“I’m not certain you’ll find what you’re looking for,” Helen continued. “While these rooms were created to mimic your first apartment, they are not an exact replica—and a hole in the floor is entirely unnecessary.”
“Wait—do you know where the ring is?”
“Yes.”
Kaylin jumped up, which was unfortunate for either her head or the bottom of the bed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She tried not to curse because Helen didn’t like it, especially now that Mrs. Erickson was living with them. Mrs. Erickson didn’t mind—but she’d spent most of her free time in the public office of the Halls of Law, and she knew how Hawks spoke.
“I wasn’t certain about your decision. If Sedarias knows that you can find the ring, she will insist you wear it. Proudly. If you could not find it, she could not insist.” Helen exhaled. “I understand why you chose to hide the few things you considered valuable beneath the flooring in your old apartment. There is a small cupboard at the back of your closet that serves the same function. I did not see a need to hide the dresses there.
“But the robes of the green and the robes of the intermediary are also in your closet.”
“You think I should wear the robes of the harmoniste.”
“I have no opinion. I understand the concern of the cohort—but An’Tellarus is coming tomydomain. There is nothing she can do to harm you here, regardless of what you wear.” Helen hesitated. “I will not make excuses for Sedarias, but only half of her concerns involve her own survival. She is very worried for you.”
Kaylin’s exhalation was longer. “I wish she’d worry in a less condescending way. I’m not a child. I’m not a foundling. SheknowsI can be useful.”
“It is not her way. People of equal power are rivals or enemies. People of lesser power are, if she cares for them, in need of protection—and she cannot be everywhere, at every moment, to ensure their survival.”
“So... you’re saying she doesn’t consider the cohort to be her equals, either?”
“She is certain Teela is.”
“So, no.”
“She is not a person who grew up surrounded by familial love, but she desired it in her own fashion. She is not passive; what she desired, she built. The cohort is her family, and as she always feared, her weakness. But it is also her strength. That is the nature of swords; they cut two ways; they have two edges.
“You are not part of her family, but you are part of Teela’s, and she knows that if the cohort entangles you in a way that costs your life, it will break Teela’s already tenuous attachment to them. In protecting you, she is protecting what she built. Honestly, Sedarias would have been a very good, very capable Dragon.”
Kaylin exhaled. “I’m going to sleep on it. Unless Hope has anything to add?”
Squawk.
“Your presence is not required at the Halls of Law tomorrow, but you will need to be awake and prepared in the morning.”
“Did I set visiting time for the morning?”
“Yes, dear.”
Ugh.
There were no emergency mirror calls during the evening. Kaylin had been afraid, in the early days, that Helen would simply refuse to let the calls through because Helen felt Kaylin needed sleep.
Helen, however, insisted that she would never do that.While she did believe Kaylin needed more sleep than Kaylin thought she did, she also knew the emergency calls were important to her chief tenant. Lives could, and did, hang in the balance; people weren’t mirroring just to chat about their haircuts or their horrible bosses. Or their relationship troubles—although most people didn’t call Kaylin for that.
Hope, usually the laziest of sleepers, was already in the air and hovering above her face. His squawk was louder and far more irritable than Helen’s voice. She wondered if he’d smack her face with his wing—but he’d have to land to do that.
Kaylin rose instead. Having made something of a decision, she headed toward her closet, stumbling over her boots. “Light,” she said. Helen often drew the curtains to let light in; she knew Kaylin didn’t appreciate bright light first thing in the morning.
Squawk.
“Yes, yes. I’m awake now—you can stop biting my hair and settle down.” She’d been so stressed out about what to wear it had taken ages to fall asleep—and Kaylin could sleep standing up if she was tired enough. She certainly had the demerit points to show for it.
The green dress—the harmoniste’s dress—hadn’t magically vanished the way it did the first time she’d worn it. The clothing she’d been wearing had been transformed, replaced by the clothing worn to the ceremony in the distant green. It wasn’t supposed to persist; it appeared, it was worn, it vanished.
Kaylin wondered how it was that the Barrani couldn’t just counterfeit the damn dress if they wanted to take over the role of harmoniste.