I received an Amazon gift certificate the other day, and in one of the few brief moments of peace that I had in a day that happened to involve a computer connected to the internet, I went through and browsed through Amazon's collection. Lo and behold, I noticed that there was a new Mercedes Lackey book that is coming out...and who knew it, but it is the story of the un-Herald! o.O*
Now, the whole point of my mentioning this is that, not only have I placed an order for the book (and, in fact, have it in my hot little hands right now), I am profoundly embarrassed to be writing Alberich. Soon, I will be able to tell just how badly I have mangled his character. Really, after finding out that the book existed, I had the hardest time getting the rest of this chapter written because, quite simply, I wondered if I should just wait to get my hands on the book and finish reading it before I tried anything more concerning the fic. After much thought however, I decided that if I was to take up the task of rewriting all the previous sections containing Alberich's involvement anyway, one more section which may or may not involve an appearance by him was mere pennies in the pocket. I will try to keep you all updated concerning any changes in the previous chapters.
I'm hoping there is nothing that will drastically change the plot, but you never know with those Heralds...
By the way, I notice that the reviews are rapidly crawling toward 100. =) A quick, but no less heartfelt THANK YOU to all those who have not only stuck it out with me thus far, but repeatedly reviewed with each chapter. Your encouragement was always welcomed, and through the tougher parts of the fic, was absolutely essential to its continuance. As a small token of my gratitude, I'd like to do something for all of you...perhaps write something 'built-to-order', to borrow a popular term from work?
Sound like a good idea? Sound like a bad idea? Want something else entirely? Want me to hurry up and finish the damned story before I even begin thinking about something else? A KFC membership card? (See sky's review for reference.)
Hmmm...strawberry ice cream sounds pretty good right now... Anyway, lemme know. =)
The Words Between - part 12
Kyn braced his arms against the window casement, watching the shadows slowly stretch across the graveled path, one story down. Behind him, he could hear the low drone of an instructor's voice from one of several classes occurring up and down the hall. Several were concerned with advanced figuring of one sort or another; this building was unofficially claimed by the artificers. But there was a scattering of other subjects that were somewhat related to the mathematics if not in the direct field of engineering; one of them specifically in the application to financial matters, such as the classroom he had stationed himself directly opposite of.
Movement drew his attention to one side, a man coming slowly down the path, gaze roaming carefully over the building's facade. When he spied Kyn standing before the second story window, he gave a small nod and even flashed a brief grin before straying toward one of the lecture halls' entrances. It seemed Alberich's promised guard had caught up.
He honestly didn't know how useful a guard would be, but had let Alberich do what he wished anyway. It was a token of faith on his part; the guards could just as easily double as watchers, allowing the weaponsmaster to keep a track of Kyn's movements. But his initial, reflexive reaction had been that whatever was attempted would be useless. What Master wanted done, would be done, regardless of the effort invested otherwise. Except that Kyn now held the bitter knowledge that Master was not infallible; he himself was the very embodiment of one of Master's more spectacular failures. There was disappointment at the thought, both in himself and in Master. The manse no longer meant safety - either from the world outside, or from the dangers held within. How ironic, that he was the very reason he could no longer place such faith in his Master again.
His fingers tightened on the wood trim as he pressed his forehead against the chill glass with a sigh. The rising murmur of excited voices within the classrooms distracted him from his increasingly morbid musings, and he stirred after a moment to turn and lean back against the casement instead, folding his arms across his chest. Not long after, doors began to open, the noise level increasing at least ten-fold as a mix of blue and grey-uniformed trainees spilled out of their classes. Kyn straightened, drawing his feet closer, away from the growing press of people passing by.
His lack of height had never truly bothered him before, but he was never more conscious of it than now. He was just tall enough for others to notice him waiting quietly by the window, though thankfully any attention he drew was short-lived. But he found to his irritation that he was also just short enough that he had to crane his head to make out the tops of those filing out. At least there was nothing wrong with his hearing. Bryn's bright chatter floated over the general conversations, easily detectable with its free, uninhibited speech.
The boy simply let every stray thought pass directly to his tongue, and Kyn couldn't help marveling at just how much Brin had to say...and how raptly the others in the little group migrating with him listened. He could not deny the boy had a remarkable facility with words, and an unconscious air that many might term 'charming'. Certainly Nadia had been doting over him during their brief encounters, and there was a peculiar note of fondness in Sianni's 'speech whenever the boy was mentioned. It was unfortunate that Brin had not fully realized his talents yet. It might have saved him quite a few incidents where bullies like Stef were concerned.
"Brin," Kyn called as he pushed away from the window, threading his way toward the group when it began to stray toward the stairs. One wheat-capped head turned as someone else took up the thread of conversation, blue eyes searching the crowd blindly. Kyn raised a hand helpfully, and the eyes widened as recognition set in.
"Kyn!" the boy called before tendering hasty farewells to his friends. While the rest of the group continued with the drift of bodies emptying out of the hall, Brin pushed against the flow to stumble to a halt right before Kyn, beaming. "Kyn, you're all right! How long have you been up? Shouldn't you be with the healers? When did you cut your hair, and I don't know if it's the lighting or something else, but it seems to be a little darker..."
Kyn held up his hands with a sigh, halting the river of words. Yes, Bryn truly excelled in the field of conversation, but he had yet to learn how to turn the talent off, a lack which Kyn resolved to take up with him sometime soon. "Not now, Brin. Do you have a moment?"
The boy blinked at him as if he had asked a very stupid question, but was too polite to mention it. "For you? Of course. What did you need?"
Of course. As if he was completely at Kyn's disposal, and why would anyone think otherwise? Shaking off the momentary discomfort the thought prompted, Kyn motioned for the boy to follow him, finally joining the remainder of the trainees filing out of the building. In the peripheries of his vision, Kyn caught glimpses of the man that he had seen earlier, trailing far behind, but still within sight and maintaining the distance.
Ridiculous, Master would have sneered. Guards might be placed against you, or on you...but for you? It would negate the entire purpose of your existence. Your worth lies in the balance of how much you can accomplish against the impact your loss would engender. As soon as it becomes necessary to guard you, you have lost all worth to me.
Worthless to Master, but still of worth enough to the Heralds to warrant the extra effort for now. But afterwards? What would his worth be afterwards?
"This way," he prompted Brin when they stepped out of the building, the boy following with a puzzled sound, clumsily trying to slip on his jacket while keeping a hold of school ledgers, until Kyn took pity on him and helped carry the latter while the boy fastened the former. Kyn himself left his coat open, the garment forgotten when he had been preoccupied in his thoughts waiting for classes to end, but now allowing the chill air to dissipate some of the heat generated while indoors. The next rain to fall on the capitol would, more likely than not, land as snow.
"How are you feeling, Kyn?"
He looked to the side with one brow crooked in question before replying dryly, "I feel quite sane, thank you, Brin."
The boy flushed, ducking his head and asserting hastily, "No, I meant how are you feeling. I mean, the last time I saw you, you were still...still..." He gestured helplessly with his hands, apparently discomfited enough by the memory to lose his usually firm grasp of words.
"Ah, yes," Kyn remarked as he took a long look around before slowing to a stop. Copses huddled nearby, the skeletal branches of deciduous plants intertwined with their hardier cousins. A pale, equine shape ghosted across the open field, pausing just long enough to catch Kyn's eye before it continued in a wide circle toward the sound of a brook winding behind a thicket.
The guard had been passed on. Kyn didn't know whether he should feel impressed by the discretion of those working according to Alberich's purposes, or feel like bait staked out before a waiting trap. Would Alberich do such a thing? Hope to reel in some other agent that might divulge Master's location or identity? "Which reminds me, I have yet to thank you for your visit, Brin."
The boy's entire countenance lit up at the simple praise. "You actually heard me? I felt kind of silly at first, but..." Brin shrugged, still grinning.
Kyn nodded indulgently, habitually scanning the area once more as they talked. "It was most certainly enlightening, in many respects. But I am afraid I will have to impose upon you one more time."
"Oh, it wouldn't be an imposition at all! What did you need help with?"
"You are interested in maps, correct? So you know the best places to find them." Kyn waited for an affirming nod before finishing, a little gratified that he had read the boy correctly and Brin had not just been feigning the hobby for the purposes of smuggling information, "I need you to find me the floor plans to Lynxfinn Holdings."
Brin opened his mouth, paused, closed it, and repeated the process again before stammering, "W-why do you need those?"
Kyn arched one brow. "Why do you think, Brin?"
The boy swallowed visibly, actually shuffling back a step. "But...the last time you met the duke...he was the one who did that to you, wasn't it? Sianni said so. Why do you want to go to him?"
Did that to him. Stole his body away from his control. Assaulted his mind and nearly made him unwilling accomplice to Master's discovery. Taunted and played with him like a cat with prey...simply because he could. "It is because of what he did to me that I have to go," Kyn answered softly - and then consciously relaxed as he noticed Brin blanching. Taking a deep breath, he continued, "The duke has invited me to his estate in about ten days. Will you come with me?"
The boy's eyes widened. "The duke invited you to - how did you manage to get an invitation? And an invitation to what; I didn't hear about any fetes being hosted by the duke at that time. And..." He trailed off, shifting his weight nervously, visibly trying to cover an almost superstitious fear. "Uhm, if you really need me, Kyn, I'll go. But...what use would I be? I don't think there's anything I can really do if the duke's going to try something else..."
"Your Farsight," Kyn informed, tapping a fingertip against Brin's forehead, making the boy start. "And another set of eyes and ears. Beyond the maps, I might need the aid of your Gift, and someone else to be where I cannot."
The tow-headed boy perked up a bit at that. "Really?"
Kyn suppressed a twinge of impatience at the constant need for reassurance, and stated as levelly as he could, "Really."
"All right, well, I would have to arrange my assignments and any tests with my instructors for the days I will be gone...how long will we be there?"
"A couple of - " Kyn broke off abruptly, frowning as a chill ghosted across the back of his shoulders. "A couple of days," he finished as casually as he could, even as he shivered at the prickle of cold sweat that had suddenly sprung up in the sensation's wake.
"Is everything all right?"
Kyn nodded firmly before the concern evident in Bryn's wide eyes, and motioned the boy away. "You better start getting your affairs in order. We will have to leave in a few days if we want to get there in time. It wouldn't do to arrive late on the duke's doorstep." He couldn't quite keep the irony from his voice, and Brin looked slightly puzzled and not a little discomfited but nodded anyway. Hugging his texts close, he said a quick goodbye and hurried back across the field. Kyn absently rubbed his arms as he watched the boy leave, trying to rid himself of the pins-and-needles prickling across his skin.
A couple of - what? The sudden foreboding that had throttled the word 'days' in his throat had hinted at something much, much longer. Weeks? Months? Years?
He only hoped that it would not become a permanent residence, with their bones rotting in some hidden corner of the land.
Kyn woke from darkness to white.
The shadows had returned to haunt his nights, but lacked the definition to produce the pupil-less eyes and black teeth they had revealed before, remaining unusually indistinct for a dream that he claimed. Instead, they had contented themselves with merely their lisping whispers and disturbingly warm brushes; lighter than spider's silk, softer than a baby's breath, as illusory as the last wisp of fog before a morning's light.
There were no telltales this time to indicate whether it was mere dream or true vision though its vagueness hinted at the former, but Kyn took it as a warning irregardless. Not that it was particularly useful either way, beyond rousing him at odd hours of the night, fighting the clinging efforts of the blankets. When the sliver of light sneaking through a crack in the drapes finally slithered over his covers, he gave up on finding anything more - whether it be clues or rest - and emerged from beneath them, giving a single, convulsive shudder at the abrupt change in temperature. Picking up a light jacket that had slipped to the floor in the evening, he walked toward the windows, pulling the curtains aside with a wide sweep of his arm.
Light. A world of dazzling, crystalline whiteness overwhelmed his vision for a moment, and he turned sharply away, squinting sidelong from behind a belatedly raised hand. It had snowed in the evening, creeping in as stealthily as a fox, dusting everything with a thin layer of sugary powder.
:Most of it will melt by noon.:
He unlatched the window and pushed the pane open, leaning out. He could just spy Sianni approaching from far left of the building, her stride light and playful, occasionally kicking a hoof out to send a cloud of displaced snowflakes skirling upwards. :By late afternoon, the snowmelt will probably freeze again into ice. You'll want to watch your step.:
:I do not plan on spending much time outside today,: Kyn assured, remembering the jacket when the muscles in his jaw began to tremble from the chill air. :Where is Alberich?: he asked as he searched out clean clothes to replace his sleepwear, quickly slipping on the jacket afterwards.
:Closeted with the Queen's Own, I believe.: Sianni snorted into the last snowburst she had created and settled into a more sedate walk, raising her head to peer up at him as she approached his window. :Are you planning on skipping classes again?:
He snorted in turn. :Considering the number I have already missed, a handful or two more will likely have little impact. If they taught anything pertinent to the current situation, I would go. Otherwise, what time I have left can be put to more productive uses.:
:And learning isn't productive?:
You will learn it because I say so, boy. Do you think my only need for you is your physical prowess? I would do better hiring myself a common mercenary! I owe you no explanation beyond my purposes for you requiring such knowledge, Kyn, and you will prove to my satisfaction that you have absorbed it completely...
Kyn shook himself and pulled away from the window. :Stop pretending that I am normal,: he sent darkly, pouring a measure of water into the washbasin and performing a brief ablution, just enough to make himself presentable in public. Drying off his face and hands, he approached the door.
:No, you are not normal. But neither is anyone else. Everyone is unique, with special circumstances accompanying their upbringing. 'Normal' is merely a convenient expression for a common experience that may or may not exist.:
A man clothed in a nondescript shirt and leggings lounged casually in the suite abutting his room, but unlike his first night of 'captivity', this guard merely nodded to him as he passed instead of trying to restrain him. Presumably, Sianni's presence would be considered deterrent enough if the man was not to shadow him. Waiting until he had exited the building and could give her a suspicious glare personally, Kyn replied, :Do you know Herald Pellios?:
She blinked at him, and there might have been a touch more wide-eyed innocence in her expression than might have been warranted. :By reputation. Why? Isn't he your instructor in philosophy and ethics?:
Kyn more than suspected that Alberich had given the man special instructions where he was concerned. Pellios already had a habit of waxing pedantic on his topics; sometimes, it seemed he focused his lectures a little more pointedly on Kyn, with the unfortunate side effect of making him even more longwinded than before as he tried to drive some obscure point home. The moral dilemmas and situations the instructor posed might have been interesting - if Kyn were at all concerned with anything but the end results. He couldn't ignore the fact that his indifferent participation in the class might have had something to do with Pellios' stubborn attempt to shape him into an upstanding citizen, goading the man in indirect challenge. But there was little he could stand to gain in appeasing the man, and his energy was better saved for other endeavors. :Never mind,: he concluded with a sigh as he tucked his hands deep into his jacket pockets. There would be no getting a straight answer from Sianni in her current mood, even if she was guilty of dissembling in the first place. :Why are you always so disgustingly cheerful?:
:It's not like you can claim you're not a morning person,: she retorted loftily, her muzzle straying dangerously toward the nape of his neck though he had yet to feel anything more substantial than the warm puff of her breath. :Besides, someone has to balance all those black moods of yours. And why did you go and have Nadia cut your hair? Now I have nothing to nibble on...:
:That was the point,: he returned smugly, turning on the path that would eventually end at the library. A pair of trainees approached and passed to their left, the two boys each scrubbing sleepy eyes and stifling yawns in turn as they absently nodded to Kyn and Sianni. As he nodded back in response, Kyn couldn't help thinking how absurd such a sight such as they would be anywhere else in the land; a horse walking tamely along a snow-covered walkpath alongside him like a faithful hound.
:I'm more useful, though, and considerably more handsome,: Sianni boasted with a flutter of her lashes and a strut in her step.
:Stop interrupting my thoughts,: he tried to grump, resisting the urge to tug the mane on the crest of her neck when she arched it absurdly. :I can't string two of them together without you - :
:Jumping in and scattering them?:
This time he gave in to temptation and gave the nearest handful of white strands a sharp jerk, eliciting an amused whuffle from the Companion. The first butt of her head caught him by surprise, and he staggered to the side a few steps before he caught himself. The second he managed to dodge, but when he tried to skip around her, she quite resolutely stepped in front of him, blocking his way. "What are you doing?" he asked in annoyance, lapsing momentarily into verbal speech.
:You've forgotten the first thing you should do after stepping out of your room.:
"And that is?"
:Breakfast.:
He stared at her, and she stared steadily back until he reluctantly turned toward the branch in the path that she had been herding him toward.
:Sianni? Will you tell me something? Truthfully?:
:Haven't I always been truthful to you?:
:This is important to me. Just say yes or no.:
:All right. Yes.:
He glanced aside at her, habit searching for human expressions to indicate whether she was taking it as seriously as he wished. It was still something of a jar sometimes, to converse with her as if she were another person and suddenly find that she was housed in the body of a horse instead. :Whose side would you take, if it came down to me or the heralds?:
:What do you mean by that?:
He was somewhat gratified to hear - feel - the beginnings of worry snaking into her 'speech. It meant that she was paying attention. :You know what I mean. If I did something opposed to what the heralds wish...that might even place one of them in danger...:
:You would never do such a thing. And you would never allow it to happen.:
He stopped and turned with a scoffing laugh. "I know you're not naive, Sianni! I have hardly been 'converted' to the heralds' cause, and in eleven days' time, I may be placed in a position that is going to make me choose. And there is no doubt in my mind as to which side I would choose."
Sianni retreated a step - actually retreated - and turned to focus one eye on him. :Then what are you asking me?:
He took a deep breath, felt something welling up from the pit of his stomach, an unease that warned against the consequences of what he was about to say. Something tickled at the edges of his thoughts, a half-formed idea that he might have turned away from if foreboding had not lent it substance. Choose. There's no time left; you must choose. And so he steeled himself for the results, and even managed to meet Sianni's expectant gaze. "I am asking if I can trust you."
There was silence. Silence deep, and dreadful, and with a distant start, he realized that even her presence in his mind - a constant hum that he no longer even noticed now until its absence - was muted. :You are asking me...if you can trust me.:
Frozen by the inevitability of the scene's unfolding, wordlessly cursing his inconstant Gift and the choices - or rather, choice - he was given by it, Kyn could only stare silently back at her.
Sianni abruptly snorted and flung her head up in anger, dancing back with an uncharacteristic clatter of overturned gravel, muddying the pristine snow beneath her hooves. :After all this time, Kyn, after I have placed my trust in you without question...and you need ask if you can trust me?!:
It hurt. He flinched, almost more in surprise than anything else; he had never felt anything like it. A bitter mixture of sorrow, loneliness and regret, all arising from some unknown and heretofore unsuspected corner of himself, pricked to life by Sianni's furious words.
:Perhaps I had been mistaken,: Sianni continued coldly, pawing one last time at the abused walkpath before wheeling about, breaking into a canter. Away from him. :If you find a need to ask such a question, Kyn, I wonder if you would ever find it within yourself to place trust in anyone, no matter what they said.:
It's not like that, he silently pleaded, but the words never left the confines of his own mind. In fact, it felt disturbingly empty within his skull. Less than a handful of months ago, he had railed at the constant presence of another sentience forced upon him. Now he felt...hollow. Oh, if he tried, he could still find the bare root of the Companion bond, quiescent and nearly undetectable. But what would be the point if the owner of the other half had not only closed the door but locked it?
Is it worth it? What had he been thinking, when he had let those words slip away from him? No, no, he hadn't been thinking, which had been part of the problem...but upon setting foot on this path, he could not go back. No, he had to believe this was the best way...it had to be...because if he could back out now, if he could be just another 'normal' person, like Brin, or Nadia, or half the collegium...it would have been all for nothing. His entire life up till now would have been for nothing. And then what excuse would justify the person he was?
If offered the choice, would you have chosen your life with Master?
He sucked in a sharp breath, squeezing his eyes shut and delving for the garden and the pond. Now that he had actually done it, he needed to know if it would turn out all right. Brin and Nadia, he could rationalize away, but Sianni? Sianni who had attached herself to him for no more reason than that he needed it? Foolish, brave, overprotective, cheerful Sianni who tried to stand between him and everything...no, he would not take her with him. The others were either sensible enough to watch out for themselves, or at least massed several times less than she did - enough for him to manhandle if necessary. Master may have claimed him for his purposes, but nobody else needed to be drawn in.
Foresight had ever been a fickle thing. From what the heralds said, it was never really controllable, or even predictable. But with enough purpose and focus, he had always been able to tease out little hints and flashes, if not full-blown visions...as he did now. He managed to catch the faintest whiff of what he had glimpsed before - a taste that had subtly changed. Heart jumping, he lunged after the fleeting sensation, intent on dragging it to the fore, bringing it into focus through sheer determination -
There was the curious sensation of something's - someone's - attention turning toward him. And then a snapping, as if something had been stretched too far and was rebounding into place like a bowstring, flinging him and what he sought in opposite directions. Dizziness and nausea assaulted him with a suddenness that drove him to his knees almost before he had registered their unwelcome presence, huddling over with a surprised whimper until his forehead was grazing the disturbed snow gathered about his folded legs.
What happened? the ragged thought floated through his head, breaths coming in fitful gasps as he grasped weakly for control over his own body. Breathing deeply through clenched teeth, he tried to recall what had brought him to such a state - and felt a cramp tighten his middle when another bout of disorientation clouted him over the head. Carefully, oh so carefully, he retreated from any subjects that had anything to do with his ForeSight or what it might have revealed, and was gradually able to straighten up, releasing his pent up breath in a long, low hiss.
What in havens had just happened? Either something had happened to his ability to wield his Gift - and while he had been warned about the dangers of overreaching one's limits, he imagined straining one's gift of Foresight was highly unlikely, considering the lack of conscious control one had over it - or something else was getting in the way. Someone else. Was it the drugs the duke had given him? Was it Master himself, seeking to claim every advantage he could over his former protégé? Did Master have enough control over him to do something like that to him? Would Master have bothered? Perhaps it would explain why he had dreamt of nothing but half-formed remembrances.
Drawing a shaking hand over his face, he turned off the path, heading for the Healer's Hall, shivering from more than just the snow's chill.
Kyn lifted one brow as he was met by Nadia's scowl, a wild frizzle of hair left unbound to sloppily halo face and shoulders, and a hasty clutch at the opening of a sleep robe thrown on over a nightshift.
"Don't you ever sleep?!" Nadia snapped before he had done more than open his mouth, and slammed the door closed in his face.
Kyn released his indrawn breath and folded his arms across his chest. :Is it my fault that you don't keep the same hours as everyone else in Valdemar? It has been at least a candlemark since the sun's full rising.:
:It's not me at fault, but you. If you must bother me at such a godforsaken hour after I've had an evening shift, you can bloody well wait in the hall until I'm presentable!:
Sighing, he retreated to the opposite wall and leaned against it, eyes flicking toward one of a series of small, scallop-shaped windows dotting the upper band of the corridor near the ceiling. As he waited, he couldn't help trying to prod some sort of foreseeing out into the open - even as he reflexively flinched away whenever anything more than a foggy warning began to coalesce. Worse than a sore tooth...
"All right, what's the emergency?" Nadia asked waspishly around a yawn after dragging her door open once more.
"I need you to watch me while I try something," Kyn said, resisting the urge to make some remark concerning her definition of 'presentable' and pushing away from the wall.
The healer stared levelly at him, her expression growing darker with each moment that ticked by. "You want me to what?"
He shook his head as he stopped an arm's length from her. "I know how it sounds. But something's wrong; I can't access my Sight. I need to know whether the reason is internal or external."
She relented somewhat, but her demeanor was still skeptical as she finally stepped aside, tacitly inviting him in. "What do you mean you can't access your ForeSight?"
"I don't have conscious control over it," he explained as he moved past her, glancing about her room. In it for the first time, he couldn't help noting its contents with more than casual interest. It seemed that it was but a temporary domicile for when she had to work close to the hall - most of the items were merely supplies or other tools of the healer's trade, along with a few bare essentials for living, such as the bed, little more than a pallet thrown over a wood frame. Sense, of a sort, if she had a lifebonded. Most likely, they claimed a home of their own somewhere else, away from their respective work. The only item that was ostentatiously out of place was a spear leaning against one corner - slender, hook-tipped, inlaid with shell and with a cord wound about its shaft, the excess length gathered into a tidy knot near its middle. "But," he continued distractedly, turning back to face her as she closed the door, "usually, I'm able to trigger something from it. A murmur. A whisper. Sometimes even a full foreseeing."
"Except?" Nadia prompted with an upraised brow, impatiently wiping back a curl of dark hair, picking up a hair tie from the bedstand and braiding her mane with quick, economical movements.
"Except that I tried that this morning...and was stopped." He shook his head at her exasperated expression, and added, "I don't know how to explain it. The best I can do is try to show you - "
Sighing, the woman dragged the sole chair in the room over and indicated that he should sit on the bed. "Kyn, do you know that you are rapidly reaching the record number of visits a trainee has ever made to the healers? In their entire academic career, much less in the space of less than three months. After all this is over, I want you to take a nice, long vacation far away from here...and let me sleep in for once."
He didn't bother wasting breath on a retort as he did what she bade, sitting down on the bed's edge. Nadia positioned the chair before him and sat down herself, smoothing out some residual wrinkles from the uniform she had hastily donned before reaching out for his hands. "All right," she said. "Do whatever it is you do to get that Gift of yours working, and I'll see what I can find."
Nodding, he took a deep breath to steady himself, tentatively sought out the image of the pond's glassine surface and dimension-less depths, reminded himself of the warm weight of her grasp around his, and thought of -
Se'Fannouel, Mrr'Thaine, Master, Lynxfinn, Brin, shadows, Sianni, griffins, Sianni, foxes, Sianni, Sianni-
There should be something there. Things had been hovering near for so long now that he almost couldn't separate the sensation of anticipation from his days anymore, just the constant strain of waiting for something to happen, until the smallest germ of an image planted would flower into -
- Silence. And then nothing but a too soft, too gentle, :I'm sorry,: and Sianni turned away from him -
- The first shadow was born with a lipless screech, scrabbling mindlessly at the edges of -
- "...is truly remarkable," a platinum-blond haired man said, an avid curiosity in glass-green eyes that turned from him to the picture of -
- Mennifei, one cheek smudged with blood and hair a tangled mass spilling over one shoulder, clutched the trembling child close. "When the royal line failed, dukes were once made kings..." -
- "Once, dukes became kings," Se'Fannouel informed, eyes cold and touch even icier as the duke tilted his chin back and -
"Stop!"
Kyn shuddered violently, blearily refocusing on the healer. "What - ?"
"Calm down," Nadia said, gaze locking on his and refusing to release it as she tried to disentangle her hands from his grip, her features pale and pinched. "Relax. Let me go."
"Let - ?" Belatedly, he pried his fingers open, feeling tendons creak from the residual tension. "What happened?"
"You tell me," she said dryly, massaging her hands. "What did you See?"
"I..." He rubbed his eyes, shoulders hunching. "I...don't know. There were so many things...but never like this. Sometimes I would only get snatches, but this time...it was as if they were being perpetually interrupted."
"Was this how it was before?"
"No." He glanced up, peering through a fringe of dark-dyed hair without raising his head. "No, the first time something went wrong, I was literally knocked off my feet. Not pain, exactly, just...disorientation. Distracting me. Keeping me from pursuing what I wanted to know."
Nadia's gaze dropped to the floor as the pursed her lips pensively, brow furrowing in thought while one hand continued to worry unconsciously at the other.
"What did you feel?" he asked in turn.
She shook her head once, reaching out toward him again, fingertips cool on his temple. "I'm...not sure," she said, tone abstracted in concentration. "There's something different about you though, something different from yesterday, though I hadn't performed a thorough examination by any stretch of the imagination. Have you ingested anything that might have resulted in such changes?"
"Nothing."
Nadia dropped her hand and stared at him pensively. "I don't know what to tell you, Kyn. I've never seen or heard anything like your case before. If the circumstances were any less dire, I would have welcomed the challenge..." She took his hand again, but this time turned it around to push up his sleeve, tracing one of the long, thin scars decorating his inner wrist. "Is this a part of your master's dark arts?" she asked softly, a hint of morbid curiosity in her voice. "What do you know of what he can do to you? What sort of hold does he have over you?"
Kyn jerked his hand back, retreating from her touch and her questions. "I know nothing of these 'dark arts' you speak of." A lie. A half-lie at best. You know what she means. You know just enough not to interrupt when Master does not reply to the first call, you know just enough to stand quiet and still and be very, very careful that you do not disturb the lines or his concentration and you watch, you wait and you watch...
The healer's face immediately smoothed into a cold mask. "You're the one who asked me for help," she reminded ungently.
He bit his tongue, stilling his first, instinctive response. Reminding himself that he had indeed requested her help, and that he still desperately needed it especially after the latest development, he dipped his head in acceptance and said quietly, "You're right. I'm sorry, Nadia."
A pause followed, in which he noted her uneasy shift in the edges of his vision, and which she belatedly broke with a somewhat flustered sound as if she had started with a completely different response in mind before he had apologized. "I suppose you would have a few distractions these days."
"You're being unusually forgiving," he noted wryly. Would you be so forgiving if you knew what I have said to Sianni today? Does your forgiveness matter? Master, why am I here...it had been so much easier with just you to please...
"Don't get used to it," Nadia snapped, but the remonstration seemed half-hearted at best. Cupping his face with her hands, she ordered in a brisk, clinical voice even as he felt the questing nudge of her gift, and automatically dismantled his shields before its touch, "I want you to contact me immediately if there are any changes, either in your health, or what you can perceive with your Gifts. After a closer look now, perhaps you're not as well off as I had thought you were after that cursory examination yesterday. I really don't know what it is the duke gave you, but it's really no substitute for what your body normally craves, and the deterioration is obvious."
"How reassuring."
She frowned, giving his head a little shake. "Listen well, because this is exactly what you asked me to do; try and give you a clear head so that you can continue working. You'll want to remain close to Sianni. The Companion Bond might be able to help. If nothing else, her presence can act as support and buffer. Even if an anchor doesn't help, it can't hurt either."
Except that I just cut that anchor away this morning. "Anything else?"
There was a last, lulling warmth that spread from her touch, and then Nadia pulled away, shaking her head. "No. Just let me know exactly when and where you want me for this field trip of yours. And what will be my cover?"
He considered that for the briefest of moments before he stated, "You won't need one. You'll be there in the exact capacity that you claim now - as my healer."
One slender brow arched sharply at that. "Your healer? And I thought the whole point was to conceal that fact?"
"No, the point was to have you near at hand." He stood, tugging his tunic straight, feeling unaccountably restless and distantly annoyed that he couldn't tell if it was a repressed Sight or an addiction that was the cause. "He knows what he gave me. He knows I should be ailing. It would only make sense if I brought you with me."
There was a soft, dull thunk as the chair's legs shifted back with Nadia's movement and settled down to the greystone floor as she stood. "What? 'Near at hand'? How is that going to get me to you if you decide to go into a fit from withdrawal, and Se'Fannouel doesn't want me near?"
"If he doesn't want you near, nothing you or I can contrive would allow for it," he noted flatly. "But even if I am unavailable, I'm sure your services will still be in high demand."
Nadia folded her arms, narrowing her eyes. "I am beginning to think I should be bringing half a contingent of healers with me. What exactly is going on over there? How could all of this have been sleeping right under everyone's nose and nobody notice until now?"
The question isn't how they had managed to hide it, but why they bothered to at all. If the duke knew of the existence of Jendail and the nephew...why had he not taken steps to eliminate that threat before? "I wouldn't presume to know. Thank you again, Nadia. I will, no doubt, be seeing you again soon." With a crooked, bitter smile offered in parting, he let himself out of her room.
Afraid it's not as terribly exciting, but I can't be having things happening all the time. =) Hope you haven't been bored out of continuing to wait for the next part, though, cuz I promise things're gonna happen there. (SPOILER ALERT! Oh, btw, as requested by M'cha, there is a lineage chart of a sort up now at http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~jackteng/WB-FamilyTree.pdf. I have put up a spoiler alert, just in case some people really like being kept in the dark. =P I dunno, really, how much seeing the chart will really spoil, but it's nice to stay on the safe side.)
Firefox - Wheee! Kyn's never had a fan club before...*I've* never had a fan club before... Thank you so very much for the praise - and by the way, can I get one of those little stuffed Companion dolls too? looks hopefully at you with big starry eyes
killaria - bows Your wish is my command. ^_^
M'cha - Well, I've partially filled the order. =P I figured that family, at least, was the biggest mess. The only other OC's I've got floating around should be fairly memorable (I hope) right now, but if you would like a listing of everyone else, don't hesitate to ask. And I'm sorry, but I really, really tried to do the prompt updating thing. =( RL got in the way again, however, not to mention unexpected writer's block. Hopefully they won't gang up on me again.
sky - ROFLOL!! I couldn't get that outta my head for the next 3 days after reading what you wrote... KFC... Wow, two whole members already. I should start sketching out designs for the membership card, now. =P
ola - Fixed! ^_^ And thanks for pointing that out. Heehee...if you can hold on to your seat for three to five more chapters (a rough estimate, since I haven't exactly outlined all of them, but we're *very* close to that point, I can assure you), you'll find the answers to *all* the questions you just asked, promise.
SCWLC - Phew, you had me worried there for a moment. Afraid I'm a little jumpy of any other huge mistakes I might've made with either characterization or plot now, thinking about the need to fine-tune Alberich (although, I flew home for a weekend and was gratified to discover after a *really* quick scan of Thief, that I didn't misremember the un-Herald's tendency for odd speech patterns, even if I didn't quite capture it perfectly; will continue to work on that). Anyway, if you're going to all the effort of reading and then reviewing my writing, I figured I could expend a little more effort to reply back. =P All your comments are not for...well, naught. (Forgive me for that rather lame bit of witticism...it's late.) snickers Thank you, and forgive me if I say that I hope to keep you guessing for a little while longer. ^_~
Lady Night Wind - And here be another part, with another one to follow soon after, hopefully. =) (Though, lately I seem to be jinxing myself with that 'soon' part...perhaps I should say that the next part will come in a loooooong long time instead... o.O*)
jessica - LOL My apologies, my roommate must finally be rubbing off on me. ^_^ (That would be the odd rurix2, btw; I learned evil directly from her, and let me tell you, it was no easy apprenticeship. She's a hard taskmistress.)
WingsofJade - patpats Oh, I sympathize completely. I barely survived two weeks on limited dial-up, much less being internet-less altogether. =*( Heheheh...but it's a cycle that I, for one, don't want stopped anytime soon. =P And I finally have the moving thing settled, at least for the rest of this year, thank you. =)
megan - Perfectly understandable. I fully appreciate your returning to continue reading and review, blush especially with such high praise. Thank you thank you.
rhianikki - Thank you very much. ^_^ Heh, actually, I *was* very worried about the pacing of the plot, but if you feel that it's been all right thus far...also, it's kinda helped that the conspiracy's grown with the writing, so I actually ended up with a lot more to reveal than I had at the beginning. ;) Hopefully I'll continue satisfying your expectations.
Lola - Thank you!