“Terrano does not feel she will add to any possible conversation that arises from the meeting.”
“You want me there because of what happened with Terrano.”
“Because of what you carried away from that encounter, yes.”
Kaylin grimaced. “You better come up with a good excuse for Teela; she’ll have my head if you don’t.”
The Avatar smiled. “Terrano does not believe that to be the case.”
“I’m sorry,” Kaylin said to Yvonne, whose eyes shifted from wider than normal to narrower as she absorbed parts of the conversation. Her face was expressive; time among the Barrani hadn’t yet destroyed that. Kaylin thought it wouldn’t. The Consort had spent far longer among her kin, and she, like Yvonne, could be open.
“For what?”
“I have to leave—quickly—and you’ll be stuck with An’Tellarus; I’m guessing she won’t be happy.”
“I’m not sure she’s ever happy,” Yvonne said, her tone removing the sting from the criticism her words carried. “But maybe that’s the price for living as long—and as well—as she has. People would cry for joy were she to die, but they don’t have the power or the cunning to cause that death.
“I know she seems harsh to you,” she added. “But she’s been as kind as she can be to us. We wouldn’t have survived as long as we have without her intervention.” Yvonne hesitated, and then said, “If Ollarin could, he’d abdicate and return with me to the West March. But he can’t—they’d just hunt him downafter the formalities were over. He knows. Unless he keeps the seat, and displays his power prominently enough, neither of us survives, either.”
“Have you spoken to anyone from Mellarionne?”
Her eyes instantly darkened.
“I mean, in the past month?”
“No.”
“I think you should try. Or maybe An’Tellarus should. An’Mellarionne—the new one—is a friend.”
“Of yours?”
“Of mine. She lives in my house.”
Yvonne’s jaw fell, and it took her a few seconds to shut her mouth again. “She lives with you? She doesn’t live in the High Halls?”
“...I guess that’s not widely known.”
“It’s more or less known,” Terrano—still unseen—said. “But by the ambitious and the political.”
“But—it’syourhouse, not hers?”
Ugh. “It’s complicated. You know that the High Halls is sentient? It was always sentient, but recently it’s produced an Avatar—this guy—and it’s more active within its boundaries than it once was.”
Yvonne nodded, a small grin lifting the corners of her lips. “A lot of the older lordshateit.” Which was why she found it amusing.
“My house is like the High Halls, but a lot smaller. It’s why An’Mellarionne chose to stay with me, rather than taking up residence in the quarters Mellarionne owns here. The High Halls can’t interfere politically; Helen doesn’t have to care about politics. She just cares about keeping her occupants safe.
“But... she’s had a lot of unusual occupants in her time—some mortal, some Barrani, and some we have no name for. I think you’d like her, if you were ever allowed to come visit.”
“I’d be allowed,” Yvonne replied, but hesitantly.
Kaylin exhaled. “You’d be allowedifAn’Tellarus also visited?”
“Something like that. If it’s your house, would that be all right?”
“It’s my house—but that bit about the comfort of occupants is true. I’m really not informed about the Barrani politics currently unfolding. Most of my housemates think I’m a fragile mortal who shouldn’t be involved.”
Yvonne frowned. “But... you’re Chosen. And the house isyours.”