Magic's Price

“In the absence of anyone else I guess I'll make the decision of where to put you two,” Savil said. “And because I don't know where else, I guess you might as well take the room next to Van's.”

She opened the door to the next guest room, which looked about the same as Vanyel's in the dim light; with Forst Reach entertaining as many as a hundred visitors during the course of a year, no room ever sat long enough to take on an air of disuse. The only real sign that it was not occupied was the fact that the shutters were closed, and what light there was leaked in through the cracks.

“So, now, what was it you wanted to tell me about?” Savil asked Starwind, closing the door behind him. The older Tayledras went directly to the window and threw the shutters open.

“Not I,” he said, “but Moondance.” He sat on the window ledge and leaned out, looking with interest-though real or feigned, Savil couldn't tell which-at the grounds below.

“Well?” she asked impatiently of Moondance. The Healing-Adept looked very uncomfortable.

“I do not know how much you give credence to our beliefs,” he said doubtfully.

“Depends on which one,” she replied, sitting on the edge of the bed. “If it's the one about how people should live in trees, I still think you're out of your mind.”

He ignored the sally. “We think - and have proved, insofar as such a thing is possible to prove - that souls are reborn, sometimes even crossing species' boundaries. Rebirth into something of like intelligence, a hertasi perhaps being reborn as a kyree, or a kyree as a human -”

“Must make things interesting at dinnertime,” Savil jibed.

He glared at her. She gave him a sardonic stare right back.

“This is all very fascinating philosophy, but I don't see what it has to do with Van,” she pointed out, tilting her head a little.

Moondance shook his head. “Not with Vanyel - with the Singer.”

“Stef?” she exclaimed incredulously. “Why on earth Stefen? And why is it important?”

“Because my shay'kreth'ashke believes - as do I - that your Stefen is, or was, the young one called Tylendel,” Starwind called from the window.

Savil's first reaction was surprise, then skepticism. “What, just because they lifebonded? Really, isn't that a little too neat, too pat? It makes a very nice tale, but -” She shrugged.

“No,” Moondance said, walking to the window to stand beside Starwind. “No, it is not because of the lifebond, or not primarily. There are other things-memory traces of Vanyel many years ago, ties other than the lifebond.” He paused, and looked up at the ceiling as if gathering his thoughts. “And there are reasons, pressing reasons, for this to have happened. The bond between Tylendel and Vanyel was strong, stronger even than most lifebonds I have seen. There is a debt owed to Vanyel because of what happened. There is unfinished business because Tylendel failed as a Herald.” He looked at her expectantly for a moment, then shrugged. “I could go on at length, but that would only bore you.”

“I doubt it,” Savil replied, fascinated in spite of her skepticism. “But I can't see what relevance it has to the current situation, either.”

Starwind left the window. “Only that the past has bearing on the present, and will color what happens in the present.”

“So, should I tell them about this speculation of yours?” she asked curiously.

“Ah.” Starwind clasped his hands behind his back, and gave his lifebonded a wry smile. “That is where we differ. I think perhaps yes, but I do not feel at all as strongly as Moondance, and am willing to be overruled.”

“And I think that on no account should you tell them,” Moondance said adamantly, leaning his back against the windowframe. “But our reasons for our feelings are much the same.”

“We feel,” Starwind took up the thread of conversation, “that this relationship should be permitted to develop without the baggage of the previous one. It is not the same set of circumstances at all, their meeting and bonding; nor are their relative status or ages the same. Therefore I think they should be told so that they may avoid misunderstandings that echoes of the past may bring.”

“And I think that being told will only bring problems; that Vanyel will cease to react to Stefen as he has become, and that he will begin behaving in ways that will warp the relationship out of all recognition and health.” Moondance crossed his arms over his chest, and looked very stubbornly at Savil.

“I can think of one problem right off,” she said slowly. “If Van thinks Stef's his old love, he's likely to do one of two things - pay more attention to Stef's opinions and advice, or