Terrano snorted. “The ground there, the air—that’s the word I use, but it’s probably not technically accurate—was similar to other places.
“Getting there was similar. I mean, some places are harder to navigate—they’re small or they’re broken. Some I can visit but most of my cohort can’t. Not safely. It’s how I escaped Alsanis when we were jailed in the Hallionne. It took work. I failed a lot before I finally succeeded. But... we all assume that our ability to sidestep or even disincorporate came to usbecause we were exposed to theregaliawhen we were children. We weren’t fully grounded in our world.
“It’s illegal to expose children to theregalianow. But the definition ofchildis tricky.” Terrano shrugged, uncomfortable. “There’ve always been Barrani who want to shed their name. I mean, I get it. If I didn’t, who would? I almost—”
Kaylin lifted a hand. “You live in my house. I don’t want to have to stop Sedarias from murdering you.” She exhaled. “I’m aware that there are Barrani who view their True Name as an ultimate weakness, a curse from the Ancients. One of them was fieflord, for a while—and the Tower was almost compromised because of it.
“But I’ve encountered them before, in Nightshade. I think they’re called vampires in some quarters. I don’t know how they continue to exist, absent their names—but they don’t appear to have them anymore. Which is what they theoretically wanted. If more Barrani encountered them, I’m pretty sure we’d have centuries free of anyone stupid enough to make the attempt.”
“I am not at all confident that that is the case,” Kavallac said. “There will always be those who believe they are the exception to the rule.”
Fair enough. Some people learned not to stick their hand in the fire by watching others get burned. Some people were Terrano.
Only Terrano?Severn’s voice was heavy with amusement.
“If such a path were created, and if the Barrani who walk it are people who naturally want freedom from the namebinding, things are more dangerous than we realized. If they are attempting to make a space, a plane, in which True Words aren’t the determinant of communication, of life itself...” Kavallac shook her head.
Terrano said nothing. His eyes were narrowed; he was clearly getting some pushback or criticism from the cohort.
Fallessian’s eyes were blue, and as narrow as Terrano’s when he turned to face him. “Absolutely not.”
“I think I know how to make the connection between my name and myself more attenuated. It’s how I lived toward the end of our time in the Hallionne. It’s how I lived after.”
“Without the rest of us,” Serralyn pointed out in the gentlest of tones. “Youcouldcome back, then. There’s no guarantee that will be true in the future.”
Kaylin would have had to pick her jaw off the floor if it weren’t attached to her face. “Exactlywhatdid you think you were going to do?” she demanded. She added a Leontine word or two at the end.
“Experiment?” Terrano replied as if this were obvious. He glanced at Mandoran.
Mandoran shook his head. “Leave me so far out of it I don’t have to hear anything about your so-called experiments at all.”
“Kaylin could see her Marks in the place I was standing,” Terrano pointed out.
Mandoran nodded.
“And she could heal—or something equivalent. So the Barrani traversing that path aren’t necessarily people who’ve lost or ditched their names.”
Kaylin nodded. “But... how could they interfere with the power of the names?”
Kavallac frowned. “It is possible they learned a lesson from compatriots who had fully divorced their existence from their True Names. If the names cannot interact, if the namebonds cannot be contacted, would that not be their ideal end goal? They would be possessed of the names that are the source of Barrani life without the inherent gaping weakness those names represent.”
“It’s not just weakness,” Serralyn said, her voice soft. “For me, it’s the source of my strength.”
“Should any one of you attempt to use the namebond to control or command, that strength would be permanently shattered,” Kavallac said. But her eyes were orange with gold flecks, not red; she understood, and cared for, Serralyn. “What is done is done. You cannot unlearn the names you were given; you cannot release that knowledge, save in death.
“None of your friends want that. But I believe it is necessary to keep an eye on Terrano. The interaction with Lord Nightshade involved external use of True Words. The separation appears to be between the internal name and external reach. How that was achieved we do not know.
“But the question of the Erenne mark, the planes, and the... containment, for want of a better word, are of great import.”
“Should I mention the new Shadow now?”
“No. But Serralyn informed Arbiter Starrante of what occurred. It caused much concern and raised questions—but if both the High Halls and Helen can accept you, we feel harm will not be done. We are aware there is a risk, but none of the Arbiters have experience with Shadow—not even as much as you. In this, we allow the guidance of those most likely to be affected.
“Research continues, but the salient point is this: in the archives in the library, and in studies done by the intrepid—not all of whom were fortunate enough to survive—we know that True Words exist as the Ancients did: in all planes. It is likely that were you to learn what the cohort knows, you could walk as they walk—not completely here, but adjacent to it. But understand, Kaylin, that the complexity of an Ancestral name is bedazzling to those who are given even a glimpse of it; it is a concert that is endless, harmonic, and diverse simultaneously.”
“Have you seen such a name?”
Kavallac’s smile was toothy, her eyes almost purely gold. “Ofcourse I have. It is what exists at the heart of this library, just as words exist at the heart of Helen or the Academia. There is no sentience in the library; the library is far older, and the creator believed that it was the contents of the library that would convey meaning to those who were able to visit it.