The Alabaster Staff - Edward Bolme [78]
With a sigh that was half exhaustion, half relief, Kehrsyn abandoned the search.
"There, you see?" she said to the dragonet. "I'm done. And not a thing out of place."
She dragged herself up into the chair, her joints protesting the sudden change. She stretched her arms up over her head and leaned back, popping her spine to loosen it up. Just as she folded her hands into her lap again, someone knocked at the door.
Kehrsyn froze. Her eyes darted over to the dragonet, who still stared at her, unconcerned.
"Kehrsyn?" Tiglath's unmistakable voice sounded muffled through the door. "Open up."
Bewildered, Kehrsyn moved to the door, and, planting one foot firmly to prevent the door from opening too far, unlocked the deadbolt and cracked it open. She peered through the gap and saw the high priestess looming in the hallway.
"Ordinarily, one does not have to request admission to one's own room," observed Tiglath.
Kehrsyn backed away from the door, letting it swing open as she retired to a spot near the window.
"I had rather expected you'd be more, you know, surprised to see me here," Kehrsyn said.
"I was," said Tiglath. "I got over it."
"What do you mean?" asked Kehrsyn, confused.
Tiglath held out her arm, and the dragonet leaped from the bed, buzzing its wings, and alighted nimbly.
Tiglath kissed its muzzle and stroked its scaly little body, then, as an aside while she petted her creature, said, "Tremor's eyes are my eyes. I see whatever he sees. So while I was surprised to see you enter, I got over it while watching you. Why did you feel compelled to search my room?"
"I had to make sure you weren't behind the attack and the staff and all," said Kehrsyn.
"You don't trust me?" asked Tiglath.
"You yourself said no one is what they seem," parried Kehrsyn. "So because I trust you, by your words I shouldn't. So why did you let me search your room?"
"I wanted to make sure you weren't going to steal anything," said Tiglath as she doted on her pet.
"You don't trust me?" echoed Kehrsyn with a teasing smile.
Tiglath glanced over at her, then turned her attention back to Tremor and said, "I wanted to make sure you weren't going to steal anything."
Kehrsyn's face paled, and her smile vanished in the space between her heartbeats.
"Uh, right," she said as she fished through her sash. "I-I was going to give them back…"
Kehrsyn held Tiglath's keys out to her. Tiglath nodded, seemingly to her pet.
"I know," the priestess said.
"You do?"
"You took nothing," replied Tiglath, crossing over to sit at her desk. "You even left me my secrets." She drew a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "If you'd opened that diary, however," she added, "things would be very different right now."
"Right," said Kehrsyn, who didn't know what else to say, yet felt an acknowledgment was necessary.
"So did you find out what you came to discover?" asked Tiglath.
Kehrsyn sucked in her lips and nodded.
"You don't have the staff," she said.
"Of course not," said the priestess. "It's broken."
Kehrsyn hesitated, wondering how much to divulge. She gritted her teeth, hoping she wasn't about to make a big mistake.
"No," Kehrsyn said, "it's not. What we saw was a decoy. The real one-"
"That was a forgery?" gasped Tiglath.
"Uh, yeah," she said, pulling Eileph's forgery from her sash and showing it to the priestess.
"Now, that is truly remarkable," said Tiglath in wonder, reaching for it.
Kehrsyn didn't let her touch the staff, but showed her the crack running around the center.
"See?" she said. "I had it repaired."
"That's a fine job," said Tiglath, squinting at the workmanship.
"So that means that the real staff was really stolen," said Kehrsyn. "I had to make sure it wasn't