“A charming woman.”
Celestine sniffed. “She’s also a stickler for formality. Remember to use my title and to call her Reverent Taliah, if you please.” Celestine smoothed the map. “Now come and try to remember which island chain you were on when you met the mother of your child.”
Archer stared at her, and then they both burst out laughing. Celestine was glad to see the crease of worry erased from between his eyes, at least for a moment. He came around to her side of the desk and examined the map. The Western Watch, with each of its islands finely detailed with every port, city, and bay demarked exactly.
Celestine watched her friend as he studied the islands in the southern quadrant. He was still very handsome, she decided, despite the hardship of the last few years. He would turn forty-four this winter if her memory served, but his hair was thick and dark with no hint of gray yet. His eyes were also rich brown and very warm when he wasn’t worried about Connor or Skye, and he laughed easily and readily; less so now that Skye was gone. Because of the time Celestine and he spent together, there was talk of liaisons between them that they both found amusing. It was forbidden for the Aluren to copulate with anyone outside the faith and even if it were permitted, Celestine would not have sought anything other than friendship with Admiral Crane. His devotion to Skye was a part of his very being. Palpable. Tangible to those who knew him best. Like his scent or the color of his eyes.
Celestine wondered, though, if she would have found Archer attractive if they were two ordinary citizens meeting on the street. She thought not. He was rough around the edges, often temperamental, a masterful sailor, and a genius at tactics and strategy. But he wasn’t an intellectual and there wasn’t one thing mysterious about him. And these two qualities, Celestine imagined, were the hallmarks of any man she might care for.
In the dark, lonely hours of the night, lying abed in her cell, she conjured a companion who was clever and thoughtful, sensitive and kind, but perhaps with a slight shadow slanting over him. A man with whom it would take long months, years perhaps, of delicious conversations and ruminations about life and history, and art and theology, before she could rightly say she understood him. Or he her.
But the Moon Temple was nearly empty. Only a handful of adherents and even fewer Paladins walked the halls now that Gerus and Selena were absent. Celestine’s loneliness warred with the duties that had been thrust upon her. At twenty-four, she was too young even in her own estimation to be High Reverent. But there was no one else. And duty to her Temple and her god came first. She vowed she would make the Temple busy again, fill its ranks, and then, when Skye returned victorious, Celestine would step down as High Reverent and perhaps be permitted to indulge in a creating a fuller life for herself.
But not yet, she sighed, and observed her friend. I pine for my love just as strongly as he does for his. The difference is that he knows her name, and my companion, whoever he may be, is as yet a stranger. She suspected this mutual condition was part of what made she and Archer such good friends. We are equally wretched and lonely.
“Cel? I think I have it,” he said, laying his finger to the map.
She gave herself a shake and looked to the chart. “Isle Devala.”
He nodded. “Keep in mind that twenty years ago, this island had hardly a real port and I don’t believe even that had a name. They were a strange people; very kind and beautiful, but reserved. Elia was very beautiful. She passed all her beauty to Connor when she died.”
“You are kind to a fault; Connor is you twenty-five years ago.”
“Yes, but his eyes. That impossibly dark blue color? The color of the night sky the moment before the sun sets? That’s her.” He looked up. “It’s Devala.”
“What about Devala?” came a voice at the door, thickly accented and with a growl beneath it.
“Reverent Taliah,” Celestine said, motioning the Juskaran inside.
Taliah bowed reverentially to Celestine, and the numerous beaded necklaces she wore over her blue and silver tunic clacked, as did the copper rings at the end of her many black braids. Her crimson skin showed the beginnings of crow’s feet around her gold eyes, with which she took in the office and those in it with a sharp, owl-like stare. She gave the admiral a crisp, respectful nod. “Admiral Crane. It is good to see you again.”
“And you as well, Reverent,” he replied. “I trust your visit home was satisfying?”
Taliah snorted. “Visit? It was a mission of conscription and highly unsatisfying. Too many of my people are deaf to the god, either by fate or by choice. The Juskari are overly proud of the size of their islands. As if the great swaths of sand allow them to forget the greater swaths of ocean they float upon. By and by they’ll learn that reducing their fealty to the Shining face to prayers for calm seas during trading voyages aren’t enough.” She waved a crimson-skinned hand. “It pains my heart to speak of it. How may I assist you, High Reverent?”
“We need your expertise and acumen on a private matter. What do you know of the Devala Isles? Specifically with regards to their deity. Or deities, as it were.”
“They are nature-loving people,” Taliah said. “They worship our beloved Two-Faced God but like many heathen isles, only after their own god has been honored. In this case, the god is named Wor’ri.” Here, the Juskaran woman narrowed her gold eyes at Celestine and Archer and she spoke slowly, watching how her words landed on them. “The adherents on these islands call themselves druids and the reward for prayer to Wor’ri comes to them in the form of wind, rain, and lightning. Wor’ri is a storm god. Primarily. It has other aspects but that is its principal domain.”
Celestine sat down in her chair. Archer had turned his head to the window, his expression unreadable.
Taliah’s eyes flared. “This has to do with young Connor, does it not? I heard what happened last week and now we have yet another giant dragonman stomping around our temple.” She sniffed. “I am grateful you are just now welcoming me into the matter.”
“Taliah, we know very little about what happened to Connor or why there is a Vai’Ensai with him. You were away when Connor had his episode—”
“Yes, and since my return I’ve been treated to scraps of information, fed to me as if I were some stray mutt begging under the table.”
“You’re here now,” Archer snapped.
Celestine raised a hand. “Reverent Taliah, Connor’s mother was a native of those islands.”