“I’m pretty damn sure the water wasn’t responsible for the loss of the cohort.” Kaylin folded her arms.
“You are sentimentally attached to the water, and that is inadvisable. Understand that the element itself, like any living creation, is not all of one thing or all of another. It is possible that the element could both destroy—or attempt to destroy—the cohort and simultaneously desire to preserve it. But...the voice of the water is silent, here. Your arrival required all of its substantial power.”
“Has this happened before?”
“Never here, and not in other Hallionne, to my knowledge. The fire has been used as a conduit before—but only by ancient Dragons.” She bowed her head. “You are not the only people to come to me with inquiries about the cohort.” She had adopted Kaylin’s name, but would: it was what they called themselves, now.
Terrano stiffened.
“Were the others Barrani?”
This time she did not answer. Kaylin understood; she turned to face the Lord of the West March. “Was it you?”
“I asked the Hallionne to monitor them. I also asked the Hallionne to house them. Any evaluation of their abilities or their intent could not be carried out were they to remain outside of the Hallionne’s boundary.” Kaylin opened her mouth. The Lord of the West March, however, had not finished. “I wished to know,” he continued, “if Orbaranne would recognize them. Once one has been accepted as a guest in a Hallionne, one will be accepted as a guest in future. The grant of blood—in most cases—is almost definitional.”
“Outcastes?”
“The Hallionne do not recognize outcastesasoutcaste unless exceptional circumstances arise. Once the Hallionne has accepted the responsibility of hospitality, it will always be extended. There is a reason Lord Severn could travel these pathways, even with the marked disapproval of the High Court. The...changes, the alterations, in the group you refer to as the cohort, are changes that would be impossible for any others of my kin.”
Bellusdeo said, “I did not give blood.”
“No. Nor will you be asked, but your circumstances are unusual.”
“The water?” Kaylin asked.
Bellusdeo snorted smoke. “The Consort,” the gold Dragon said, although the question had been asked of the Lord of the West March. To Orbaranne, she said, “Was the Water’s decision to bring us here influenced by the Consort? ”
Something wordless passed between the Hallionne and the Lord of the West March. It was the latter who replied. “Not in my estimation. My sister is not without power, but the power necessary to command the Water to do what was done—at great cost to the Water itself—is not power she possesses.”
Or not power Lirienne was aware she possessed, at any rate.
No, kyuthe. It is not an ability she possesses. Even the potential for power of this kind would have been noted.
“She probably thought I’d arrive with the small Dragon, not you,” Kaylin told the large Dragon.
“I believe it is immaterial. What she asked for, the Hallionne granted. I am with you, not the familiar. But that is not the question. How did she know to ask? If she does not, herself, have the ability to command the Water to do her bidding, how was she aware that you, at least, would be here at all?”
To Kaylin’s surprise, Lirienne chuckled. Although his eyes remained blue, there was some hint of green in their shade. “Were it not for Lord Kaylin, they would not have emerged from the green as they did. Two of their number now dwell within Lord Kaylin’s home. If my sister was aware that the cohort encountered unknown danger, she can be forgiven for expecting—or suspecting—that Lord Kaylin would immediately become involved.”
Bellusdeo raised a brow. “And also for assuming that she would be accompanied by someone who had not yet ventured into the Hallionne?”
Silence. It was edged, sharp, suspicious.
Kaylin rushed to fill it, although Bellusdeo was right; neither of them would get answers from the Lord of the West March, and there were other things that were, in the end, more pressing. “Someone found the cohort on the portal paths.” It wasn’t a question.
“Demonstrably.”
“What are the probabilities that their difficulties were caused by non-Barrani?”
The Lord of the West March did not answer.
Terrano, however, snorted. Loudly. He really did remind Kaylin of Mandoran; it made her wonder why Mandoran had stayed. On the other hand, the universe was probably safer for it.
“If not the Lord of the West March, and not the Consort, then who?” Kaylin turned to Orbaranne’s Avatar. “Did any other Barrani Lord come to you with a request or a query?”
Orbaranne looked to Lirienne, who shook his head. Unsurprisingly, the Hallionne failed to answer.
“It wasn’t me,” Terrano said.
