“Hmm.” Blue mused and nodded. “What would the man offer me?” she asked her head tilting to one side.
“A bowl of late harvest grapes from the vines of Arovan bursting with the flavor of summer,” Valor replied once more without pause.
“Mmm.” Blue smiled, her eyes twinkling. She nodded slowly and held up two fingers then slowly raised the third. “And what would I give the boy or the man in return?” she asked.
“Just enough to haunt his sleep and leave him pining after you like a lovesick pup and not a drop more,” Valor answered the moment she stopped speaking.
“Welcome home, Valor Hai’dia. So glad to hear the rumors about your trip to the Darklands were exaggerated,” Blue said in a voice filled with warmth. Moving forward she wrapped both arms around Valor in tight embrace.
“They weren’t, Blue. We returned but a few days ago,” Valor informed her as she stepped back from the hug. Blue froze and stared at him as if she expected him to laugh, and then slowly looked from his serious expression to Jala.
Jala gave a nod of agreement and turned to look back toward the gate. “We have come so that I might heal Sebastian Blackwolf. I have been told that he lies near death.”
Blue’s eyes lost their playful light and she turned back to Valor. “Is this true? Can she heal him?” she asked in a voice filled with doubt.
“It is and she can,” Valor answered.
“This way,” Blue said without further hesitation as she pushed a postern door open beside the gate. “I had no idea your visit here was of such importance. I thought you were simply seeking Honor. Had I known, I never would have delayed you at the gate,” Blue said in way of apology as she led them through the muddy streets and small clustered houses.
“Honor is here?” Valor said quickly his eyes moving to search the streets. “Is that his weather crafting outside the gate?”
“He is and it is. Both he and Micah arrived here before the first snows with the intent on escorting Sebastian on to Arovan,” Blue explained her voice losing most of its former merriment. “We haven’t been able to move him though. He keeps growing worse and I fear now that we are doing nothing more than waiting for him to die before we continue on. Or at least that’s how it feels.” The bard paused and swallowed heavily, looking back toward them with pain written on her beautiful face. “I do what I can to keep spirits up. I don’t want my young lord to be smothered in misery during his last days. I want him to hear laughter and music and remember the joys of this world, in the hopes that perhaps he will cling longer to life. I’m afraid that the sobbing and tears do nothing but rush him toward his own grave,” she confessed softly and ran a hand across her face to brush away the beginning of tears. “He no longer even looks like the boy I taught, Valor. He has wasted away to nothing but bones and agony.”
“Jala will make him whole again, I promise you, Blue,” Valor assured her, placing a gentle hand on her back and urging her forward once more.
“We’ve had healers to see him,” Blue said through soft sniffles. “They were not the best at their craft, however. The finest healers are no longer with us, I fear. They fell in the early days of the fighting and now we are left with children that know a fraction of the art their masters held. We tried to send for a healer from Sanctuary, but no one will come to Glis.”
“Had I known, I would have come,” Jala offered quietly.
Blue glanced over her shoulder once more at Jala and then guided them up a set of stairs and through a door. The small house blazed with heat and Jala let out a sigh of relief as she unwrapped her arms from her coat and stretched her palms toward the cheerfully burning fireplace. The house was decorated modestly with simple chairs and a roughhewn table. A door in the back opened at the sound of their entrance and Jala glanced over to see Honor Hai’dia staring at them in utter shock.
“Hello brother,” Valor said, his voice shattering the silence of the room.
“Lady Merrodin has come to see Sebastian. Will you ask if it is allowed? Please, Honor,” Blue called.
Honor nodded slowly and then turned back to the room once more, the look of shock still on his handsome face. After a few muffled exchanges he leaned through the door and motioned to Jala. “This way please, Lady Merrodin. My Lord Micah will show you to Sebastian.”
Jala stole a glance toward Valor and then nodded and made her way across the small room. “Thank you,” she said softly to Honor as he held the door open wide for her. With a quick glance around the small parlor she turned to Micah and bowed her head in greeting.
The last time she had seen the heir of Arovan he had been filthy and dressed in grooms clothes. This time however he resembled his rank. He rose quickly from the chair he had been sitting in and bowed deeply to her. His somber clothes were of fine quality but lacked the flamboyance of Blue’s courtly attire. He started to offer his hand and then seemed to realize that he still held a thick book in his grasp and quickly dropped it onto the table. “Lady Merrodin, I apologize for our distraction and shock. I could not think of a more unexpected guest, however, and I hope that explains our lack of manners.” His voice was mellow with only a faint hint of an accent to it. She could see his gaze moving from her face to her stomach, but he was far too well-mannered to make mention of it.
“I can imagine the shock and I assure you I am not offended. I am getting rather uneasy about being so formally addressed though. May I beg your indulgence and ask that you simply call me Jala,” she said carefully, choosing her words in an attempt to sound as courtly as she could. Folding her coat over her arm she effectively hid her pregnancy from direct sight and hoped the subtle signal was enough to let the young lord know it wasn’t a topic she cared to discuss.