They stepped back.
“Don’t worry,” Terrano’s voice said. “It’s the normal variant of invisibility. I’ve been keeping an eye out for the other kind. But I think Abel understands enough of it to close off that avenue if necessary.”
Kaylin couldn’t see Terrano through Hope’s wing. She sometimes could when he chose to become invisible, but thatwas probably because the plane to which he’d mostly moved was so close to her own.
“Abel thought it’d be safer if I kept an eye out for you while you were in the High Halls.”
Abel wasn’t present.
“He’s with the Consort. When he’s with the Consort, most of his attention is focused on her, or her immediate surroundings. It shouldn’t take long to deliver a letter—but we’re not going to the Tellarus rooms. Yvonne doesn’t live in them officially.”
“Wait—we’re going to a wing of the High Halls that belongs to a lord we haven’t met and aren’t involved with?”
“Didn’t Teela tell you? If it helps, Yvonne spends most of her time serving An’Tellarus—but you spend most of your waking time in the Halls of Law. While we could deliver a personal message to the Halls of Law and expect you to get it, it’s not reliable.”
“How do you know where she spends most of her time?”
She could almost hear the shrug she couldn’t see in his tone. “I asked Abel. What? You know I’m lazy.”
“And he answered.”
“It’s not about politics—I mean, not yet. But I suspect he thinks Yvonne might become important, and he doesn’t want her co-opted or killed. He knows we don’t mean her any harm, and he even believes that when push comes to shove—and I really don’t get that phrase at all—we’ll keep her as safe as we can.”
If Kaylin had known they were meeting an entirely different Lord of the High Court, she’d’ve worn the Barrani dress. She’d meant to make a quiet statement to An’Tellarus, a statement about where her true loyalties lay. She assumed Teela was doing the same.
Trust Teela in this, Severn said. He walked a step behind Teela, leaving Kaylin keeping pace with the Barrani Hawk.Teela knew the invitation would have to be delivered to the Sennarin quarters.
But won’t we be considered disrespectful? Won’t this be bad for Sennarin, which means bad for Yvonne?
Sennarin is not considered a politically powerful lineat this time. An’Sennarin, as An’Mellarionne, is fighting to retain his hold on the seat. Our lack of obvious respect for the traditions of the High Halls will reflect that. If Teela showed up in full court dress, as she did to escort you to visit the Consort, and to visit An’Tellarus—
That was an accident. We didn’t expect to be summoned.
—Sennarin would suddenly come under more difficult scrutiny. As it is, Teela’s presence as a Hawk implies either contempt or dismissal—and that’s safer. Those who are attempting to kill Ollarin know they won’t offend An’Teela; those who consider Ollarin beneath their notice will be content to have Teela’s confirmation.
She hasn’t said that.
Well, it’s the Hawks’ uniform that does.
You’re not worried.
No. Ollarin won’t find the Hawk offensive. And he won’t find the invitation offensive, either.Severn hesitated.He may, as her legal guardian, ask that the invitation include him.
This was nuts. They were already freaking out about An’Tellarus. Adding An’Sennarin to the invitation would probably cause Sedarias to die of apoplexy.
Heads up.
She turned to face closed doors. There was a single guard on duty, but An’Tellarus had had no obvious guards; clearly guards weren’t necessary.
“We are here to deliver a letter to An’Sennarin,” Teela told the guard. She’d sheathed her sword, but her hand rested easily atop its pommel. Kaylin wondered if it were habit or if it were deliberate; she guessed the latter, but Teela looked at ease.
The guard opened the door and stepped in. He was gone for perhaps five minutes.
When he returned, he offered Teela an actual bow, although his eyes were now a darker blue. Clearly, bowing to a Hawk was a gesture of respect that didn’t sit well with him—but he did it. “An’Sennarin will see you now.”
The doors then opened, exposing the interior. Kaylin was surprised. An’Tellarus’s quarters were consistent with Barrani architectural norms. An’Sennarin’s were not. She felt as if they had stepped through external doors into a garden, with hedges for walls, and gaps in those hedges that served as natural doors. The ceiling was sky.
She was reminded, then, that the High Halls were a sentient building. There was no limit to what could be done with the quarters occupied by Lords of the High Courts—those who had the power to gain perpetual quarters in the High Halls, near the seat of the High Lord’s court.