Terrano gave her the side-eye. “Does she speak for you?”
“Frequently,” the Hawk replied. To the Lord of the West March, she said, “Can we see the fountain now?”
* * *
The courtyard in which the fountain was housed was immaculate. And empty. Kaylin knew that the elemental water ran through it because it was the elemental water that controlled entrance into the heart of Lirienne’s territory. As she neared the fountain’s stone base, she told her familiar to go sit with Bellusdeo.
Squawk.
“I mean it. I’m not Barrani; I can’t pay attention to more than two things at once.”
Squawk.
“I trust Lirienne. I don’t trust the rest of the Barrani I haven’t laid eyes on yet. And frankly, Terrano’s attitude toward Dragons is a touch on the hostile side.”
“I like her better than your familiar,” Terrano volunteered.
This was greeted with a hiss, rather than the usual overly loud squawks, but the familiar did push himself off Kaylin’s shoulder. Bellusdeo accepted him without apparently noticing that he existed, which meant she didn’t approve.
Kaylin, however, trusted the familiar; he’d already saved the Dragon’s life once, in an attack that had destroyed Kaylin’s first home in Elantra. She seated herself on the bench, lifted an arm, and reached out to let the falling water make contact with her palm. The water was clear and cool to the touch.
All of the marks of the Chosen flared to life on her arms; the hair on her neck stood on end. This was not a promising sign, and it wasn’t entirely pleasant. Her skin was tingling, as if it had been slapped. The water, however, caused no pain. Kaylin closed her eyes and reached, in as much as she was able, for the Tha’alaan.
There was a moment of terrifying silence before the thoughts of the Tha’alani group mind opened up to embrace Kaylin’s more human isolation. Usually, this was comforting. Today, it was not.
Kaylin. Not the voice of the water. Kaylin recognized the caste leader, Ybelline.Where are you?
I’m in the West March.
A moment of confusion, a hint of other voices.In the West March.
Yes. Did you not hear it from the water?
We heard only that there was a grave danger and you had been sent to deal with it.
The water is overconfident.
A ripple of amusement.The problem is in the West March?
Apparently. It’s not that simple. I hoped to reach the water, she added.Can you—can you hear the water?
I can—but her voice is very, very faint. We are not certain what was done, or how; it has caused confusion, and in some instances, panic.
The water dropped us in the middle of one of the Hallionne. We didn’t exactly have time to pack.
We.
Yes, sorry. Lord Bellusdeo is with me.Kaylin tried to visualize the events of the past day; she was now worried. Usually Ybelline could touch those thoughts if Kaylin could hear her at all.
The watercarried youto the West March?
Yes.
I would not have said that was possible without the intervention of a very gifted, very powerful elementalist. Are you certain—
We were in the Keeper’s garden. We’re now in the West March. I’m pretty certain that random elementalists or Arcanists didn’t have much chance to interfere. And I’d bet my own money that Evanton had nothing to do with it, either. But—I can’t hear the water. I can’t askwhythere was an emergency here. Something did go wrong here, but...
What went wrong?