and drew out two silver coins. They were as round as Kattea’s eyes became. “I...can’t match that.”
“No. What will you bet?”
“What do you want?”
“Information. If I can help Gilbert, you have to answer my questions as truthfully as you can.”
Kattea weighed the stakes. She looked momentarily crafty and calculating. “I’ll take it,” she said, standing. “You can come see Gilbert.”