“You... can touch the names.”
“Yes. Did you think the Consort likes me because I’m human? Because I’m Chosen? She values me because I’m her emergency measure. In the worst possible case, I can continue to wake the children. No one is going to seek to bring me on board, politically; I’m uselessbecauseI’m human. But to the Lady, I’m essential.”
I wouldn’t have mentionedthat, Severn said.
I know. But sheisworried about Yvonne. And now she knows both Yvonne and I are in the same boat. We’re taking the same risks.
“For how long has that been true?” An’Tellarus demanded.
“That is irrelevant,” Teela replied before Kaylin could. “You did not wish Yvonne to discuss certain things for her own safety. Understand that we feel no less concern for Lord Kaylin.”
“Children are always trying,” An’Tellarus agreed.
Kaylin moved toward Yvonne.
“That was brave,” Yvonne whispered. Every Barrani in the room could no doubt hear it, although Kaylin had to bend a bit to catch the words. “Was it true?”
“It’s true.”
“But the Lake hasn’t called you.”
“I don’t live in the High Halls. I probably wouldn’t survive it. I live with Helen, and I highly doubt she’d allow that kind of communication.”
“I cannot prevent all such communications,” Helen said. “Can you not sense it? The air is different in this kitchen. A breeze moves through it. May I suggest, in the future, that you do not wear that dress for anything but actual ceremony?”
“Sure, if I have the choice. I didn’t find the dress in a closet the last time I wore it—and I lost actual clothing that cost money in the process.” She exhaled. “The first time I wore this dress, it vanished after theregalia.I mean, not while I was wearing it—but it wasn’t there after I removed it. Teela said that always happens. The second time, it... just appeared. My normal clothing was transformed while I was wearing it—and the transformation didn’t wear off.”
Mrs. Erickson said, “It’s a lovely dress. But Helen, when did you bring these flowers into the kitchen? They’re not from your garden.”
Kaylin exhaled slowly. Therewereflowers in the kitchen—there were always flowers in the kitchen. Helen could provide them, because Mrs. Erickson loved them; they made Kaylinsneeze half the time, so she was less thrilled. But those flowers were in vases and in carefully tended pots, and they were chosen by Mrs. Erickson, because Helen had opened a garden for their growth. Fallessian helped, too; gardening was long and tiring work.
Kaylin often wondered why Fallessian had taken so strongly to Mrs. Erickson. She’d never asked because it was impossible not to like Mrs. Erickson. Conflict with the old woman would draw Helen’s ire more certainly than conflict with Kaylin, her theoretical master, would. But if the cohort liked Mrs. Erickson, most of them hadn’t made themselves her personal assistant.
And regardless, Fallessian hadn’t helped Mrs. Erickson plant these flowers. There was no way he could. These flowers grew in only one place: the green.
Mrs. Erickson recognized them. Kaylin recognized them. Yvonne recognized them as well. She was less certain of An’Tellarus, a woman whose will and ambition implied that all forms of power were considered rivals or competitors; she wondered if An’Tellarus had ever walked the green. Now was not the time to ask.
“Serralyn says they’re the same flowers we saw in the ruins of Azoria’s manse,” Terrano said. “She’s worried.”
“I don’t understand.” Kaylin turned to Helen. “They’re the same flowers. She’s right. But what are they doinghere?”
“What is the dress you are wearing doing here? It is the dress worn when the green chooses to share its stories; those stories cannot be heard without the medium of both Teller and harmoniste. The Teller bears the weight of the green’s power and intent, but there is far, far too much in the story for even a Teller of power and will to convey. It is the harmoniste who allows part of that story to be told in a way that listeners can comprehend.
“There is a story unfolding in this space.”
“But this isn’t the green!”
“You think?” Terrano snapped. He turned to Yvonne, and then from Yvonne to Severn, and then, finally, hands on hips, to Kaylin herself. “What did wedowhen we took Azoria down? What did we bring back with us?”
“There are no ghosts,” Mrs. Erickson said, her voice soft. She hesitated. Mrs. Erickson wasn’t one of nature’s liars—in that, she was like Kaylin. She hadn’t lied. But she was hesitant, as if she herself wasn’t certain of the truth of her words.
“Terrano, ask Mandoran if—if Nightshade is awake.”
“We’dallknow if he’d woken up. What’s the real question?”
“Is he wearing the Teller’s crown?”
“I really wish you hadn’t asked that question.”