He walked down the old wooden staircase and into the courtyard to see dinner preparations taking place. The long table stood under a covered patio with benches and chairs surrounding it. Scribes and singers hurried to place steaming dishes and plates of fruit to share. This scribe house, like most, took their meals communally. Leo was glad. Eating with strangers was the best way to make new friends.
He saw Alyah walking toward him and raised a hand. “Hello, sister!”
“Did you rest well?” she asked.
“I did, thank you.”
She nodded. “The cook was informed that you love Thai food, so she’s prepared quite a feast. She was very excited about a new visitor with a large appetite. I hope you are hungry.”
Leo grinned. “Starving. Always.”
Alyah smiled. “Do you really eat six times a day?”
“Did they warn you about me?”
“There may have been a note at the bottom of the introduction e-mail.”
Alyah and Leo walked to the table, which had attracted most of the Irin from the surrounding rooms. Leo counted four Irin and two Irina who appeared to be warriors along with two Irina in the kitchen and another Irin who stood watch at the gate. A surprisingly balanced table for a scribe house. Across the globe, scribe houses favored males. It was a near-universal tradition.
Dara sat at the head of the table with her brother on her left. She was a short, round singer with hair twisted into an elaborate bun at the back of her neck. Her features were sweet and pleasing, though her dark eyes revealed the sharp mind of a keen strategist. Leo suspected that Dara saw everything. Rith, her brother, could have been her twin. His hair was clipped short and he wore a neat beard, but his features were the same. His stocky build, the same. His gaze was just as arresting.
“Leo.” Dara rose and motioned to the seat on her right. “Please come and sit with us. Alyah, if you would take his other side.”
“Thank you, Watcher,” Leo said.
“You are very welcome.” She sat and lifted a glass of beer. The others at the table joined her. “Leo of Istanbul, find rest at our table.”
“Well met and well greeted, Dara of Bangkok.” Leo lifted his glass and looked down the table. “I find joy and rest with my brothers and sisters.”
The words had not changed in hundreds of years, but the fact that Leo was actually eating with both his brothers and his Irina sisters delighted him. The scribe houses of Europe could learn much from this model, and Leo was eager to question how Dara had integrated Irina warriors so quickly into her house. They sat and plates of fruit were passed around the table.
“May I ask, Watcher—”
Dara held up a hand and Leo paused.
“Technically,” she said, “I am not the watcher of this house. I am only standing in place for my mate, who is in council in Vienna at the present time. I apologize for interrupting. You have questions.”
The servers went around the table, piling heaps of fragrant rice and curries on plates. A whole fish appeared in front of him, and Leo’s mouth watered.
“I do have questions,” he said, trying to ignore the food for a moment. “I count three Irina warriors at your table. May I ask if they are recent additions to the house?”
Leo noticed that Alyah paused, as did Rith. He wondered if they considered the question impertinent.
“I ask this sincerely,” Leo said. “And with all respect. Integration of Irina warriors into scribe houses has proceeded very slowly in Europe and the Middle East. Many on the singers’ council in Vienna have been hesitant to press for it, so it has been left up to individual watchers. Unfortunately, not all of them are utilizing the resources available to them. I know of a dozen singers of Mikael’s line in Rěkaves alone who are ready and waiting for assignments to scribe houses.”
Dara nodded. “Please eat. I will answer your question, but do not let your stomach continue bellowing, brother.”
A scatter of laughter around the table, and Leo eagerly dug into his food. It was, as he’d suspected, delicious and very spicy. He was glad the beer came in large bottles.
Dara picked up her spoon as she spoke. “I believe your explanation answers your question, Leo. I have overseen this house with Anurak for over fifty years. Because of this, singers have always been welcome here, though prior to the Battle of Vienna, there were only a few who ever fought openly with us.”
“But they did fight on their own?”
Dara’s expression revealed little. “Irina have always fought. In their own way.”
“And now they fight with you.” Leo used his spoon to taste the curry. Heaven.
“Some do,” Dara said carefully. “Some prefer their independence. This house is unique. The majority of scribe houses are still overseen by Irin watchers. When they are given the chance to recruit warriors, they recruit from their own training houses, which are full of other scribes.”
Though a few murmured conversations were taking place at the other end of the table, most of the attention focused on Dara.
“What advice would you give me to share with our leaders?” Leo asked. “Many want more Irina participation but do not know what steps to take.”
“If you want more singers in your scribe houses, you must have more Irina in leadership,” Dara said. “Not watchers, for they are appointed by the Watchers’ Council. But trainers. Weapons masters. Most of our intelligence is gathered by Irina assets.”
“And watchers’ mates, obviously,” Leo said, smiling. “A mated Irin couple at the head of the house is always more powerful.”
“Clearly,” Rith said quietly. “But many of us are still wanting for mates. Of the five singers in our house, only one is unmated.”
“And she will likely remain so,” quipped Alyah.
Rith smiled, but his eyes were tired. “We have four unmated warriors,” he said. “Including myself. Our people are still working out of balance. It is contrary to the Creator’s wish.”
“I agree,” Leo said. “But in your house I see hope, brother. Scribes and singers together. It is balanced.”
“Thank you.”
“Now,” Dara said. “To the present problem. These so-called ‘free’ Grigori. I do not like to admit that I didn’t know of them prior to your watcher’s revelation in Vienna. To know that there have been Grigori among us who might have been trying to change their fate and live a more honorable life is… unsettling. At the same time, I am not sure I am confident of their motives. They could easily be a threat.”
“We cannot ignore that most Grigori still hunt humans,” Leo said. “Even those with no living sire often hunt. While I do hope to build a point of connection between your house and the free Grigori here, Irin protection is very necessary, particularly in a country like Thailand that sees so many visitors.”
Dara nodded. “Travelers have always been Grigori’s favorite prey because they are vulnerable. That is why the house here and the house in Phuket are quite large for the size of the city. But we may have a population of these free Grigori as well. Particularly in the city of Chiang Mai in the north. Local scribes have reported that the city has not seen a tourist attack in over two years. Could you tell me why that might be? We are optimistic. But… cautious.”
Leo said, “I cannot know for certain. It’s possible that the free Grigori there have cleared the city of threats to their control. I don’t know Chiang Mai. Is it very large?”
“No. A medium-sized city, though one with many foreign residents. Very international. It’s situated in the mountains in the north.”
“But you’ve seen these Grigori?”
“We’ve had reports from local scribes,” Rith said, “but we don’t have a clear number. It could be a few Grigori. It could be a large group.”
“If a Grigori community wanted to hide there, would it be difficult?”
“In the city?” Rith asked. “There are Irin and Irina who train in Chiang Mai and keep an eye on things. They would have noticed a large group in the city. But in the surrounding hills? It would be possible to conceal a large group there.”
“If there is a large group outside the city, it’s possible they are concealing sisters.”
Rith asked, “Sisters?”
Leo felt all the attention in the courtyard zero in on him as he explained the existence of the kareshta, as he had to Alyah in the car. Questions came quickly.
“You have seen them with your own eyes?”
“They have magic?”
“How many are there?”
“Voices? They hear the voices as we do?”
“Your own watcher’s mate?”
“Are they violent?”
“Are they mad?”
Leo patiently explained the history as well as he knew it and the mandate given by the Irin and Irina councils to find and help the kareshta.
Just as he had in other cities, Leo perceived the same sense of combined dread and pity for these women who were so powerless to control their magic. Also, the same veiled anticipation from the males in the room that, just possibly, there were more women of a related race. The wish for more potential mates was rarely stated openly, but when Leo explained that some kareshta in Europe had taken Irin mates, he knew the Bangkok scribes would see the possibilities as well.