Sentinelspire - Mark Sehestedt [67]
Lewan swallowed and took a deep breath. "I know, lady. I am trying. Erael'len sleeps as well, and so fat, I can do nothing to wake it. However…"
"I have no time to for your dissimulations, Lewan. Speak."
Lewan's brow wrinkled. He had no idea what dissimulations meant.
"Erael'len is sacred to the Oak Father, a relic of the forest and the life in root, branch, and leaf. Yet I have sat here for days in the bowels of the earth, surrounded by ancient stone, cut off from the life of the wood."
Talieth turned and paced the length of the room while she thought. "You're saying that you need… greenery in hopes of tapping the relic's power? I'm afraid that's not possible, Lewan. Here, in my domain, my wards can protect you. Out in the gardens a hundred prying eyes could see you-and the Old Man has ways of seeing things without spies. The grounds around the Tower of the Sun are the wildest area of the fortress, but taking you there… that is well within his domain. I might as well blow trumpets and present you and the relic to the Old Man as a gift."
"That isn't what I meant, Lady. I don't need to be outside this room. I need to be outside the fortress altogether. In the wild."
Talieth still had her back to him, but she looked over her shoulder, a sly look in her eye. "Is this some plot to escape, Lewan?"
"Lady, you told me that you would shower me with gifts and show me on my way. I am here because I choose to be. Or am I now a prisoner? Have you reconsidered your offer?"
She turned to face him then, and gave him the last thing he'd ever expected from her: a gracious bow. "Forgive me, Lewan. You are right. Other than my own people here, most of my dealings are with nobles and the wealthy who desire my services. Every gesture and tone with them holds hidden meanings. Perhaps I have been a plotter for so long that I now cannot help but see plots where there are none. I meant no insult. You are, of course, still our honored guest. And yes, my offer stands."
Lewan was so stunned by her apology that for several moments he could do nothing but stare.
"Do close your mouth, Lewan," said Talieth, a smile taking the sting out of her words. "Standing there with it hanging open makes you look stupid."
Lewan snapped his jaw shut and forced his attention back to the matter at hand. "I must ask you something, my lady."
"What is it?"
"You said that here, in your private study, I am free from… prying eyes," said Lewan. "Why do you bring me here every day? Why not keep me in my room? I could just as easily study Erael'len there."
"Two reasons," said Talieth. "First, with Ulaan in the tower, your room offers too many… distractions. Secondly, the tower is not warded against those 'other ways of seeing without spies' that I spoke of."
"Then why keep me there?"
"Because if the Old Man should have reason to spy on you there," she said, "and I can't imagine why he would, he would simply see my latest acquisition to our blades. The Old Man is many things, Lewan, but he is the Old Man, and he has precious little interest in watching how you and Ulaan spend your nights. He has not called for a woman of his own since my mother died."
Lewan blushed. "Th-that is part of what I want to speak to you about, lady."
"Ulaan? What of her?"
"Lady, I believe Erael'len will continue to sleep while locked away in this stone fortress. Master Berun had a word for it he learned from his master. Shuret. It means… 'in civilization,' cut off from the wild, from growing things. Allow me to go outside, into the wild-even if only on the nearby mountainside. I believe Erael'len might give up its secrets more freely in the wild. And… and I-"
"Yes? What?"
"What I… have done with Ulaan."
"I've told you that is no concern. She is yours to do with as-"
"No!" said Lewan, more hear in