He accepted the bowl of stewed meat and dried vegetables with a nod of thanks, and began to eat with his fingers and a strange, crystalline knife hardly longer than his hand. When Tarma calmly began her own portion, Kethry did the same, but couldn't help glancing at their visitor under cover of eating.
He impressed her, that was certain. There was an air of great calm and patience about him, like that of an ancient tree, but she sensed he could be a formidable and implacable enemy if his anger was ever aroused. His silver hair had made her think of him as ancient, but now she wasn't so certain of his age. His face was smooth and unlined; he could have been almost any age at all, from stripling to oldster.
Then she discovered something that truly frightened her; when she looked for him with magesight, he wasn't there.
It wasn't a shielding, either -- a shield either left an impression of a blank wall or of an absolute nothingness. No, it was as if there was no one across the fire from them at all, nothing but the plants and stones of the clearing, the woods beyond, and the owlet sitting in a young tree.
The owlet sitting in a young tree!
It was then she realized that he was somehow appearing to her mage-sight as a part of the forest, perfectly blended in with the rest. She switched back to normal vision and smiled to herself. And as if he had known all along that she had been scanning him -- in fact, if he were practiced enough to pull off what he was doing, he probably did -- he looked up from his dinner and nodded at her.
'The banner of the Hawk's Children has not been seen for seasons,' he said breaking the silence. 'We heard ill tales. Tales of ambush on the road to the Horse Fair; tales of death come to their very tents.'
'True tales,' Tarma replied, the pain in her voice audible to Kethry... and probably to Moonsong. 'I am the last.'
'Ah. Then the blood-price -- '
'Has been paid. I go to raise the banner again; this, my she'enedra, goes with me.'
'Who holds herds for Tale'sedrin?'
'Liha'irden. You have knowledge of the camps this spring?
'Liha'irden...' he brooded a moment. 'At Ka'tesik on the border of their territory and yours. So you go to them. And after?'
'I have given no thought to it.' Tarma smiled suddenly, but it was with a wry twist to her mouth. 'Indeed, the returning has been sufficient to hold my attention.'
'You may find,' he said slowly, 'that the Plains are no longer the home to you that they were.'
Tarma looked startled. 'Has aught changed?'
'Only yourself, Lone Hawk. Only yourself. The hatched chick cannot go back to the shell, the falcon who has found the sky does not willingly sit the nest. When a task is completed, it is meet to find another task -- and you may well serve the Lady by serving outlanders.'
Tarma looked startled and pale, but nodded.
'OutClan Shin'a'in -- ' He turned his attention abruptly to Kethry. 'You bear a sword -- '
'Aye, Elder.'
He chuckled. 'Not so old as you think me, nor so young either. Three winters is age to a polekit, but fifty is youth to a tree. You bear a sword, yet you touched me with mage-sight. Strange to see a mage with steel. Stranger still to see steel with a soul.'
'What?' Kethry was too startled to respond politely.
'Hear me, mate of steel and magic,' he said, leaning forward so that he and the owlet transfixed her with unblinking stares. 'What you bear will bind you to herself, more and more tightly with each hour you carry her. It is writ that Need is her name -- you shall come to need her, as she needs you, as both of you answer need. This is the price of bearing her, and some of this you knew already. I tell you that you have not yet reached the limit to which she can -- and will -- bind you to herself, to her goals. It is a heavy price, yet the price is worth her service; you know she can fight for you, you know she can heal you. I tell you now that her powers will extend to aid those you love, so long as they return your care. Remember this in future times -- '
His blue eyes bored into hers with an intensity that would have been frightening had he not held her beyond fear with the power he now showed himself to possess. She knew then that she was face-to-face with a true Adept, though of a discipline alien to hers; that he was one such as she hardly dared dream of becoming. Finally he leaned back, and Kethry shook off the near-trance he had laid on her, coming to herself with a start.
