Thanks for the support!
It was the desperation that broke through Kaylin's brooding as she walked through the fief. So little had changed in the years since she had left, but if the feel of the fief was the same, the people were different; she recognized no one by name. She wondered how many of those she had known even passingly were still alive.
"It'll be ok," a man insisted, kneeling by the side of a woman, heavily pregnant and covered in blood. "You and the baby are going to be fine." The woman let out a groan, but didn't otherwise respond. From where she was standing, Kaylin could see the woman's eyes were glazed. It was bad.
"Get up, Mom," the boy pleaded, sounding painfully uncertain. People continued to pass, no one stopping to help the family. Well, what could they do? Death was common in the fief, and no one had much to spare.
"What happened?" Kaylin asked, veering off course to kneel beside the man. His agony was clearly etched in his face. He looked, to Kaylin's eyes, over thirty, but the fiefs aged people, and she knew he could be as much as a decade younger.
"Something spooked the horse some uptowner was riding," the boy replied bitterly, when it was clear his father wouldn't. "Mama couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way, and-" his voice faltered. Kaylin nodded. She realized that the boy was most likely small for his age, but hunger did that. She reached out and touched the woman. Trauma triggering labour was not uncommon, but given the woman's injuries, both she and the baby were at serious risk.
"What are you doing?" Even now, when the man was about to loose so much, suspicion remained.
"I'm a healer," Kaylin replied evenly. "I can save your wife and the baby." Man and son gawked at her, too familiar with the world to accept what she was offering.
"We can't afford a healer," the man said bluntly. The words carried, and out of the corner of her eye Kaylin saw people stop and stare. The boy looked at Kaylin like she'd sprouted another head.
"Look, I'm not asking for payment," Kaylin snapped. She was wasting time, and she needed to start now. "Nobody pays me to heal." She focused on the woman. It was going to be close. "I'll need some water, the cleanest you can find," she added distractedly. She hesitated. "You make sure no one stabs me," Kaylin told her familiar, who opened one eye to peer at her before settling back down to sleep. There was a stir behind her, and she glanced over, surprised to see Andellen along with three other Barrani guards approaching at a run. The street cleared quickly as people scattered to the edges of the road to let them through. The man and boy looked alarmed, but didn't leave the woman's side as the Barrani stopped in front of Kaylin, their hair settling gracefully down their backs.
"Lord Kaylin," Andellen greeted in High Barrani, offering her a perfect bow. The three Barrani with him echoed the movement. People slowed, careful to avoid the fieflord's guards. Some of them watched from the sidelines, dangerously curious. Kaylin didn't blame them; she would have done the same, once.
"Lord Andellen." Kaylin nodded, but couldn't return the bow without letting go of the woman; she settled for speaking High Barrani. "I need to focus on this."
"Of course," Andellen agreed, having been present when Kaylin healed in the past. "Our lord sent us in haste to guard you while you attend to the healing you have chosen to undertake." Kaylin felt the tension ease from her shoulders. She rolled up her sleeve and removed the bracer she almost always forgot she wore. It was the sort of jewelry that could get her killed in the fief if she wasn't careful, and she was thankful for the protection. Her familiar was great for detecting and seeing through magic, but she was less certain that he would respond to a mundane threat, especially if only Kaylin's bracer was targeted. There was no point in worrying about someone stealing the bracer since it would return to Severn, but she didn't want to be killed over it. After everything she had been through, it would be such a stupid way to die.
You're welcome, Nightshade replied.
"They're here to protect me while I work," Kaylin told the family in Elantran, ignoring the fieflord. "They won't hurt you if you leave them alone."
"You know Lord Nightshade?" The boy asked fearfully. It seemed like a lifetime ago that Kaylin had been bound by the same fear; she was surprised to realize it had been barely a year. Kaylin wanted to say that Nightshade wasn't who they thought he was, but held her tongue. He was, to them.
"Yes," Kaylin admitted, "but there's no catch. Who I heal is my choice."
"Lord Kaylin," Andellen said, speaking in rare Elantran, "is a healer of note. You are honoured by her presence." He looked down on the family in blue-eyed irritation; whether on her behalf, or on Nightshade's didn't really matter. Kalyin sighed.
"I don't want you to kill anyone," Kaylin told Andellen. He met her eyes.
"As long as no one approaches you foolishly or tries to harm you, we will not injure anyone, Lord Kaylin." Andellen conceded in Elantran. Kaylin nodded, knowing that was as much as she would be able to get out of him, since his orders came from Nightshade. Both man and child had paled dangerously, but Kaylin didn't have time for them. She forced herself to trust their sense of survival and not piss off the Barrani; she needed to focus on the woman who was only barely holding on to life.
Kaylin didn't know how long it was before she pulled away, her back aching from the strain. Her knees were covered in dirt: her hands, in blood. "Congratulations," she croaked. "It's a girl."
The woman clutched her newborn and stared at her with something close to awe. Kaylin shifted uncomfortably; she knew she didn't deserve the look the woman was giving her. The man gathered his wife and daughter in his arms weeping; it was the boy who met Kaylin's eyes.
"Who are you?" He asked. Kaylin hesitated. She wasn't supposed to heal without Imperial permission, but surely the Emperor wouldn't care about the fiefs.
"Private Kaylin Neya," she answered, "in service to Lord Grammayre, Lord of the Hawks."
To Kaylin's astonishment, Andellen knelt beside her. "You must drink," he urged, offering her a cup of water. It was pristine; he must have sent someone to the Castle for it. Kaylin tried not to let her discomfort show; it bothered her to see Andellen, a Lord of the High Court acting like a servant around her. She forced herself to nod, gratefully accepting the cup and gulping down the contents.
"Lord Andellen." Lord Nightshade's voice carried, and what little noise had been present on the street halted as the fieflord walked forward, focused on his guard. Andellen rose gracefully to his feet and offer his lord a deep bow. Kaylin held onto the cup. "Thank you for guarding my Erenne," he said in High Barrani.
"The honour was mine, Lord," Andellen replied. Kaylin grimaced. They were ignoring the human again. In order to prove her wrong, Nightshade turned, acknowledging her for the first time, and raised a brow. His eyes were a blend of blue and green, which was as safe as she usually got with him. "You're late." Kaylin was too tired to school her expression; she gaped at him.
"I can't be late!" She protested, genuinely outraged. "We never set a time!"
"I believe," he told her in High Barrani, "that you intended to return home before nightfall. This seems unlikely, now." Given the length of the shadows, this was true. Kaylin sighed, and opened her mouth. "I do not believe you have so much free time that you can afford to reschedule," he added, and Kaylin snapped her jaws shut. He was right, damn him. She has lessons with Diarmat and another 'informal' dinner with the Emperor before the ball. Given her current house guests, the odds of her having a quiet week were almost non-existent. She still wasn't comfortable staying at the fieflord's, but what could she do? The Emperor would eat her if she embarrassed Bellusdeo at the ball.
"Thank you for coming to pick me up." The words were difficult to force out, and the hint of green deepened in Nightshade's eyes at her reluctance.
"That was not the only reason I came," he admitted, before sliding into Elantran. "There will be changes in the fief," he announced, his voice carrying in the near silence. People honed in on his words, Kaylin, perhaps, more caught than anyone else, even though she had left the fiefs years ago. She stiffened, and forced her exhaustion back. Where was he going with this? "Laws will be written and enforced," he continued, "and the streets will be patrolled at night." Kaylin's eyes were wide, and she clung onto Nightshade's words, as desperately as she had clung onto the woman only minutes earlier. "Once the laws have been worked out, they will be announced and enforced by my guards."
"Why don't you just copy the Imperial Laws?" Kaylin asked, only realizing how stupid the question was after the words had fallen out of her mouth. Nightshade's eyes darkened.
"I am not," he told her frostily, "copying Dragon laws."
"How long?" She asked, wanting to change the subject, but her hope nearly strangled the words. Blue eyes met hers.
"Until my brother takes the Test of Name," Nightshade told her in High Barrani, and her heart stuttered. Annarion wanted to take the Test of Name, but she couldn't imagine him passing it. Neither could Nightshade, and he had apparently said as much.
"That's probably not long."
"It is," the fieflord replied, "entirely his choice."
"This is your compromise," Kaylin realized. Nightshade frowned at her, never one for thinking out loud - or stating the obvious. Kaylin felt the compromise was in Nightshade's favour, but it would be, wouldn't it? Nightshade had spent centuries at Court, mastering the subtle art of manipulation. Annarion, on the other hand, had spent centuries stuck in a Hallionne friends who held his name. No contest who had more practice manipulating people.
"He has agreed," Nightshade assured her, "to wait at least a decade." The words were a balm to Kaylin and she threw herself at Nightshade. His arms wrapped around her and she buried her face in his robe, clinging to him. She hated crying, but so much could change in a decade. A decade was a chance, more than she had every really believed the fieflings of Nightshade would get.
Thank you.
I did not do this for you.
I know, Kaylin agreed, but you did it anyway and that's all that really matters. Nightshade tightened his grip on her.
Which laws are most important to you? Kaylin craned her head up to meet his eyes, surprised by the question. He waited in silence.
No slavery, she said, and the brothels... don't let children work there. She thought of Tara and how so much had changed in the fief of Tiamaris, but she didn't want to push the fieflord. She hesitated. Your people need food.
I am aware, Kaylin. I will adopt those two laws, Nightshade assured her, for you. Kaylin's eyes widened, but before she could speak - if she could find the words - Nightshade cupped her face and brushed a kiss across her forehead.
"Come," he said out loud. "We have very little time, and I have no doubt that you will be a challenging student, even in this." Kaylin grimaced, but took the arm he offered and turned away from the woman and child she had just saved. The gesture, which belonged in a court, felt foreign on the streets of the fief, but Kaylin tried to choose her fights with Nightshade. And to be honest, after his announcement, she didn't feel like arguing with him. The guards fell into step around them; surrounded by Barrani, they quickly made it to the Castle.