The Eagle And The Nightingales

can get Tyladen to send someone from Freehold that we can rely on.'

'Whatever you need, my lord, I'll take care of,' the boy replied earnestly. 'Just ask! I can do whatever you need to have done.'

Harperus looked sharply from T'fyrr to Nightingale and back again, but said nothing except, 'That will be welcome indeed; I know what a good body-servant Nob is. I have seen his work in your suite, T'fyrr. I appreciate it very much, both that you, T'fyrr, are willing to do without his service for one night, and that you, Nob, are willing to put in the extra hours and the effort to help me.'

Now the boy blushed and dropped his gaze, nearly bursting with pride.

'We'll leave you for now,' T'fyrr said gravely, his voice giving no hint of anything but weariness and concern for Harperus. 'Don't overwork Nob, Old Owl.'

Harperus smiled, winked, and waved them both off, then turned to Nob with instructions for drawing him a bath. T'fyrr took Nightingale's hand in his own, and the two of them left the suite together.

He didn't seem inclined to drop her hand when they entered the hall, and she didn't withdraw hers. In spite of worry, the reminders of yesterdays attack in the form of distant aches, and the deeply lurking fear the attack on Harperus had left with her, she was happier than she had been since she was a child.

In fact, the only other time she recalled being this happy was when she had first learned to invoke the Bardic Magic. That was_oh, too many weary years ago, when the world was all new and shining, all music was a delight, and every day brought only new adventures. The world is new again, all music is pleasure, and there are more possibilities in each new day than I can count....

She knew what she was doing_

Oh, do I?

Well, she knew what she was doing, but the consequences? Did she know that as well? Could she even guess at the consequences?

They passed through the statue-lined hallways in silence and met no one. It was the dinner hour; most of those who lived on this floor were in the Great Hall, dining in the presence of the High King and his Advisors. Perhaps by now the word that Harperus had identified another of his attackers had made its way to the Hall. Perhaps it had not. No one would know until tomorrow that she had stayed in T'fyrr's suite.

But once again, she blushed. She did not want his name and hers in the mouths of these idle courtiers, who would speculate and gossip maliciously just out of sheer boredom. Some would use the gossip to further damage their cause with the High King. Others would use it to create whatever damage they could elsewhere.

There were Church laws about the congress of humans and those who were not_based on Holy Writ forbidding the congress of humans and demons.

Only now was she recalling those strictures; only now that there was a moment of leisure was she able to think of them. Her earlier embarrassment had probably been because, in the back of her mind, she knew that there could be trouble over this.

Oh, it was just because I knew there would be gossip, hurtful gossip. And that someone in this vast hulk would use that gossip to cause trouble for us.

'I doubt that anyone will believe that you and I are partnering,' he murmured quietly, for her ears alone. Once again, he had guessed what she was thinking from the emotions her thoughts engendered. 'Most of these folk hawk for game in the game preserve, you know. Most have falcons and other raptors, and know something about them. How do you tell a male raptor from a female?'

'By the size, usually,' she replied vaguely, unable to guess what his meaning was. Then it occurred to her, and she bit her lips to cover a giggle. 'Oh_oh, of course! You can't tell a male from a female by sight, unless they have different feather-colorations. They don't have_what you have!'

'Precisely,' T'fyrr said, dryly humorous. 'Only Nob knows that I am not like a hawk in that respect, and he will take that secret to his grave if I ask it of him. The rest assume I am as externally sexless as a saints statue. I have heard as much, through Nob. He is very good at listening and reporting what he has heard, and no one pays any attention to the pages.'

So, he had discovered that for himself, had he? It was an echo of her own observation, that no one ever paid any attention to the children. Once again, their minds ran on parallel tracks!

She squeezed his hand by way of reply, and he squeezed hers in return, just as they reached the door of his suite_which now also had a pair of the Royal Bodyguards standing watch outside. T'fyrr bid them both a grave goodnight, and they returned his salutation.

When they closed the door of the suite behind them and locked it, T'fyrr paused and looked around the room. Someone had already been here, leaving the lamps lit and food in covered dishes on the sideboard. That was probably standing orders, since he had mentioned more than once that he was not welcome to dine in the Great Hall. She wondered for a moment what he was frowning at, until she saw his eyes resting on each of the