“When I closed my eyes just now, did I disappear?” Kaylin demanded—of Mandoran.
The answer was clearly no, so he didn’t bother giving it. “You’ve taken someone’s name before. What did youthinkyou were doing?”
“Surviving.”
“Surviving.”
“Surviving.” She muttered a Leontine word. “We were under attack. The Hallionne Orbaranne was under attack. You might, oh, remember this?”
Mandoran shrugged. Something that might have been a flicker of guilt crossed his features, but didn’t find any purchase there.
“I saw the name. I needed to see the name. I grabbed it.”
“Grabbed it?”
“I physically grabbed it.”
“You reached out and grabbed the name.” This time, it was Bellusdeo who spoke, although her tone was remarkably similar to Mandoran’s.
“Yes. Not immediately, but yes.”
“I think the ‘not immediately’ part is probably relevant here.”
Kaylin knew she was right. “I—I could see the word at the core of him. He was a Feral in shape. Believe that I know Ferals,” she added bitterly. “But he had a name and I could...”
“Could what?”
“I could almost pronounce it. Almost. And he knew and tried to kill me—”
“As any sane Barrani would in those circumstances,” Sedarias interjected.
“And I grabbed his name and held on to it for dear life.”
“Why ‘dear’ life, exactly?”
“Because it was my life.”
“Very funny. I don’t understand—”
“Notnow,” Sedarias barked. “So you saw the name at his core. Did you try to touch it before you...pronounced it?”
“I couldn’t.”
“Did youtry?”
No, she hadn’t, because she knew she couldn’t; all of his body was in the way. And yet, when push came to shove, she’d done exactly that. She’d grabbed his name.
It is almost humiliating to hear you speak of this, Ynpharion said.Is there anything you achieve that cannot be attributed to panicked bumbling?
“Sedarias,” Bellusdeo rumbled. “Please.” Sedarias subsided. “You saw my name with your eyes closed,” the Dragon then said to Kaylin. “Could you touch it?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t try. It was about as far from me—with my eyes closed—as you are now.”
“Then try.”
Kaylin shook her head.
“Try. If the Shadow holds the names but you can actually touch them, we might be able to free the trapped in the event he proves impossible to kill. If he can see our names, if he can somehow entrap them without using them, you might be able to pull them free.”
