“I see that we had best settle the question of the dogs before the guardianship,” Samira said, shuffling priorities. “What kind of dogs are we dealing with?”
“Greyhounds,” Lord Teren replied. “Trained hunting dogs. Not only does Jasper not want them killed, but they are also quite valuable. It would not be in his best interests to have them killed; indeed, it would be a breach of duty for a guardian to order such a thing.”
“Well, I won’t have them here, and I won’t let you take them!” Shantell said furiously. “And I don’t want them around my child—he doesn’t need anything to tempt him to take up hunting!”
“Lord Jasper,” Samira asked. “Would you be willing to have the dogs live someplace else, as long as they would be safe and well cared for?”
Jasper chewed on his lower lip for a moment, and then nodded reluctantly. “I’ll miss the puppies, but it’s more important that they be safe.”
“Is there anyone you would trust to care for them?”
“Yes. Lena.”
“But Lena lives in Haven,” Samira pointed out. “That’s rather far away.”
“She lives with . . . people . . . who like animals.”
Thank all the gods that he didn’t say “a god who likes animals.”
“Lena?” Samira asked.
Lena thought quickly. “Yes, I can take them.” The Temple of Thenoth will certainly grant sanctuary to animals under the threat of death. “The King is sending a carriage to take me home; it’s due in two days. We should be able to transport Minda and her puppies in it.”
“How many dogs are we talking about here?” Samira asked.
Lena ticked them off on her fingers. “Minda, six puppies, and the seven hunting dogs. Fourteen.”
“You’re willing to travel all the way to Haven in a carriage with fourteen dogs?”
Lena nodded. Samira shook her head. “Better you than me. Very well, if everyone agrees that this is what should be done with the dogs—” She looked around the room until she got agreement, however reluctant, from everyone involved.
“Now, with regard to the guardianship: Lord Kristion named Lord Teren. Does anyone know his thinking on this?”
The priest was the one to reply. “He felt that if he died while Lord Jasper was still a child, he would benefit by a man’s guidance.”
“So it was not that he considered Lady Shantell incapable of managing the estate?”
“Indeed not.” The priest was definite on that point at least. “She customarily ran the estate when he was absent at court or performing military service.”
“That’s true,” Lord Teren corroborated. “Lady Shantell is fully capable of running the estate and raising her son. That’s why I’m willing to resign as Jasper’s guardian in her favor.” The Truth Spell showed that he believed what he said.
Samira looked skeptically at him and even more skeptically at Lady Shantell. “At the moment, I’m not particularly impressed with the soundness of her judgment.” She looked from one to the other and then at the priest. “I therefore rule as follows: For the next half-year the two of you will be joint guardians, and any decisions that affect Jasper’s well being or the assets of the estate must be agreed upon by both of you.”
Shantell opened her mouth to protest, and Samira glared at her. “If you are unable to work together in person, your priest may serve as a mediator.” She looked at the priest and added, “If that is acceptable to him.”
“I will be happy to do anything in my power to help,” he replied.
“Very well.” Samira dismissed the Truth Spells. “Those are my decisions.”
Samira stayed at the estate for a pair of days, ostensibly using it as a base for her duties in the surrounding area. “Actually,” she told Lena, “it’s partly that I want to be sure that Lady Shantell is calming down enough to think rationally again and that Jasper is all right—but mostly I want to see you fit fourteen dogs into a coach with you and your luggage!”
“Luggage?” Lena grinned at her. “I’m donating some of my clothing to the housekeeper for cleaning rags—it’s amazing how much of it got torn up in the woods while I was here. So I won’t have much luggage, and it can go on the roof. And I like dogs.”
“Will you still like them when you get back to Haven?” Samira asked teasingly.
By the time she got back to Haven, Lena’s remaining dresses were covered with dog hair, and she had a close bond with all of the dogs. She had sent the crows to warn Maia of the new arrivals so that there would be a place prepared for them in the kennels, and Maia was in the temple courtyard when the carriage arrived.
“Is there one of your fancy names for the dogs?” Lena asked Maia as they carefully carried the puppies to the kennel, escorted by Minda and the rest of the pack.
“Yes,” Maia replied. “You’ve brought us a leash of greyhounds.”
Chapter 6 - Warp and Weft - Kristin Schwengel
No one could say for certain what had happened to Triska, but the disordered heap of robes and the unique necklace found inside the Change Circle—and the mangled remains of a rather average-sized lizard just outside that circle—spoke volumes.
The hertasi artisan had known, had heard the warnings of the Elders, and yet she had gone outside the protective shields of the Vale. The residents of k’Veyas, warned by the Alliance Mages, had known that it was coming, this final Mage Storm, had realized that it could destroy them all if the shielding failed. Triska, of course, had known. And she had still gone out.
“The silk waits for no one,” she had been fond of saying, usually just before leaving the Vale in foul weather to harvest cocoons. And the Change Circle where the remains had been found, the locus of mutation formed by the overlap of two rippling waves of magical energy, was not far from her favorite trees, the ones whose silkworms always produced the strongest, finest, smoothest fibers.
When the Elders showed Stardance the broken chain and cracked amber stone retrieved from the pile, the gift she had given to the cloth artisan, she buried her grief after the first stunned moment. Fury was simpler, covering the dark, hollow loneliness that threatened. The anger warmed her, kept her from drowning in that aching emptiness, and she fed it, raging in turn at the Elders, at Triska, and at the implacable Storms themselves, then fled to the most private corner of the Vale, the secret nook she had discovered as a child running from her mother’s death. This time, there would be no Triska to find her, to take her into her care and heal her hurting, bringing her back to the life of the Vale.
Back then, the Elders of k’Veyas had found it amusing, the human child following the hertasi, when usually the lizardfolk were the dutiful aides and helpers of the Tayledras. Since Triska did not seem bothered by Stardance’s presence, the girl had been allowed to spend most of her time in the company of the clothworker, sometimes seeming like a daughter, sometimes an apprentice. Her father lived in his home Vale of k’Lissa, and since at the time he was unable to care for a youngster, k’Veyas agreed to keep her in their Vale. She had always been a solitary child, and with the hertasi to help her she was allowed exceptional freedom.
Even after Stardance showed signs of her father’s Mage Gift, she still stayed with Triska. The Elders taught her, and she was an apt pupil, but she was more often to be found practicing her skills with the threads and fibers in Triska’s cliffside den than in the heavily warded practice rooms. None of the Tayledras were quite certain what a hertasi could or couldn’t do with magic, but since Triska seemed unconcerned about her adopted daughter’s magical “play” the Elders permitted Stardance to remain with her.