“Neither is my home,” Kaylin pointed out.
“If things go awry in your home, it could well become my problem, and I would like to avoid that. I amold, Kaylin. In the past decade I have seen more threats and upheavals than in the previous century, with one or two notable exceptions, neither of which can be blamed on you.”
“None of them can be blamed on me!”
“Grethan!”
Evanton’s apprentice appeared before the last loud syllable had died out. The familiar on his shoulder sighed and squawked before leaping off to land at his home base, Kaylin’s shoulder.
Evanton headed out the door into the rickety hall that led to the Keeper’s Garden. He turned in the door frame. “Understand,” he said softly, “that the world and the Keeper will almost certainly continue to exist if there are no people in it. My job is not actually to choose sides. The elements are adversely affected by Shadow, but not in the same fashion as we are. My job, such as it is, is to stop the elements from destroying the world in their attempts to destroy each other. There are no Shadows in my garden. Do you understand?”
Kaylin nodded.
“I am the Keeper. My power, where it exists, exists because of that. I am, however, partial to people in general. The location of the garden does not change, and I would rather have the occasionally irritating company—”
“Most people call them customers, in this part of town.”
“—than not. I understand what exists beneath the High Halls. Where I can, I will aid you, as I have always done. But the political—and yes, when we speak of politics with the Barrani it inevitably defaults to assassination or war—is not my arena.”
“It’s not mine, either.”
“Not yet. It will be. I’m sorry.”
“If I’m forced to enter that arena, will I have to be diplomatic?”
“Only if your commanding officers drop dead and someone who has never had to work anywhere near you is then put in charge.”
* * *
The first thing Kaylin did when they returned to the office from their shortened Elani patrol was stop by the duty roster to see if the Barrani were once again being assigned their regular patrols. The second was to visit the infirmary. Teela was no longer there.
Moran, however, was, and the long day hadn’t improved her temper any. The sergeant was glaring at a small mirror. If looks could kill, that mirror wouldn’t be in pieces—it would be melted glass with little rivulets of silver in it.
“Go home.”
“Moran—”
“I mean it.”
“Has anyone else come to visit your Barrani patient?”
“No one has been permitted to visit, with the exception of Teela.” Moran turned away from the mirror to face Kaylin directly. “Given how successful I was at getting you to ignore the politics of myentirely personalsituation, I am not going to waste breath telling you to ignore hers. But kitling? I wouldn’t have broken your arms or legs.”
“Teela won’t—”
“No, she probably won’t. Being a Hawk has been a lark for the Barrani—or at least that’s the impression they’ve always given. It’s the reason that most of the nonpatrolling Hawks find it hard to work with them.”
Kaylin nodded again.
“It is not a lark at the moment. Teela may take a leave of absence when things get truly tense.”
Kaylin did not ask how assassination attemptsin the Hallsfailed to qualify as truly tense. “At the Hawklord’s request?”
“No. The Barrani wear the tabard. He would not ask them to leave the office; it would send the wrong signals.”
Kaylin blinked.
“Having Barrani Hawks on the force give the Barrani an accessible public face. People are often terrified of the Barrani.”
