“Have you talked much with the chancellor?”
“I have—mostly me, but we’ve all taken turns. My interestsmost closely match his—although this wasn’t always the case in our childhood.”
Helen opened the front door. “You don’t need to stand outside to converse. The parlor is open, and I’ve had refreshments brought. Imelda baked,” she added. “I think baking is her response to worry, and she’s been a bit worried about all of you.”
Fallessian’s grimace was worn but affectionate. He really had been spending time with Mrs. Erickson. “I’ll go ahead,” he told Mandoran. “Terrano should be here in a couple of minutes. I’ll tell Imelda that no one’s injured and no one’s lost.”
“Yet,” Mandoran muttered.
“Logia, please come in. For reasons that have never been clear to me, people often converse outside the house, when inside is more comfortable. And no, it’s not about avoiding me—if that were the intent, you would never have crossed the fence line.”
Logia smiled and nodded. She then turned to Kaylin, caught her by the hand, and dragged her toward the door. This was something Bellusdeo would never have done—Bellusdeo would simply have glared in command, and Kaylin would have followed.
“It’s interesting,” Logia said as they reached the door. “Bellusdeo found the cohort highly unusual. She understands it better now. We don’t have separate bodies—we can’t have separate lives the way the cohort does. But we argue a lot.
“Bellusdeo isn’t interested in academics. Unless the possible subjects—such as history—contain information that will tilt the balance of war in our favor, she considers it a waste of time. How can knowledge be a waste of time? If it were useless, she would never go to the Academia at all.”
Helen clucked sympathetically as she guided Logia—still attached to Kaylin by the hand—into the foyer, and from there into the parlor. “Imelda will join you, but she wants to makesure you have to time to talk about important things before she interrupts you. Corporal?”
Severn remained on the other side of the door. “Kaylin will never need a guard or an escort here,” he said. “And I have other business to which I must attend. I will leave Kaylin in your care.”
“Wait!” Kaylin said, turning back, or half turning, as Logia didn’t release her hand. “When should we invite Yvonne to visit?”
“I believe the cohort has opinions on that very subject. For my part, I believe sooner would be better. You won’t need to prepare for her visit.”
“She’ll need to prepare for An’Tellarus,” Mandoran said.
“She won’t. An’Tellarus won’t cause trouble here unless she thinks someone else has started it first. She’s not like An’Teela. If you offend her, she won’t hunt down every living member of your family and kill them to make a point.”
“You’re sure?”
“I don’t know what she was like when she was young, but she’s not young, now. She’s impulsive. She’s considered indulgent, in general. But if Sedarias doesn’t somehow attempt to politically outmaneuver her, she will cause no harm.
“It is safe to invite Yvonne to visit at any time, but there are pressing reasons why it should be soon.”
“I like him,” Logia said when Helen had opened the parlor and escorted her to a seat. She had offered her a drink, but apparently Logia and Bellusdeo had different tastes, and Logia declined the alcohol Bellusdeo sometimes favored.
“Him?” Kaylin didn’t drink a lot, partly because she’d seen Tain and Teela bingeing and feltsomeonehad to stay sober.
“Severn. Bellusdeo approves of him. It’s not even grudging. What is he to you?”
“He’s my partner. He’s a Hawk.”
Logia nodded. “She would like to know who Yvonne is.”
Kaylin knew better than to speak of Yvonne, but she’d asked Severn about Yvonne—out loud—when it would have been way smarter to ask him through the namebond. “She’s a young woman I met at the High Halls.”
“Barrani, then.”
“Yes. She was servant to a Barrani Lord who commanded our presence. I would have said no, but neither Teela nor Severn thought it wise. If we hadn’t been summoned, we wouldn’t have met Yvonne—Yvonne was there.” Kaylin frowned as the words left her mouth. Shewouldn’thave met Yvonne if not for An’Tellarus’s interference. An’Tellarus clearly knew Severn, and Severn knew her as well.
She’d assumed An’Tellarus was tweaking Severn’s metaphorical nose.
But what if the purpose was actually Yvonne? Severn appeared to know Yvonne. Kaylin didn’t. Teela didn’t. There’d be no reason for either of them to meet her. If An’Tellarus had commanded their attendance, she must have expected that Severn would agree—and if he did, both Teela and Kaylin were likely to follow. Not certain, but likely.
An’Tellarus was older than Teela. She’d survived as the lord of her line for a very long time. She was considered eccentric but was accepted because she would survive it, and those who attempted to use those eccentricities against her would not.
It wasn’t meeting An’Tellarus that had been the entire point of that little play. It wasn’t embarrassing Severn; it wasn’t intimidating Teela.