The Dream Spheres - Elaine Cunningham [33]
Khelben looked genuinely surprised. "Why would it? Arilyn is a good woman. Probably far better than you deserve."
This was not the response Danilo had anticipated. "You approve?"
A wry smile touched the archmage's lips, and he made a sweeping gesture that encompassed the bedchamber and came to rest on the portrait of a wondrous, silver-haired lady. "How could I not? You know that Laeral's mother was half-elven."
"No, I didn't," Dan responded. In truth, little was known of Laeral, one of the famed Seven Sisters.
"Laeral's mother was a fine woman, though like many half-elves, she did not have an easy life. Nor did my father, for that matter," Khelben continued.
That bit of intelligence stole the starch from Danilo's legs. He sank down on the edge of Laeral's bed and regarded the archmage with astonishment.
"Your father was half-elven," he said in wondering tones, regarding the mage from whom he had descended. "So there is elven blood in the Arunsun family! The Lady Cassandra carries it and passed it to me."
"Yes, that sounds like the normal order of things," Khelben said testily. "However, there is reason why Cassandra would not thank me for telling this tale or you for repeating it."
Danilo smothered a grin. Though Khelben Arunsun was not, as was commonly believed, Cassandra Thann's younger brother, he still seemed to hold the woman in genuine awe.
"Your secret is safe, and I thank you for speaking it," Danilo said from the heart. A small thing, perhaps, but it seemed to him nothing less than a key to most of his life's questions. Since boyhood, he had been drawn to all things elven and knew not why. He better understood why an elf woman had claimed his heart so completely-and why he cared enough about elven ways that he was prepared to give her up if he must.
"What will you do now?"
The archmage's question surprised Danilo, as did the gentle tone in which it was broached. Usually Khelben gave opinions and orders or asked questions designed to extract information. He was particularly strict with Danilo, in whom he took an oppressively paternal interest, but the archmage's normally stern face was softened by genuine concern. All of this prompted Danilo to do something he had not done for many years: ask advice.
"What do you suggest?"
Khelben's gaze shifted to the portrait of Laeral, then back to the young man. "Find Arilyn and set right this matter between you. If things are as you suspect, and the moonblade's magic has gone unstable, then she will have need of your counsel and aid. But be wary in the use of magic. Perhaps you should devote yourself entirely to bardcraft until this matter is settled."
"Strange words indeed," Danilo murmured.
"Not at all. Magic is a great gift, but some things are more important."
"I am glad to hear you say that, my lord," said an amused, silvery voice behind them. Both men turned to regard Laeral, who stood listening without shame and who seemed not at all concerned by the fact that she was clad in little more than her own silvery hair. She nodded to Danilo, then turned a smile of such intimacy upon Khelben that the younger man wondered if she had truly seen him at all.
Danilo rose at once. "I must be going."
Neither of the great wizards of Blackstaff Tower gave any indication that they had heard him. Despite Khelben's warning, Danilo quickly summoned magic's silver path and stepped into the weft and warp of it. This time the spell held true, and he emerged in his own study.
A low fire glowed in the hearth, and a tray of breakfast pastries had been arrayed under a glass dome and placed on the table beside his favorite chair. All was as he had come to expect from the capable Monroe.
Danilo sank into the chair and rubbed both hands briskly over his face. His unintentional interview with Khelben had not given him much