“Probably because Mellarionne didn’t attempt to negotiate with them directly,” Sedarias snapped. “And with the single exception of you, there is no Solanace.”
Annarion bristled as Kaylin cringed. “There would be nothing to be gained from such negotiations.”
“Solanace has always been the High Lord’s lapdog.”
Kaylin was certain she had had stupider ideas when interacting with the cohort. At the moment, they failed to come to mind. Karian’s line was Reymar; its leader was Illmarin, and Illmarin stood behind—or in chess terms, in front—of Mellarionne. The pieces for Reymar and Mellarionne were, or should have been, faceless, more like chess pieces than the miniature High Lord’s family.
They weren’t. They had tiny faces and their clothing was distinct and distinctly colored. Illmarin at least appeared to wear a tiara; it was oversized for her small face, something Helen had chosen to do deliberately. The gem in the center was a pale, colorless sparkle. Diamond, then. And: Arcanist.
“Teela?”
Teela lifted her head. She was focused but silent; most of the actual appearances Helen was drawing on came from the memories that Teela had elected to share. It surprised Kaylin.
“She is not directly offering them to me,” Helen said. “She is, however, offering them to the cohort, and Mandoran is being fussy.”
“How many more Arcanists do we have?” Kaylin asked, squinting. “Umm, Helen, could these be a little bit bigger?”
“They could be life-size, but it would make the dimensions of the current dining room insufficient. Would you prefer that?”
She wouldn’t. Helen’s compromise: to create each figurine at life-size, and then shrink it to match the growing number of chess pieces. Kaylin wondered why this wasn’t done in the Halls of Law almost as a matter of course. She’d have to suggest it. An image of an orange-eyed, exhausted, extremelycrankyLeontine sergeant came to mind. Yeah. She’d suggest it when all of this had blown over, one way or the other. And maybe, just maybe, if she handled everything properly, she’d finally be a corporal.
“If you are thinking about your possible promotion,” Teela said from across a longer table than they’d originally sat at, “I will strangle you.”
“No, you won’t. Helen won’t let you.”
“Helen?” Teela said.
Helen chuckled. “I would prevent you from harming Kaylin, as you well know. But I would do it as much for your sake as I would for hers. Sometimes we say things in anger that we wish we could take back. I would class physical harm in the same category. And yes, dear, I realize that was an attempt at humor. Ah, I believe Kaylin has a visitor.”
“Are you expecting a visitor?” Teela asked. As her eyes were already blue, they didn’t get darker. She did, however, look at the reams of paper and the small army of chess pieces, most of which would no longer fit on a chessboard, given the board’s limitation.
“Is it Severn?”
“No, dear. I thought, when he approached the perimeter, that he might be here to speak with Bellusdeo.”
Now all of the cohort stiffened. Bellusdeo meant Dragon. Kaylin rose immediately while the room fell into a morbid hush.Please, Kaylin thought as she abandoned the dining room.Please let it not be the Emperor.
“It’s not, dear.”
She looked up to see Bellusdeo descending the stairs, her eyes a martial orange. One day soon, she was going to live in a house in which all of the various races did not look so prepared for all-out war.
Lord Emmerian stood in the door. His eyes were an orange-gold; he was wary, but did not expect disaster. Bellusdeo stood to one side of Kaylin, and Kaylin dared a glance at her eyes; they were still orange, but they didn’t darken into a redder shade.
He bowed instantly to the Dragon who lived here, and then bowed to Kaylin in quick succession. He carried a case by a worn brass handle, but was otherwise dressed for the palace. As he rose, Helen moved out of the doorway, and he entered the foyer.
“Please,” Helen said before Kaylin could come up with an excuse for the mess of the dining room, “this way.”
She couldn’talwaysbe rescued by her house. But the past few days had driven home an important lesson: almost everyone currently living in her house was above her pay grade. And she was going to have to change her responses to match them.
“Teela and Tain haven’t changed,” Helen said.
“No, but—”
“The only thing that’s changed in the recent past is your knowledge of the other parts of their life. The cohort is more of a muddle—but the people you helped to free, with the possible exception of young Terrano—”
“He’s not really young,” Kaylin said, interrupting. “Where is he?”
“He is in the basement training room.”
