gryphons can always change their minds when Darkwind and I are ready to Gate out of k'Treva.'
'And gryphons are wont to do just that,' Darkwind said from behind her, where he had already begun undressing.
She turned quickly with a welcoming smile, and he slipped out of the last of his scout gear and into the warm water of the pool. 'Gods of my fathers!' he groaned. 'That is wonderful! I thought I had become naught but a man of ice! I have never found anything colder than a spring rain.'
Elspeth could think of several - such as the snowdrifts that she and Darkwind had collapsed into in the aftermath of Falconsbane's banishment - but then, she hadn't been out on the border all day, either. Temperature seemed to depend on context.
'Just be glad that we're going to k'Treva by Gate, then,' she replied. 'Skif and I got here the hard way. It's a lot colder outside the Vales up north!'
She tapped his shoulder to get him to turn his back to her so that she could work on his shoulders, and his skin was still cool to the touch. He must have gotten quite thoroughly soaked and chilled while out patrolling the boundaries of k'Sheyna territory for the last few times. Soon, that would be the duty of the Kaled'a'in, and indeed, Kaled'a'in scouts were making the patrols with the Tayledras to learn the lay of the land that would soon be theirs. Darkwind had gone out alone, and come back late; she didn't even have to ask why. She knew that he was gradually saying his farewells to the hills and trees he'd known for so long.
'The gryphons are envious of Treyvan and Hydona,' Darkwind continued, with an inquiring glance at Silverfox. 'Apparently there's something special about the lake near k'Treva. The one the Valdemarans call Lake Evendim?'
Silverfox nodded. 'It is the site of the Black Gryphon's defeat of the Dark Adept Ma'ar. They wish greatly to see this.'
Elspeth laughed. 'I tried to tell them that they won't see anything, that it's all under water, but they didn't care. They are still excited about the whole idea, and every other gryphon is dying for a chance to get up there, too. You'd better be careful about how many of them you let come at once, Firesong, or you'll be up to your eyebrows in gryphons!'
'I shall remember that, cousin. And warn the rest of k'Treva,' Firesong replied lazily. 'Not that I think such an eventuality would be altogether bad. I find them delightful company, and I'm sure the rest of my Clan will feel the same.'
Darkwind snorted. 'You haven't been responsible for keeping those feathered eating machines fed! Talk to me after you've been hunting for hours, trying to find something larger than a rabbit!'
Silverfox chuckled. 'If you think that this is difficult,' he pointed out, 'think about how it must be in a Vale full of breeding gryphons. The gryphlets eat three times their body weight a day until they are fully fledged!'
Elspeth tried to imagine that, and in the end just shook her head. 'No wonder you wanted to move here. How do you keep them from stripping the countryside bare?'
'We have herds,' Silverfox replied. 'Fear not; we have learned how to manage our own needs and balance them against the needs of the land. We have beasts that are quick to grow, and eat nearly anything. We shall start the herds as soon as you are gone.'
As soon as you are gone. Darkwind turned his head to smile into Elspeth's eyes, a glint of anticipation in his, and suddenly she was impatient to get back home. He was certainly excited about the prospect of leaving his Clan and kin, and seeing new lands. And there had been so much going on that she had missed out on - the twins getting older, the alliance with Karse, Talia being made a titular Priestess of Vkandis -
Home....
It seemed to beckon her, for all the drawbacks of life there, under a kind of siege.
And now she could hardly wait.
Elspeth folded one of the scarlet silk shirts that Darkwind had designed for her; it rolled up into a surprisingly compact bundle, as did most of her Tayledras clothing. She was certainly going to cut quite a figure when she returned. She had the feeling that a lot of eyebrows were going to go up and stay up.
Things had not been as simple to take care of as they had seemed in the aftermath of the victory over Falconsbane. It had taken most of the winter for the party in search of k'Sheyna to journey overland to the new Vale and return. The very first order of business after everyone had recovered from that last confrontation with Falconsbane had been to find the new Vale again. That had taken a great deal of searching by mages who had near relatives or dear friends that had been sent on with the children and artisans. In the end they had found it by sending hummingbirds in the right general direction, keyed to those friends, and waiting for the reply.
Finally, after nerves had been strained to the breaking point, they had found the place, and then with the help of gryphon warriors aloft, two mages, the k'Sheyna Adept Silence and the Kaled'a'in Adept Summerfawn, had gone to find it and return with a mental picture of the place. No Gate could be built without knowing what the destination looked like, which made the things rather limited in practicality, so far as Elspeth was concerned. On the other hand, she was deeply grateful that this was the case; she did not even want to think of the Gate Spell in the hands
