“I suppose we did ask a lot of the gods,” Paks said. “That was a long way—time and space both.”
“I still think it’s impossible,” Kieri said. “All I wanted to do was see the place. But then, I was told having the elvenhome magery was impossible.” And meeting the Old Human dead and alive returning from it that Midwinter night had seemed impossible. He shivered, suddenly cold with all the impossibilities.
“In here,” he heard Arian say. King’s Squires brought blankets and trays of food and drink.
Very shortly, he and Paks lay wrapped in blankets and propped up on pillows; a fire crackled on the hearth. Arian sat in his usual chair, now set between them. A mug of sib spiked with honey and a pastry cleared his mind, though he still felt tired and sore.
“You are both reckless fools,” she said when Kieri had finished the first mug of sib. “You had no one with you—not even one King’s Squire—you might both have broken your heads falling down—and what if an iynisin had come through?”
“I didn’t think of that,” Kieri said, startled. Why had he not thought of that? The use of magery could be sensed by others who used it. As for no one around …”I did not want to expose anyone else to whatever danger there might be.”
Arian heaved a sigh of the kind that conveys entire paragraphs. Kieri winced. “Fools,” she said again. “A king—the only king we have, the only lord of an elvenhome we have, the only father our children have—and you still think you should face danger alone? Yes, you had a paladin with you—” The glance she sent Paks could have pierced steel, Kieri thought. “And I do not doubt, had it come to that, she would have warded you as much as she was able. But she, too, was bound into the magery. A paladin is not immortal; she could have died of it for all you knew and been no help at all.”
“Gird was there,” Paks offered.
Arian’s snort was eloquent. “Gird is your patron, Paks. Not Kieri’s. Gird is always with you, yes. But did Gird save you from falling on the floor like a sack of rocks?”
“I admit we should have had someone on guard,” Kieri said. “I did not think of iynisin, and I do not know why, since I know they were involved.” He took a deep breath. The lethargy was fading now—how long had it been? He realized he had no idea. One glass? Two?
“Your eyes have gone blank again,” Arian said. “Drink more sib.”
Partway through the next mug, he fell asleep and woke in his own bed to the sound of babies nearby, not crying but making other baby sounds and … splashing? Sunlight streamed in the window. He sat up. Arian and one of the nursery maids were bathing the babies; as he watched, Arian lifted Falki, laid him on the towel in her lap, and rolled him up like a cheese roll. Tilla kicked a final time as the nursery maid lifted her.
“I’ll take them, my lady,” the nursery maid said after bundling Tilla in another towel. She went out with a babe in each arm.
Kieri looked at Arian; she tried to keep a serious face but then grinned. “I’m fine,” he said. “I don’t even ache where I hit the floor.”
“You scared me,” she said. “If—”
He was up and by her side and laid a finger on her lips. “I’m sorry I scared you. The worst didn’t happen, thank Falk and Gird and all the gods, and I won’t be that careless again. I will try to understand the compulsion that made it seem reasonable. No one was there—”
“But Paksenarrion.”
Kieri shook his head. “It wasn’t Paks. I’m sure of that, because—now that I can remember it all—she asked if we should have someone in the room.”
“Gird, then?”
“I don’t think Gird could affect me. Falk might, but I didn’t sense Falk there. But something … I can’t believe the danger from iynisin never occurred to me.” He stretched, then started dressing. “I can’t believe we did what we did—what I think we did—and I can’t believe your grandfather didn’t know it. If he could tell it was a mix of elven and human mageries, why couldn’t he tell it was me?”
“Would that have made more sense to you? That you were going to travel back in time to enchant them?”
“I suppose not,” Kieri said. “I would have thought it even more impossible.” He pulled on one sock, then another. “Where is Paks?”
“I don’t know. I had Queen’s Squires carry her to her room; I haven’t seen her since. She has the freedom of the palace.”
Kieri finished dressing and belted on his sword. “Someone should check on her. She looked worse than I felt.”