They embraced again. 'Perhaps 'Darkwind' is no longer a proper name for me. You have brought too much light into my life for it to apply anymore. I no longer feel like a lowering storm since joining with you, bright feather.'
Elspeth nodded and bit her lower lip. 'But...there are still storms approaching.'
'Yes. We have many plans to make, and many to discard. I think that this is likely to be a very late night....'
I think that this is likely to be a very late night, Talia thought, motioning discretely to one of the pages near her Council seat. 'Go order enough food and wine for all the Councillors, then recruit some of the final-year trainees to serve it and replace the pages,' she whispered to him. He was one of the older pages, and nodded with both understanding and relief. He had served the Queen and Council long enough to know how long one of these emergency sessions could last, and while he might have been disappointed at not being able to listen in on the proceedings, the disappointment was countered by the relief that he would not be stuck in the Council chamber until the sun rose.
There was something to be said for having a limited level of responsibility.
As the pages filed out, to be replaced by wide-eyed youngsters in trainee-Grays, Selenay rose to address her Council. The men and women seated around the horseshoe-shaped table fell silent, and lamplight gleamed on jewels and brilliant court-garb. Behind Selenay, the huge crest of Valdemar seemed to glow.
'I am certain that many of you fear that I am going to oppose this abdication,' she said, with calm and equanimity. Talia knew better than anyone here that the calm was not feigned, it was real. She and Selenay had spent many nights in Elspeth's absence, trying to find a way to reconcile the conflicts that Elspeth's duties would place her in when she returned, but both of them had assumed that Elspeth would never want to give up her position as Heir. They had both been wrong, and Elspeth's elegant solution to the conflict, while creating several more entirely new problems, had solved more than it created.
Selenay locked eyes with each of her Councillors in turn, as Talia assessed their emotional state with her Gift of Empathy. Troubled, most of them, but excited. A bit apprehensive. Afraid that Selenay was going to make difficulties.
'Well,' she said, with a wan smile, 'Elspeth is wiser than I, and far more expedient. For the moment, although they are not yet Chosen, I am naming Kris and Lyra joint Heir-presumptives. Since they are so very young, being guarded day and night and kept from much public contact is going to do very little harm to them, and given that I am going to assign their safety into the hands of Guardsmen picked by Herald-Captain Kerowyn and Heralds and their Companions picked by my Consort, I think it unlikely that anyone will be able to threaten them with such formidable nurses on the watch.'
There was overall relief at that, relief so palpable Talia was surprised no one else could feel it, unGifted though they might be.
'It seems to me that the first thing we should do is to ensure that word of Elspeth's abdication spreads as far and as fast as possible,' the Queen continued. 'This will give her a greater margin of safety, and confuse Ancar completely. And at the same time, we should see to it that the reports of her demonstration of magical powers are as exaggerated as possible.' Selenay smiled slyly. 'The more Ancar thinks we have, the less he is likely to attempt a sudden attack. Let him believe that Elspeth brought us an army of mages and peculiar creatures, at least until his own spies tell him otherwise. That will give us some breathing space.'
Nods and speculative expressions all around the table. Herald-Captain Kerowyn spoke up - and Talia noticed then with some amusement that in the brief time between when Court had been adjourned and the Council had been called, she had managed to change out of her despised 'oh-shoot-me-now' Whites. 'This is the time to use those night-message relays, Majesty,' she said. 'Ancar will be sure to read the messages if we make certain that at least one of the towers 'happens' to reflect to the border when they relay on.' She grinned. 'We can thank him for that much, at least. Companions and Heralds may be invaluable for carrying messages that are supposed to be secret, but the towers are unmatched for relaying anything you want your enemy to know.'
'See to it,' Selenay said with a nod, and Kerowyn frowned with thought for a moment, then scribbled down the message she wanted relayed and handed it to one of the trainees to take outside.
'Now, how can we use this situation to our best advantage?' the Queen continued. 'We have the potential to gain a lot of time here, if we use it well.' She looked around the table at her Councillors for suggestions. And now the mood had changed, from one of apprehension to one of anticipation and hope.
Talia relaxed further, and surreptitiously gave Selenay the sign that all was well.
For the moment, at any rate. That was all that anyone could count on right now.
Elspeth knew that Treyvan and Hydona had resigned themselves to some kind of stabling situation when they reached Haven. Instead, somewhat to their astonishment, the gryphons had been housed in the visiting dignitaries' apartments just like the humans. Elspeth was pleased, but not completely surprised. She had recalled a set of two large rooms usually left empty, meant for receptions and the like. When the Seneschal had told her that the gryphons would be treated like any other diplomatic visitor and housed in the Palace, she thought of those two rooms. A question to the pages the next morning confirmed her guess was right. Those rooms were needed often enough that they remained ready and empty at all times; there was no reason why the gryphons couldn't have them. To reach the second room, you had to go through the first, so the arrangement was perfect. The gryphlets could nest in the inner room, and the adults in the outer.
Elspeth, Darkwind, and Firesong went straight to the reception rooms as soon as she confirmed the gryphons were there. The doors - double doors, like the ones in the Throne Room - were standing partially open, as if the
