She shook her head. “I gave Master Robbie other relics to look at, Masteress. I said I was too tired to fetch it just then and promised to bring it in the morning. He was content.”
Elodie’s and her masteress’s eyes met again. She felt a flash of happiness that they were thinking alike, that the boy’s contentment might have been a ruse.
“High Brunka?” Elodie returned to her stool. “Er . . .” She felt shy, questioning a brunka. “Er . . . who else was there when Master Robbie asked for the Replica again, and who was there when you brought him the other relics?”
“When the pup asked, we were gathered around the big fireplace, all the guests and Ursa-bee. When I returned, our cook, Ludda-bee, had come to announce what she was serving for the evening meal, so she was there, too.”
If the thief was among them, he or she knew that the theft had been discovered.
“What did you do next?” Masteress Meenore scratched under ITs jaw.
“I went to my chamber to think.” The mask of distress covered her face again. Her eyes were tormented. “I knew I had to tell everyone, but I wanted to organize my ideas, which were as scattered as the stars. Then you sang, Masteress, and I came. The guarding bees were dozing at their posts. My movements are almost silent, so they didn’t waken.”
IT shook ITs big head. “Guards are permitted to sleep?”
“They’d have heard anyone but a brunka.”
IT let that stand. “Might the thief escape in your absence, Madam, now that the blizzard has ended?”
“He wouldn’t get far on foot in this snow. If he wanted a horse, he’d have to come here.”
“He or she wouldn’t get far. If he or she wanted . . . Lodie, can you forgo sleep tonight?”
She nodded. She’d done so before for IT.
“High Brunka, can you show Lodie in secret where the Replica had been kept?”
High Brunka Marya said that almost everyone would be asleep. “The bees who guard the Replica will be awake, but they know where it’s kept anyway.”
ITs smoke shaded pink. “Mmm,” IT said coldly.
She raised her chin and stepped back. “I have no secrets from my bees after they’ve been with me for three years.”
Elodie heard ITs Fool! hang in the air unspoken. The high brunka blushed.
“After you have shown Lodie the Replica’s hiding place, you must awaken everyone and inform them of the theft. There is not a moment to lose. The snow has lessened. The thief may be contemplating his or her escape. How awkward these he-she and his-her locutions are. How much more efficient to be an IT.” Enh enh enh.
Elodie stiffened. How could IT laugh now?
“Lodie, if I cannot hold myself apart from events, I will never see them whole. You must cultivate this quality in yourself, which will be essential when the high brunka reveals the theft. No telltale sign in her audience may go unnoticed by you: no blush, no shudder, no sigh, no odor of distress. You must have the heightened senses of a brunka and the perspicacity of a detecting dragon.”
What if I miss something, Elodie thought, and it’s the most important clue? “Masteress, you should be there.”
“Alas, the fear and awe that I inspire would call forth trembling and stares. Even I could not discern which were due to guilt and which to my presence. Better by far that you be the only witness.”
She nodded, but she wished that a mountain and His Lordship weren’t at stake.
“Feeling—whatever you may feel—may not be allowed in. Madam, do not tell anyone that the girl is in my employ. She is a mere child I am returning to her home out of the goodness of a dragon’s heart.” Enh enh enh.
“A half-truth is as false as a whole lie,” the high brunka said promptly, as if the words had been waiting on her lips.
ITs smoke purpled. “An exploding volcano will be one complete truth, Madam, and your failure to prevent it will be another.”
The high brunka sank onto her stool and spoke to her hands in her lap. A pale rainbow unfurled, then faded. “As you wish, Masteress. I’ll lie and try to be convincing.”
“Excellent.” IT asked and was told that the Oase had a great hall, a large room. “Keep everyone there except for your most trusted bees, those who have been with you at least seven years. They may begin a search of the Oase. Have them search in pairs. Better yet, see that they do everything in pairs, and change the pairings often.”
Oh! Elodie thought, dismayed. She’d heard that the Oase tunneled into the mountain, spidering into a vast warren of corridors and rooms. How could they hope to find anything as small as the Replica?
“A bee would never take the Replica.”
ITs tail twitched. “Madam, that is the assertion of an imbecile. Look at me.”
Elodie thought she would shrivel up if IT ever used that tone with her.
High Brunka Marya met ITs eyes. “Brunkas trust hearts and judge acts. That may make us imbeciles to you.”
“Just so. Dragons rarely trust.”
They dropped their eyes at the same time. IT continued, “Your bees know where the Replica was kept, which almost certainly caused the mischief. A bee was indiscreet, or a bee is the thief.”