Storm Rising

'Well, no,' he admitted. 'But—'

'Does Solaris speak for Vkandis, or not?' she persisted.

'Well, yes—but—'

'And don't you think after all this that if Vkandis perceived your presence here as detrimental to Karse you would have been recalled by now?' she continued mercilessly. 'It's not as if Altra couldn't convey your recall papers from Solaris immediately if that was called for. Given the situation here, there is every reason to bring you back—unless there is a more compelling reason that Solaris and Vkandis are not ready to reveal to leave you here.'

When he didn't reply, she fixed him with a sharp glare. 'Well?' she prompted.

He gulped, and shrugged. 'I suppose so, but—'

'No 'buts,'' she said, sternly, with more authority concentrated in her tiny figure than in a hundred generals he had seen. 'As a Sun-priest, I can vouch for all of that, and so can you. There is a reason why Vkandis wants you here and no one else. We may not know what it is, but there is certainly a reason.'

Then I wish He'd tell me what it is. 'That's fine in theory,' he replied, 'but just at the moment it doesn't seem to me that anyone in Haven wants me here. How am I supposed to get anything done when most of the Grand Council thinks I'm working for the Imperials, and at least one envoy wants to murder me?'

She made a grimace of distaste and walked over to the door to replace the candle in its holder. 'That, I must admit, I have no answer for,' she said, with her back to him. 'But I think you should at least absent yourself from the Palace for a few days, and stay away from meetings. Say that you're sick—or I will. I'll tell Selenay that you've been so overcome with shock at Jarim's accusations that you've collapsed.' She turned back, and surveyed him with a critical eye. 'From the look of you, I won't be telling that big of a lie. Much more stress and you're going to be the youngest man I know with a bleeding stomach. You're well on the way to it; you haven't been eating or sleeping well, have you?'

He stared at her. 'No!' he blurted, 'but how did you—'

'I am the one with the Gift of Empathy,' she reminded him, 'And I've been associating with Healers for most of my life. I think you ought to see if An'desha and Firesong can take you in again. I'll have the Healers send you over some medicines. Better yet, I'll send one of the Healers there in person.'

He scowled, and she laughed.

'Oh, don't look at me like that,' she said. 'The teas and potions for stress and a rebelling stomach are probably some of the best things you'll have ever tasted in your life. They have to be; otherwise people who are under stress wouldn't drink them, and people with bad stomachs wouldn't be able to keep them down. Go pack,' she concluded. 'Pack enough for about a week, and I'll go find An'desha and see if there's room in that ekele for a third person.'

She turned and started toward the door when another knock stopped her dead in her tracks.

'Karal?' came the quiet voice from the other side of the wooden door. 'It's An'desha and Natoli. We're here to help you, if you want.'

Talia opened the door so quickly that she left An'desha standing there with his hand still raised for another knock, Natoli fidgeting beside him.

'In,' she ordered; both of them obeyed instantly, and she shut the door behind them.

Natoli spoke before either Talia or Karal could say anything, her words pouring out in a rush. 'You didn't come to the Rose and we were both worried about you because you've been looking like death and we came back here to find out if you were all right and have you heard what they're saying about you? They're —'

'Saying that I'm an Imperial spy and that I'm responsible for just about everything bad that's happened since I arrive yes, I know,' he interrupted, and sagged down in his chair again, one hand rubbing his stinging eyes. 'Some people have probably even decided that I brought the mage-storms with me by now. Or that I was somehow to blame for Ancar being born.'

'You're not far wrong. There've been some Heralds prating a lot of nonsense, and not even Father can talk any sense into them,' Natoli said grimly, looking at Talia with a challenging expression, as if daring her to do something.

Karal was a little amazed at her audacity—a simple student, challenging the Queen's Own herald? And not even a Heraldic student at that?

'I'm doing what I can, but it's going to take some time,' Talia replied, and smiled thinly. 'I'm beginning to understand what Herald Savil was supposed to have gone through over Vanyel when he was first Chosen. Like