Storm Rising

:Perhaps just as a point of beginning we could scry and try to find someone of sense?: Florian suggested diffidently.

'Florian says we should scry to see if we can find anyone who might listen to us. How we're supposed to do that with no target and over such a huge distance, I have no notion,' Karal relayed, trying not to sound as if he thought the idea was completely lunatic. 'Qualifications of 'authority and good sense' seem a bit vague to hang a scrying spell on.'

'Well,' An'desha said slowly. 'As for the distance part, there's a perfectly good way to boost the power of a scrying spell, and that's to use the Valdemar Heartstone. I'd have to ask for permission, but if I'm careful who I ask, I think I can get it. I am an Adept, if rather unpracticed. I think I can manage a simple scrying spell.'

:Tell him to ask Talia to ask Elspeth and he will get permission,: Florian said with authority. :Rolan and Gwena both agree.:

Karal relayed that information. 'Are you going to use the kind of spell that makes a picture anyone can see and sounds anyone can hear?' he asked hopefully. He'd always wanted to see a scrying, but Master Ulrich had never used that kind of spell.

'It's the only one I know,' An'desha replied ruefully. 'It takes a lot more energy than the kind that works like FarSight but I don't have a choice since I don't know that one.'

'I'd prefer it even if you did have a choice,' Natoli replied, tucking her hair back behind her ear. 'With others watching, you have extra sets of eyes and ears to catch what you might miss.'

An'desha smiled. 'True. Right, well, that's how we'll have the power.'

:As for a target, why don't you use the Imperial arms?: Altra said, unexpectedly. :You're not likely to find that anywhere except in the quarters of someone with authority, either on the wall or on documents—we already know from Kerowyn's spies that they've taken the arms off their uniforms.:

'Using the Imperial arms as a target—that's what Altra suggests. Can you do that?' he asked An'desha. 'Then we can just observe people to see if they fit what we need.'

An'desha looked blank for a moment. 'I don't know why I couldn't. Given that, we can decide how we speak with our chosen contact once we actually have him.'

:I'll find Talia for you.: Florian 'vanished' from Karal's thoughts for a moment. Karal discovered how agreeable it was to be able to use the varied abilities of Companions; normally they would have had to go in search of Talia, but through her Companion Rolan, they were able to 'ask' her to come to them in Karal's suite. They couldn't convey anything in detail, however, since Talia, unlike most Heralds, did not have Mindspeech. Rolan could only 'send' an image of them and convey a sense of need.

When she finally arrived on Karal's doorstep, she wore an expression of faint annoyance overlaid with curiosity. 'I hope this is more important than what I was doing,' she said without preamble as Karal let her in.

'I think so, Sun's Ray,' he said, calling her by her priestly title. She raised an eyebrow at that, but permitted herself to be coaxed into accepting a chair and a mug of tea. 'Natoli will explain what we're up to, and I hope we haven't overstepped our authority.'

Ulrich used to say that it is easier to apologize than get permission. I hope he was right.

Natoli did explain, not only their conclusions but the reasoning leading up to them. Talia listened patiently, nodding from time to time, until Natoli was finished.

'You've come perilously close to overstepping your authority,' Talia told him, 'but you succeeded in staying just on the right side. I'll ask Elspeth, and honestly—I think she'll agree with you. She's become more pragmatic since the mission into Hardorn after Ancar and Hulda than I gave her credit for being.'

'I think it was traveling through Hardorn, seeing how the people were suffering then, and knowing that it must be worse now,' An'desha suggested. 'She might not be in line for the throne anymore, but you can't remove the sense of responsibility that you trained into her.'

Talia smiled faintly. 'One hopes. Well, let's see what can be done—and I have a suggestion for a place where you can do your scrying. Directly above the Heartstone chamber is a room that mirrors it exactly, right down to having a crystal sphere in the center of a table. You could use that, and it's shielded to a fare-thee-well. We've used it for FarSeeing in the past.' She put her mug down on a side table and stood up. 'I'm beginning to think that the Queen ought to recognize you lot as a working entity; I'll have a word with her about that as well. You're all adults, you're all responsible, and you're all coming up with ideas, if not actual solutions. We ought to grant you enough authority that you can test out some of your ideas without constantly coming to one of us.'

That last had Karal staring at her with an open mouth for a moment.

'Don't get too excited,' she said, with a slight hint of a smile. 'It won't be a great deal of authority. But you have a fair amount on your own, you know. You and An'desha are aliens on our soil, and do not necessarily have to