Exile's Honor

:And if you point out it was her idea, it gives her more validity in her own right.:

:Also true.: He was glad that Sendar was seeing to it that Selenay was brought along as the Heir-in-fact as well as the Heir-in-name, but it meant a lot of work. Still, better a lot of work now than trying to bring her up to the job later, in a crisis. Because kings, even the kings of Valdemar, were mortal, and no matter what the circumstances, King Sendar's death would precipitate a crisis.

'Now, is there any sign of a repercussion down there along the Karse Border from this incident?' Sendar asked, and Talamir gladly turned the subject to the simpler one of espionage reports and troop movements. Well, relatively simpler.

'At the moment, the best guess is that the incident has been completely suppressed,' Talamir replied. 'There are no reports, not even rumors, from what our informants can tell us. We don't even really know which little village Kantor won him out of, they're keeping it so quiet. We think it's Sunsdale, because that's the only one that recently beat off bandits, but there's no word of anyone escaping the Fires from there.'

'It must be an acute embarrassment to them,' Sendar speculated. 'Good. Let's hope it stays that way. I would rather they didn't have any more excuses to prod at us down there.'

'You have a talent for understatement, Majesty,' Talamir replied, rubbing his brow absently with one knuckle. ''Prod' is not precisely how I would put it. But the mission you sent me on in the first place is a complete success; Joyeaus has got a Border-watch based on the old fire-watchtowers everywhere along the Border except on Holderkin lands—and there's enough overlap that nothing larger than a bandit troop is going to slip past, even there.'

'Then the damned, stiff-necked Holderkin can fight off their own bandits,' Sendar growled, 'And may they wallow in their pride until they choke on it!'

Her father's outburst caught Selenay by surprise, and she directed a look of shock at Talamir. Talamir just raised his eyebrows in a silent signal that promised I'll tell you later. She nodded very slightly.

'Joyeaus promised that she can have word to Haven of real troop movements within half a day at the worst,' he continued. 'It isn't just on our side of the Border that those old watchtowers exist. We can see theirs, and they can see ours, and there has been unofficial cooperation among the foresters for generations about alerting each other to forest fires.'

Sendar snorted. 'Fire doesn't stop at the Border no matter how many guards you post.'

Talamir nodded. 'The point is, of course, that we can see their watchtowers, and now ours will be manned in or out of fire season. And we've got one more safeguard in place. If one of our informants has a message too urgent to be sent by hand and he can get to one of the fire towers, he'll light a fire beacon or flash a mirror—on their side. Not a big one, or for long, but it will be a signal. That will warn the local highborn that something is coming, and from what direction, which means we'll have even earlier warning, if not the specifics.'

'Remind me to find some appropriate way to thank my idiot South-Border highborn for having the sense to cooperate with each other for a change,' Sendar growled, though to Talamir's ears, the 'growl' sounded pleased and relieved.

'Remind me' actually meant 'Talamir, go figure it out for me,' of course. This time, however, it was a request that had been anticipated from the moment that Joyeaus had gotten all of the heads of the noble families to sit down at the same table and begin ironing out their differences. That young woman had the most remarkable talent for diplomatic maneuvering and soothing ruffled feathers that Talamir had ever seen. A touch of Empathy helped, of course, but mostly it was a knack for saying exactly the right thing at the right time, and being exquisitely sensitive to interpersonal nuances. She'd been utterly wasted on riding circuits....

'I'll see to it, Majesty,' Talamir murmured, glad that there was at least one small task that would be relatively easy to discharge.

Unlike the untimely arrival of that unlikeliest of Trainees....

'Now, what about that tannery that Lord Wordercan wants to put in?' Sendar continued. 'He's been nagging at me for the last week. I know it's something he wants, but I'm not sure the market can absorb that much more leather.'

Talamir bent his mind to the business of the Kingdom, allowing himself to put the matter of Trainee Alberich aside for the moment—untimely, unlikely, and oh so inconvenient as he was....

3

ALBERICH looked dubiously into the mirror at himself. The Healers had done a better job on his face than he ever would have thought possible, but nevertheless, he was scarred, and scarred badly. He looked as if someone had beaten his face with a red-hot whip several years ago. At least the scars weren't a livid, half-healed red, or he'd be frightening children and horses. His weathered tan had faded as well in the time he'd spent recovering, and he was thinner, not that he'd been carrying any extra weight before. His cheekbones seemed especially prominent, and his mouth—