Kaylin tried to force her shoulders into their normal position; she felt as if they were bunched up around her ears by this point. “That would be great. I hate eating in the High Halls.”
“You generally don’t eat if you are enmeshed in emergencies—and it is far too easy for everything to feel like an emergency when you are both tired and hungry.”
Kaylin glanced once at Nightshade. She thought of the Consort, the Lake, and Yvonne. “But Helen... everythingisan emergency.”
Severn joined Kaylin for dinner. Teela did not. Sedarias and Teela were either arguing or planning—or both. Mandoran came to the table, and Fallessian joined them as well. He was one of the twelve about whom Kaylin knew very little. But he seemed to like Mrs. Erickson, against all expectations. Had he been human—had any of the cohort been human—Kaylin would have expected it; the Hawks had become fond of Mrs. Erickson and her daily visits. Especially her edible bribes.
“That is an unfortunate word,” Helen said.
“It’s an affectionate word. I just wouldn’t have expected Barrani to like her.”
“When they don’t like you, you mean?”
Chagrined, Kaylin nodded. It was true. Fallessian had been a quasi-tenant, but he’d avoided any interaction with Kaylin unless Sedarias had called for a dinner meeting with all hands on deck. But he sought out Mrs. Erickson and even offered to help her in the kitchen—as if baking was a skill he really wanted to learn.
“Serralyn would like you to drop by the Academia at your earliest convenience.”
“Does that mean, like, tomorrow, or is this aright nowsituation?”
“It’s now,” a cheerful—and invisible—Terrano said. “But she wants you to eat first.”
“I think it would be better for all concerned if Kaylin visited tomorrow. She has been a touch short on sleep as well as food,” Helen said in her most severe voice.
“Nightshade is one of the concerns,” Terrano pointed out.
“She cannot heal him now, and lack of sleep will not increase her chances. Tomorrow would bepreferable.”
Kaylin said nothing. Her stomach didn’t growl—but that was because Helen was right. She existed in a state of emergency, and food had negative appeal. But she could eat far worse food in far worse conditions. Dinner was probably the smart option. And if Teela and Sedarias were holed up somewhere, it would be a little bit more relaxed than it could have been.
Mandoran was already seated. Fallessian was not; he carried a large tray, walking two steps behind Mrs. Erickson, whose walking speed had never been fast. Torrisant was seated, and to Kaylin’s surprise, Karian was also seated. Karian, of the cohort, was the most invisible member. He came at Sedarias’s command—or request—and left when she left.
He didn’t speak much. He did participate in the cohort’s infrequent puppy piles, as Kaylin called them; he seemed to like the physical contact with his chosen kin. But he had none of Mandoran’s warmth or Terrano’s inherent chaos. His eyes were blue; he had taken the seat beside Torrisant.
Severn had taken the seat beside Kaylin.
“If you’re just going to hover,” Kaylin snapped at Terrano, “you could at least join us. It’s not like Sedarias doesn’t know where you are.”
“I’ve been testing something,” Terrano replied, becoming visible.
“What, exactly, are you testing?”
“Helen’s defenses. She knows where I am—of course she does—but we’re trying to see if I can remain physically unseen.”
“How’s that working out for you?”
He flopped gracelessly into the chair on Kaylin’s other side. “Wewantto make sure she can see all intruders, so it’s working out pretty well so far. But she’s aware that my thoughts are a loud, screaming beacon, and she may be relying on them a bit too much.”
“You’re not afraid that people will try to come and attack Nightshade while he’s here, are you?”
“Not Nightshade specifically, no. Any of us. You, even.”
Mandoran snorted. “It’s you, of course. You won’t talk about the Consort. But youhavetalked about your experiences with the Lake. It’s not hard for people as suspicious as Sedarias to put two and two together and arrive at a very precise four. Sheisworried about Nightshade, because of Annarion. But without you, we’ve got no home. We’re here because you’re Helen’s tenant. But you’re her tenant until you die. When you do, she’ll find a new tenant—and the new tenant isn’t likely to want a bunch of Barrani as permanent guests.”
So it wasn’t actually about Kaylin’s safety.
“And if you die because of this, Teela will murder half of us,” he added, with a cheeky grin that was close to Terrano’s norm. “Teela’s almost certain you’re right: the warriors didn’t descend on Nightshade all at once. Which means this has been planned for some time.”
“They’d have needed two war bands to bring him down.” But was that true? Just one man, with a poison dart or an ability to convey a poisonous magic, would have been enough. It wasn’t the fight that had laid him low; it wasn’t the battle that had put him into this suspended, unreachable state.