“I understand,” he said. “It’s best not to rush into this sort of thing, especially because we met in such dark circumstances. It would be easy to mistake one’s feelings.” He reached out to rest his hand on hers. “But you’ll forgive me if I hope that no tall, handsome lordling from a fine family sweeps you off your feet tonight.”
Seila looked into his eyes again, and Jack could feel his head swim. For a moment they stood there together a little awkwardly; Jack realized he had no idea whether to say more, to say less, or simply to reach out and plant an audacious kiss upon her sweet red lips. Fortunately, Marden Norwood inadvertently came to Jack’s rescue. The silver-haired lord appeared on the veranda and caught sight of Jack. “Ah, Wildhame,” he said, striding over to offer his hand. “I thought I’d heard that you were here. Good of you to come.”
“Lord Norwood,” Jack replied. He returned the old lord’s handclasp firmly. “My thanks for the invitation; I am happy to help commemorate the occasion.”
“How are you settling in at Maldridge?”
“Very comfortably; it’s a splendid old house, and I have no complaints with the staff you left to me. I thank you again for its use.”
“The least I could do,” Norwood answered. “Now, if I could ask you to join me in my study, I have a small surprise for you-and perhaps a puzzle you might help me solve.”
“More gentlemen’s talk, Father?” Seila asked.
“Not this time, my dear. In fact, I think you’ll find this interesting, too. Please, join us,” Marden Norwood beamed and ushered Jack and Seila back inside to the same dark-paneled room where Jack had spoken with him about the drow and their plans. A large parchment map lay unfurled on the great desk, its corners pinned with stone paperweights.
“As you can see, I’ve found an excellent map of the Vilhon Reach from just a few years before your time,” Norwood said. “I don’t believe I mentioned this during our previous conversations, Jack, but as it turns out we Norwoods are in part descended from Vilhonese aristocracy. My grandmother’s family fled Chondath during the Plague Years and settled here in the Vast, where she married into the Norwood line.”
Jack covered his surprise by coughing into his fine silk handkerchief. “How interesting,” he finally replied, adopting a carefully casual manner. “I did not realize you had any knowledge of the Vilhon Reach. Are you familiar with its history and lands, then?”
Norwood smiled. “As Seila can tell you, I am something of an amateur historian.”
“Oh, yes,” Seila agreed. “Father reads constantly, and his personal library is one of the finest in Vesperin. I couldn’t tell you how many dinner conversations have been taken over by whatever happens to have caught his interest that day.”
Norwood shook his head modestly and continued. “I wouldn’t say I am an expert on the old Reach, but I have been studying up on Vilhonese lands and titles. Naturally, I was curious what had become of your homeland, so I searched through my tomes and dispatched a few letters to other collectors of old lore who might be better informed than I am. Are you well, Wildhame? You look faint.”
Jack didn’t doubt that he looked stricken. Somewhere a mile or so under my feet, Jaeren and Jezzryd Chumavh are enjoying a laugh at my expense, he told himself. He put a hand to the bridge of his nose, pretending to steel himself for a moment. To Seila’s father he said, “Forgive me, Lord Marden. It’s simply struck me again that my homeland is lost now in the past. I find it hard to believe that it is all no more.”
“Father, have you no compassion?” Seila scolded. “Why, it breaks his heart just to think of it!”
Jack pinched himself hard enough to bring a tear to his eye, and looked down at the floor again as he struggled to regain his composure.
“I am sorry,” Norwood said, raising a hand in a placating gesture. “I simply hoped that I might be able to provide Lord Wildhame with some unexpected good news about the existence of his old family lands or the survival of his kin. Truly, I did not mean to press.”
Jack waved away the old lord’s apology, making a show of rallying to the topic. “No, no, your father’s curiosity is quite understandable,” he said to Seila. “Please, Marden, carry on. What can I tell you about Wildhame?”
“Well, it seems that I know less about the region than I’d thought, because I cannot quite place the landgraviate of Wildhame nor discover anything about your family.” Norwood grimaced. “I simply did not know where to begin.”
Jack drew in a breath, and quickly reviewed everything he’d ever studied for the purpose of creating Jaer Kell Wildhame. He’d actually researched the part at some length back when he first concocted the persona, anticipating that he might need to answer awkward questions. “Wildhame is-was-a county near the Nunwood, rather small and out of the way.” He found the small forest on the map, and pointed with the greatest confidence he could muster. “Good hunting in the woodland, as you might expect, and good wine country, too; our vineyards produced a strong, full-bodied red that was best laid down a few years to mellow.”
“Ah, just south of the Nunwood?” Marden peered at the map. “Strange, I would have thought those lands to be under the rule of Hlath.”
“Oh, the Wildhames are a Hlathan family, Lord Marden. Why, we have a fine house within the city walls, not a stone’s throw from the king’s palace,” said Jack. “But I think of the manor of Wildhame as home.”
The silver-haired lord sighed. “This map shows Hlath and the Nunwood, as you can see, but neither survived the Spellplague. The eastern shore of the Vilhon today is a wilderness where no civilized folk travel if they can help it. I am afraid you are very likely orphaned of family and home both.”
“I intend to go see for myself as soon as I am established here,” Jack declared. “Not that I doubt your learning or counsel, Norwood; I simply will not be able to rest until I know the fate of my home. One can still take passage to Turmish, I assume?”
“Of course.”
“Then, when the spring storms have passed, I may do exactly that.”
“Well said, Wildhame,” Norwood replied. He clapped Jack on the shoulder and nodded in approval. “Norwood coasters sail regularly to Alaghon; I will be happy to provide passage whenever you wish to make the journey.”
“Again, I thank you, Norwood.” Jack had not the slightest intention of sailing off to meander around a land where, as Seila’s father put, no civilized people set foot-especially since the landgraviate of Wildhame existed only as a figment of his imagination. He’d find one reason or another to delay sailing until the weather turned again, and by the time he might be expected to try once more, he was certain he could produce “proof” that his lands were destroyed, obviating the need for a tedious journey. By then, if all went well, he might be so established among the elites of Raven’s Bluff that there would be no need to ever produce any proof of Jaer Kell Wildhame’s aristocratic birth.
Seila’s father bowed. “But of course,” he said. “Now, I believe that we have a few hours yet before the guests begin to show up. Seila, why don’t you introduce your friend to your Aunt Derina and your cousins? If I’m not mistaken, their carriage was just drawing up to the door when I spotted the two of you.”
Seila sighed, but she took Jack by the arm. “Come on, Jack,” she said. “I’m afraid it’s time to meet some more of the family.”
Jack spent the afternoon in Seila’s company, smiling and bantering his way through a series of introductions to aunts, grand-uncles, second cousins, and dear friends of the family. The Norwood clan seemed small at first introduction, but it turned out that Lord Norwood had two sisters who’d married into other noble families, while Seila’s mother came from the Boldtalon clan. Other than Marden Norwood’s sudden and disconcerting interest in the Vilhon Reach, Jack considered the afternoon a success overall. Although he had little time alone with Seila, he made sure to take the opportunity to study her relatives by asking seemingly innocuous questions about who was related to whom, and remind them of his role in Seila’s rescue by praising her stoicism and courage in the face of adversity.