Disclaimer: Mercedes Lackey owns all to do with Valdemar, Velgarth, Heralds and Companions.

Chapter 5: Outside the Lines

By the time I was done, there were looks all around of disbelief but what could they do? I'd done what I'd done on purpose. They weren't going to accuse me of delusions or of having an overactive imagination. With the second level truth spell and me feeding images to Altra, what could they do but believe me?

I sat back as Altra removed himself from my mind and Alberich released the truth spell. I could actually Feel where Altra had been and almost tell where the Truth Spell had settled over me. It was an odd feeling. I looked around at the others in the room, studying them for the first time. They were looking at me and some had the blank looks on their faces that I assumed meant they were in Mindspeech. I glanced around, a quick flick of my eyes toward the door. Unfortunately, Stone Face was still quite alert. Well, that killed all prospects of me getting the hell outta here.

I really didn't want to stay here. I had a bad feeling I was going to be stuck though. Honestly, I couldn't blame them. If you were smart, you didn't just let someone as unknown as me out to roam around the countryside.

Quiet reigned for several long moments while everyone digested all that had been told in the last candlemark. I didn't really blame them. Well not much. It was pretty hard to believe. Even for me and I was the one living it!

I waited for them to speak. I must admit I displayed a remarkable amount of patience waiting for them to decide my fate. Selenay was, expectedly, the first to speak. "Well, I can safely say you were not lying. As I'm sure you knew there is no way to lie either mind to mind or through a second level truth spell. Now the question is what to do with you." Her level gaze almost caused me to fidget. I wanted out of here. I hadn't gotten my two weeks of freedom and I was restless.

I had my own opinions about that but showed remarkable discretion in keeping my mouth shut. The only thing I wanted now was a little something to eat and a long trip to Errold's Grove. I wanted to meet Firesong and Silverfox before I did anything else here in Valdemar. Or, before anything else happened to me. I mean there had been that green/gold glow around my place. Whatever it had been, I had a gut feeling that it was going to come back to haunt me eventually.

I sighed a little at that thought though I doubt anyone here caught it except maybe Talia. She was the only here that I could remember was an Empath. I hated my faulty memory at times! They talked a bit and I tuned them out until Altra butted his head against my knee.

Self-consciously, I came back to the conversation and started scratching the Firecat's ears. An avatar was acting extremely cat-like if his bonelessness at my scratching was anything to go by. Elspeth was the one to speak first. Seeing as she was the first Herald-Mage since Vanyel, I paid attention. "I think we should call Firesong from k'Valdemar. He has more experience in Gating than any of us here and should at least be able to give his opinion." Darkwind was nodding in agreement. Selenay also sighed and nodded.

She agreed with her eldest. "I agree. Call him here and while it will take him time to get here, I would like his opinion." She ran a hand over her forehead. "This is beyond any of us and whatever we decide to do with this young lady, I would like his opinions first."

Well, that got my wish granted to me pretty quickly didn't it? Still, they were talking about me like I wasn't there. I don't like that. "Hey!" I said, startling all of them except Altra, who was a pile of feline goo and hair, purring at the scratching. "Remember me? Sitting here listening to you! Don't I get a say in what happens to me?"

I think then that Selenay realized that the others had been telling her truly about our little "meeting" earlier. She gave me a startled look and I heard Alberich stand up from leaning on the door. Yeah right like I was going to attack Selenay in front of him! I wouldn't do it even without him around!

You know I think of all of them he was the one that scared me the most simply because I had never been able to figure him out through the books. All the others hadn't exactly been transparent but there had been enough to give you a rough idea of their characters. Alberich was just a mystery. You never really got much hint about what lay behind that face. Sure, he was a Herald which meant basically a good person but he also had that other side. You know the one... Knives. Or whatever else he went by down at Exile's Gate.

I didn't like being under his gaze. It never wavered from me. That gaze was supremely unnerving. No wonder Trainees wilted underneath it. I barely kept from fidgeting and I was twenty!

I was a bit nervous but this was my life they were talking about in front of me and I wanted to know exactly what my choices were. "Look. This has all of us on edge. Me no less than any of you. None of you are the ones who fell down a hill and woke up in a world that you'd only known from books. I did. Now I'm being held prisoner."

Several looks were exchanged. At my choice of words, I assumed. Let's be honest though, I was being held prisoner, no matter how polite they were going to be about it. "The least you could do is ask me what I want to do." They all looked at me like I'd grown a second head. Hey I can be reasonable at times. No, really. I can!

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Time to put the offer on the table. "I will agree to stay here until Adept Firesong k'Treva arrives." Considering I was planning on sneaking out of Haven just to see him, I wasn't going anywhere. "However, I will not be a specimen for mages, Healers or anyone else that decides to get a look at me." I wasn't a science experiment and I'm pretty sure the Healers could tell I was put together just as they were.

"I will need a room to stay in that everyone else stays out of, no matter what." I have privacy issues. It comes from being the youngest of eight and the only girl. "I'll need a four inch board, about six feet long, braced and solid, raised about two feet off the ground." For those who don't recognize it, it's a balance beam. I used one for light toning exercises. Helped keep me in shape for my mountain treks. "And I'll need wood scraps." I had an idea teasing at the back of my mind about a way to make my own money. I looked around. No one seemed to be too put out about my requests. Of course, I was basically putting myself under their guard, with very little fuss even. "And I'll need Mr. Personality back there to give me back my knife." I jerked my thumb back towards the still silent Alberich.

Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I watched him. Alberich barely moved but I could feel his surprise that I had noticed the fact that my field knife rode his belt.

They all looked at each other and some consensus seemed to have been reached. Selenay nodded. "That all seems reasonable." She stood as did everyone else. Including me. I'd gotten all I'd wanted I could afford to be gracious. They all filed past me and out the door that Alberich kept open.

He shut the door after everyone had left and crossed his arms, looking at me. "Follow me." Again Mr. Personality. I followed anyways, hoping to find out something. He handed me back my knife, hilt first. I took it carefully and put it on my own belt. I'd examine it later. I glanced at him and he nodded at the door he held open.

I looked inside and then walked in. It was your basic bedroom. Four walls, a side table, an armoire and a bed were all that it had. It didn't bother me. My own bedroom before I'd left home had barely been more than a converted closet. I could fix this up. I threw my bag on the bed and looked around. I still had a change of clothes in my bag. Extra clothes would be first on the list but I'd let Alberich lead for now.

Have I mentioned he scares me? In case I haven't: he terrifies me. I don't do dark and mysterious.

"So, what's first?" I asked, after giving the room a cursory glance, trying to get a feel for just how bad this imprisonment was going to be. There wasn't much here and I felt a need to be outdoors more than inside, for right now.

"You wait until orders are given." He went to close the door but I stopped it with a foot and my hand.

"I may be a prisoner but I won't be kept inside." I said, shoving past him. Honestly, I still blame the head injury. I turned toward the outside door. I could hear him following behind, my gray shadow. Well, he could just follow, or try to stop me. I needed to be outside. "Stupid, arrogant, Karsite Captains." I muttered under my breath, wishing I knew what those words that I'd learned from my brothers meant. I'd gladly call Alberich some of them. No, make that all of them.

I walked into Companion's Field near the salle. I thought I heard Alberich's footsteps fall back when I entered the Field, but my mind was on something else. I was looking for deadfall wood. Since I was stuck here, I guessed it was time to revive an old skill my grandfather had taught me: wood carving. I wasn't as good as he had been, but with time, I could turn out some decent pieces.

I had no money in a world I knew very little about. So, what could I do to either make money or make sure I had the things I wanted and needed in Haven? Eventually, I wanted to be able to make money enough to buy supplies to leave Haven but no one needed to know that just yet. I had a bad feeling that they'd try to stop me if they suspected it.

I picked up a few pieces here and there. I rejected most of them. They were either too rotten or hollow to do me any good. I found one piece and kept that one. It wouldn't be much use for a fancier piece but I could use it to practice on anyways. Faces had always been hard for me to do but, practice would hopefully make perfect. I inspected a few more, wandering a bit deeper until a large white form stepped in front of me, blocking my path. I had been so absorbed looking for wood, I forgot where I actually was.

I looked up at what I need had to be a Companion. The only question was which one? All Companions were described basically the same in the book, though one might be a little taller, or a little stockier. I looked this one over (Yes, I am a total coward. I would not look into its eyes.). It was definitely a stallion, but I didn't know which one. "Which one are you?" I asked slightly nervous but not expecting an answer. I didn't think I had Mindspeech, but you never could tell and after having Altra in my head I wasn't in the mood for a horse to be there to. I liked having just me in there. I concentrated real hard on having a wall between my mind and any outside intrusion. I hoped it worked. I had no idea what I was actually doing.

I looked around and didn't see Alberich, but that didn't mean much. I hadn't seen him before either, hence the whole me talking to a horse thing right now. I looked back at the ground again and began picking up more dead wood. I noticed the Companion stayed near by while others watched from a distance. "So," I started conversationally. "Are you Kantor?" A snort and a shake of the head. Wrong guess I suppose. I moved off looking for more wood. "Rolan?" Another snort, this one sounding amused. Don't ask how I could tell that. It just sounded like a sort of chuckle. "So, Jasan then?" This time I got nuzzled in the cheek. Correct guess I suppose.

I kept walking and looking. We came upon another Companion, another stallion. The two seemed to almost nod to each other in greeting. If they had been anything else I would have worried about two dominant males fighting, but, being what they were, I barely noticed the other before returning to looking for more wood. "And you must be Kantor?" The other bumped my shoulder as I bent to check another stick, almost oversetting me. I gave him a sour look, only getting an almost snicker in return. So now I had gained an escort of two Companions and lost the gray shadow.

I kept looking for wood until I had gained quite a pile. The two white shapes followed along with me. Oddly, I didn't find it uncomfortable to know that horses were my guards. Then I took all my sticks and found a comfortable spot under a tree. I spread them out in front of me and checked them over yet again. All of them would do once stripped of bark. I began doing that, setting the strips of bark to the side as they came off.

Both stallions stayed with me the rest of the day and I have to admit that it was probably the most restful time I'd had. Ever. Along about sundown on my first day as part of Valdemar, my stomach decided that it was time to eat. Actually it was telling me that it had been chewing on my spine for quite a while and really I should stop ignoring it before I couldn't walk.

I stood and stretched, popping a bit from sitting so long. I gathered up my stuff, the bark trimmings included, and trudged back to the salle, both Companions following. Once inside, I set my stuff down on the side table in my room and grabbed two apples off the larger table in the living room. I took them both outside and fed them to both Companions. "Thank you for your quiet company gentlemen." I said, formally. They both nodded and trotted off.

See? I can be politic. As long as you don't talk to me. Or ask me to talk to you. Or, well… Never mind.

I went back into the room and saw that Alberich had returned and had someone with him. An artificer probably. Right then, I didn't care. I went into my room and closed the door, blocking all them out, after gathering something to eat from the table. I didn't want to share a meal with anyone right now. I could always sneak out later and grab some more of that fruit, if I was still hungry. Tomorrow was soon enough to be sociable. I sat down on my bed and thought about my situation. I was an American woman stuck in a fantasy novel. Maybe if I just laid down, I'd wake up to find it all a dream….