Moran was nervous. Her eyes were shifting color with every second step she took. She wore the robes and the bracelet of thepraevolo. During the day, she wore them as if they were a suit of armor. If she took no personal comfort from the act, the rest of the Aerian Hawks did. In a weird sort of way, it was a command decision.
Lillias, however, was not. She was part of Moran’s history, and entwined with the severely unhappy bits at that. But she had saved Moran’s life. And in all probability, that decision had cost Lillias her literal wings.
There were a lot of questions Kaylin wanted to ask about that. A lot. How did it evenhappen? The wings were physical; they were like arms and legs. There existed no spell that Kaylin knew of that would allow someone to magically remove said arms or legs from anyone who had them. That said, swords and axes generally did the trick—they just didn’t do it instantly or cleanly.
“Thank you,” Moran said, as they reached the start of the Elani district.
“For what?”
“For coming with me. It’s been a long day—I was afraid there’d been some sort of midwives emergency, and you weren’t coming back.”
“There was an Arkon emergency,” Kaylin told her. “But at least it didn’t involve fire.”
“The Arkon was the older man I met at dinner?”
“Older Dragon, but yes. Bellusdeo insists that he actually likes me, but on days like this one, you wouldn’t know it.”
“How did you meet him?” Moran asked. Kaylin answered, realizing that if the discussion wasn’t important for the information it contained, it was important for other reasons.
She was still talking about the Arkon when they reached Evanton’s front door. Light could be seen through the windows. “Evanton wasn’t certain she’d come,” Kaylin reminded Moran.
“No. I guess we won’t know if we don’t knock.”
* * *
Grethan met them at the door. In general, Kaylin approved of this because Evanton took a long time to reach the door, and he hated it when people either pulled the bell a dozen times or, worse, pulled it once and assumed he wasn’t in when he didn’t immediately answer.
Kaylin had once suggested that maybe, just maybe, magic be used on that door or that bell that would allow the visitor to recognize when Evanton was, or was not, receiving guests, which got her a long lecture, but changed nothing. She’d long since given up trying. If she wanted to see Evanton, she had to play by his rules.
Grethan, however, was not old; he was young enough that walking to the door and answering it wasn’t at all taxing. He didn’t despise interruptions; he didn’t resent them. He smiled up at Kaylin’s familiar as he saw who stood on the other side of the open door.
The familiar squawked and leapt off the Kaylin perch and onto the Grethan one.
“Is he in?”
“He’s in the kitchen,” Grethan replied. “But I think he intends to move to the garden when you’re here. You’re a bit on the late side,” he added, half-apologetically.
“We had a bit of a day.”
“It’s you,” Grethan said.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You always have a ‘bit of a day.’ Whenever I think it’s hard being Evanton’s apprentice, I think about being you instead, and it helps. Um, sorry.”
The small dragon squawked.
“People destroyed her home once. She had to face the Devourer; she had to save the elemental garden from—from a mad man. She has an angry Leontine as a boss, she has a Dragon as a friend—and even that friend came only because she almost died in Shadow. I mean, seriously—she has a really stressful life. I only have to deal with sulky wild elements and a really grouchy Evanton—and he’s not grouchy all the time.”
Moran chuckled. “He’s not wrong.”
* * *
Lillias was waiting in the kitchen, her eyes a martial blue.
Evanton’s eyes didn’t change color; he had the rest of his very lined face to make up for the lack, and it did. She was late, yes, and clearly, at the moment, late was an almost unpardonable capital crime.
“I’m sorry we’re late,” Kaylin said before Evanton could speak. “It’s entirely my fault; Moran was waiting for me. But I had a Dragon to deal with, and while you’re like the Dragon in temper, you can’t reduce me to ash without the fire’s permission.”
