Part 9 (2/2)

”Listen to him,” Tamara said.

”He sounds like he's making a speech,” Ilana added. ”'Keeping well.' Why yes, my good sir, we have been keeping well. We spend so much time knitting and attending b.a.l.l.s that we hardly have time for tea and scones.”

The three women*Grandmaster Naraka included*all laughed. Shai continued sneaking around, apparently on a quest to see and touch as much of Enosh as she could.

Ilana's good-natured mocking did not put a dent in his smile. If anything, Alin felt relieved. After her promised husband's death, Alin had been afraid that her sense of humor would never recover.

”All right, all right,” Alin said. ”I'm just glad to see you.” He spread his arms and walked over for a hug.

He clanked as he walked, which gave his sisters the opportunity to poke fun at his armor, but he didn't mind. Much.

Behind Grandmaster Naraka's back, and safely out of Tamara's sight, Shai pulled a clock down from a shelf on the wall. She sat down with the clock in her lap and immediately began taking it apart.

After they spent a few minutes catching up, their conversation naturally turned to Alin's newfound powers.

”Are you the one teaching Alin to Travel, Grandmaster?” Ilana asked.

”I am,” Grandmaster Naraka replied.

”How's it going?”

Naraka shrugged. ”I have had worse students, and I have never taught an Elysian Traveler before. But I suspect we would make more progress if he did not think so much of his own abilities. He seems to think he is invincible.”

Alin's face heated, and he raised one gauntleted hand to his mouth as if to cover a cough. Maybe Ilana wouldn't notice his blush.

Tamara chuckled quietly at the Grandmaster's words, but Ilana nodded. ”You praise him too much,” she said. ”It goes straight to his head. If you don't p.r.i.c.k his ego every once in a while, it'll just keep swelling.”

Even Shai piped up. ”Too proud,” she submitted, from the floor next to her pile of clockwork.

It was hard to tell, behind Grandmaster Naraka's dark red gla.s.ses and her mask of wrinkles, but Alin thought she was trying to restrain a laugh. ”I will defer to your wisdom in this matter,” she said, ”but I'm afraid it may be too late. Our next meeting together will not be until after the city-wide celebration in his honor.”

Ilana sighed and shook her head sadly. ”Oh, no. There'll be no talking to him after that.”

At that point, Alin thought it was his place to speak up. ”The city is celebrating, Ilana, because I defeated one of the Overlords. Malachi lies dead because of me.”

Ilana's eyes went flat and hard, and a shadow entered her voice. ”Good. His men killed Aden.”

Tamara put a comforting arm around Ilana's shoulders, and Grandmaster Naraka glared at Alin as though he had done something wrong.

”You snuck off against our advice,” the Grandmaster said. ”You risked your life, the life of one of our most promising young Travelers, and the fate of this city on your own whim. The fact that one good thing came of your decision does not justify your actions.”

Alin started to speak, to defend himself one more time, but Grandmaster Naraka cut him off.

”That reminds me,” she said. ”We have a strategy meeting after you address the city. We need to discuss our actions against Damasca.”

Alin glanced at his sisters. ”What about them?”

”Don't worry about us,” Tamara said. ”The Grandmaster has given us wonderful rooms. We'll be here when you get back.”

”There's a clock in my room,” Shai called.

Ilana smiled, though there was still a touch of darkness in it. ”I'm sure it won't last long, Shai.”

Tamara noticed the pile of gears and springs surrounding her sister for the first time, and immediately launched into a combination of apologizing to Grandmaster Naraka and scolding Shai. Her face remained pleasant through the whole tirade.

Alin's sisters left the room, and the Grandmaster moved to follow them.

”I want Simon at this meeting, Grandmaster,” Alin said.

Naraka stopped. She half-turned to face him, her gla.s.ses gleaming red in the afternoon sunlight. ”That is not wise.”

In his mind, Alin reached out to the golden power of Elysia, like a warm sun just over his shoulder. Somewhere, an acorn in a golden cage began to shake. ”I wasn't asking your permission. It's already done.”

Grandmaster Naraka's answering bow was nothing more than a fractional nod of her head. ”As you wish, Eliadel. Now come. The people await you.”

Alin walked out with her. The doors slammed shut behind them, the sound echoing loud and hollow in the empty halls.

CHAPTER SIX:.

THE GRANDMASTERS' COUNCIL.

Simon's Gate opened onto the last place he'd left: his suite of rooms in Enosh. After his final showdown with the Damascan Travelers, he had Traveled to Valinhall for healing, but he'd been forced to take three of Alin's huge Elysian bears with him. Valinhall, he had learned, was not equipped to support bears. They had torn up three couches and one of the strange oxen from the garden before the Nye had enough.

Simon had walked the bears from the canyon at the edge of the Badari Desert all the way back to Enosh, and had then managed to sneak them into Alin's room. That had taken most of a day, but the look on Alin's face when he saw the bears was worth every second. Simon had spied on Alin's reaction from outside his window, but after seeing the bears, it had taken Alin all of ten seconds to summon a tracker that located Simon.

After that, Alin had insisted that Simon be given rooms in the Grandmasters' palace and the little buzzing-acorn alarm that would alert him in an emergency.

Alin hadn't put it that way, of course. He said something like, *Now I can call you whenever I need you.' But since it would allow Simon to help in case of an attack, he let Alin's poor phrasing slide.

The rooms here were no better appointed than his bedroom in Valinhall, though he had much more floor s.p.a.ce here. For some reason, his bed and washstand were fifteen paces apart. Did they expect him to host a dance in the middle of the room?

Rich people, he thought, with a mental shake of his head. Then he stepped out of the room and almost ran straight into Leah.

She looked as startled as he was, her blue eyes wide. ”Simon!” she said. ”I thought you wereagone.” For some reason she jerked her wrist behind her back, as though she meant to hide the crystal bracelet she always wore. After a second she relaxed.

”I was in my Territory,” Simon said carefully. He found himself watching his words with Leah after rescuing her from Malachi's tower.

”Oh, really?” Leah didn't sound intrigued, or frightened, or in awe, any of which Simon would have expected from her when talking about his Traveler powers. She sounded like she was thinking about something else, like his answer had been expected.

”Simon,” Leah said, ”I've been meaning to talk to you about something. Do you have a minute?” Without waiting for his response, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the side of the hall, where they would be out of the irregular hallway traffic.

He considered telling her that Alin had called him on some urgent business, but he found that the idea of making Alin wait didn't bother him at all. Besides, if you discounted his recent suspicions about her, there was something exciting about having a pretty girl*having Leah*pull him aside for a private conversation.

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