Gallel's Heir

Chapter 11.2 Discussion

Dylin leaned back against the stones of the hearth with her lavender blanket around her shoulders. Lianna had snuck out of Gallel to go to Ophia's, to help her get ready for the Kampten Feast of Lights. With Turbia's arrival, the guards must have been distracted, or they just followed her. Canúden reclined on the settee and watched her fidgeting.

"This is intolerable," she said.

"Tamil is a creepy looking woman," said Canúden, "but anything will be better than the stupid war."

Sunlight from the balcony angled into the room, reflected off Canúden's dark hair, and filtered softly onto the rug and the pale wood floor. Dylin brushed curls from her face, then continued stirring spices into boiling water in the kettle for tea. Despite the frost on the glass panes, their room felt warm and bright, even if it was inside Gallel.

"Tutang will be squirming right now," said Canúden. "I almost wish I could see that, him and Tamil together."

"Few people have that effect on him. What glorious trait does she possess that could so cow him?"

"Conquering physiognomy, perhaps?" said Canúden. "She is the winner, and Tutang, at heart, is a simpering coward."

"Tamil has terrible health." Dylin's arms flailed. "You saw her, she supported herself with a cane. She's got gout, I'm sure, stiff as she walks. Probably prone to the wasting sickness. Enough to give her a horrible temper. She'll be dead in a few years. I wasn't sure she could make it up the stairs."

"Yet Tutang," said Canúden, "who can pull a bull by the horns, I'm sure, trembled at the sight of her. It was wonderful, the way he followed her like an injured puppy."

"How could someone like her, physically weak as she obviously is, be so powerful?" she said.

Canúden shrugged. "You have a theory, I can feel it in your head."

"Wars happen, even pointless wars like this one, even with a place like Turbia where we've had peace with them for generations. While noteworthy, and while the name of Turbia will always make me shudder, I didn't seriously make the connection. Until I saw Tamil in person." She stared at her restless fingers. "There is a frightening woman living in Turbia."

When her silence continued, he said, "Yes. Her name is Tamil."

"No. This is not a time for jokes." Her arms shook in agitation. "This woman is a powerful mind mage. The night that Gizelle died, I died too."

He waited for her go on; she had told him only scarce details over the years. Her reticence to speak of this event alone told him of its importance. In her rare comments over their years together, he'd gathered that Dylin had a near-death experience somehow related to Gizelle's death and her obtaining Gizelle's will, and his old friend had trained her through some kind of mind connection. He stood and came to her side. Her hand was ice.

"I've never felt you so agitated," he said. "What about Turbia coming here has you so upset?"

"I met the Escort, I met him, and he said it wasn't my time to pass to the Otherworld."

"You met the Escort."

"The woman who killed Gizelle also ripped her heart out."

"Ripped... her heart out?"

"Have you ever noticed a fist-sized hole in a tree near the path outside your land? It's chest high, in the trunk."

"I... think birds have built nests in it over the years. No one has reported meeting the smiting Escort for a thousand years." He returned to the settee, and she sat with him.