Kaylin had never taken comfort from kitchens. Food had been just another way of not dying. The idea of preparing it, of loving the preparation, would have required, among other things, an actual kitchen. Some hint of a memory teased her, but she wasn’t Barrani: it was faint, a feeling, an echo of a sound that would never be heard again.
“I heard the Lake,” Yvonne said, as if getting mixers and cooking spatulas was steadying, as if it brought her back to herself. “It was a few months ago. I could see light in the distance—soft light, not the harsh light of magic, of aggression.”
Kaylin wondered what Yvonne’s life had been like. Even in the High Halls, the servants were invisible to Kaylin’s eyes—and they shouldn’t be. But Teela wasn’t a servant. The Consort wasn’t. Ynpharion wasn’t, not really. She wondered if Barrani servants, Immortal by birth, were a lot more like humans than she’d realized.
“I followed the sound. I thought I was dreaming. Sometimes I do. I dream of the song of the green.”
Barrani didn’t need sleep.
“I don’t miss it,” she added. “Ilikebeing with Ollarin. I avoid being significant in the High Halls because I’m An’Tellarus’s servant, and no one messes with me if they don’t want to start a war with Tellarus. But... I could hear a song, and the sound was off. It was wrong. It was like the green, but there was discordance in it.
“And I’ve heard that, too. When I slept there, when I slept in the green, I could hear its voice. No, there were no words in it—really,songis the best way I can describe it. But I couldsometimes hear discordance there as well. It’s just... the discordance wasme. It was partly my hearing. It wasn’t the green. I tried hard to listen to the parts that didn’t sound wrong; I tried to imagine that the discordance wasn’t there at all.
“I don’t hear the green, now. I thought, somehow, I could hear it again. I followed the sound. For me there was safety in it. Safety isn’t always comfortable,” she added. “But what I found, instead, was... the Lake. It’s what I see when I see the Marks of the Chosen.”
“Did you try to touch the Lake?”
Yvonne shook her head. “But the words rose. They rose, as if in greeting—or distress. When I opened my eyes, I was there. I knew where it was. But the Lake didn’t say anything else; it didn’t demand anything else.” She hesitated. “A path opened that took me from the Lake to the Halls, and I returned as quickly as I could to my own rooms.”
The first test of the Lake.
“I know that there are others who had begun the process by which the Lake tests them. An’Tellarus said it’s not uncommon. But no one expects to pass that test; they have hope, but their ambition is often political. And that’s not what the Lake wants.
“But even I understand that if I’ve passed the Lake’s first test, I become political. I’m almost certain the Consort knows.”
“She’s the Lady of the Lake,” Kaylin said. “She knows. The Lake doesn’t exactly speak, but it makes its will known.”
“Be careful,” Teela said.
Kaylin exhaled. There were too many people in this kitchen; caution was necessary. But caution wasn’t going to help them. It wasn’t going to change anything. It wasn’t going to answer the questions that arose, because if shecouldn’t ask any of them, no answers would be forthcoming.
“Yes,” she said, forcing herself to choose her words with care, “she does know. She knows that someone took—and passed—the first test of the Lake.”
“And she knows it’s me.”
“And she thinks that you are the most likely candidate, yes.”
“Is that why The Lady summoned you?”
“Indirectly, yes. Understand that Barrani of power consider the position of Lady to be political—possibly to be the highest political position among your people. The Lady is protected by the High Halls; lords on any side of any of the many disputes revere her; they will not touch her or attack her. Mostly.” Kaylin met, and held, Yvonne’s gaze as she asked the important question. “Who did you tell?”
“An’Tellarus,” Yvonne replied promptly. “And Ollarin.”
“No one else?”
“I don’t have many friends in the High Halls and An’Tellarus doesn’t have many servants.”
“It is not worth the difficulty of terminating their employ should they become suspect,” An’Tellarus said. Her eyes were a shade less dark, but her expression was even less friendly, which should have been impossible.
Kaylin turned to An’Tellarus. “I suppose you should know that I’ve passed the test of the Lake.”
Silence.
“I can touch the names. I can carry them.”
“Oh good. Like everything’s not on fireenough?” Terrano snapped.
“She’s worried for Yvonne. I get it. I want them both to know that I understand some of the difficulty.”