Part 47 (1/2)
”Those Flights would be yours?”
”Yes.”
”You're sure they're not going to descend to challenges?”
”I am certain Diarmat will not. Dragons very, very seldom fight each other in their mortal guises.” And the Emperor wasn't likely to grant permission-or absolution-for this particular fight. ”Have you eaten?”
Kaylin stared at him.
”Given the tenor of the conversation, it is unlikely to end within the next half hour. I would dismiss you, but if it does end and you are absent, Lord Diarmat is unlikely to be forgiving.”
She glanced at the guards. ”No,” she told him. ”I haven't eaten much.”
”I will arrange for food; join me in my rooms.”
”Bellusdeo,” Sanabalis said, ”does present a bit of a difficult situation for the Dragon Court. In particular for Lord Diarmat, the staunchest traditionalist.”
”He trains humans as guards; he doesn't eat them. How traditional can he be?”
Sanabalis coughed politely. ”He holds the Emperor in the highest respect or he would not now be a member of the Court. It is his fear-and it is not entirely unjustified-that Bellusdeo will not likewise hold the Emperor in the same esteem.”
Kaylin begrudged conceding any points to Diarmat, and was silent.
Sanabalis watched her eat for a few moments, his fingers still tracing the lines of his beard.
”Was it the Arkon's idea to delay her introduction to the Emperor?”
”Yes. The Emperor is anxious to meet with her, but understands the Arkon's concerns.”
”Are they a lot different from your concerns about his meeting me?”
”As you surmise, they are not-although the results of a disastrous introduction are unlikely to result in her death.” He steepled fingers under his chin. ”She has spoken very little about her past, and her past may be of consequence to her present and her future.”
Kaylin, who had a Hawk's intuition in a pinch, suddenly didn't like where this was going.
”She appears to be, in some ways, very similar to you, Private Neya. She is both irreverent, short-tempered, and quick to speak her mind. She is clearly accustomed to privation, but just as clearly accustomed to the accoutrements of power; she expects her opinions to be respected.”
Kaylin raised a hand; Sanabalis raised a brow. ”I'm not accustomed to power,” she pointed out.
He glanced pointedly at her arms. ”You can save a life that is beyond any other aid at the touch of a hand and your whim.”
”But-”
”Power takes and wears many guises; not all of them are obvious or public.” He rose and headed toward the window; the streets were silver-gray under night-lights, as were the Halls of Law beyond the gla.s.s. ”Records,” he said in quiet Barrani.
The windows stopped showing the outside world as they gradually lost their transparency. ”Bellusdeo.”
She appeared across the central panes of the threefold window, larger than life. To her left, she also appeared-but in Dragon form, an almost brilliant, glowing gold. To her right, in shadow, the obsidian form of the Outcaste emerged. Kaylin sucked in one sharp breath and held it.
”You played a part in her survival. The Arkon witnessed. What he witnessed, he did not choose to convey to our Records, and that is unusual.”
”The Emperor didn't demand it?”
”No. Were it necessary-and in the future it might be-he would have. Understand, Kaylin, that power necessitates the choosing of one's battles, no matter what rank one has attained.” The images at his back, he turned. ”Will she join the Court?”
”She's a Dragon; does she have any choice?”
”According to the Arkon, she must be given that choice. He feels confident that in the end, she will make it.”
”Then why are you asking me?”
”Because she is young, Private.”
”She's older than Tiamaris, at the very least. If what she said is true, she was born when the Arkon was young-”
”She was. But she has lived a half-life; if events of yesterday are as we understand them, she can only now be considered adult. She had a name, according to the Arkon; it was not a name meant for Dragons, but in some fas.h.i.+on it sustained her. Do you understand how, or why?”
”No.”
”No more does the Arkon or the Court. It is...troubling.”
”You're afraid of what it's done to her.”
He raised a brow. ”And yet you were considered a poor student. Yes, Private. We are.”
”Sanabalis-what do you expect me to do about it?”
”I? I expect nothing. But what you did do allowed her to return to us-as an adult, as a Dragon. She is attached to you, possibly because of your intervention. She is-in the end-not unlike you. You can be ordered to certain action; so, in spite of her reservations, can she. But you cannot be ordered to any action; you cannot be controlled by any whim. You privilege your own opinions over the opinions of those who are older and, in theory, more experienced, sometimes to your benefit and sometimes to your detriment.
”But you surprise us, Private. If we are not always in agreement about your methods or your presentation, we at least find your goals acceptable. We are not entirely certain what Bellusdeo's goals are, and in Bellusdeo's case-”
”She's significant enough that it's important?”
His eyes narrowed, but his inner membranes lowered. He turned back to the windows that had become, for a moment, mirrors. ”She is a Dragon,” he finally said.
Kaylin, used to this, was not offended. She stopped to think about this, because had Diarmat said it, she would have been. ”I think,” she told him, pus.h.i.+ng the momentary discomfort away, ”you can trust her.”
”And in spite of our many reservations about you, Private, your opinion in this case is of some value.” His hands slid together behind his back. ”I do not believe she intends to leave your abode in the near future.”
Grimacing, Kaylin said, ”And if you can't stop her from screaming at Diarmat, you probably can't make her move.”
”The Emperor is willing to grant you a living allowance that would give you both more room and possibly more privacy. I am not entirely certain that the privacy is necessary.”
”That's because you're not living with someone under your armpit!”
The images vanished; the night sky and the Halls of Law returned.