The Simbul's gift - Lynn Abbey [67]
"Boesild said there were fresh problems with Thay."
"He told you about Nethra?" Alassra asked.
Alustriel nodded. "Something is different in Aglarond, 'Las. You didn't sense a breach in your own bolt-hole?"
"I said I was busy. If Boesild told you about Nethra, you can understand those corpses took all my concentration."
"Of course. But I noticed a difference as soon as I got here."
Alassra swallowed pride with her tea. "Thayan?" she asked, all but conceding that she'd grown so accustomed to Red Wizard incursions that she no longer trusted her ability to detect a new one.
"I'm not sure. What I felt was wild, like the wind before a summer storm."
They both looked out the window where distant lightning silently streaked the sky above the Inner Sea. At this time of year it was sometimes hard for any wizard to sense the difference between man-made magic and the natural interaction between sunlight and salt water. Then Alustriel said:
"If it bears the mark of anything, it bears the mark of the wilderness. I've felt something similar in the High Forest south of Silverymoon."
"The Yuirwood," Alassra sighed. "Something's rising in the Yuirwood." She'd known that-or she should have-when she first heard the colt's name, certainly when she'd found herself deep in both the forest and the past. Suddenly, talking about children seemed preferable again. "What did you do with the child?"
"Why, you don't even know her name, do you? It's Taefaeli."
"She was asleep! I saw no need to wake her up with foolish questions."
Alustriel had the decency to be shocked and the grace to keep her opinions to herself. "I found a very nice woman in the palace below. She's human, but her mother was half-elf and she's got a brother in the forest. She knows what Tay-Fay needs. She'll help her understand that her brother won't be coming back."
"I know that, but how, by the coruscating frosts of Talimesh, do you know that?"
"Children listen and children talk. Tay-Fay told me about Sulalk before I summoned you. She told me what happened to her parents, in the stable when you saved her brother's life and when she told him that you were stealing his colt, the spell-ride to the Yuirwood, and the look in Bro's eyes when the two of you were bargaining."
"All this time, you've known all that and you've been asking me questions as if you didn't." Alassra smiled. Her teeth showed; she didn't care. "Which one of us do you believe, sister?"
"You, of course," Alustriel said quickly. "But, what drew your attention to this Zandilar's Dancer in the first place? A vision? Who is Zandilar?"
"The Old Mage thinks she's one of the goddesses the old Yuir elves worshiped in addition to the Seldarine pantheon-or, maybe, before them. He's been helping me with the research. I've been trying to get him here, as I'm sure you know. Once I had the colt in my stable, I thought… Well, the infamous birthday gift, as you said."
"You know, 'Las, you truly should think this through. A child, if Tay-Fay's any indication…"
Alassra set her cup down. The bowl cracked; the handle broke. "I have thought this through. I'm not planning to have twelve-" She stopped in mid-tirade. She'd just felt a sharp pain on her scalp, as if she'd plucked out an exceptionally well-rooted hair. She glanced out the window where the coming storm hid the moon and stars. "Cold tea and scones! Sundown. I told him I'd be there at sundown." She glared at her sister.
Alustriel scrutinized the specks floating in her tea. "I thought about it when the sun set. He doesn't want to come to Velprintalar… I assumed you knew. I assumed you were letting him keep his horse."
"Well, you assumed correctly-for now, anyway. He had nothing from Sulalk, not even shoes. I left him a knife and my boots. I was going to take him better kit."
Alustriel was on her feet. "We'll take it now. He'll understand."
Alassra started