'Sorry,' Darkwind said, apologetically. 'I don't know what gets into him, I really don't...
Hydona smothered a smirk. Treyvan looked up at the bird-who was now just a dot in the sky, innocently riding a thermal, as if he had never even thought about snatching Treyvan's feathers-and growled.
'Darrrrkwind, I do love you, but ssssome day I aaam going to sssswat that birrd of yourrrsss.' Hydona made an odd whistling sound, halfchoked; Treyvan transferred his glare to his mate.
'Sorry,' Darkwind repeated, feebly. 'Ah, Hydona, you were saying?'
'oh, that therrre ssseems no rrreassson for the Changechild to haave sssaved the dyheli.' Hydona's eyes still held a spark of mirth as Treyvan flattened his crest as closely to his skull as he could. 'Unlessss she trrruly meant to be altrrruissstic. And I sssuppose you could not judge how powerrrful a mage sssshee iss?' He shook his head. 'Not on the basis of a single spell. If I were an Adept trying to worm my way into a Clan, I'd probably try and make myself look as harmless as possible, actually.'
'Shhheee isss Otherrr,' Treyvan said, unexpectedly. Both Darkwind and his mate looked at him in surprise. 'It iss the clawsss. Thossse cannot be changed from human bassse, only brrred in. Which meansss that she isss Otherrr, for the clawsss come frrrom the unhuman, and only the Othersss brrreed with them. Ssso ssshe is Otherrr, at least in parrt.' Hydona nodded, slowly. 'That iss trrue. I had forrgotten that.' Darkwind bit back a curse. That would make her even harder to slip past his father if he had to. A Changechild he might accept, with difficultybut one who was even in part of the Others, the blood-path mages of the Outlands? Not a chance.
'But if she's Other, what was she doing, that close to k'sheyna?' he asked.
Treyvan ruffled his feathers in the gryphon equivalent of a shrug. 'It ssseemsss obviousss that sshe could haave many motivessss.' True Darkwind could think of several. She could be a spy; she could still have been trying to escape a cruel master. She could even be an Adept herself, and have inflicted all those hurts on herself with the intent of lulling their suspicions.
'We could,' Hydona offered unexpectedly,' her for you.
We arrre asss effective asss the vrondi at sssensssing falsssehood. It isss insstinct.' they are? That was news to him-though welcome news. Somehow the gryphons kept pulling these little surprises out of nowhere, keeping him in a perpetual state of astonishment.
'That would be-damned useful,' he replied honestly. 'The Truthspell is still a spell, and I don't want to use it. Not this close to the border. I can't chance attracting things to the hertasi settlement, or to k'sheyna, either.'
'It isss insstinct with usss,' Treyvan repeated, to reassure him. 'Not a ssspell. Perhapsss, though, you ought to be therrre alsso. Ssshe will probably be verrry afrraid of usss.' He smiled. 'Considering that you're large enough to really bite her head off if you wanted to, you're probably right,' he said. 'And that might not be a bad thing, either. If we keep her frightened, we have a better chance of catching her in a lie, don't we?'
'Yessss,' Treyvan agreed. 'It doesss not affect the trrruth asss we sssensse it, fearr.'
'Good. I'll be with you, so that she doesn't try to run, but you two loom a little bit. Be the big, bad monsters, and I'll be her protector.' But another thought occurred to him, then. He'd been planning on what to do to find out more about her; he still had no idea what to do with her.
'What do I do with her if she seems all right?' he asked. 'I can't possibly take her into the Vale.'
'Worrry about that when-and if-the time comesss,' Treyvan said quietly. 'It isss eassy to make a decission about a frrriend. I would worrrry more about how to dissspossse of herrr. If ssshe issss falssse, leave herrr to usss. If you like. We can dissspatch her.
'No,' he said, quickly. 'No, that's my job.' It made him sick to think of killing in cold blood, but it was his job, and he would not put the burden on someone else. Not them, especially. there's such an innocenceabout them. I won't see it stained with a cold-blooded murder, no matter how casually they think of doing it. It would matter to me, even if it, doesn't seem to matter to them.
Treyvan shrugged. 'Very well, then,' he said. 'Ssshall we meet you' therrre?'
'Fine,' he replied. And couldn't help but grin. 'Even if it does mean another trek through the marsh. The things I do for duty!' Treyvan just laughed, and spread his wings. 'Jussst keep that birrrd frrom my crrrest. He beginsss to look tasssty!' And as Darkwind turned to head back, he was mortally certain that the gryphon was thinking of all those quill-snatching attempts by Vree, and chuckling at the notion of dining on the poor gyre. The gryphons were very catholic in what they considered edible; just as Vree would happily dine on a kestrel, a fellow raptor, the gryphons would probably be just as willing to make a morsel of Vree.
Except that Vree was Darkwind's. That alone was saving him from becoming Treyvan's lunch-in reality, if not in thought.
'Featherhead,' he Mindspoke up to the dot in the blue, 'You have no notion how close to the cliff you've been flying.'
