Storm Breaking

And it profoundly embarrassed the urbane and efficient Tremane, as most 'primitive' rituals would embarrass him.

Nevertheless, it was effective, and he didn't think he needed to point out to Tremane that the reason he could sense another new area every time his new liegemen swore to him was that he literally was adding to the area he had 'taken.' It was entirely possible that the pinch of earth he had ingested at the ceremony that gave him this new power had been carefully made of a bit of every soil the priests could get their hands on, for that very reason, thus adding in the extra power gain from contagion.

'Speaking of your new subjects, Tremane, there's another group coming in at the gate now,' said Elspeth, who happened to be standing by the window. 'They're pretty heavily armed and I see someone with a pennon at the front.' She frowned and shaded her eyes with one hand, looking down into the courtyard. 'Is that—yes, it is, four sets of strawberry-leaves. It's a baronial coronet on the pennon-head. Congratulations! You've hooked one of the few big fish remaining in Hardorn.'

Darkwind barely suppressed a smirk. :For the first time since I've been with you, ke'chara, I've just seen a Herald... act as a Herald.:

Elspeth just made a short choking sound, while Gwena tittered in their heads.

Tremane sighed, but it was with visible relief. 'I'd better go right down and greet them properly, then,' he said. 'Can we resume our meeting later?'

'No reason why not,' Elspeth said for both of them. 'We'll meet you down there with Gwena and the full panoply. If you've gotten a baron, we'd better confirm your treaty and association with the Alliance.'

Darkwind smiled; this was not, by any means, the first time that Gwena, he, and Elspeth had dressed up and assembled to impress the new liegemen. It had rather startled some of them to see a 'horse' indoors, until they saw Elspeth's white uniform and realized that it wasn't a horse at all, but a Companion.

Tremane laughed unexpectedly; it seemed to Darkwind that the new King laughed quite a bit more than he would have expected, perhaps because he had a strong sense of humor about himself. 'You should hear the things my housekeeping staff has to say about hoofprints in the wood floors. Do you have the same problem in Valdemar?'

'Sadly, all the time,' Elspeth told him. 'We've never found a way to prevent them, and we've tried everything.' She moved away from the window with her arms crossed over her chest and a twinkle of amusement in her eye. 'A silver piece says this one will be more impressed by Darkwind and Vree than by Gwena and me.'

'I'll take that bet,' Tremane responded easily. Darkwind stood up, smiling mostly to himself. Tremane had become much more relaxed around them since the earth-taking ceremony, treating them more often as colleagues and equals than as foreign ambassadors. Darkwind thought he knew why, although he doubted if Tremane himself was aware of the reason.

The land 'knows' Elspeth and Gwena; the Valdemarans have always been good stewards of the land and good friends to Hardorn since Vanyel's time. It also 'knows' me, since serving and healing the land are what the Tayledras were born and bred for. Because the land knows and trusts us, it is making Tremane feel comfortable around us and inclining him to trust us as well.

Tremane's new link with Hardorn was going to affect him in any number of ways that he was not always going to be conscious of, but Darkwind didn't see anything but good in that prospect. Very occasionally Tremane grew momentarily disoriented by some new information the earth-sense threw at him, but for the most part he was coping well. Eventually, as Hardorn recovered from the damage that had been done to it, Tremane would find that the land sustained him in moments of stress, rather than the reverse.

There was a knock on the door, and Elspeth joined Darkwind as Tremane's aide—now styled his 'seneschal,' though he still acted and probably thought of himself as a military aide-de-camp—entered diffidently.

'Sir—I mean, Your Majesty—there is a party below who—'

'I know, I'll be there directly,' Tremane interrupted. 'You know the drill by now; go see to the arrangements, and as soon as I look appropriate I'll be down. Blasted crown,' he muttered, as the aide saluted, recollected again that Tremane was a King now and not a military commander, and bowed himself out. 'Where did I put it this time?'

'Where you always put it, Tremane,' Elspeth laughed. 'Locked up in the chest.'

'Right, with the robes that are too damned heavy to wear and not warm enough to make any difference in the Great Hall.' Tremane swore with annoyance under his breath, and Darkwind wondered how he would ever have survived being made Emperor if he disliked the panoply of rank so much. 'I won't miss winter one tiny bit. Thank you; I'll see you in the Hall and we can get this nonsense over with. Again.'

'Oh, this time it looks as if it will be more than worth the effort,' Elspeth assured him, as she preceded Darkwind into the hallway.

'Will it?' he asked her, as they descended the staircase to their own quarters.

'I think he'll be pleasantly surprised,' she said. 'I don't know much about Hardorn heraldry, but I think this