'Your friend is fine,' the woman said, as if she could guess the direction of at least some of his thoughts. 'And he was in much better shape to begin with than you were when you arrived. The unicorn says that your name is Kellen, you're a Wildmage, and that you fight remarkably well, but he doesn't know much else. Now, since all I know about you is that you escaped the City and the Outlaw Hunt, and that you arrived on my doorstep in a rather pitiable condition, let's begin at the beginning. Tell me, Outlaw, what's your full name?'
He didn't really want to tell her his life story, but—well—she'd more or less earned some answers by taking him in and caring for him without knowing anything about him.
'Kellen… Tavadon,' he admitted reluctantly.
His rescuer looked startled, as if she almost suspected him of playing some kind of a trick on her. Her eyes widened, then narrowed, and her jawline tensed.
'Son of Lycaelon Tavadon?' she asked sharply. 'The Arch-Mage of Armethalieh?'
'Yes…' Kellen admitted warily. It suddenly occurred to him that if the City enforced its rules by such drastic means as the Outlaw Hunt within its borders, it might have enemies outside them.
She knows Father's name. What has he done to her, to her people? Is she going to hate me, because Lycaelon's my father! Or demand some sort of reparation from me? Or throw me back to the Hunt?
'I'm afraid so. Though I'm not exactly in good odor with him, since he's the one who Banished me.'
The woman smiled sardonically, looking enormously like Lycaelon all of a sudden.
'A Tavadon—and an Outlaw to boot. Well, I guess Mother's Mountain blood runs true, little brother.'
Of all the responses Kellen had tried to anticipate, this was not one that had even crossed the threshold of his mind. It was his turn to be startled, and for a moment he wasn't certain he'd heard her correctly.
'Brother?' Kellen said blankly.
'Didn't our loving father tell you?' the woman asked. 'That you had an evil sister, and that you'd turned out just like her? I would have thought he wouldn't be able to resist casting that in your face, if he was Banishing you…'
Suddenly Kellen remembered. His last night in the City—in the cell— his father had said he would come to the same bad end that his sister had. But his sister was dead, killed by the Outlaw Hunt years ago!
If Kellen had been confused before, he was at the edge of panic now, as too many new ideas and too much information crowded in on him all at once. It was one thing to say—back behind the safety of the City walls—that he'd welcome new ideas and complete freedom. It was quite another thing, Kellen was discovering, to be handed both things on a platter.
'Uh… yes. Sort of. Not exactly,' Kellen stammered. 'If you— Are you—' He shook his head just a little, trying to make his thoughts come clearer. 'He said I had bad blood, all right; he said that I'd end up just like my sister. I guess you're… that sister?' he finished meekly.
'Typical of him,' the woman—his sister!—muttered cryptically, staring fixedly at nothing for a moment.
Kellen felt an unsettled mixture of confusion and relief that did much to restore his composure. Confusion, oh my, yes. It wasn't every day that you woke up to discover entirely new family members existed. But relief as well, for this meant one thing for certain; he wasn't completely alone out here. He had a sister—and a beautiful and competent one at that. She must be kind; she'd taken in an Outlawed stranger and had tended him. If luck was with him, she'd let him stay with her until he got something sorted out about making his own way out here. She wouldn't throw her own brother out of her house, would she?
And another sort of relief as well, for the moment that she had named herself as his sister, every bit of desire for her had just—vanished. At least this way—since she was his sister, even if he didn't really know her—his promise to Shalkan would still be easy to keep.
He studied her more closely, trying to see a resemblance between them. But her hair was dark and straight where his was light and curly, and her eyes were violet to his grey. Still, now that he was looking for it, he could see something of their father in her—more than anyone could see in him, anyway.
He had a sister, right here in front of him. And she was alive. Kellen did his best to get used to both ideas.
'He didn't tell me your name,' Kellen offered hopefully.
She sighed and shook her head with disgust. 'Typical. He probably drove it right out of his memory. I'm Idalia—just Idalia. I don't claim his name. Pleased to meet you, Kellen—again.'
She held out her hand, and Kellen shook it solemnly before he, took in the full sense of her words. 'Again? But we've never met. You were Banished before I was bom. You must have been. That's why I don't remember
