Tara hesitated, which was unusual for the Tower. “Come,” she finally said. “Your stomach is making noise, and Morse has to eat, as well.” She then turned to Severn and said, “Good morning, Corporal.”
Tiamaris returned to join them in the small dining hall. Bellusdeo was not with him.
“She has gone to the border to visit her people,” Tara said in response to Kaylin’s wordless observation. To Kaylin, this was much like being at home.
“Tara says you’ve come to ask questions about my early years investigating the fiefs.” He spoke to both Severn and Kaylin as he joined them at the table. Morse had eaten and vacated her chair; she took up a position by the door. Her posture was casual—she was leaning against the wall with folded arms—but she was, in theory, a guard here.
Kaylin nodded. “We have experience in the fiefs because we were born in them. But Nightshade is not the fief we’ve been sent to investigate.”
“I assume it is not Tiamaris, either.”
“No. Inasmuch as a fieflord is trusted—by the Halls of Law—Tiamaris is trusted.” She wanted to add that if all fieflords were Dragons, maybe all of the fiefs would feel like part of the city proper. It was a nice thought, but even if that had been Imperial intent, there weren’t enough Dragons. The Arkon would never be pried from the library, and the Emperor would never be beholden to a Tower.
“We want to know what you learned of Candallar—or what you know now. He borders Tiamaris.”
“Finish eating your meal; we will retire to the mirror room before I attempt to answer any questions you have.”
“Candallar’s been hanging out in the warrens,” Kaylin said as they walked down the long, wide halls that led to the pool of water Tara called a mirror. Although Elantra proper was full of mirrors in various sizes, Tara—like Helen—considered their presence an unacceptable security risk. Understanding that Kaylin and Tiamaris considered them a necessity, the two buildings had created single rooms in which they reluctantly allowed mirror messages to both enter and leave their domain.
Tiamaris exhaled a thin stream of smoke, but said nothing. His eyes were orange, but orange was the standard Dragon color when discussing the fiefs.
“He’s not like Nightshade.”
“You’ve met him.”
“We have.” She nodded in Severn’s direction.
“It is my understanding that the mortal Hawks are not responsible for the warrens.”
“We had the cohort; Teela was off duty. And we had Bellusdeo.”
This did cause a shift in eye color, and not in the good direction.
“Have you ever tried to say no to her when she wants something the Emperor has specifically already said she can have?”
He grimaced, his eye color lightening. “What was Candallar doing in the warrens?”
“On hearsay, he was waiting to meet with a Barrani High Lord or two.”
“Would this meeting have occurred around the same time as the reconfiguration of the High Halls?”
“Yes. How much have you heard?”
“Not much. Tara was not concerned with the change in the building’s state. She considered it an unexpectedly good sign. If Candallar was involved—”
“Any good that came out of his involvement was accidental.” Kaylin then detailed what she could remember about Candallar, his Barrani connections, and Spike, a Shadow who’d worked with them to preserve the High Halls. Hope was dangling across both shoulders looking bored when Tara interrupted her.
“You are saying that the fieflord of Candallar allowed a Lord of the High Court to enterRavellonthrough his domain?”
“Yes.”
“And that Lord then found Spike and carried him across the border?”
Kaylin nodded.
“And Spike remained in the High Halls.”
“I think he’d be willing to talk to us if we visited. He knows a lot aboutRavellon. But he said...” She trailed off, uncertain of how to proceed. Tara was militant about Shadow in the same way Bellusdeo was—but there was less flexibility in Tara’s response because Tara’s purpose as a Tower was the defense against, and destruction of, Shadow.
