Raven's Shadow (Raven #1)(78)

"It's more than that," said Hennea slowly. "How did you find a solsenti who was Ordered? Why did the two of you have three Ordered children? It isn't like breeding horses; the Orders go where they will - though I really did think that the Order bearer had to at the least be of Traveler blood. I don't know many clans who can claim five Ordered people, nor have I heard of a family where every single person in the family was born to an Order."

"It frightens me," admitted Seraph, glancing at the boys, who were packing away the last of the dinnerware. "My father's favorite saying was, 'When you find a coin on the road and pick it up, it's certain that you'll need twice that ere you walk another mile.' He used to say that the Orders went where they were most necessary. I don't want to be in the middle of an event that needs a Raven, Owl, Eagle, Falcon, and Cormorant."

Hennea smiled a little. "Neither do I. Maybe I should go my own way."

She was joking, but Seraph nodded solemnly. "I would keep that in mind. Having you help us find Tier would be very helpful - but certainly dangerous. There is no need for you to risk your life for someone you've never even met."

Hennea laughed and shook her head. "That's the Raven's calling, you know that. Go out and risk your life for someone who'd just as soon that you burned as lived."

"Perverse," grinned Seraph. "It did always seem that the ones who most needed help were the ones who wanted it least. Anyway, I got the mermora out to call Isolda's house and see if someone in her time had managed something like the Ordered stones."

"They didn't have the Orders when Isolda's library was collected," said Hennea.

"No," agreed Seraph. "But they did a lot of evil in the search for knowledge. They might have come up with something that will help us. I don't want to destroy those stones without understanding what that will do to the Order trapped there."

Jes and Lehr, finished with their tasks, came to see what Seraph was doing. She pushed the mermora into the dirt and called Isolda's house into being.

"Come in," she said, "come and be welcome to the house of Isolda the Silent."

They settled into the patterns of journeying that Seraph remembered. Hennea and Jes in front, Seraph and Lehr bringing up the rear with Skew. Gura scouted about, taking anxious trips back to make certain they were all still walking as he'd left them. After a week's travel, Seraph felt as if she were slowly sloughing off the skin of the Redern farmer's wife she had been.

Every evening she took out Isolda's mermora and searched through her library to find out what to do with the Ordered stones.

"Why don't you use them?" asked Lehr, one evening. He was seated on the other side of the little table from Seraph, playing with the game pieces to a game no one knew how to play. "We almost lost all to Volis - and there will be more wizards with Papa. Wouldn't the extra power be useful?"

"Travelers don't like to deal with the dead," said Jes. He was curled up on the floor with as much of Gura on his lap as he could get, grooming the dog with a silver comb that Isolda had kept by her bed.

"It's not that exactly," said Hennea, looking up from a book. "But we understand that it can be dangerous to play with dark magics."

"Especially when doing so leaves you vulnerable to the Stalker," agreed Seraph. "Since we have seen that he is already concerned in these matters, we'd be foolish to allow him an invitation to one of us."

"I like walking," said Jes contentedly.

Hennea looked over at him. His eyes were half-shut and his face raised toward the sun. Seraph and Lehr had dropped behind them a while back; Jes's usual pace was faster than Skew liked. Seraph didn't want to push the old horse, so Hennea and Jes would walk ahead and then sit and wait for the others to catch up.

"What do you like about it?" she asked him.

"The Guardian is happy, because we're going to get Papa," he said. "And Rinnie is safe with Aunt Alinath. I don't like Aunt Alinath, but I know that Rinnie does. I know that Aunt Alinath will keep her safe. Mother and Lehr are safe, too, because they are with me and with Skew and Gura. I am outside and the sun is shining and making my face warm."

"I like walking, too," Hennea admitted.

"Why?" He bounced once on his heels and then turned his head to look at her with a bright smile that lit his eyes and summoned the deep dimple in his cheek.

She smiled back; she'd found that it was impossible not to respond to Jes when he was happy. "For the same reasons you have. Walking means that right this moment, nothing bad is happening. There are interesting things to look at. My feet like to feel the road under them."

"Yes," he said contentedly. "It's just like that."

After a minute he said, "Lehr is not happy."

"He doesn't like walking?" she asked.

He frowned, "I don't think that's it. I think he worries too much. He is like the Guardian, you know. He thinks that he needs to take care of everyone. He doesn't know about walking. He finds things that are bad and tries to solve them before they happen."

Hennea said, "You know your brother pretty well, don't you?"

Jes nodded. "He is my brother and I love him. He is not afraid of the Guardian; he loves the Guardian, too. I like that. Rinnie loves us, too. But she doesn't want to be a Guardian anymore because she can play with the wind."