On the captain’s other side, James, Hugh and Miguel discussed the Sentinel Games. Pia realized they were making bets on who would win through to the final seven positions. Johnny ate silently with quick economy while he drummed the table with the fingers of one hand. No doubt he missed his Angry Birds.
Then she noticed the top of a blue-tipped head weaving its way through a knot of talking people at the other side of the room. Linwe shouldered between two people and walked toward them.
“Oh look, here she come,” crooned Miguel. “I love that girl. I love her.” As Linwe stopped beside their table, smiling, Miguel said to her, “Please tell me you starred in a spring break video called Elf Babes Gone Wild.”
At that both Pia and Eva swiveled to stare at him. Miguel glanced from one unsmiling face to the other. “Come on, I asked her if she was legal,” he said. “She’s thirty.”
Linwe grimaced. “I lied. I’m only sixteen.”
Miguel looked stricken. Eva pointed at him and said, “You gonna get your ass arrested someday. That’s if you lucky, and I don’t beat you to a pulp first.”
Linwe’s bright peal of laughter rang out. Dancing brown eyes met Pia’s. I am actually thirty, but please don’t tell him, Linwe said.
I won’t, Pia promised grimly. He deserves to sweat a little. I apologize for his behavior.
Please don’t feel that’s necessary, Linwe said. I’m at least partway to blame, since I goaded him all day yesterday. Aloud, the Elf said, “I heard you would enjoy a tour.”
“Yes, please, as long as the High Lord can contact me if he becomes available for an audience,” Pia replied.
“If that happens, a runner will find us.”
“Very well.” Pia stood, and all the others stood too. She said to Miguel, “No.” As his face fell, Pia told Eva, “Two on. You pick.”
“Me and Johnny,” Eva said immediately.
“Fine.” She smiled at Linwe. “Thank you for showing us around.”
“That is entirely my pleasure,” Linwe said.
For the next hour Linwe took Pia on a tour of the heart of Lirithriel Wood, while Eva and Johnny followed silently. The High Lord’s house had four levels, two of them deeply carved into bedrock.
By the time they stepped outdoors the fog had dissipated, leaving behind a gray, overcast day. Underneath the heavy blanket of old-growth trees, the landscape itself was full of curves and ridges like the whorls of a fingerprint or a gnarled tree trunk.
Many other small buildings dotted the area, cleverly hidden in nooks between the trees, and Pia was fascinated to find, there were more of the subtle there/not there Elven faces carved into large boulders. She started to look for them in rocks of any size, but several times they still surprised her, one moment hidden and the next moment coming visible.
Throughout the entire tour Pia could feel the crossover passageway, but either the underlying curl of the land itself or the Wood’s presence kept her from pinpointing where it was until suddenly they came upon it.
Pia jerked to a halt, staring. Behind her, Eva and Johnny had to pull up hard to avoid running into her back.
Just ahead the trees opened up to a small clearing where stairs had been carved into the stony ground, leading downward and reshaping the floor of what must have once been a natural ravine. On the other side of the stairs, the walls had also been shaped and carved with a graceful, interlocking pattern. Even though she was standing several yards away, the Power of the passageway tugged at her.
She said, “I’m amazed the sculptors were able to keep their equilibrium long enough in the passageway to carve anything, let alone something so intricate and beautiful.”
Linwe said cheerfully, “They were old.” She grinned as all three Wyr laughed. “I meant that. Our ancients are very strong in their affinity to the elements.”
“Do you have an affinity to an element?” Pia asked.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Mine is air.” Pia blinked as a sudden breeze tickled her cheek. Linwe said, “I’m quite young, though, and that’s the extent of what I can do. One of our most Powerful ancients could take that same affinity to air and create a storm the size of Hurricane Rita.” The Elf held up a slim hand. “Not that I’m saying that creating a storm of that size would be a good thing. And one or two of our ancients, the ones who are especially gifted, have an affinity to more than one element. Those tend to be compatible with each other. Fire and air. Water and earth. That sort of thing.”
That was the best conversational opening Pia had seen yet, and she took it. “Speaking of ancients, I hear that Elves from Numenlaur are visiting.”
A shadow darkened Linwe’s animated expression. “Yes, although very few people have seen them. They have been closeted away ever since they arrived. I heard one of them might be ill.”
Whatever Pia might have expected to hear, that wasn’t it. She wasn’t aware Elves could suffer from illness. “I’m sorry.”
Linwe shrugged a slender shoulder. “It’s gossip. I don’t know anything for sure.”