An’Teela wishes you to join us, he finally said, although Teela had said nothing of the kind. Regardless, Kaylin was certain he was right.
The Consort began her descent with more grace and less speed than those who’d been sent to scout. She allowed a shift in marching orders, and Severn remained with her, as did Ynpharion; Kaylin, enrobed in flame, headed down the stairs. She wasn’t Barrani; she took far longer to cover the distance than any of the scouts had.
Teela was waiting, her eyes narrowed, her lips thinned. And as Kaylin finally reached the three, she became certain the strangely muted voice she could hear was Terrano’s.
Hope’s wing brushed her cheek, and she turned. “It is Terrano,” Hope said. “He is unnamed.”
“I was unnamed,” Kaylin shot back. “And I was still allowed entry here.”
“You are never unnamed here. You bear the marks of the Chosen.”
“Fine.Severnwas unnamed.”
“Severn followed you. He remained in your orbit. What you saw and what he saw differed—but he was considered some part of you. Or so I believe.”
She frowned. “The Tower allowed the Ferals.”
“Yes.”
“Because it recognized their names? I mean, the words?”
“That is my belief. It is Spike’s belief, as well. It is why the Hallionne allow guests who have previously paid the price of entry to return. Theycanrevoke that permission, but it is a deliberate decision, and the permission itself must be altered. It is not, in Spike’s opinion, entirely trivial.”
“And it’s not allowing Terrano to take that test?”
“Again, conjecture on our part.”
“He went with the rest of the cohort.”
“Yes.”
“And he was part of them; they were a unit.”
“They were not an indivisible unit. Their tests, at least according to Teela, were separate; they occurred in parallel, but they occurred—are perhaps still occurring—in different pocket spaces, not unlike Helen’s apartments. The cohort couldn’t see—individually—what their comrades faced. They could see it because they are name-bound to each other. But Terrano is not.”
“Can you hear him?”
“No. Not as you hear him now.”
“Can Spike?”
The pause before the answer was longer; Spike was answering, but not in Elantran, or anything that Kaylin could hear as a language. “Yes.”
Kaylin exhaled. “He’s important to the cohort. He’s important to Teela. Can we find him?”
“We? No.”
Fine. “CanIfind him?”
“Yes, I believe you can. Spike does not consider this wise. Terrano is demonstrably not dead.”
“Is he unharmed?”
“We have no way of knowing that for certain.”
“Lord Kaylin,” the Consort said. “I can hear only half of your conversation. I desire to know the content of the rest of it.”
Kaylin explained in Elantran.
