Much.
This would be the first time she and Skif had been permitted inside the Vale of k'sheyna itself The Hawkbrother Mage-or was it Scout?Darkwind had dismissed it with a shrug as 'not what it once was' with no indication of what it could be like; and Tre'valen, if he knew what the Vale was like in its prime, was not telling. Descriptions in the Chronicles of Vanyel's time had been sketchy, hinting at wonders without ever revealing what the wonders were.
'Are you snooping in my head again?' Elspeth replied, with a bit less venom than before.
'No, you're echoing at me,' Gwena told her candidly. 'I can't help it if Your surface thoughts echo down our link unless you block them. And I can't help it if you forget to block because you're nervy.'
'All right, all right. I stand rebuked. I apologize.' Elspeth carefully put up her lightest shields, and went back to her brooding.
There was a fourth party sharing the title of Wingbrother with them, but shaman Kethra had sworn her vows a long time ago. She was considerably older than Tre'valen, though not as old as his superior, Kra'heera, and she had been a Wingsib for at least a dozen years. She was a Healer as well as a shaman, and she was tending to Darkwind's father, Adept Starblade. Darkwind seemed reluctant to discuss what Mornelithe Falconsbane had done to his father, and Elspeth wasn't about to press him for answers. She did want to know, however, and badly; not because of morbid curiosity, but because one day she might need to know just how one Adept could so completely subvert another. One of Weaponmaster Alberich's precepts was that 'anyone can be broken.' If it was possible she might find herself on the receiving end of an attempt to break her, she'd like to know what she could expect...Elspeth had been a bit surprised that Tre'valen was staying on, though.
He had said only that his own master had asked him to remain with k'sheyna 'because it is important.' Whatever it was, it couldn't have anything to do with what Falconsbane had done to the Clan-Darkwind and Kethra were tending to that.
Could it be because of what had happened to Dawnfire the memory was so vividly etched in her mind she had only to think of the hawk Dawnfire to relive what she'd seen.
The Shin'a'in stood in a rough circle below Dawnfire's perch. the red shouldered hawk had taken a position just above the door of the gryphons lair, her head up and into the wind, her wings slightly mantled. then one the Shin'a'in, a woman, put her hand up to the hawk.
Dawnfire stared measuringly at her for a moment, then stepped down from her perch onto the proffered wrist. The woman turned to face the rest.
Like all the other Shin'a'in who had come to their rescue, this one was clad entirely in black, from her long black hair to her black armor, to her black boots. But there was something wrong with her eyes. Something odd.
Elspeth had sensed a kind of contained power about her; the stirrings of a kind of deeply-running energy she had never felt before.
The woman raised Dawnfire high above her head and held her there, a Position that should have been a torment after only a few moments, no matter how strong she was. Tayledras hawks were the size and weight of small eagles, and Dawnfire was by no means the smallest of the kind. But as the woman continued to hold Dawnfire aloft, the entire group began to hum softly at first, then as the volume increased, and as the ruins rang with harmonics, Dawnfire started glowing.
At first Elspeth had thought it was just a trick of the setting sun, but the light about the bird grew brighter instead of fading. then Dawnfire spread her wings and grew larger as well as brighter.
Before long, Elspeth couldn't even look at her directly; she had averted her eyes, for the light from the hawk was bright enough to cast shadows.
Kra'heera had looked at her and said, 'Dawnfire has been chosen by the warrior.' She hadn't known what that meant then. She did now. when the light and sound had faded, and she was able to look at the bird again, she saw that it was no longer a red-shouldered hawk. It was a vorcel hawk, the emblem of Kra'heera's Clan, and the largest such bird she had ever seen. Although the light had dimmed, it had not died, and there was an otherworldly look in the hawk's eyes that had made her start with surprise.
It was the same look as in the eyes of the female warrior who held her their eyes held neither whites, iris, or pupils-only a darkness, sprinkled with sparks of light that were visible even where Elspeth stood. As if instead of eyes, they had fields of stars.
That was when she had remembered the description of the Shin'a'in Goddess-and had realized exactly what she was looking at. Small wonder the memory was as vivid as it was; it wasn't every day an ordinary mortal saw a living Goddess and her Avatar.
She eyed Tre'valen with speculation. No matter how casually the elder shaman had treated the event afterward, she wondered if he hadn't been just as surprised as everyone else by the appearance of his Goddess.
From what little she understood, change came to the Plains seldom and slowly. When Kerowyn had regaled them with tales of her Shin'a'in cousins, had she ever said anything about their Goddess creating Avatars?
Elspeth didn't remember anything like that...
So maybe this was something new for them. Maybe that was why Tre'valen was here; to watch for Dawnfires and to try and figure out the reasons behind his Goddess' actions.
Well, if that was the case, he must have told the Hawkbrothers, or at least their leaders. On the surface none of this seemed to have anything to do with her-but Elspeth didn't take anything for granted anymore.
After all, why should the Shin'a'in have shown up at all then? Who could have predicted she'd get involved with the Tayledras, and wind up adding their enemies to her own rather formidable list? I ought to ask him later if I'm right about all that. Maybe we can help each other out.
Gwena walked to the entrance of the cave and looked out-impatiently, Elspeth thought. Her Mindspoken words to her Chosen confirmed that. 'I wish I knew what it was they were spending so much time doing in there,'
