Honor and Blood

Je

"We will," Je

"Whenever you feel ready," she shrugged. "I know you may want to consider what I gave to you, and I'm sure that Tarrin will want to hear some of it. There is no timetable, child. It is when you feel it is right to do it."

"Alright," Je

"When I call you, you will know," she said with a mysterious smile, reaching behind her and pulling the cowl of her black-black cloak over her head. "Remember to practice. You can never practice enough."

"We will," Tarrin promised.

Spyder nodded, and then the inky blackness of her cloak seemed to flow over her face, and then she was simply gone.

How did she do that? There was no sense of magic about it, no weaving, no shifting of the Weave. It was like she was doing it without magic… but such a thing absolutely had to be magic. How could she enact a magic he couldn't see or feel or sense?

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Je

"They're all probably waiting for us," he replied. "Je

Je

"I was hoping that we could cheat a bit, but it looks like the Goddess isn't going to let me do it this time," he grunted.

"We still love her, though," Je

"Oh, yes, sister. I do love her."

"What will we tell the others if they ask where we've been?"

"The truth. That we were in a training session, and we won't give any kind of specifics. They'll all just assume that I was training you. They know I've been meaning to do it."

"True enough."

"Well, sis, let's get off the roof and get moving, before mother comes looking for us." Tarrin chuckled. "She probably had a fit when she realized you weren't in your room."

"I'm in for a tongue-lashing, that's for sure," Je

"Not really. When mother hears that you were with me, I'm the one that's going to get chewed out," he told her.

Je

The impending lecture never materialized, for his parents were too busy when they finally caught up to them. They were in one of the private dining rooms off the kitchen, and the entirety of their group was present. Tarrin ignored everyone else and went straight to Dola

Tarrin looked around and saw everyone save Sarraya, Binter, and Sisska. Jesmind and Triana were talking, with his daughter in Triana's lap. Eron and Elke Kael were talking with Thean, and Kimmie was hanging on every word from the mouth of Phandebrass, still wearing that patched robe and still had that slightly absent quality about him, whose two drakes were sitting on the table in front of him. Camara Tal, who had traded in her haltar and tripa for a rather plain gray waistcoat over a linen shirt and black trousers-probably at the behest of the scandalized Sulasian ladies in the Tower-was saying something archly to Azakar, resplendent in his armor, who stared down at her with a scowl. Keritanima and Allia were just seating themselves, Keritanima wearing a rather elegant if plain cream-colored dress that complemented the color of her fur, and Allia wearing a white linen shirt and leather breeches. Szath, that monstrous Vendari bodyguard, wearing the common bandolier and kilt but carrying an axe that would stand taller than Dola

But he knew that the intimate mood of the breakfast wouldn't last long. Not with the Keeper and Ahiriya present. And he was proved right when the plates were pushed away. "It's been quite a while since you were last here, Tarrin," the Keeper told him calmly. "I'm sure you'll understand when I say I have a great many questions to ask you. The first of which being, did you get what you were after?"

"I have it," he replied stonily. Tarrin's dislike for the Keeper was still strong; he would never be able to forgive her or the Council for what they did to him, no matter how necessary it was or how much he preferred how things turned out.

"Thank the Goddess," the Keeper sighed. "Maybe there's some hope for us yet."

"I would like to see it," Ahiriya said with blatant longing in her voice. "If only to hold it in my hands and know I have touched it."

"I didn't bring it for you," he said dangerously. "I brought that book back here because that was what had to be done. But I'll be damned if I let any of you so much as look at it. Not after what you did to me."

"Don't take that tone with me, boy," Ahiriya said in a flinty tone.

"I say, we didn't come here to brawl like common thugs," Phandebrass said calmly. "I think we can all conclude here and now, we can, that what Tarrin has is Tarrin's own, and none of us have any rights to it. After all, we didn't risk our necks for it."

"Speak for yourself," Camara Tal snorted. "I'd say that most of us risked alot more than our necks."

"Well, yes, true, but seriously, my dear, if we start splitting hairs, we'll all end up bald."

Camara Tal gave him a startled look, then actually laughed.

"Well, Tarrin, if our Lorefinders can't look at it, how are we going to use it to help you?" the Keeper asked calmly.

"I already have someone to do that for me," he said, looking in Keritanima's direction. "All the Tower has to do is stay out of our hair until we have what we need. Then we'll send this invading army packing and get back to business."