Teela was a Hawk.
Swords were responsible for public safety, and one aspect of that included the laws that governed carriages on the public roads. Helen, being in one of the fanciest neighborhoods in Elantra, had the advantage of very wide roads—but Teela’s driving was, and had always been, a danger to public—and private—safety.
Teela had taken care to make sure Kaylin was impeccably dressed and properly prepared for the High Halls. Kaylin, however, wasn’t Barrani. When Teela’s carriage finally rolled to an unsteady, erratic stop—which miraculously didn’t involve the carriage tipping over and being dragged half the way to their destination—Kaylin’s hair was worse for wear. Had she been in normal, affordable clothing, her skirts would have been a wrinkled mess. Barrani cloth didn’t seem to have that problem.
Even Severn had been forced to brace himself against one of the carriage walls.
They were, however, on time.
Kaylin’s knees felt like jelly as she exited the carriage, but the minute her feet were on solid ground, she was fine. “You arenotdriving on the way back.”
“Says who?”
“I’ll walk. It’s not that far.”
Terrano muttered a strong agreement. He was still less than visible, but he hadn’t come as part of Kaylin’s party; he was allowed—indeed invited—to enter the High Halls at will. Sedarias’s many enemies at court knew better than to attack Terrano; he was considered a friend of the sentience at the heart of the High Halls.
Why that sentience didn’t just forbid violence the way the Hallionne did, Kaylin didn’t understand. Here, murder, involving the Barrani, appeared to be just another fact of life. The lives of mortals within the High Halls were of value—or import—only because their deaths would invoke Imperial wrath. Without that wrath, Kaylin had no doubt that the Halls would be populated by mortal slaves. Or corpses. Or both.
Some people tried to do their best no matter their circumstances. Some did their worst—or would, if they didn’t fear the consequences. She lumped most Barrani into the latter category. If it weren’t for the Emperor’s laws, they would be what they had always been, and the mortals in their vicinity would be either slaves or dead.
She understood Dragons less well, but the Dragon she served—and would serve all her life, given the choice—was not Barrani. His laws had been created taking into account both the Immortal and the mortal. Dragons, in the eyes of the Barrani, were the only other race that must be treated with respect.
Kaylin exhaled. She was nervous, and when nervous, her thoughts were often dark. Then again, they were approaching the wide, flat steps of the High Halls. She wondered if all of the vast, opulent grounds were part of the High Halls, the way Helen’s lawns were part of Helen.
If they were, the Avatar of the Halls didn’t answer.
Teela conspicuously woreKariannos, one of the three Dragonslayers. She was dressed much in the style that Kaylin herself was dressed, and in similar colors.
They are not similar.Ynpharion was annoyed. Life sometimes showed a little mercy.
They’re green.
He didn’t shriek, but it was pretty close. Her ignorance had always frustrated him. That and her unwillingness to learn. Frustrating Ynpharion was one of the few pleasures she was going to be allowed today. When she was a child—
You are Chosen!Ynpharion shrieked.
“What do you find so amusing, Lord Kaylin?” Teela asked.
“Ynpharion.”
This caused a frown on Teela’s part, and utter silence on Ynpharion’s. Severn might not have heard either Teela’s question or Kaylin’s reply. His gaze was at the height of the stairs, where Barrani lingered. His left hand fell to the hilt of his weapon, but he made no move to draw it.
Right. They were in the heart of Barrani territory now, Kaylin in her dress, Severn—unfairly, in her opinion—in his Hawks’ kit. But she understood part of the reason Teela allowed it. No matter what his clothing, his weapon demanded Barrani respect. The smile left her face as she counted: there were four people, in pairs, who had been conversing until the new arrivals caught their attention.
Kaylin wasn’t certain what they found more offensive: Severn, dressed as an officer of the much-detested Imperial Laws, or a mortal wearing clothing clearly created by BarraniforBarrani. Their eyes were blue; one woman’s were a notably dark color. No one moved or spoke, because Teela was walking, in step, beside Kaylin, her presence both a claim of ownership and a warning.
Kaylin was slightly surprised when Terrano became visibleat the height of the stairs, in the center of the largest of the arched doors.
As Terrano became visible—and not, given his expression, by his will alone—a second figure materialized beside the cohort member. “What have I told you about invisibility?” that figure said. It was the Avatar of the High Halls.
“It makes people paranoid. But hey—we’re Barrani. How much worse could we get?” Terrano, whocouldshow proper manners, didn’t bother.
“The Lady is waiting, Lord Kaylin,” the Avatar said, ignoring Terrano’s words. He then put Kaylin under a terrible spotlight: he bowed. To her. In front of witnesses. “She has asked me to escort you. And to separate you from Terrano.”
Kaylin coughed.
Ynpharion did as well, but for different reasons.