disentangled himself from her, and with a whisper of cloth, faded into the darkness. Her ears strained to hear what he was doing, but she could not make anything out except some vague sounds of moving about.
He returned in a moment, and took his place beside her again; felt for her hand, and pressed a cool cup into it. She sipped, and found that it was delightfully cold and sweet water. Before she knew it, she had drained the cup; and feeling for a secure place to put it, set it down on a table beside her with a sigh.
'Sometimes I suspect the hertasi of prescience,' he said, after a moment.' A meal for two waiting, chava for two to inflame the senses, with cool water waiting with two cups to quench the thirst-' She chuckled. 'Maybe. Is that one of your customs? Pampering your partner?'
'oh, the custom is simpler than that,' he replied, setting his cup down somewhere with a faint tick. 'It is that one does not simply fall asleep without expressing one's delight in one's partner.' His voice was warm with approval, and she found herself blushing.
'That is a most civilized custom,' she replied, after a moment.
'And,' she groped for something to say that would not make her blush even harder, 'consider it expressed.'
'Would you care to accept my feather in the future, Wingsib?' he persisted.
She couldn't help it; she flushed so hotly that she feared she must be glowing in the dark. 'I-would very much like it,' she stammered.
'Ah, now I embarrass you, forgive me,' he said quickly. 'We are a forward people, we Tayledras. The Shin'a'in claim that like kestrels, we have no shame. But I hope you will not take it amiss that I am very glad to hear your reply.'
'No-no, not at all.' Oh, she must sound like a schoolchild in the throes of infatuation!
'Thank you, bright lady.' That gentle hand touched her cheek again, and this time, he did not withdraw. 'Are you rested?' he asked, his finger tracing a line down her cheek, then further down, along the line of her throat.
'I-think so-' she stammered again. What was he about?
'Well, then-there is another custom,' he chuckled. 'Which is why the Shin'a'in compare us to kestrels... in more than being shameless.' Then to her astonishment, he pressed gently against her, and began all over again.
At first she was too surprised to respond, but her astonishment did not outlive the realization that he was quite serious. And quite intent.
And quite, quite splendid.
This time, she brought the water, with help from a tiny mage-light to find where the hertasi had left the pitcher. He accepted it with a sleepy smile, and a kiss in the palm of her hand.
She took her place beside him, quite certain that even if she had wanted to, her legs would not have carried her as far as her own ekele. And she didn't want to leave, not really. Her bed was cold and lonely, and Darkwind was warm and quite ready to cradle her in his arms.
Who would she outrage, anyway? Not Gwena. Not the hertasi. Not any of the Hawkbrothers, who partnered whomever they pleased. Even Skif could not take her to task. There were no Court gossips here. No word of this would get back to scandalize whatever potential bridegrooms there might be.
Not that there seemed to be any in the offing. Nothing would persuade her to wed Ancar, and it was not likely that Karse had any royal sons to wed to satisfy an alliance... her mother had satisfied any need for bonds with Rethwellan. Who would she wed? Some fur-covered hulk from the North? They didn't even have any govermnent; they were a series of warring tribes.
Perhaps she could choose a partner to suit herself...'And now,' Darkwind whispered, 'custom satisfied-I fear-I must sleep-' A yawn punctuated the sentence, and she found herself echoing it.
Custom satisfied-' she yawned again '-I agree-'
'Then, good night-' he whispered. 'Zhaihelleva-' Sleep had her by the shoulders and was dragging her down into darkness.
But had she heard what she thought she heard?
Had he whispered, with the sigh of one drifting into slumber,
'Zhai'helleva, ashke?' Wind to thy wings-beloved?
The hertasi brought her clothing and laid it beside breakfast for two without so much as a single eyeblink to show that they considered her spending the night anything out of the ordinary. Gwena appeared shortly afterward, to tell them that they had been relieved of the duty of chasing away what had been attracted by their profligate use of power. And even her Companion had nothing to say on her choice of sleeping places and partners.
'Iceshadow approved of your choice of nonweaponry,' she told them.
'Illusions make a less-visible use of power. He has some other mages out there doing what you did-with backups, of course, in case the beasties don't frighten away. Right now he wants you to meet with him and the Elders and anyone else that is free-he's holding a Clanwide general meeting.'
'I assume he wants us to tell them all exactly what the message said?' Darkwind replied after a moment of thought, as he braided his hair away from his face.
'Probably. He didn't tell me.' She tossed her head with feigned indignation, but Elspeth could tell that she didn't mean it. 'I told him that it was my opinion that you two needed a day of rest, anyway. He seemed inclined to agree. His exact words were 'as much rest as the Clan can afford them, at any rate. ': Darkwind chuckled. 'Meaning that we are still on call. Ah, well. It is better than being out in the snow!' They ate slowly, Elspeth being very aware of Darkwind's eyes lingering on her, and being unable to resist taking a few, long, lingering glances herself. He certainly provided a pleasant place to rest the eyes. He no longer seemed so exotic-although he did look a bit odd, with white showing at the roots of his hair; she couldn't help but think of certain 'blonde' ladies whose hair often showed the opposite coloration at its roots. It no longer seemed strange to have the bondbird sitting beside them, taking bits of raw meat from Darkwind's fingers. For that matter, it no longer seemed revolting to eat her breakfast and watch the bird bolting his tidbits...She remembered, then, that she had been able to hear the bird
