“Did he know your names?”
She shook her head. “We could have told him, of course, just as the cohort shared names with each other. We didn’t.”
“Was there anything unusual about your draconic forms?”
“How were we expected to know?” Logia’s question was bitterness and frustration tied in a trembling knot. “Callandria doesn’t think so. And I think she’s right—but I’m not at all certain that the male Dragons found their names from the same sources. We can’t experiment, now. But we did share our adult names with our sisters.
“If the source wasn’t the normal acquisition for adult males, we had nothing to measure that against.”
“Have you asked the chancellor?”
Silence.
This time a different sister emerged. The tilt of Bellusdeo’s chin changed, as did the cast of her expression. “Research is needed. But understand that we did not wish to draw attention to even the narrow possibility that something was wrong with our names. Bellusdeo was alive. She wanted to remain that way. She did not want to become outcaste.
“She was being naturally cautious—all of us would have been, except perhaps Logia and Mezanne. But none of us were in her situation. We were dead. We could not approach Lannagaros. Until we met Imelda, we could not even try.”
Kaylin couldn’t argue with those facts. “You need to go speak with Lannagaros now. And the Arbiters, especially Kavallac. We need to know whether or not you...” Kaylin slowed to a stop. Bellusdeo was in there. Bellusdeo’s body was her own. Her name was different than it had been when she’d considered herself adult by Dragon standards; it was an amalgamation of the names she’d known: her sister’s names.
But it wasn’t an amalgamation of their adult names. It was built from their childhood names. The names that had defined their relationship with each other.
“It comes back to the Outcaste,” Kaylin finally said.
“The Outcaste had an interest in us, and he had the ability to traverse worlds, even after the fall ofRavellon. Perhaps because of its fall. He lives inRavellon, does he not?”
Kaylin nodded. “But if he’s outcaste, he’s not Shadow. He can enter and leaveRavellonat will.”
“You believe that somehow the source of our adult names and the possible plot against the Barrani are linked.”
“I believe they could be. It would be convincing. Thegaining of your adult names gave you the draconic forms of adults. It did not otherwise contaminate or destabilize your existence.” Kaylin spoke formally to this sister; she had a suspicion that the unnamed sister had been the true ruler of Bellusdeo’s empire before her death.
“I can see how not having a True Name would be a problem for Dragons. But... your names served their purpose: you became capable of using your draconic forms. You became adults—but in the fashion male Dragons become adult.”
The Dragon nodded slowly.
“Dragons don’t have an official Lake, an official midwife. The Outcaste found you and guided you long before he was recognized and cast out. But what if what he led you to wasn’t the source of Dragon names, but something other?”
The Dragon’s eyes were orange with flecks of red.
“And if that was possible—and clearly the names you found for yourselves were partially effective—what would stop him from offering the same source to the Barrani?”
“This isnotyour investigation,” Teela snapped.
Bellusdeo’s sister ignored the interruption. “The only difference we noted was the ability to become draconic. All of us found our names with aid. All of us carried them as adult names. All but one of us died; Bellusdeo herself was lost toRavellonand the Shadow it contained. She remembers very, very little of her captivity.
“But she was not physically transformed—”
“She was asword,” Kaylin snapped. “How much more proof of physical transformation do you need?”
“She wasn’t contaminated. She wasn’t absorbed. She didn’t become a powerful Shadow.”
“She couldn’t become a sword on her own, unless there’s something about draconic transformations we didn’t get taught.”
Helen cleared her throat, a signal that the heated conversation was going in the wrong direction.
Kaylin exhaled. It was going to be a long week. She was almost certain she’d be seconded to the Imperial Service again before she hit the Halls of Law in the morning. That always ticked off her sergeant, and he wasn’t above sharing his annoyance and destroying his own furniture in the process.
“Your names served the purpose you were taught they should serve. What you weren’t taught, the Outcaste wasn’t taught. Your adult names are built on the foundation of your childhood names—you are not like the male Dragons. I don’t think the Outcaste knew. He seems almost protective of Bellusdeo. Of all of you.