Evarrim proved to be Barrani. Herelaxed. Kaylin was never going to understand him. “Very well. An’Teela implied that this meeting was of import, but failed to give any information when she...requested...my expertise.”
“Conveyance of the information is of Imperial concern, regrettably.”
Both Teela and the Consort looked mildly surprised.
“Of course it is.” Evarrim’s reply was sour, but he was definitely interested.
“How much of your studies over the past few centuries have involved—directly or indirectly—the Aerians?” She watched him like, well, a Hawk.
“That is an interesting question,” he replied; she now had the whole of his attention. She felt ambivalent about that, given the Arcanum. “And it might surprise you to know that you are not the first person in the past handful of months who has asked it of me.”
She almost said,What do you want in return for telling me who?But it was harder to construct a sentence like that in High Barrani. High Barrani wasn’t invented to be direct; every sentence required a few byways, as if the speakers needed many, many ways to get out of what they were trying to say if it didn’t end up being the right thing.
She hated the feeling of being watched and measured, and she was being watched and measured by at least two of the Barrani present: Teela and the Consort. Neither had decided that they needed to give her a hand or come to her rescue.
“It does not surprise me,” Kaylin said, voice about as flat as she felt.
Evarrim raised a brow.
“Perhaps it will surprise you to know that theIllumen praevolois a Hawk, in service to the Imperial Law,” Kaylin said.
“It did, indeed, engender surprise when the information first came to me. In general, thepraevolois accorded a position and place of respect and power.” Neither of which, he heavily implied, the Hawks could give her. “The information, however, was incomplete, and perhaps inaccurate.”
“Oh?”
“I was told that thepraevolocould not fly. Perhaps, if you understand what apraveolois, you will understand my reaction. If she could not fly, she could not be what was claimed of her. And she could not, in theory, fly.”
“Why was this relevant?” Kaylin asked, forcing High Barrani to do actual heavy lifting.
“Your sergeant has had very little support from her own kind because she could not fly. Apparently, this supposition was incorrect. It is relevant,” he continued, “because the Aerian Caste Court has its feathers everywhere. They made demands of the Emperor—”
Kaylin winced. Evarrim nodded, acknowledging it.
“And they maderequestsfor the support of every Caste Court involved in the governance of the Empire.”
“Indeed, they have,” the Consort inserted. “They were polite and respectful, inasmuch as demands can be.”
“They were, I am certain, meant to be requests,” Evarrim said. “The flights are not known for their understanding of the social customs of other races.”
Neither, Kaylin thought, were the Barrani. She thought about Moran. Thought about Margot. Thought about Margot’s vision, which was very oracular in its opacity.
The one that stuck out at this very moment—like a large hangman’s noose—was the Dragon. Because Shadow was involved, one way or the other, and there was only one Dragon who lived in, and who seemed in some fashion to control, Shadow. The outcaste.
“Did the Aerians in question mention that they purchased the services of a sometime-Oracle?”
Evarrim tensed. “They did not.”
“In which case they didn’t mention the contents of that Oracle. I know oracular vision is not in any way reliable, and it can’t be used in a court of Law—at least not an Imperial Court. But the Barrani do, on occasion, seek out the services of the Oracular Halls.”
“We are usually rebuffed,” was the stiff reply.
“And if you thought Oracles were garbage, you’d never have the opportunity to be rebuffed,” Kaylin said, descending into Elantran, where she firmly intended to stay. “The Aerians—the ones involved inmultipleassassination attempts—wanted an Oracle. Which implies heavily that they’re planning to do something they’re not entirely certain will work out well for them.
“The contents of that vision weren’t passed immediately on to whoever tried to get it.”
“But they were passed on to the Hawks?”
“As it happens, yes.” Kaylin folded her arms, shifting her stance as she met and held Evarrim’s narrowed gaze. “The seer in question isn’t actually a resident of the Oracular Halls, and she didn’t particularly want to cooperate with the customer who brought the request in. But the odd thing was, she did. She was compelled to cooperate; she lost control of her body.”
