Sedarias shook her head. “But I think, with time and Spike’s input, we probably could.”
“Can you ask for lessons when I’m outside of the house?”
Mandoran laughed.
Sedarias, however, took Spike’s presence as a sign. It was time to get serious. Kaylin watched the transformation of the cohort’s expressions. “Teela is at the High Halls,” she said, which was not what Kaylin had expected.
“Is she under house arrest?”
“No. At this late stage, they would not dare. They are, however, very interested in our arrival.”
“Interested in an aggressive way? Or politely, politically,fictivelyinterested?”
“Our method of arrival has not been disclosed; questions are, of course, being asked, and possible explanations given.”
“There are no good explanations.”
“That just makes the proceedings more entertaining.”
“Is Teela the one making stuff up?”
“No. Teela is very angry, and when she is angry she is on her best—her most exquisite—behavior.”
“Is Tain with her?”
“Tain is with her. As one of four guards. He is not present as a Hawk, and he has no standing in the High Court. Teela is there as a Lord, and she is surprisingly adept at it.”
“Surprisingly?”
“Teela was always unusual.” Sedarias turned to the cohort, although it wasn’t necessary. “But while we were away, she grew. She’s angry,” Sedarias repeated. “And it’s never completely safe for Teela to be angry.”
“Safe for who?”
“Anyone, but mostly Teela.”
Mandoran turned to Kaylin, his expression unusually grave. “We’re here for her. We’re here for each other. When our families threw us away—”
“I wasn’t thrown away,” Sedarias said.
“When therestof our families threw away peopletoo saneto demand the right to go to theregalia, we found each other. Teela doesn’t want Annarion to take the Test of Name because she can’t go. She’s a Lord of the Court.”
Kaylin frowned. “But that means—”
“Yes. You can’t go, either.”
Helen came into the room, Spike floating by her left shoulder. “I think,” she told the cohort, “I should show you to your rooms. At the moment, Annarion and Mandoran are sharing. I was uncertain whether or not you would want to do likewise.”
“Not if you let Mandoran design the room,” Serralyn said, pulling a face. But the cohort rose almost as a single person, and followed Helen as she led them out of the dining room and to the room which would become their temporary home.
Terrano did not follow. He watched until the last of the cohort—Sedarias, as it happened—had exited the room. Only when she was gone did he sag in his chair, as if he’d been fighting to hold himself upright. Or together. Kaylin had no idea what to say to him; she only knew that she should saysomething.
People in pain often had this effect on her, if she cared about them at all. And clearly, shedidcare about Terrano, which came as a bit of a surprise to her, given how they’d first met.
“It is not surprising,” Helen’s voice said. The sound of it pulled Terrano from his thoughts, and he straightened in his chair again. “You have been living with two of his brothers. You’ve fought by their sides, more than once; they’ve come to your aid, and you’ve come to theirs, when there was no certain guarantee of survival. They are your friends. They are Teela’s family. They live in your house.
“Terrano is one of them, to you.” Helen’s Avatar remained with the rest of the cohort; only her voice was present in the room.
“I’m not,” Terrano said, voice low.
