"Fair enough. Why're you here in Cormyr?"
"Mischance and magic-and being too curious. I followed a wizard who spared my life. I knew not where 'here' was until after I arrived."
"What d'you lack most in life, beyond fame, high birth, and enough coins to do just as you please?"
"My freedom," Narnra snapped. "What answer did you expect?"
"If you were free and we'd never seen you and you were wandering Marsember unnoticed right now . . . what would matter most to you, if I met you, showed you I could slay you with magic on a whim, and asked you how you wanted to spend the rest of your life?"
Narnra smiled bitterly. "Getting away alive would matter most."
Caladnei sighed. "Could we move past fencing with tongues, Narnra? I've better things to do than hold you against the wall all day."
The Waterdhavian drew in a deep breath, eyed her captor, and said, "Mage Royal, I just want to get rich without working-unusual that, hey?-and to spend my days being free to do and go as I will-stealing what I can and doing just as I please."
"Sounds like several noble ladies of Sembia I've met," Laspeera muttered, an offering that earned her a silent 'Later' look from Caladnei.
The Mage Royal turned back to Narnra, relaxing her spell to let the thief down off the wall onto her feet again. "Let's end this all the sooner, if you're willing. Narnra, I think I know enough about who you are now. Now, I'd like very much to learn all you know, suspect, or have overheard as rumors in Waterdeep of any campaign to overthrow the Obarskyrs."
"The who? Oh … the ruling family here, hey?" Narnra looked at Laspeera then pointed to her own forehead. "Vouch for me in this, yes?" She turned and met Caladnei's eyes, and the moment she was staring into them said slowly and firmly, "Not… a … thing. I've heard nothing at all about anything political in Cormyr. Nothing until I got here, and all that Rightful Conspiracy gabble in the cellars-and I'm still not sure exactly what it was about. Discontent with the Crown, yes, but-" She shrugged.
"Keep to Waterdeep, Narnra. Purchases of swords, or the hire of warriors? Backed by merchants or nobles of Waterdeep? War-horses? Hedge-wizards being hired for trips overland? The places might not be in Cormyr; they could be Westgate, or Saerloon and Selgaunt in Sembia, or Athkatla … or Iriaebor."
Narnra shook her head. "No, Mage Royal, I swear to you, nothing like that. A few horses and wagons between one merchant and another, yes, but nothing that could mean war-and no huge chests full of coins setting off anywhere, either. Not that anyone in Waterdeep would be fool enough to let word get around about something like that, anyway."
"Truth, Gala," Laspeera said softly. "Utter truth."
The Mage Royal smiled and nodded. "Well enough. We had to be sure." She took another step closer and asked quietly, "Do you know any magic, Narnra? How to cast spells?"
"No. If I did, would I be . . ." Narnra let her voice trail off instead of asking something bitter.
"I'm sorry, Narnra. Is the body we can see now your true shape?"
"Yes," Narnra replied, taken aback. "How could it not be?"
"How indeed." Caladnei did not take her eyes off Narnra as she asked over her shoulder, "Speera, has every answer given me by Narnra been completely true?"
"No, Mage Royal. There's one thing she wanted to be true, but stood in some doubt over."
"And that was?"
"Living kin. Until recently she was sure she had none . . . but now knows better. The knowledge does not please her."
In the silence that followed, Caladnei eyed Narnra thoughtfully, and then asked, "Are you going to tell me, Narnra, without greeting the wall again?"
The Waterdhavian clenched her teeth, looked at the floor, and burst out, "You've no right to do this. I don't want to spend the rest of my days being hunted by every gods-cursed wizard in Faerun! Can't I keep this one secret? It's nothing to do with Cormyr!"
"I must be the judge of that," the Mage Royal replied softly. "Come, Narnra, what harm can saying a name or two do you? If 'tis nothing to do with Cormyr, as you say, then it can't be a lineage exiled from here, and so . . ."
Glarasteer Rhauligan cleared his throat loudly, and Caladnei looked over at him, stepping smoothly back from Narnra to do so.
"You thought your parents were dead, right?" the Harper asked Narnra.
She looked into his eyes and said, "Yes."
"You've never had siblings, aye?"
"Yes."
"So you've just learned your mother-or your father-was alive, hey?"
"Yes," Narnra said, shrinking back from him as if he was going to hurl something at her.
"You followed a wizard here, didn't you?"
Narnra glared at him and kept silence. Four people stared at each other in the vast and otherwise empty room before Laspeera asked, "You're the daughter of Elminster of Shadowdale, aren't you?"
Narnra shot her a look that had daggers in it and-reluctantly- nodded. Her voice, when it came, was barely a whisper: "I… fear so."
She looked up swiftly. Rhauligan was eyeing her with bright interest, while Laspeera's eyes had a strange expression that held several things, pity foremost among them. Caladnei was frowning.
"In the cellars of Marsember, Elminster certainly didn't seem to be treating you as his daughter," she observed, stepping closer again.
Narnra drew in a deep breath and told the floor tonelessly, "I don't think Elminster knows he sired me."
The Mage Royal turned to Laspeera. "Does this seem likely to you?"
"The fathering? Very. The not knowing all of his offspring and their doings does surprise me, yes. I thought the Old Mage knew damned near every time any wizard in all Faerun scratched himself."
Caladnei nodded and turned back to Narnra. "You realize the danger if word of your parentage spreads." Her words were not a question.
The thief from Waterdeep nodded and said bitterly, "All too well." She shrugged. "But as I seem doomed to spend whatever short remainder of life is left to me as a helpless captive, tossed from one ruthless wizard to another-present company very much included-it hardly seems to matter."
Caladnei's eyes were thoughtful. "What will you do if I release you?"
Narnra shrugged again. "Steal all I can, probably, until I've coins enough to buy caravan-passage back to Waterdeep . . . unless, while thieving here in Cormyr, I like what I see enough to stick around."
Caladnei smiled sourly. "As Mage Royal, I've a better idea: You can serve yourself best if you stay alive and serve Cormyr at the same time."
"Serve how?"
"As a paid spy while you thieve-with occasional offers of additional monies for more daring tasks of plundering or 'placing' items to be found … as Rhauligan, here, does for us."
"So it's agree or you'll kill me?"
"Oh, no," Caladnei said softly. "I need information about Cormyr's foes. It'll be much more useful to simply spread the news around Suzail that you're Elminster's daughter, and watch the wolves come out of hiding to get at you."
"I'll still die!"
The Mage Royal shrugged. "We all do, sooner or later-and you'll be free to die in your own way, just as you believe all of us overbearing sorts are." She waited. "Well?"
Narnra slid down the wall until she was sitting, sighed loudly, then told the carved dragon ceiling, "I'm furious at being at the mercy of any wizard." She turned her head to glare at Caladnei and added, "I think I'll tell you so."
Rhauligan's amused snort was echoed-in far more ladylike manners-by the two Cormyrean women.
"Moreover, before I agree to anything, I need to know not just the 'or else,' but also the 'what else' and the 'what about after,' too."
Caladnei was almost smiling. "And those things would be?"
"The bad things you're not yet telling me about this . . . and what happens to me when the Mage Royal of Cormyr deems me expendable."
Caladnei's smile appeared, wry but full. "Prudence at last. A bit late, but making an appearance nonetheless."