‘Take over for me?’
‘You don’t think I’m not aware of how difficult it is for you to be a leader, Caleb? You’ve always been a loner, in so many ways. I don’t know if not being a magician caused it, or if you would have been this way in any event. I was thrilled when you found Marie and brought her and the boys here, for I despaired that you would ever find a mate – I wouldn’t have minded some grandchildren who were really yours, because Magnus certainly hasn’t shown any signs of giving me any.’
Caleb laughed, genuinely touched by his mother’s concern. ‘I’m a man full grown, as they say in Yabon, Mother. I’ve made many choices beyond those set for me by you and Father. I wouldn’t be your son if I hadn’t come to the same conclusions you had: we serve because we must.’
‘Thank you,’ she whispered.
Caleb added, ‘And I wouldn’t worry about Magnus. He has been in love… once.’
She nodded. Magnus’s very young, foray into romance had broken his heart, and he had retreated from matters of intimacy, save with his family. She worried as mothers do, but she often reminded herself that she hadn’t married and started a family until well past two hundred years of age. ‘Now, I must go. I’m anxious to meet these Quor. I am amazed that there is no mention of them anywhere in your father’s library. Between what he inherited from your grandfather and what he’s added since then…’ She took a slow, deep breath. ‘It’s strange.’
‘Before you go, regarding the coming war, what of Kesh and the other Kingdoms?’
‘The Eastern Kingdoms are of little matter; we have some allies, but they are low on resources. Kesh feels a debt since we saved the Empire from Varen. She’ll answer the call. But what I fear most is what will happen when I ask for the next favour.’
‘Refugees?’
‘Yes. There are going to be millions of them. Potentially more than the entire population of Kesh and the Kingdom combined. No ruler is going to welcome that many aliens with loyalties to other rulers over their borders. No, we need another solution.’
‘Wynet?’
‘The plains above the great escarpment would be perfect, if your father hadn’t already settled the Saaur survivors up there. We’ve remained cordial with them all these years largely by ignoring one another. If we put a hundred thousand Tsurani warriors next to them, they might become irritable.’
‘There are a lot of islands to the west.’
Miranda said, ‘The Sunsets and the archipelagos beyond? Fine if you care to live in a hut and fish for all your meals, but if you want to revive a displaced society…’ She sighed. ‘What we need is an empty world.’
‘Is there one?’
‘Your father would know,’ she said with scantly hidden bitterness.
Caleb kept silent. His parents loved each other deeply, but as with many married couples each had qualities that annoyed the other. For his father, Caleb knew it was Miranda’s insistence on having her own plans and ideas irrespective of what the consensus of the Conclave was; she even had agents of her own who were not part of his father’s larger organization. As for his mother, Caleb knew that she envied, perhaps even resented Pug’s vast knowledge of worlds beyond Midkemia. For all her powers, Kelewan and the Hall were the only two realms beyond Midkemia that she had explored, and she would never have experienced either of them had it not been for Pug.
‘I’ll be leaving for the Sun Elves’ enclave in a little while. Go and get a bite to eat and then come back.’
Caleb nodded and yawned. ‘Sorry. Been up since before dawn.’
She smiled. She knew well that Caleb was always up well before dawn. She watched her son depart and then sat back, looking at the communications on the desk in front of her. She found it almost impossible to concentrate.
She missed her husband more than she could ever have imagined before this mad venture into the Dasati realm had begun. They had been separated before, but they had always been confident that they would see each other again. This time she was not so certain. Her husband had a secret, something she had been aware of since meeting him during the war against the Emerald Queen’s army. There was something he refused to talk about, something he wouldn’t even hint at, but she knew him well, and from time to time she would catch him looking at his sons in a certain way or, when he didn’t realize she noticed, her. It was as if he were trying to burn their features into his memory, as if he feared each time he left he’d never see them again.
She pushed herself away from the desk. She couldn’t continue sitting there. She knew Caleb would understand when he returned and found her gone. Closing her eyes for a second, she recalled exactly where in the Sun Elves’ compound she wished to be, then willed herself there.