“Yes. But whatever it was that the names gave you, you learned to exist without. Terrano does not have his name. He did not teach the others to do what he did.”
“No. Just to change their form. I don’t think the rest of our people could do what we did for centuries, unless they devoted almost all of their time to it. But even then, I am doubtful. What the regalia did, in the heart of the green, changed us.” Sedarias glanced at Terrano and exhaled. “We did not exist entirely without our names. Our names were within the Hallionne. He considered them to be abandoned, but they were present; they had not returned to the Lake of Life, as names do when the lives they sustain are extinguished. I do not know if knowledge of those names that were only barely ours would have allowed others to control us.”
“Your circumstances were admittedly unusual.”
“They were. And they will not occur again; it is now against Barrani law to expose children to the regalia, as we were once exposed.” Sedarias looked at the raw, red splash of livid color, arms folded. It did not look like fire to Kaylin, and clearly Sedarias had her doubts as well. She held out her left arm just as Terrano began to move forward, and caught him. “I will strangle you myself,” she told him, lips compressed.
“What? I’m trying to stand closer to the fire because there won’t be Shadows near it!”
Judging by the expressions on half of the cohorts’s faces, Sedarias wasn’t the only one who didn’t believe him.
*
“Kaewenn, I bid you welcome,” a familiar voice said.
Kaylin turned. In the ether that existed in the boundary beyond Ravellon stood a familiar figure. “Tara!”
The Avatar of the Tower of Tiamaris stood in full armor, a sword in one hand, her helm in the other. Her eyes were a pale silver from which sparks seemed to fly when she blinked. At a distance, Kaylin thought she might not have recognized her.
Tara, however, was not addressing Kaylin, and when she bowed, she bowed to Bellusdeo. “My lord asked me to greet you, and to offer you and your companions the hospitality of Tiamaris.” The words were stilted and formal.
The Dragon said, “A moment, Tara.” Her voice lost some of its rumble as she finally slid back into her human form, losing the wings, the neck, the tail and the very impressive teeth. The scales reformed around her in the natural armor of her kin. Draconic faces didn’t show a lot of expression that was easily recognizable to Kaylin. Human faces, like the one Bellusdeo now wore, did. “Who taught you that word?”
“The Norannir did. It is how they sometimes refer to you, even now.”
“They should not use it.”
“No? My lord did not think its use harmful; he said it was a sign of respect, or even reverence—and he believes that you are due that.”
“Does he?” Bellusdeo’s smile was weary; it held pain. “In the end, I failed them.”
“If we judge all of life only by one moment, perhaps. But we do not, and they do not consider you a failure. You are here. They are here. And they light these fires in your name. Come. It is difficult for me to greet you thus, and I would speak with you at greater length from the confines of a safer environment.” The red fire that was not hot and did not burn was reflected in the silver of her eyes, as if her eyes were mirrors.
Terrano was staring, openmouthed, at Tara. But to be fair, the rest of the cohort were staring only a little bit more discreetly.
“I am not Hallionne,” Tara, said, her voice serene. “That was not my function. It is true that the full range of my power is only available within the Tower proper, but the fief is my domain—it is my duty to watch it, and to watch the borders. I see Ravellon no matter where I am; I see it no matter what form I take. I hear its Shadows, but they cannot reach you yet.” She bowed, once again, to Bellusdeo. “I can contain the voices of your compatriots, but they are unstable here. It is not good for them to be here.”
Bellusdeo nodded.
“And it’s good for us?”
“You, Chosen, are what you are. The place in which you stand does not change that. Bellusdeo is a known duality; she, too, is uninfluenced by her surroundings. But your companions are...” Tara frowned, and that expression was completely familiar. “They are fuzzy around the edges.” The last sentence was spoken in Elantran. “I understand what your Helen has done for her tenants, and I can do the same. I understand the reaction of Castle Nightshade to Annarion, but I think it unnecessary.”
“Why did Nightshade’s Tower react that way?”
“Because he could hear Annarion’s voice, and he believed—as I might once have—that it was a deliberate call, a deliberate beacon. My Lord is waiting, and he is perhaps not waiting patiently. He wished to come here himself.”
“And he didn’t?”
Tara smiled. “I judged it too great a risk.”
“He really does trust you.”
Tara looked surprised. “Of course.” She smiled and added, “Severn is also waiting. He came to the Tower. It is how I knew that you would come here.” She frowned. “Do not do that,” she said, to Terrano.
“It’s fine,” Sedarias replied, before Terrano could. Allaron was standing closest to Terrano, and he slid an arm firmly around Terrano’s shoulders.
“I don’t need hospitality—”
“It is not a necessity,” Tara told him gently. “But I do not think your friends are willing to part with you yet. There will be absence enough in the future.”
When they turned to look at her—Allaron still firmly attached to Terrano—Tara smiled. “I am not a Hallionne, but I told you: the fief is my domain. I do not hear all thoughts or all voices unless I listen carefully, but I am capable of something as simple as this. And here, your voices are much, much clearer.”
She turned and led them to the Tower.
28
Tiamaris and Severn were, as Tara had said, waiting. They were waiting in a room that looked suspiciously like one of Helen’s “isolation chambers,” and they were silent as the company entered the modest door Tara opened for them.
Terrano and Allaron were the first through the door, which took a bit of navigating, because it wasn’t really two people wide—not when one was Allaron’s size. Terrano looked disgusted and demanded that Allaron let go, but as Terrano would not promise not to make a break for it, Allaron didn’t.
Everyone else followed, Sedarias taking up the rear of the line as if she were mother hen and not captain of the cohort. To be fair to Sedarias, both Kaylin and Bellusdeo remained behind her, and although Kaylin wanted to be last through the door, the look Bellusdeo gave her at the implication that Kaylin’s presence at her back would be of aid should anything go disastrously wrong was probably only a little bit cooler than Dragon breath.
So: Bellusdeo entered last, all golden armor, all warrior queen.