“Because Yvonne ended up in the green through the actions of a Lord of the High Court. She was a target only because that lord wished to bring Ollarin to heel; it was control of Ollarin’s elemental powers that was the prior lord’s goal. And the previous An’Sennarin—a man I detested but could not easily bring down—was most definitely a member of the High Court.
“If what happened to Yvonne involved Shadow—even in the West March—and the Lords of the High Court are involved in some fashion withRavellonand its outskirts, perhaps Yvonne is enmeshed in this far more than I originally thought. I should retreat. If you speak frankly with Yvonne and among yourselves, that is one thing—but I must retain a certain plausible deniability should things go very wrong.”
Kaylin didn’t believe it for a minute. But she got caught in An’Tellarus’s words:If what happened to Yvonne involved Shadow.
Severn was silent. His silence was particular, familiar. What had happened to Yvonne definitely involved Shadow. And Lords of the High Court. And Barrani power games.
“I assumed I would be required as a hedge against the political machinations of An’Mellarionne—and her demands. That does not appear to be the case. When one is as old as I am, one learns to tread carefully where ancient, wild forces are involved. I am not, and have never been, their chosen.” The last was said with both confidence and a trace of bitterness. Kaylin thought that was at the heart of An’Tellarus: strength, bitterness, and a barbed generosity.
But it was An’Tellarus who had endured.
Severn met An’Tellarus’s gaze, held it until she nodded, andthen exhaled. “Shadow,” he said, “was involved. Yvonne was taken into the green and held there; the Shadow with which she’d been infected didn’t taint or control the green—but it wasn’t entirely inert.”
“What does that even mean?”
“We can’t talk to the green. The green can’t explain its choices, its processes, or the meaning behind them—but I’m certain thereisa meaning behind them.” He exhaled. “I didn’t go in search of Yvonne. We knew of her, but that’s not why I found her.”
Kaylin, accustomed to Severn, waited.
“I was allowed entry into the green, but the green has its own will. Those who understand it best are farthest from humanity. If you ask me to explain the green, I can’t. I don’t think it’s wise for me to try—there is too much I don’t understand.
“But you know that this weapon is considered—by Barrani—a weapon of the green. Like most Barrani weapons, there’s a test to prove worth.”
“You went to find the weapon?” No, Kaylin thought. It wasn’t as simple as that.
“I found the weapon. Perhaps the green assumed that I was there to be tested.” Truth, but not all of the truth; there was pain in it, as if the memory was a wound. Severn had never shared his wounds—not even with Kaylin or her mother.
Maybe she’d known him so long, she assumed he didn’t have any; that he, like Kaylin herself, would cry or rage if hurt. If there was no crying, no raging, it simply meant he wasn’t hurt. He didn’t feel pain.
She had been so, so stupid.
Pain wasn’t simply itsexpression. For Severn, it had always been private. No, more than that: he felt shared pain would cause pain. Had she ever thought of it that way?
You were a child, he told her.
So were you.
He said nothing. “I was given a choice of paths,” he continued, “when I was welcomed into the green. I chose one.” He exhaled, showing as much hesitation as he ever did: deliberation. Choice of words. “Yvonne was part of the test of my worthiness to wield the weapon of the green. And Shadow was involved.”
“How?” Kaylin was grateful that Bellusdeo—or her many sharp-eyed sisters—weren’t here.
“Yvonne had been hit by Shadow and had survived long enough for the green to find her.”
“I found the green,” Yvonne said, her voice at its meekest. This was the way the powerless disagreed.
Severn shook his head. “I don’t know if you believe that—you might. But the green found you, and the green took you in. Something in the green itself appears to be immune to the effects of Shadow—but not in a way that prevents the damage or harm done in its entirety. You were in the green as if you’d been suspended there, waiting for someone to take, and pass, the sword’s test.
“The green’s test. Shadow was expressed—in the green—in a fashion I haven’t encountered before or since. There wasn’t a single Yvonne; there were dozens. They looked identical to the Yvonne you see here. They appeared to be suspended at the bottom of a lake, almost sleeping; they moved in concert.”
Mrs. Erickson’s eyes widened.
“To free Yvonne, they had to be destroyed, one at a time, until only Yvonne remained. But Yvonnedidremain, and it was due to the power radiated by the green’s weapon.” He glanced, once, at An’Tellarus; she met his gaze and offered him an encouraging nod, which Kaylin hadn’t expected.
“If Mrs. Erickson is seeing something that looks ghostly, it might be the remnants of those other, Shadow Yvonnes.”
“Were they trying to kill her?”
Severn shook his head. “They were suspended, as she was suspended, in water.” He hesitated, and then said, “Yvonnewas Ollarin’s closest friend. The water—even in the green—is elemental. It’s possible that the water and the green in concert moved to save her. I can’t speak to the water; I can’t confirm.”