Maybe that was why he was suddenly afraid; the leshy'a Kal'enedral looked just like any of the others, and the Avatars were so exotic as to fit in the same categories as Firecats and other manifestations of the gods. But there was nothing solid about these, nor so alien that he could bear them because they were so new to him.
The first to become really clear was a strikingly handsome man, and if this was Firesong's ancestor Vanyel, it was obvious where he got his beauty. There was no color to any of these spirits, so Karal could not have told if the clothing this spirit had chosen to "wear" happened to be antique Herald's Whites or not, but the cut was like nothing he had seen in his lifetime. The spirit had long hair, though not as long as Firesong's or Silverfox's, and "wore" no jewelry of any kind. He searched the group gathered around him, and his gaze lit on Karal and remained there. In spite of the ghost's smile, Karal was not reassured.
"So this is our young Sun-priest," the spirit said, as Karal froze. "If I ever have the opportunity, remind me to tell you of another young servant of Vkandis that I met, who proved to me that not all of the folk who used Vkandis' Name to justify their actions should be lumped together into a single category." The spirit's smile widened—quite as winsome a smile as anything Firesong had ever produced—and some of Karal's chill melted away. But not, by any means, all of it. For some reason—perhaps simply that these beings looked, acted and sounded exactly like what they were supposed to be—Karal found Vanyel entirely unnerving.
As the second spirit manifested, Karal didn't find him any easier on the nerves, perhaps because he couldn't seem to make up his mind whether to look like a muscular, square-jawed fellow who was a bit taller than Vanyel, or a slight, triangular-faced, large-eyed lad who was shorter and more slender than the Herald-Mage. Just looking at him made Karal feel dizzy, and when the third shape came into focus, it didn't help any, for it wavered between the form of a Companion and that of a determined woman with a firm chin and the look of a hunter about her.
:If you all don't mind, I'd like to see that bed Karal has been keeping warm for me,: Altra said firmly, and when Karal looked down, he saw that the Firecat had polished off every drop of the broth, and was on his feet, swaying a little.
"You go ahead, my friend," Vanyel said genially. "We three need to have our first consultation with the mages, and having too many people trying to explain things at once is not going to get us anywhere. We will try to keep the noise down so you may rest better."
Since Altra did not look at all steady, Karal picked him up bodily and carried him to that waiting bed, with Florian pacing alongside him, offering a shoulder for support. Lyam cleared the way ahead of them, quite authoritative for such a short fellow. Altra was quite limp with exhaustion, and Karal wondered if he should say anything forbidding Altra to make any more Jumping expeditions. Did he have the right to demand such things?
:That's the last. That is absolutely the last,: Altra said weakly as Karal laid the Firecat in his warmed bed. :I know you aren't seeing any physical manifestations of the Storms right now, but believe me, where I have to go, they're there. It was like trying to swim a river in flood, and cats are not particularly suited to swimming, let me tell you. I do not have the strength to try that a second time.:
"Good, because I was going to ask you not to," Karal replied. "I don't think I could stand losing you."
:Well, you won't. That's that advantage of having a Cat instead of a Horse as a partner; we don't go running off to sacrifice ourselves at the sound of the first trumpet call,: Altra said, feebly winking at Karal on the side opposite of Florian. :We're sensible. And right now, my sensible side demands some cosseting. I want sleep:
:Oh, do go right ahead and sleep,: Florian said with mock-indignation. :Don't mind us, we just want to gather worshipfully around your slumbering form and tell stories about your bravery and virtue.:
:Fine, you do that, and about time,: the Firecat replied in the same spirit. :Just don't wake me up.:
And with that, he closed his eyes, his even breathing seeming to indicate that he had fallen straight asleep.
"Well, what do you think?" Karal asked the Companion, certain he was about to get a litany of praise thinly disguised as a lesson in Valdemaran history.
:I think that I'm hoping our latest visitors remain unmanifest most of the time,: Florian replied promptly, his uneasiness quite apparent in his mind-voice. :Yfandes gives me the—what's Lyam's term for it?—the collywobbles, that's it. They're all three dreadfully intimidating.:
"Really?" Karal arched an eyebrow at him. "I didn't think you could be intimidated by anything!"
:I can, and she's it.: Florian was quite serious, and it was Karal's turn to put a steadying hand on his shoulder. :Not even a Grove-Born gives me the urge to kneel and knock my head on the ground the way she does!:
"Well, don't do that," Karal advised. "For one thing, you'll hurt your head. For another, I'm sure you have nothing to feel inferior about."
He knew how Florian felt, though, and he sympathized. Hopefully these newcomers would stay invisible; if he couldn't see them, maybe he wouldn't keep having the urge to do some bowing and scraping of his own.
"Ghosts and spirit-swords, Avatars and leshy'a Kal'enedral—we have more not-mortal things around here than we have mortal ones!" he complained. "And when you add in bondbirds and hertasi and kyree and Companions, the weird creatures outnumber ordinary humans to the point where we're a minority!"
:It could be worse,: Florian pointed out pensively. :This could be a Vale. Or k'Leshya Vale! Then you'd have dyhell and tervardi and gryphons, and I don't know what all else. Only the gods know what weird pets the K'Leshya brought up out of the South with them.:
Karal just sighed and sat beside Altra with his chin on his hand. "The worst part of it is that a mind-talking horse is the most normal of all the folk around here!"
Florian only whickered, and mind-laughed weakly.
* * *
Fortunately for Karal's peace of mind and Florian's sense of profound inferiority, the three newcomers mostly remained "unmanifest" to save energy, and simply tendered advice to Firesong by means of Mindspeech. Karal had the feeling that Vanyel was a little hurt that the Karsite was so nervous in Vanyel's presence, but there was no help for it. Karal himself wasn't entirely sure why Vanyel made him so edgy. It might simply have been that the Herald-Mage was everything that Karal was not, but without the somewhat inflated self-esteem of his descendant Firesong. It might have been unconscious residue from all the "Demon Vanyel" stories he'd been told as a child. And it might only have been that Vanyel was so obviously everything that a Karsite feared about the night, and although Karal had been working with stranger beings, Vanyel's presence was simply the one bit of strangeness that was too much.