A/N—Short little chapter but it explains a few more things. Please read and review. Thank you. I hope you enjoy.
Corus, Tortall
Late Fall 457 H.E.
"Here it is." Buri said, gesturing to a sign reading 'Cythera's Home.' Dom and Neal stood next to her. "Let's go get rooms." Buri suggested, walking into the common room and knowing her companions would follow.
The common room was large and neat, full but not overflowing. The décor was modest in red, gold, blue and silver. Servers hurried between guests and the kitchen wearing straight skirts and square-necked, elbow-sleeved blouses of red and gold or loose breeches and simple tunics of red, gold and silver. The servers were all young, their mid-teens at the oldest. Buri got two rooms and they went upstairs to rest their tired feet. Like the downstairs, the rooms were decorated in red, gold, blue and silver.
Neal and Dom were reclining on their beds when Buri came in. "I want you two to try to contact Gary. I'm going up to the palace to see Thayet."
"Is that such a good idea?" Dom asked.
"It'll be fine. Just talk to Gary."
Dom and Neal followed Buri downstairs. Dom caught the attention of one of the serving girls. "Can you tell me where I can find the innkeeper, Master Gareth?" Dom asked her.
She smiled sweetly at him. "You must mean Master Gary? I've never heard him called Gareth before."
"Must be the one. I'll tell my cousin he got the name wrong. Do you know where I can find him?"
"If he's in. Just hold on a moment, handsome." The girl winked and walked off.
"She's got to be about twelve, Dom. Don't you have any principles?" Neal scolded when she was out of earshot.
"Not if flirting gets us what we need. Don't worry, Neal, I wouldn't go any further. You're as bad as Uncle."
The girl came back with a young boy in toe. He looked to be six or seven. He had light brown hair, brown eyes and a small build. He was wearing red breeches and a silver shirt like the male servers, missing only the gold tunic. "This is Young Master Gary. He said he could take care of you."
"Thank you both." Dom replied. Gary looked over them intently.
"Come on." Gary said. Dome and Neal followed him out the back and he stopped. "You're the Queencoves, aren't you?"
"How did you know?" Dom asked.
"Come on then." Gary said without answering. He took them into the kitchen. Gary opened a thin door by the oven that the others couldn't see until it was open. He led them down a flight of stairs into a large room of books and tables. "Wait here. Go ahead and make yourselves at home, it might be awhile." He bounded back up the stairs and closed the door. Dom stretched out on one of the long benches and Neal started looking through the books. They were all ancient. Collections of family trees and books on Seeing were the most common.
"You could read this." Dom said, holding up a tattered looking, brown book. Neal sat down next to Dom and opened the book. It was entitled "The Principles of Sight," and handwritten notes covered the margins on every page.
"It has the Gennature Prophecy in it." Neal said.
"It's illegal to print that." Dom said, sitting up straight and peeking around Neal's shoulder.
"It's handwritten."
"Also illegal. They'd make it illegal to speak it if they thought they could enforce it."
"Look, he's trying to figure it out." Neal said, flipping through the book and pointing out some of the notes.
"Wait." Dom said. He pointed to the name Queenscove written in a child-like but tidy scrawl next to a passage from the Prophecy, which was written in a different hand.
"Um, why are we in this?" Neal asked.
"Not we, cousin, just you. I'm still Masbolle by blood."
"The oldest of the six and youngest son. Green healer. All sides shall benefit from his Gift." Neal read.
"That part about being the youngest son and a green healer could be you or Uncle." Dom commented. "What else does it say?"
Neal turned the page. "This part is about the Seer in the Prophecy and it has Alianne Cooper underlined. And whoever is taking these notes seems to think an old Rider would be the 'woman warrior.' They have 'Roald of Conté/Wilima' underlined for the 'rightful king' and Gary for the 'boy of books.' There are definitely at least two different people taking notes in here, though."
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Dom and Neal both jumped at the sound of young Gary's voice. Neal slammed the book closed guiltily. Gary sat down across from them. "I don't care if you look at it. If I cared, I would have put it away."
"You took these notes?" Dom asked.
"The newer ones. I don't know who took the first ones. My dad says this is one of the books he rescued from Sir Myles' library before the Gennature burned it."
"Why's my family's name in here?" Neal asked.
Gary smiled shyly. "You're healers with a green Gift." He paused. "And your father has a reputation for healing soldiers from both sides during the war."
"It's the responsibility of a healer to help all those in need, not just the ones you like." Neal said automatically.
Gary shrugged. "The only place Gennature can get healed in Corus is at the palace because the city folk won't do it but the King only lets high class Gennature use palace facilities."
"That's wrong." Neal replied.
"Probably." Gary shrugged again. "Dad's not around. I think he's meeting with an agent in the palace. It's easier for him to go up there then it is for them to come here."
"When will he be back?" Dom asked.
"He shouldn't be long. You can wait here or upstairs, whatever you want. I can tell Master Jin, the cook, that you are waiting. Dad always comes in through the kitchen or at least stops there."
"Thanks, kid. I think I'll get acquainted with the common room." Dom said. "Are you coming, Neal?"
"I'm going to stay here." Neal answered, flipping through the book again.
"Alright, but try not to be too boring today." Dom climbed back up the stairs and found a seat in the common room. Gary followed him up the stairs to talk to the cook then went back down and sat across from Neal, another book immediately open in front of him.
They were down there for a few hours without talking. Finally, Neal put the book aside and looked over at Gary. The boy had moved to lay on his stomach on the floor.
"What are you reading?" Neal asked.
"Tortall history." Gary answered, rolling over and sitting up. "It starts with King Roald II so it's pretty modern."
"So you really like reading."
Gary nodded with a smile. "I love it. It's the best thing to do around here. Plus, I want to be able to help my dad."
"Is it just you and him?" Neal asked, deciding he really liked Gary.
"Now it is. The inn's named after my mom, who died, and dad says I have two brothers and three sisters. He doesn't know what happened to them. I was only a few months old when everything happened."
"There are so many stories like that around." Neal said. "It's almost common place."
Gary grinned. "They'd make an interesting read."
"What exactly does your father do?"
"He finds people. He can be hired by anyone to find anyone. He's got agents reporting to him from all over Tortall and extensive family records. It's the most elaborate spy network ever." Gary grinned. "And the best part it, the Gennature give him leave to do it. There's a long list of people he's not allowed to look for, of course, but he does anyway."
"And he's trying to figure out this prophecy."
"Well, Dad says that though it's prophesized, it's not a guarantee. The gods are busy and tired from the war so we'll need to help it along as much as possible."
"And how's that going?"
"Pretty good. The hardest part's going to be finding Alianne and Roald."
"Because the stories say the gods took her off this world."
"Right."
"Well, I'd say, if she is still on this world, a purple-eyed girl will be pretty noticeable."