She examined the second tree in the same way, with the same results. The small dragon squawked at her from above, which was a small improvement over the ear-biting, if she ignored the large Barrani audience.
"Lord Barian, are these wards now considered active?"
"They are not wards in the modern sense of the word," he replied.
"Meaning?"
"They allow the green to exist in a stable state. Without the wards, crossing the green is a difficult task; it is like-and unlike-the journey through the portal paths."
"But we were here."
"The dreams of Alsanis led us here."
"So-they're not like door wards in any way?"
"No."
"Good." Kaylin reached out her left arm and placed her left palm very firmly on the nearest section of trunk.
* * *
Nothing happened. Her palm felt warm-not hot, and not itchy-but warm. She looked up, peering into the crowd, and met Teela's steady, blue gaze. It got bluer. In Aerian, Kaylin said, "I don't think we'll find the Consort in time, Teela. I don't understand the green. I don't understand the regalia. I don't understand what happened the day you were brought here with eleven other children.
"But I get that they mean for you to be involved, even if you're not the Teller or the harmoniste. We don't figure this out, we don't find her. I know you can survive a lot longer than I can without food-and without heat or air, as well-but a lot longer is not all that significant."
In Aerian, Teela replied. "The green doesn't react to me the way it reacts to anyone else here."
"Join the club."
Teela's lips twitched. "If you have cause to regret this, you're not blaming me."
"Not for that, no." Kaylin's frown was a very familiar expression in the office. "But I have to ask you: Are you getting paid for this leave of absence?"
Teela headed toward the far tree without answering the question.
That was well-done, kyuthe.
What was?
Not one man here-or woman-could achieve what you have just achieved. Please tell me that it was not done in ignorance.
Kaylin said nothing. She felt Lord Lirienne's amusement, but it was slight; beneath it, worry, anger, and very real fear made ready to swallow it whole. He didn't attempt to hide these things from her; he hid them from his kin because he was Lord of the West March.
Kaylin placed her palm against the tree bark for a second time. She did so while facing the other tree. Teela approached it without obvious hesitation, and when she was standing in pretty much the same position that Kaylin was, she nodded. Lifting her arm-her right arm-she placed her palm firmly against the tree's trunk, as well.
Nothing happened.
Nothing happened until the small dragon suddenly shrieked, folded his wings, and dropped in a dead man's dive toward the center of a solid stone basin. Kaylin froze, her eyes rounding, her jaw dropping; she forgot to breathe.
"Kitling!"
Kaylin looked up; she saw Teela's eyes; the color unmistakable even at this distance: they were gold.
* * *
The small dragon didn't strike the stone basin and splat against it. He passed through it. He passed through it as if it were liquid. She pulled her hand from the tree and ran for the basin, lifting the skirts of her dress, although the dress had never impeded movement.
She stopped herself by running into the basin's lip.
"Kaylin."
She looked up. She looked up to see Teela-and only Teela. Every other person in the clearing had disappeared. Teela casually detached herself from the tree and headed toward Kaylin.
"Can you see anyone else?" Kaylin asked her as she drew close.
"Besides you?" Teela spoke Elantran.
"Besides me."
"No."
"Well, at least we're on the same page."
"We probably won't be if you aren't more careful. Are you trying to bash your face in?"
"What? No. I'm trying to see where the dragon went."
"I'm sure he'll find us."
"Oh? How?"
"He's enough of a pain it might be convenient if he stayed away. It's the way my luck has generally worked."
Kaylin snorted. She looked at the clearing. The heart of the green hadn't appreciably changed; it was still definitively not-green. The trees, however, were no longer glowing.
Lirienne? Nightshade?
Silence.
"I don't suppose there are any convenient doors?"
"Not that I can see," Teela replied. She stretched her arms and yawned; she looked incredibly feline. "But we might as well start looking. My guess is that this is as much of an invitation as we're going to get. You are going to explain what the dreams said, right?"
"Which part?"
"The part about bleeding. Or rather, the ‘bleeding now.'"
"Oh, that part." Kaylin winced. "When we hit the tunnels to escape the attackers, we came to a giant, underground trunk. I mean, tree trunk. With roots the size of a small building. Did you see that when you were there?"
Teela was dead silent. It was the wrong silence, but with Teela, it often was. "What makes you think that I've been in those tunnels?"
"Well, Serian said...something. I don't know. I got the impression that everyone in the West March had seen them."
"The inferences you draw from a few words would cause most people to shut up forever. Not every citizen of the West March has had cause to seek the judgment of the green. It is not a guarantee of survival, and only when they face certain death-or worse-will they surrender to it."
"And you-"
"No. I have-I had-my own reasons. This is the first time since the end of my childhood that I have willingly surrendered anything to the green."
"Why?"
"Because you're an idiot," she replied. "I should have known. The moment Nightshade attempted to make his deal, I should have known."
"I don't think Nightshade-"
"Don't think he what? You don't think he planned this? You don't think he manipulated you into the position you now hold?"
"Teela-how could he? The green chooses. He couldn't have known that the green would choose me. He couldn't have known that you'd be here. He certainly couldn't have guessed that the Consort would choose this bloody recitation to visit."
"He knew some part of what Iberrienne intended."
"I don't think Iberrienne understood what Iberrienne intended." Kaylin bit her lip. "But it's all tied up in the past, isn't it? Iberrienne lost someone here. I thought-I thought Iberrienne was younger. He's not, is he? He lost someone. Nightshade lost someone. You lost-"
"Yes." Teela started to pace. She disguised this by pacing in a straight line; Kaylin fell in beside her. Their stride and the even, slow fall of their steps were pure groundhawk.
"How long were you with them?"
"Pardon?"
"I thought-I thought you were all chosen and brought here together."
"We were."
"But you weren't just thrown together before you came."
"No." Teela exhaled. "Kitling, you don't like to talk about your past much. You spent years of your life not talking about it."
Kaylin nodded.
"We knew that your mother had died, that you had grown up in Nightshade. We didn't know every detail of your life between the time your mother died to the time you became our mascot."
"No."
"We don't know it all now."
"Teela-"
"And we don't ask, because it doesn't matter to us. Can you not do the same?"
They walked what would have been a city block before Kaylin replied. "I would-"
"That's not a yes."
"I would, Teela-but I think it does matter. It doesn't matter to me. You're Teela. You're always going to be the person who broke my first chair-"
"It was a shoddy piece of furniture."
"You broke my first lock, too."
"I replaced that."
"And the bed?"
"I only broke the slats." Teela glanced at Kaylin, and added, "But I take your point."
"I think the green is worried about you."
Teela said nothing.
"The Hallionne, too. At least the ones who talked to me." She hesitated. She thought, now, that part of the reason she'd been given the role of harmoniste-and the dress that went with it-was not her role as Chosen, but her friendship with Teela. "I don't know what you understand. If you told me that you understood what the green intended-and why-I'd leave it alone. I would."
Teela gave her a look that defined the word skeptical. "I'll allow that you'd try." She stopped walking. "And to be fair, I don't understand it myself."
"Do you want to?"
"You're remarkably perceptive today." Teela exhaled sharply. "I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the past-because for me, the minute I start, it's not the past. It's the disadvantage of immortal memory. None of the edges are dulled-and none of the pain. We hold long grudges," she added. "Your kin can't. What you think of as a grudge might last a year. Or six months. Or even a decade. That is not a long grudge for the Barrani.
"It takes effort to be here, kitling. It takes effort to see the West March as it is now, and not to walk it as it was then. Every memory of then leads to one place." She smiled. It was not a happy expression. "We spent more than a decade together. We lived and trained together. We were young. Even the Barrani are young at one point-but youth is such a tiny fraction of our lives. We dreamed," she added. "We dreamed of being heroes. Of saving our people. Of defeating the Dragon flights. We dreamed that we would one day be called upon to wield our people's legendary weapons.