The strangers finally replied, which generated another long elegance from Pony.
"I have explained that you are only recently transformed and that you do not know the high tongue nor recognize their uniforms. They understand the situation now, and while they are the Wyverns, they are also merely sekasha and do not wish to face the full anger of Windwolf."
Tinker grunted to keep in snide remarks. Annoyed as she was, even if it was one-on-one and without swords, they would probably still beat the snot out of her. It was so lowering and frightening to discover exactly how small you were in the world.
"Are you hurt?" Pony asked.
"I'm fine," Tinker said.
"I am sorry. I should have been here to forestall such a misunderstanding."
"Who the hell are these guys?"
Pony raised an eyebrow. "I told you. They are Wyverns."
"What the hell are Wyverns?"
"Oh," Pony said. "I see. They are the queen's guard. They bring a summons from the queen."
"Summons? Is that like being arrested?"
"No. Not completely. The Wyverns have come on the queen's personal airship to take you to Aum Renau. It is not a summons that we can refuse."
"You mean, we have to leave now?"
"Yes. The order indicates all speed must be taken."
"Why?"
Pony turned to the waiting elves and spoke with them. When he turned back, he was wincing slightly. "They did not ask; it is not in their manner to do so."
On the way back to the Rolls, she remembered she had her headset stuffed into her pocket. She guessed it was just as well; getting the police involved would have only complicated things. She called Oilcan and let him know that she was safe but being taken to Aum Renau.
"I want to come with you," Oilcan said.
"No, no, no. I'm fine." She didn't want to get him caught in the mess she was in. "Someone has to keep the yard going."
"There's Riki."
Yeah, Riki, who talked me into ditching Pony, she thought and then sighed, knowing that wasn't fair. Riki couldn't have known that the Wyverns were standing on her doorstep. "I went and saw Maynard. He says—well—that Windwolf probably thinks we're married. If that's the case, then the queen probably just wants to meet the viceroy's new wife."
"You're what?"
"Married. Please don't tell anyone yet, at least until I know for sure. Windwolf is at Aum Renau. He won't let anything happen to me."
There was long silence from Oilcan's side, and finally, "Okay, okay, okay. Don't get hurt."
"I won't." She folded away the headset.
"I've been thinking," Pony said quietly. "If we are going to court, it would be best that you did not have a guard, but have a guard."
She considered the sentence. He was using two different forms of have; she had thought the words were equal, but obviously they weren't. "What do you mean?"
"It would raise your esteem in court. Unless you do not wish me to be your guard."
The idea of being completely alone raised sudden panic in her. "No. I want you to be my guard. I don't want a stranger."
"I would be honored to be your guard." He paused to bow low. "I will not disappoint you."
10: Blind Sight
A gossamer airship was moored over the Faire Ground's now-empty meadow. Tinker had seen many gossamers at a distance, but never one close enough to appreciate their true size. Something so huge, living, floating in mid-air challenged the mind to accept it as truth. The gondola alone was a hundred feet long and sixty feet wide; the gossamer rippled in the wind above it, dwarfing the teak structure. And that was the portion of the animal easily seen—the cell structure of the creature fractured the sunlight into a million prisms, giving substance to the nearly transparent form. The creature's countless frilled fins, extending far beyond the glittering mass, showed only as a distortion high overhead, like water running over a glass roof.
"How much tinkering did you have to do to get the gossamers that big?"
"I believe getting them large was not the problem," Pony said. "They occur in nature nearly that size. Probably making them float in air was the difficult part. Originally they were sea creatures."
"Why wouldn't they start with something that already floated in air?"
"You can grow wings on turtles, but they still crawl on the ground."
"What the hell does that mean?"
Pony struggled a moment to put it into words. "Those that float in air naturally go where the air takes them. They needed something that could choose its own course—a swimmer."
It took her a moment to realize he was talking of instinct. "You can give turtles wings—somehow—but not the understanding of flight."
"Yes!" Pony beamed a smile. "There are some side considerations. Redesigning a body structure to take the stresses of such a massive size in strong currents would have been difficult, so they selected an animal already quite large."
"Who are 'they'?"
"The domana."
On a signal from the Wyverns, there was a loud clank above their heads as safety locks disengaged. An ornately carved, wooden elevatorlike cage smoothly lowered from the gondola. The doors were handmade works of art, and they folded aside to reveal the stunningly beautiful Sparrow Lifted By Wind. Her shimmering white gown of Faire silk was cut so far off her shoulders—displaying her pearly skin, delicate bone structure, and full breasts to perfection—that Tinker wasn't sure what was keeping the dress on, except for the fact that it was too tight to otherwise slip down. What kept her from being the antithesis of Hannah Briggs' tight black was an overdress of cerulean that drifted around her like smoke and matched the blue of Sparrow's dau mark. Sapphires, cerulean ribbons, and pale blue forget-me-not flowers weaved through her intricate pale blond braids, not a hair out of place.
Instantly Tinker realized that she was covered with motor grease, engine oil, dirt, and chicken shit. That she wore Oilcan's hand-me-down T-shirt, her worn carpenter pants, and boots large enough for Minnie Mouse didn't help either. "Oh, hell," she breathed.
"Husepavua." Pony bowed in greeting.
Tinker started to bow too, but Pony checked her with a hand to her shoulder and a slight shake of his head.
Sparrow's eyes narrowed slightly at the gesture, and she flicked her hand dismissively at Pony. "You are released from this duty. Take the car and return to the enclave."
"I am ze domi ani's" — Pony stressed the plural—"guard. I will be going with her."
Pony startled Sparrow into showing cold deep anger that smoothed away a moment later.
"Come, then." Sparrow motioned toward the elevator cage. "I am needed at Aum Renau and can ill spare my attention for this baby-sitting run."
More than three would have crowded the elevator, so the Wyverns waited on the ground while Sparrow, Pony, and Tinker boarded. The doors had to be closed manually, and a bell rung to signal that all was ready for the cage to be raised. Still, the elevator rose as smoothly as it had descended.
Sparrow studied Tinker as they rode upward, and gave a slight sniff. "She smells so much of mud, one would think Wolf Who Rules fashioned her out of dirt."
Pony did not bother to hide his anger. "You fumbled badly, Sparrow. The Wyverns dealt with her in their normal heavy-handed manner and nearly hurt ze domi ani. You should have accompanied them."
"And you should remember I'm domana now, not kuetaun," Sparrow chided him. "As for the Wyverns…" She clicked her tongue in an elfin shrug. "The fault does not lie with me. No one would expect the Wyverns to be stupid enough to attack the viceroy's wife."