Sun in Glory and Other Tales of Valdemar

loathing.

He had taught himself. He had used his power, his full power, for the first time; it had been a surprise. A Gift. A thing to give his father, a way to prove to his friends that he, too, could help save the Kingdom from invasion. He had turned his Gift outward, reflecting emotion, magnifying it. It worked. It struck the enemy, scattering them, breaking their lines.

But the bond between Companion and Herald was strong; the creature most affected by the sudden outward blow was Rodri. Would have to be Rodri.

Gregori screamed. He screamed, not with his Gift, but with his voice. And she, seeing her own graveyard, and knowing what lay beneath the earth, screamed with him.

And then, soundless, he turned, dragon wings wide. He listened for the sound of singing, for the songs of joy or hope or love that he had heard for almost all of Kayla's life.

She knew: It was her song.

And what he found was her pain, her despair, her endless rage at fate and winter and people who still had children to love.

She continued to stroke his hair.

* * *

Darius woke her.

She rose at the sound of her name, and found that she could see the room clearly; the storm had passed for the moment. She turned to look at the man who lay in the bed; saw that his eyes were closed. His lashes were long, like boys' lashes so often are; his skin was winter-pale.

On impulse, she bent and kissed his forehead.

* * *

'He isn't doing it on purpose,' she said quietly, her arm around Darius' neck.

Darius said nothing.

'The King had little patience for him, and no affection.'

:He loves his children.:

'Gregori felt what the King felt, Darius. He wasn't just guessing.'

:He felt part of it; some people remember best the things which wound them.: She thought of her children. After a moment, she said, 'He would have killed himself.'

:Why didn't he?:

'I don't know.' But she was beginning to. She said, instead, 'You lied to me. He did kill Rodri.'

:He did not. The enemy shot Rodri.:

'Rodri was mad with terror and fear, and it was Gregori's.'

Darius said nothing.

Kayla let her arm slide away from his shoulder. 'I have to speak with Gisel,' she said softly. Just that.

* * *

Gisel was waiting for her, tense and pale. She looked old, Kayla thought, bent with Gregori's weight. But she smiled a moment when she saw Kayla enter the room.

And looked surprised.

'He can't stop,' Kayla told her.

'You don't believe in idle chatter, do you?'

'I'm from the Holds,' Kayla replied tartly.

'But you survived him. You...touched him, and you survived.'

Kayla nodded. 'I know why Darius waited,' she told the King's Own. 'And I know that what you thought he waited for can't happen. Not here.'

'You can't reach him?'

'I can. But-' She shook her head. Stared at her hands for a moment.

'But?'

'Not here.'

Gisel rose, mistaking her meaning.

'Not in the capital,' Kayla told her gently, almost as if she were speaking to a child.

'What do you mean?'

'Let me take him home.'

'This is his home.'

Kayla rose. Rose and walked to a window whose splendor she had never seen in Riverend. Light broke upon the river that ran through the city; the river was murky and slow.

She thought it must be warm, as warm as the air in this almost endless spring. Without turning, she said, 'I have to take him to Riverend.'

'You can't. Here, the Healers and the Empaths have worked to contain him.'

'And they're failing. One by one, they're failing. He speaks to sorrow and loss, and speaks so strongly that that's all that's left to those who can hear his voice.'

'You hear him.'

'Yes.'

'Magda-Margaret Merton-was the only Empath to equal Gregori in the Kingdom.

You-and I mean no offense, child-are untested.'

'Yes. And I will remain untested. For now. I am safe in Riverend. Do you know why I can hear him, feel him, listen to him, and walk away?'

'No, child, although I am certain there are those within the Collegium who would love to know it.'

'Because I have felt everything he offers, and I have learned to...walk...away from it. Let me take him home.'

Gisel hesitated. And then, after a moment, she nodded. 'I will need to speak with the King. Wait outside.'

* * *

But Kayla did not wait.

Instead, she went to her room, and found Daniel. He smiled when he saw her.

'Daniel,' she said quietly, 'I have to leave the Collegium. I come from the North, near the mountains, and I have to return there.'

'Can I come with you?'

'Yes.' She held out her arms and he ran into them; she lifted him easily, catching most of his weight with her right hip. 'But first, I want you to come with me.'

'Where?'

'To meet a Prince.'

* * *

The door was open slightly. No one, Kayla realized, had touched it since she'd walked away. She took a deep breath. 'No matter what you feel or hear here, remember that I'm with you. That I will always be with you.'

Daniel nodded.

She nudged the door open with her foot and took a step inside. The Prince was sleeping.

'Is that a Prince? Really?'

'Yes, Daniel.'

'He doesn't look like much of a Prince.'

'No, he doesn't.'

'Is he sick?'

'Yes.'

'Can you make him better?'

'Maybe.' She walked to the side of the bed and sat on it.

The eyes of the Prince opened. She felt Daniel's sudden terror, and she held him tightly, pressing her chin into the top of his head and rocking him. This sensation was as real as any sensation, an echo of another time. She'd been happy, then.

She remembered it.