Ynpharion, do you have any idea who that is?
I would let Helen make all relevant decisions at this point, Ynpharion replied. He was surprised but not shocked. He was also worried. The man in livery spoke to the person in the carriage while Kaylin watched. She sheathed her dagger as the discussion continued.
“I don’t see anything wrong or strange,” Kaylin finally said, “except for the crest itself.” She poked her familiar, and her familiar smacked the bridge of her nose, lowering that wing. In the light of day, the Dragon’s head crest vanished. What remained appeared to be curved swords above and beneath a mountain.
Kaylin exhaled. “You win,” she said to Hope, who once again placed a wing over her eyes. “But I don’t understand why they’d bother to enchant a crest on the side of a carriage. No, on second thought, I take that back. I’m guessing Mellarionne is agitating for a declaration of war.”
They are, Ynpharion said.
“We either have to let them in or send them on their way,” Kaylin told her house. “If we keep them waiting at the gate—” She stopped. The carriage door had opened, and its occupant stepped out. Or rather, all three of its occupants.
There was something strange about this party of three. The man in livery spoke only to the person who had stuck their head out the window; he did not seem to notice the other two at all. For their part, they adroitly moved out of his way when he did lift an arm or take a step.
“Hope, wing.” The familiar withdrew his wing from only one of Kaylin’s eyes.
She could only see two Barrani with her regular vision—one in livery, obviously a footman or a servant, and the lordling who occupied the carriage.
Do you recognize him?she demanded of Ynpharion.
Yes.
And the other two?
I am less certain of the other two, as you call them. I can see that you see something, but the image is imprecise; it will not come into focus, for me. Can you see them clearly?
Only with the help of my familiar. Fine. Just tell me who the first is.
He is an adjutant to Coravante An’Mellarionne, a Lord of the Court. Bressarian.
He’s An’Mellarionne?
No. It is not the habit of Mellarionne to keep their kin in close physical proximity, for obvious reasons.
Kaylin frowned.Do you think he’s aware of the other two at all?
Yes. If they could enter and leave the carriage without use of the actual door, I would be less certain. Ah. It appears Bressarian will now take matters into his own hands.
The man Ynpharion named approached the locked gates, waving the servant in livery out of the way. To Bressarian’s left and right stood the two that Kaylin could see only through the wing of her familiar.
Bressarian squared his shoulders and glanced, briefly, to the left. He then placed one hand on the very closed gates and spoke. The words didn’t carry to Kaylin’s ears. They clearly carried to Helen’s.
The Avatar of Kaylin’s home was an older woman with silvered hair and eyes with accumulated smile-lines in the corners. Her voice was gentle, except when she was annoyed; her words were gentle, regardless.
That Avatar had vanished. In her place was a giant in what appeared to be polished, obsidian armor. Her eyes were the same color as that armor; the whites had disappeared. Terrano spoke a series of words that Kaylin caught half of—they appeared to be Barrani.
Beneath her feet, the ground rumbled; she almost expected the floor to split. But she realized, as she braced herself, bending into her knees in case she needed necessary momentum to leap, that it wasn’t the ground. Bellusdeo was roaring.
Bellusdeo was roaring while the aide to an important High Court family was at the gates. Mandoran appeared beside Terrano; the rest of the cohort was still somewhere else. Mandoran’s eyes were Barrani blue, but they still had some white to them. “This is bad,” he said.
“Can you calm Bellusdeo down? Helen won’t let them in, but we can’t afford to have her go full Dragon while Barrani are knocking at the door.”
“She’s not the problem,” Mandoran replied.
“Tell me what the problem is. Right now.”
“The would-be visitor.”
“Which one?”
