Keeper (First Ordinance #2)(46)

"Yes. It's a strange box and I wasn't sure I should touch it."

"Show me," Justis growled. The man almost ran while Justis strode purposely behind him. Ardis followed Justis as they made their way through the castle and up steps leading to the royal wing.

*

"Quin is missing," Ordin said. "That's why I sent for you. I don't think she'd shirk her duties or refuse to heal the sick on a whim," he added.

"Quin is missing?" Gurnil's heart increased its rhythm. "Has anyone seen her?"

"I've asked everyone here; nobody knows where she is." Ordin jerked his head toward the door of the healer's quarters, indicating he'd already asked the ships' healers and castle staff in the courtyard.

"This isn't good," Gurnil muttered. "We were discussing her in the meeting earlier, where, ah, certain things came to light. I hope someone hasn't let that slip—without proper explanation, it could prove emotionally devastating."

"We have problems," Justis shouldered his way inside the door of Ordin's cubicle. "A servant saw Quin flying northward away from Lironis, and a strange box was found beneath her bed in the castle."

*

"Daragar, have you seen anything like this before?" Kaldill tapped the lid. The metal box lay on a table inside his suite, after he asked Justis to leave it there.

"The hair inside is hers," Daragar sighed. "This frightens me. Shall I go looking for her?"

"We can't find her by the usual methods—I recognized that in her when I saw her the first time," Kaldill pointed out. "I don't know what to do. This has weighed on her—I can see it now. Likely, either someone told her that she was a topic of discussion at the meeting or she overheard it afterward, somehow. Dena spoke to her last when she brought Quin's meal—she reports that Quin wished to be alone."

"I will send mindspeech," Daragar said.

"I hope it works," Kaldill replied.

*

Quin, Lara'Kayan, where are you? Kaldill, Justis and I are worried.

Daragar's voice sounded in my mind.

Tell me Justis worries, I returned. I'm not even half Avii.

"Where did you hear this?" Daragar appeared beside me. I watched as he reformed sharp rocks so he could sit comfortably at my side.

I'd chosen the Western spires as my place to weep. "It is known as nexus echo," he observed conversationally as he made himself at home. I'd selected the highest point on the center stone, thinking only another Avii could reach me there.

Obviously, the Larentii could, too.

"What is known as nexus echo?" I scrubbed stubborn tears off my cheeks.

"The way I can hear someone speak my name from afar, or find them if they reply to my mindspeech," he smiled and drew me onto his lap. "Larentii do not lie—as a matter of choice," he added.

"But others do it every day," I pointed out.

"Who spoke the words within your hearing, my love? Are you sure they spoke complete truth?"

"They said I had no connection to anyone on Siriaa. That sounded like truth to me."

"That much Kaldill and I have guessed already," Daragar sighed. "We worried that the knowledge could upset you. As it turns out, you'd already determined that on your own, or mostly so. Didn't you?"

"Yes." Images came unbidden of the metal box beneath a bed in the castle.

"We found the box, dearest. We are working on that puzzle, now. Don't let it trouble you; do not allow words to harm you that are spoken out of fear and prejudice."

"You didn't hear her," I mumbled. Omina's words stung, but that was the way my life had always been. I'd been different from the moment I was dumped in Wolter's kitchen as a child.

"Age doesn't cure foolishness—it only tells everyone that someone is an old fool rather than a young one," Daragar tilted his head and smiled at me. "I hear that the High President is demanding that you be brought to Kondar if Lironis fails to treat you better."

"Edden Charkisul is a good man. A kind man, too, as is his son. Do you find it odd that they hold power, when many who do so are quite self-serving and cynical?"

"You should see politicians on other worlds, or visit one of Queen Lissa's Council meetings. Most people have become jaded and expect the squabbling that goes on continuously."

"It is so wearying," my wings drooped as I sighed. Daragar stroked feathers with long, blue fingers. I found it soothing and settled deeper into his embrace.

"You never looked at me as anything other than a person or being in my own right, rather than something alien," he said. "Whereas I only have a fragile truce with most of the Avii at the castle, because Camryn and Elabeth allowed a curious Larentii to read through the Library. Gurnil is a sympathetic friend, as is Ordin, and Justis is getting used to me, but few others see me that way."

"Does it bother you?" I looked up at his chin. Like the rest of him, it was a sunny blue.

"No. There are no others in all the known universes like the Larentii. We were created first, you know, by the Mighty Heart."

"Is that a religious belief?" I asked, curious.

"No. I have met her," Daragar smiled. "Now, shall we go back to Lironis? I hear people are clamoring to be healed."