"Well," she said defensively, "If you make him my bodyguard, I can help him to settle in. He won't be offended, and in fact, he'll probably be flattered. After all, it isn't as if a mere Captain would ever be made the personal guard to anyone important in Karse! Making him my guard will show that we trust him, and I think that could be very important in making him trust us. Don't you think?"
"Actually," Sendar said slowly. "Yes. I do."
"And while he's at it, he can teach me Karsite. Someone ought to know how to speak it."
:Brilliant,: Taver enthused. Absolutely brilliant!:
"Even if the rest of the Council will have apoplexy?" Talamir asked dubiously.
Selenay raised her chin. "Yes. And I think you ought to tell them that this was my idea. They might as well get used to the notion that I can think for myself. I'm too old to be chucked under the chin and called 'little one' and told not to bother my pretty head about things."
Which is going to come as a shock to no few of them. Talamir kept his sighs strictly mental. Evidently the gods had decided that he was going to have to make do with fewer candlemarks of rest from now on—because he certainly was not going to leave all of this to the sole attention of Heralds Elcarth and Jadus, worthy though they might be.
"So be it." Sendar gave his blessing and dismissal all in one, despite Talamir's misgivings. Admittedly, though, the misgivings were all concerned with other people's reactions to Alberich, and not anything having to do with Alberich's trustworthiness. Kantor was convinced; so was Taver. That was all that Talamir needed. "Talamir, I'd like you to organize Elcarth and Jadus. Let them recruit Priest Gerichen, not you."
"Oh, that shouldn't be difficult," Talamir admitted. "I suspect that Gerichen's superior already has something like that in mind, since he brought the fellow along this afternoon on his official pastoral visit."
"Then once he's on his feet and ready to be integrated into the Collegium, Selenay, I'd like you to see to the bodyguard business," Sendar continued. His daughter nodded, her eyes bright.
"Easily done," she replied confidently. She looked like a cat that had just made off with an entire jug full of cream and a brace of trout to boot. Very pleased with herself.
:She should be,: Taver put in.
Perhaps—but she still seemed very young to him. Too young to be so closely involved with this potentially dangerous situation. He could readily foresee Council members suspecting that Alberich was subverting the young Heir....
:Yes, but that's supposed to be what she is going to do to him,: replied Taver. :Really, Chosen, if you think that a healthy young man is going to be indifferent to an intelligent and attractive young lady, and isn't going to be influenced by her, you're very much mistaken.:
:You have a point. And I'm sure the thought has crossed her father's mind as well,: he admitted.
He sensed Taver's amusement. :There you have it. If you take that line with the Council, it will be clear that Sendar believes Selenay can handle the responsibility.:
:True....: That would be all to the good.
:And if you point out it was her idea, it gives her more validity in her own right.:
:Also true.: He was glad that Sendar was seeing to it that Selenay was brought along as the Heir-in-fact as well as the Heir-in-name, but it meant a lot of work. Still, better a lot of work now than trying to bring her up to the job later, in a crisis. Because kings, even the kings of Valdemar, were mortal, and no matter what the circumstances, King Sendar's death would precipitate a crisis.
"Now, is there any sign of a repercussion down there along the Karse Border from this incident?" Sendar asked, and Talamir gladly turned the subject to the simpler one of espionage reports and troop movements. Well, relatively simpler.
"At the moment, the best guess is that the incident has been completely suppressed," Talamir replied. "There are no reports, not even rumors, from what our informants can tell us. We don't even really know which little village Kantor won him out of, they're keeping it so quiet. We think it's Sunsdale, because that's the only one that recently beat off bandits, but there's no word of anyone escaping the Fires from there."
"It must be an acute embarrassment to them," Sendar speculated. "Good. Let's hope it stays that way. I would rather they didn't have any more excuses to prod at us down there."
"You have a talent for understatement, Majesty," Talamir replied, rubbing his brow absently with one knuckle. "'Prod' is not precisely how I would put it. But the mission you sent me on in the first place is a complete success; Joyeaus has got a Border-watch based on the old fire-watchtowers everywhere along the Border except on Holderkin lands—and there's enough overlap that nothing larger than a bandit troop is going to slip past, even there."
"Then the damned, stiff-necked Holderkin can fight off their own bandits," Sendar growled, "And may they wallow in their pride until they choke on it!"
Her father's outburst caught Selenay by surprise, and she directed a look of shock at Talamir. Talamir just raised his eyebrows in a silent signal that promised I'll tell you later. She nodded very slightly.
"Joyeaus promised that she can have word to Haven of real troop movements within half a day at the worst," he continued. "It isn't just on our side of the Border that those old watchtowers exist. We can see theirs, and they can see ours, and there has been unofficial cooperation among the foresters for generations about alerting each other to forest fires."
Sendar snorted. "Fire doesn't stop at the Border no matter how many guards you post."
Talamir nodded. "The point is, of course, that we can see their watchtowers, and now ours will be manned in or out of fire season. And we've got one more safeguard in place. If one of our informants has a message too urgent to be sent by hand and he can get to one of the fire towers, he'll light a fire beacon or flash a mirror—on their side. Not a big one, or for long, but it will be a signal. That will warn the local highborn that something is coming, and from what direction, which means we'll have even earlier warning, if not the specifics."
"Remind me to find some appropriate way to thank my idiot South-Border highborn for having the sense to cooperate with each other for a change," Sendar growled, though to Talamir's ears, the "growl" sounded pleased and relieved.
"Remind me" actually meant "Talamir, go figure it out for me," of course. This time, however, it was a request that had been anticipated from the moment that Joyeaus had gotten all of the heads of the noble families to sit down at the same table and begin ironing out their differences. That young woman had the most remarkable talent for diplomatic maneuvering and soothing ruffled feathers that Talamir had ever seen. A touch of Empathy helped, of course, but mostly it was a knack for saying exactly the right thing at the right time, and being exquisitely sensitive to interpersonal nuances. She'd been utterly wasted on riding circuits....