“Yeah, I tried that. But Teela and Sedarias are in complete agreement. They want you to stay out of this as much as humanly possible.”
“It’s Kaylin,” a familiar voice said. Terrano had arrived. “She’s staying out of it as much as she possibly can. Which isn’t impressive but shouldn’t be a surprise.”
“It’s not my fault!”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s never your fault; you just stumble into things that blow up in your face. To be honest, I’m grateful for you—it makes me look less chaotic.” He became visible so he could grin. It was obnoxious. The grin faded. “Teela’s worried.”
Ugh.
“She can stand in line,” Logia said over her shoulder. At least, Kaylin assumed it was Logia.
“When does Teela think I should set as the date for Yvonne’s visit?”
“Tomorrow. Don’t make that face at me—you asked. She doesn’texpectyou’ll do it, but she wants to emphasize the necessity.”
Kaylin understood. She wanted Yvonne to meet the Consort, but not if it wasn’t safe. Sedarias and Teela could assess the safety question only with further Tellarus discussion, and Kaylin wouldn’t suggest that the Consort and Yvonne cross paths if things with Tellarus proved too political. She couldn’t.She’d liked Yvonne on first meeting her, and she sympathized with her.
But even if she and the Consort had had massive disagreements in the past, she could understand why, and she still liked the Consort, her complicated family, and possibly the fact that the Consort never treated Nightshade as outcaste.
“I’ll send the invitation after everyone leaves—andno, that doesn’t mean you get to kick them all out.”
Bellusdeo allowed all of her eight sisters to speak with Mrs. Erickson; some took longer than others. Mandoran was content to wait in the parlor, probably because he was a coward, and he could avoid Sedarias that way. Terrano remained as well, but most of his attention was on Bellusdeo—or rather, her sisters. Fallessian remained by the door, his back to the wall next to it. He was definitely keeping an eye out for Mrs. Erickson. It wasn’t necessary. Of her current guests, Helen was fondest of Mrs. Erickson; she’d made physical changes to the normal state of the house—the kitchen in particular—to accommodate her and spent social time with her in the absence of Kaylin and the rest of the cohort.
Mrs. Erickson retreated after saying her hellos and putting food on the low, long table, and that once again left Logia and Kaylin, but with the addition of Mandoran and Terrano. Fallessian retreated when the older woman did.
“You were saying?” Logia started in immediately. She’d been happy to see Mrs. Erickson, but she was now focused on Terrano.
“I wasn’t saying anything,” Terrano replied with a shrug. “But Kaylin was trying to answer your question, and she wasn’t very good at it. No, I can’t occupy multiple spaces at once. Even if I could, there’d be no point—I’m trying not to be seen. Invisibility doesn’t cut it—I could avoid being seen, but I’d still have to avoid bumping into people.”
“In other words, he’d actually have to pay attention,” Kaylin added.
“So when you were attacked, you weren’t here.”
Terrano nodded. But he frowned and fell silent. “The thing is... Look, I’m telling them, okay?” he snapped at Mandoran, who hadn’t moved, hadn’t spoken, and didn’t look particularly impatient.
Logia’s gaze traveled between them before coming to rest on Terrano’s again. She smiled. “It seems while you have separate bodies, you’re not unlike me and my sisters.”
“Ohplease.”
“No?”
“We’re not Dragons.”
Logia rolled eyes that remained predominantly gold. “You were saying?”
“I wasn’t in an unusual space, for me. Planes are—or can be—like onion skins. They’re different, but not too different. The farther away you get from this one, the more difficult it becomes to see this one—and yes, there are beings that can occupy any space I can, but they do it simultaneously.”
“And you can’t.”
“I don’t really see the point, to be honest. I don’t exist on all planes at once.” He hesitated again.
Mandoran snorted and took over. “He’s not lying, but he tends to act first and think later—if we can get him to think at all. One of uscancover different planes simultaneously.”
19
Logia’s brows rose, her eye color shifting into a liquid silver before once again returning to gold. “One of you can? How is that even possible?” She was halfway out of her chair and returned to it with effort.
Kaylin had turned to Mandoran as well, but she had an inkling as to which cohort member he was speaking about.