“He is ancient and has some affinity for antiquities.” At Kaylin’s expression, he frowned and added, “He knows more than you do. What did you ask him?”
“I, um, asked him if he thought there was any chance at all that Shadow was, like the elements, a source of power. I mean, notlikeelements, butkindof like them. You know how summoners get powerful enough to summon bigger chunks of elemental fire, and then they have to fight like hell to make certain the fire doesn’t burn everything in sight?”
“Yes,” was Evanton’s dry response.
Kaylin reddened. Of course he knew. “What if Shadow was sort of like that? I mean, that some people could summon Shadow, and it would do what they wanted, and some could summon Shadow and it would...eat them.”
“You asked the Arkon this.”
She nodded.
“His answer?”
“He thought it was a very good question.”
“Whyexactly did you ask the Arkon the question?”
Kaylin told him.
* * *
“There is no Shadow in my garden,” Evanton said when they had taken their usual seats around the now-less-crowded kitchen table. “There is, however, the Devourer of Worlds. I do not think he will awaken in any true sense for centuries.”
“The Devourer isn’t Shadow, though.”
“No.” Evanton paused. “Nor can he, in theory, be summoned the way the wild elements can. But it is possible that you are materially half-correct. It is not, however, a magic that I believe the Aerians know how to use, if anyone currently does.”
“I think someone currently does. The human who bullied Margot into reading the future—which made about as much sense to anyone else as Oracles usually do before things actually happen—was somehow imbued with Shadow. Or infested by it. That Shadow was, I think, key to his ability to physically control Margot—but he seemed both surprised and genuinely upset to see it.
“Second, the Arcane bomb that destroyed the infirmary earlier today. Usually when there’s that much damage done, you can see the magical splash across the bits and pieces of debris. Therewassome of that, but not nearly enough for a bomb of that power. There was also a lot of inert Shadow.
“And third...” Here she hesitated. “I don’t know what you’ve been told about thepraevolo. Probably a lot more than I have,” she added in a rush when she saw Evanton’s wrinkles begin to fall into his pinched, annoyed expression. “Third, the world the Aerians were originally from was somehow losing its magic. I don’t understand how or why—I mean, how do you lose magic?—but that’s what they believed. They need magic to fly.
“So they left it. But if the problem was magic—or lack of magic—I’m not sure I understandhowthepraevolocould be a vessel for enough magic to allow the Aerians to fly in their search. And yet, that’s what they think thepraevolodid.”
Evanton nodded.
“The Barrani have what they refer to as a Test of Name.”
“Be careful, Kaylin.”
“I’m being careful. I’m only talking to you.”
“Yes. With your usual subtlety.”
She shrugged, fief shrug. “Thereasonthey have the test is because of Shadow—our Shadow, the Shadow in Ravellon. What the Shadow touches, it alters. If altered, the person changed becomes part of that Shadow, subordinate to it. It changes something about the person.
“Those who survive the Test of Namecanface the Shadow without being consumed by it. Those who fail can’t. That’s the theory,” she added. “Look, Ihate it. But no one is forced to take the Test of Name. Most of the Barrani Hawks haven’t, and won’t.”
“One cannot be Lord of the High Court without undergoing it,” Evanton observed. “And children of important lineages almost certainly consider they have no choice but to take that risk.”
She thought of Annarion and fell silent for a beat or two.
“If Shadow is like fire, it’s likely to consume those who can’t control it.” She hesitated again. “The bracelet Moran is wearing—”
“Yes,” Evanton replied, as if the word was a wall.
“Only thepraevolocan wear it. It apparently—”