“She breeds a new expectation — a new challenge into their souls. Separation will no longer mean despair. Disagreement with one’s companion will no longer breed quite the intensity of fear it once has. They see the power of a Shadow in its own right — not merely as the companion’s pawn.”
The Speaker frowned. “Was this not always our intention?”
“Our ideal — yes. Realized? In truth, less often than we would hope; Elana’s name will be remembered by those below. The students have their own litany of history, and she has become an intricate part of it. And not just among my trainees, Speaker. The young blue-sighted apprentices question if they should simply be Seers — or if there is more. Yes… these are subtle winds our Elana sets in motion, but long felt, I would wager.”
He sighed, perplexed. “Don’t you make more of it than it is? We’ve had Blue Sights turn Shadow before. We’ve had a few survive the separation… yes, maimed and confused, but they have survived. I don’t see the difference here.”
“The difference is she has returned whole! Whatever tomorrow brings, they will remember today! She has walked among them and shared their bread. She has faced the Maltar separate from her shadowmate, and her companion sought her — even as Shadow would seek. The difference is she has created our ideal and lived time enough to show it to them. She is not a tale embellished by teachers for learning, Speaker. She is flesh, and bears hope. Elana has been accepted — as lover — by her companion. Do you realize how each Sighted apprentice who dreams of being a Shadow is frightened by the thought of finding themselves bonded to one who despises the Blue Sight? She has not only found herself bonded to a tolerant companion, but to an off-worlder! And not merely accepted, but embraced. If such an unlikely match could succeed, then the forging of well-knit bonds with one of Aggar becomes so much more of a possibility.”
He had to admit her reasoning explained the requests that had passed across his desk in these last few days. More of the Sighted apprentices were contemplating the change. The Council had been worried that too many Seers would grow to guard this Keep, but now it appeared that the Mother was finding her own use for these blue-sighted children… a finer use too. A handful of Seers could easily do the work of the Council and Keep. But the subtle interweaving of Blue Sight and ordinary people could alter Aggar’s path in a way that would ensure the Mother’s balance. Patience and time — perhaps they would find the Spring of Life.
The Council Master folded his hands into the sleeves of his robes. “Perhaps we should reconsider this tradition of ours — of not naming a Shadow to history.”
The Mistress smiled. “The potential at this crossroads is great.”
“At least — she might be named as the Blue Sighted Shadow. The first of many?”
“A nice, diplomatic compromise, Speaker… as always.”
His dark eyes sparkled with the Old Mistress’ teasing. For a moment, the man wondered, who had done the negotiating today?
† † †
Elana shook her head. Left-footed, every one of them. She smiled tolerantly as the adolescents turned to walk back towards her — they were trying, and some were improving. So perhaps all was not in vain.
“Remember not to pull up until you are past the mark,” she repeated at the next pair readied into a crouch. “If that mark were a snake, would you slow to bait it? Now… ready — off!
“No! Don’t stand so fast — lean!”
“They do much better,” Telias murmured, joining Elana at the starting marks.
“Do they?” Elana ruefully met the other’s sapphire gaze. “Have I grown cynical? Or am I merely out of practice as instructor?”
“Neither. I don’t know how you ever found the patience for us. It seems there is this magical day in which each foundling transforms into a well-coordinated candidate, but for some, I am hard pressed to imagine the date.”
Elana laughed. She could well commiserate with Telias’ frustrations, and she did not envy the honor Telias had been handed when the woman assumed the duties of the Eldest Prepared.
“But I did not come to supervisor races,” Telias said. “The hawkers received a message from the wastelands this dawn.”
“From the healer Melysa?” Elana prompted eagerly, thinking of the small eitteh she had sent to her charge.
“The same. She included news for you. Your eitteh is well and will be walking by spring. She has chosen to adopt the healer’s caverns as home. Melysa thought you would like to know.” Telias smiled gently, reading Elana’s relief plainly. “You shared much with the winged one, did you not?”
Elana nodded. “We wouldn’t have returned safely without her.”
Almost wistfully, Telias sighed. “There are times I envy you your animal sense.”
“And there are times I have envied you your lack of it,” Elana retorted with a grin. “Life has enough responsibilities without seeking to add more.”
“It certainly has,” Telias agreed. With a comical frown she glanced about at the students, who were growing rather impatient. “I suppose I should take them from you. You’ve been out here several hours between the tumbling groups and this lot.”
“I haven’t minded,” Elana admitted quietly. “It is a good way to pass the time.”
Telias stared at her hard for a moment, then nodded. “You’re looking better than you did at breakfast.”
What Telias did not say was that “better” was still very poor indeed. Elana’s hands trembled now, but working on running and tumbling maneuvers did not call attention to such tremors. Vying with the spoon and porridge had not been so graceful a task, however.
“What about a last sprint?!” Telias challenged lightly, raising her voice to draw the trainees into the bout. “A mass troop? Send them off to the bath house with something to feel good about?” Then her voice dropped to a murmur. “And send you off for a nap? I’ll handle the endurance laps this afternoon.”
Elana nodded, but teased, “You’re so confident that these gangly scheafea will outdo me?”
Shouts of protest turned them both to the adolescents standing about them. And the trainees demanded their chance. “You were close yesterday, were you not, Sa’ran?” Elana smiled at the tallest boy.
“I was closer the day before!” a lithe, small woman of eight seasons interjected quickly. “One of us will have you today!”
“Will you indeed, Desl?” It was a jovial challenge that warmed Elana. On her first day back these trainees had been too frightened of tiring her to risk such a boast. She was pleased they were learning about speed — and about inner strengths.
“Enough!” Telias threw her hand high. “To the marks!”
The lifestone stabbed beneath her wristband, and Elana absently loosened the leather as she took her place.
The boy Sa’ran looked down at her as he jostled a little more elbow room from the pack. He grinned then. “Today — I will catch you!”
“Now…”
“Remember,” Elana said, still the instructor, “run through the mark. Do not pull up… Ready…”
The stone throbbed again, and she blinked, looking downfield.
“…Off!”
Her toes pushed, her legs drove, and she felt her body leap forward through the heavy weight of her exhaustion. But the speed was there. Her stride lengthened and she moved a step in front of the others —
The stone flamed beneath her skin, and she slowed suddenly, unconscious of the trainees rushing by. Dazed, she stopped — and turned, lifting her leather-bound wrist. Facing the terraced hill and the Keep above, she suddenly realized what it was. With a cry she was off for the steps.
Telias turned around in concern. She glanced upwards, but she could make out nothing in the gloomy overcast. Then the shining ship dropped into view. Shouting, she darted for the stairs herself, and on the terrace above the Council members turned too.
The imperial shuttle was returning.
Elana took the steps two at a time, running across the stone terraces
only to bound up the next staircase. With a speed that would have astounded her for any lesser reason, she raced over the last few levels and past the elders. Her hands snatched at the banister as she slammed to a breathless halt.
Nothing, she thought, had ever looked so beautiful as that white-and-gray craft settling into the courtyard below. Nothing — except the sight of the woman emerging from the portal.
Elana drank in the vision of Di’nay’s tall figure dressed differently now — as a Sister. Her heart rose in her throat as Elana discovered she liked the fact that her Amazon could look like a woman. Soft kid boots bound her feet as white pants showed the strength of thighs and the soft curve of hips. The ruddy orange knit sweater was bulky, but it did not flatten her chest as the taut jerkin had, and Elana felt incredibly proud to know that this woman was here for her.
Diana set aside the small duffel bag and looked above to see Elana — and the straggling trainees of the Keep staring down at her. But her gaze sought only one, and with a wave of her hand she broke her lover’s trance.
Elana rushed down the steps. Neither of them cared who was watching as she flung herself across the courtyard into Di’nay’s arms.
Arms closed and lifted — as strong as she had remembered them. And lips kissed hers as desperately… as tenderly as she had dreamed. “You are here!” Diana rasped, her lips trailing across Elana’s flushed cheek. “I was so afraid — ”
“My dearest Di’nay!” and she pulled her lover’s mouth back to hers, assuaging their grief in the best way she knew how. Finally, slowly, their breath drew in around their kiss, and Di’nay’s arms loosened enough to let Elana’s feet find the ground. Then tenderly their lips parted and eyes opened. Smiling, Elana breathed, “Yes, I am here… here as I promised.”
“You are not well.” Diana brushed the stray wisps of hair back from her face. In concern her fingers traced the bruised hollows beneath the sapphire eyes, and she felt the faint tremors in her lover’s body. “You are not well at all.”
“Nothing that seeing you won’t cure,” Elana teased joyfully. “I am all right, Di’nay. In truth, I am. Believe me. Now that you are here, I will be even better.”
She did believe her. Diana knew that that was the trouble. Diana remembered a similar reassurance at Melysa’s, and she recognized how often her lover had used such cryptic phrases. She felt her concern rise again. She had been blind.
“Diana?”
They turned to find Cleis standing in the doorway of the shuttle. She nodded faintly to Elana. “Tomorrow, this time?”
Tomorrow? Elana felt her throat close, and Di’nay quietly said, “Yes. Thank you…” and the door slid shut before Elana could decipher the pain in the younger Amazon’s face. By the Mother’s Hand, the woman had looked stricken.
Diana picked up her small bag. With an arm around Elana she steered them both back from the shuttle as the engine began to whine.
Tomorrow? Elana thought again, her heart thudding painfully, but she pushed the pain aside as the craft lifted. She would be thankful for any small time she could have with this woman; there was much that could happen within an evening’s passing, was there not? She dared not even wish that hope into words, though, and as the shuttle disappeared, she turned Di’nay to greet the approaching elders.
“It is a great pleasure to meet you again, especially under better circumstances.” The Council Speaker smiled brightly, extending his hands.
As the Amazon accepted the Speaker’s greetings, Elana exchanged a smile with the Mistress. Stubbornness they both knew well in others — and in themselves.
“As Mistress here I welcome you to this Keep,” the older woman said in her turn, but as Diana bent near she added softly, “It is good to see you again, young Amazon. How does your woman-friend?”
“Well, thank you, Mistress. She returns home in two days’ time.”
“I don’t believe you’ve met Telias, our Eldest Prepared.” The Council Speaker gestured at the young woman beside him.
Telias nodded hesitantly, daunted by the intensity of the woman’s amarin.
“I am honored.” Diana returned her nod politely, remembering another Eldest Prepared, reminded by the familiar way Telias’ gaze danced across her face.
The Speaker’s pleasant tenor directed her towards the curious throng of adolescents above on the patio and steps. “Telias and Elana have just been putting these youngsters through their paces.”
“You must forgive them,” the Mistress said, feigning annoyance. “They are the gangly ones of seven and nine tenmoons, and their manners are sorely lacking.”
Diana grinned at the eager, inquiring faces and admitted, “There is nothing to forgive. They do no harm.”
“If you like being a fish in a pond,” the old woman scoffed. With a wave of her hand she snapped, “Telias! Find them something more suitable to do. Or I will!”
“Yes, Mistress.” She nodded quickly to their guest and left.
The Mistress stepped forward with a mischievous glint in her eyes, and gently slipped a hand through the Speaker’s arm. “These two need time to themselves. There is nothing so news-worthy that young Elana can’t tell our guest of it later.”
Diana half-bowed as the Mistress guided the Council Speaker away. And then her smile softened as her gaze returned to her lover.
“You look tired,” Elana murmured, “and cold. How did you expect to survive in only a sweater? You — in the middle of winter?”
“I didn’t count on standing here in the wind,” Diana teased, gathering up her bag. “And you’re not at all cold?”
“I’ve been quite warm working with the trainees, thank you. Come. Inside. Neither of us is going to last long out here.” But the glowing warmth they were sharing had nothing to do with the weather.
“I’ve been worried about you,” Diana murmured as they walked through the endless halls of the Keep.
“And I about you,” Elana returned. “How is Cleis? She looked — strained.”
“Her ribs still need tending, but she will wait for the care of the witches n’Shea.”
“And her lung?”
“Mending well. You were right. There was time enough.”
It was the same room they had shared before, but Diana realized she actually felt awkward as she set aside her bag. It was strange to stand here in white pants and knitted sweater, devoid of the Southern Trader’s protective garb.
“Word about Eitteh came,” Elana said as she snatched an armful of clothes from the bed. “She will walk by spring. She’s taking up residence with Melysa.”
“We spoiled her with cooked meats, do you think?”
“Very likely.” Elana was suddenly nervous as she backed towards the door. She nodded at the empty hearth. “Would you start the fire? I — I’ll only be a moment. After the running, I need a bath.”
“Yes, certainly.” Diana smiled reassuringly, a bit amused at the woman’s stuttering. “Take your time. I’ll be fine.”
With a racing heart that had nothing to do with hurrying, Elana nodded and fled. Dear Mother, she had forgotten how beautiful Di’nay was. She was embarrassed that all she wanted in this world at this moment was to climb into bed and hold her.
† † †
Chapter Fourteen
Diana smiled fondly as she munched on a piece of bread and swirled hot tea around in its mug. Someday perhaps Elana would let her return the favor of simple tasks such as tending to the food.
“Good, they did not send the lexion,” Elana noted happily, shutting the door behind her, her skirt swirling about her calves. “There are times I doubt that they ever listen to me.”
Diana liked the way the blue weave of the tunic reflected in her lover’s eyes. “I assume you told them to send the meat and cheese instead?”
Elana nodded, kneeling down on the other side of the footstool that held the tray. “I thought you’d prefer it. Lexion was distinctly missing on the platter at Mattee’s.”
Lovingly their gaze
searched the other’s face, delighting. Then the fire crackled, as eyes met.
“Have I told you how beautiful you are with your hair down?” Diana felt the warmth of Elana’s blue touch and hugged her nearer, before she said, “Thank you.”
Elana released Di’nay, biting her lip nervously. “The Speaker’s apprentice stopped me in the corridor. He is asking again if we would join the Ten for mid-day meal. I told him no.” She looked to Di’nay tentatively. “Was that right?”
With a long drawn out sigh, Diana felt the weight of the world return. She supposed it would be best, politically, to accept. After all, it was quite an honor.
“This is my home.” Elana studied the tiny flowers tooled into her wristband. “You are my guest. You need do nothing here you’d rather not do.”
“Nehna?” Diana grinned. “You’ve something you’d rather we do instead?”
Elana swallowed hard. A tentative smile began to play across her lips. “Left to me, Di’nay… I’d bolt the door.” Her voice grew rich and low. “Lead you to bed….” Her eyes lifted boldly. “And never let you go.”
Hunger and politics were obliterated in the heat of blue flame, and breathlessly Diana whispered, “The door is already bolted….”
† † †
Diana was awakened by the crackling pop of a log disturbing the night’s peace. The wood settled with a small splay of sparks, and dreamily she let her eyes slip closed again. Beneath her cheek, the satiny softness of Elana’s stomach lured her to memories of their twilight hours. As she lay curled about her lover, Diana realized she was happier than she had ever been. It was the quiet sort of happiness that Elana had introduced into her life that she was cherishing — and not simply the feel of a lover’s arms. It held the peace of a homecoming, and she recognized that it had been missing in her life for much longer than the scant years she had spent on Aggar.
Shadows of Aggar (Amazons of Aggar) Page 54
