A book open in her hand, Tibby walked around the platform, holding her lantern up to various runes and murmuring to herself.
Teyla waved for Syla to join her on the platform, then whispered, “My menses came.”
Syla blinked. Even though she and her female colleagues at the temple had shared such information from time to time, she couldn’t remember discussing such things with her cousin, who was usually so busy studying, writing papers, and practicing swordsmanship that she could hardly be bothered with noticing. But the relief in Teyla’s voice clued Syla in that more than a desire for commiseration about cramps prompted the statement.
“I trusted the yerathma root you gave me would take care of it,” Teyla said, still whispering, “but I wasn’tentirelycertain.” She sent the briefest of glances toward Fel.
“Oh,” Syla said with new understanding.
“I would like to be a mother one day, but not because of weirdcactusflowers. And not with—” Teyla waved toward Fel. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with your bodyguard—he seems very qualified and dedicated—but you know.”
“Yes.”
“I like muscles and don’t mind an older man, but, er,you know.” Teyla’s cheeks reddened, and she looked away from Fel and Syla as well. “Notthatmuch older, even if he was, er,decent.I mean, kind of good, all things considering.” Teyla bit her lip.
“I’m glad it wasn’t an entirely loathsome experience,” Syla said, though the last thing she wanted to discuss was her bodyguard’s sexual prowess.
“It was surprisingly not, but I’d want the father of my children to be…”
“Married to you? Of the proper station?”
“More likely to read books than eat them.”
“I haven’t observed Fel noshing on the pages of my tomes,” Syla said dryly.
“I suppose not, but he’s not the scholarly type. Anyway, I’m not looking, regardless. I’d love to be a mothersomedayand take my children on digs and teach them all about ancient civilizations, but I’m not ready yet. So thank you for the root.”
“You’re welcome. I’ve taken to carrying it in my first-aid kit as well as consuming vynglar tea regularly since I’m not ready for motherhood either. I’d like for therenotto be assassins after me before I consider that.”
“Once things settle down, I hope you will consider it though. Havelotsof children. Then I won’t have to worry about being an heir and what would happen if you died. Relvin would probablyassassinate me to make sure I don’t make moves on the throne. As if I want that. It soundsawful.”
“I always thought so,” Syla murmured, still numb from the loss of her mother and siblings and being in a position she’d never expected nor wanted. It was so strange that she was fighting to be queen and rule the Kingdom. Already, she missed the days of being a simple healer. No, agoodhealer. Thanks to her gods-gift, she’d brought people back from the brink of death and healed others of illnesses that wouldn’t have been curable without magic.
“Oh, I have something for you.” Teyla snapped her fingers and dug into the pack she’d brought out. It had appeared to contain mostly books, but jars clinked when she rummaged. “You remember that I foraged a few items from the laboratory before we left, right?”
“I think when you’re removing items from shelves, it’s called pillaging, not foraging.”
“Not when the items were left there centuries ago by a mad god who created beasts that like to eat humans. Really, the term should beliberating.”
“Archaeologists have a unique way of looking at the world, don’t they?”
“We’re fascinating people.Some of the jars contain medicinal substances that are hard to find. Are you interested?”
“Yes, please.” Syla leaned forward with curiosity.
“Thisone has a substance that I don’t believe is medicinal, but you’d probably know more about all the various uses than I. I just know that hydras are extinct.”
“Hydras?” Syla peered at a dusty blue jar not much larger than a vial, runes carved into the front to label its contents. “Oh, hydra-scale powder?”
“That’s what it says, yes. I translated the runes on several of these. That one is interesting because?—”
“It induces a desire to tell the truth. People in ancient civilizations wrote much about how handy it was for questioning enemies.”
“Yes. I thought you might use it for the same purpose.” Teyla handed it and several other jars to her, then waved vaguely toward the city and the island beyond the castle walls, probably suggesting the greatest danger came from ambitious Kingdom subjects rather than the stormers or other distant enemies.
“It might come in handy. Thank you.”
“I think to activate the weapons platform,” Tibby said, a book open as she stopped beside them, “you press your hands to those marks. They’re the right shape and invite touching, do they not?”
