He obliged with practiced grace learned more from the stage than a courtier's habit, careful to hand it to her delicately and say, 'Your grace.'
'Thank you, Talbot,' she said. She sat back and put her slippered feet up on a stuffed footstool. 'You may call me 'Dhauna' when we're alone. Why, I feel as though I know you already. Oh, don't look so surprised. You are not stupid, and you needn't pretend to be.'
'No,' said Tal. 'Of course Maleva told you about my problem.'
'Oh, much more than that,' she said.
She drained half of the wine from her glass in one smooth motion. Far from seeming crude, the gesture was natural and homey. Tal thought more than ever that she reminded him of Maleva.
'I see,' said Tal, not knowing what else to say.
'To be honest, I expected you much sooner. Or else I expected you to go rushing off in search of Rusk. Revenge!' She lifted her glass like a sword.
Tal just stared at her. Each time she opened her mouth, she flabbergasted him anew.
'Actually,' he admitted, 'a friend of mine talked me out of that.'
'Good friend,' she said, finishing her glass and raising it for a refill. Tal poured again. 'You'll need good friends if you plan to keep your curse a secret. But you can't keep it that way forever, you know.'
'Yes,' said Tal. 'That's why I'm here. I want to know more about-'
'You want to know more about moonfire and why you can't buy any,' she said. This time he was not surprised. 'That part is simple. It won't work for you. You could drink a barrel of the stuff-if it weren't a sacrilege, that is-and the best it might do is cure your sniffles or maybe make you glow in the dark for a while.'
'But Maleva said-'
'Maleva said it would control your shapechanging for seven moons.'
'Right.'
'But only if you worship Selune.'
'Yes, that was the deal.'
'It wasn't a deal, Talbot. Mind if I call you Tal?' She was sipping on her wine now, but her cheeks were already pleasantly flushed. 'She was explaining how it works. It suppresses the call of the moon if you are a worshiper of Selune.'
'Oh,' said Tal. 'That's not exactly the way she put it.'
'That is exactly the way she put it,' said Dhauna. 'It's just not exactly the way you heard it. Drink some wine. You look confused.'
'Thank you,' he said, following her example and draining half his glass in one smooth draught. He frowned to think he'd come all this way only to hear the high priestess of Selune tell him the same thing Maleva had already told him.
'Now you look sad. I like you the other way better. Drink some more.'
At that, Tal laughed softly. Dhauna's banter took the edge off his disappointment far better than more wine could ever do.
'You're welcome among the faithful,' she said in a less frivolous tone. 'You truly are, and not just because the ratio of women to men is approaching eight to one. In fact, I think you will find eventually that your place is among us.'
Tal shook his head gently, but she spoke again before he could comment.
'Just not yet,' she said gently, reaching over to pat him on the knee. The gesture seemed far more friendly than patronizing.
'No,' Tal agreed. 'It's not that I mean any disrespect.'
'I know,' said Dhauna. 'You're just a bit of a hot-head, a little too young, a little too wild. Our job is to see that you have a chance to grow out of it.'
Tal wasn't sure whether he liked the sound of 'our job,' but he already knew he liked Dhauna Myritar and wanted to hear what she had to say. He had not done a particularly good job of listening to advice from Maleva and Feena.
'I do need help,' said Tal.
'Then I'll send you someone,' said Dhauna. 'It will take some tune to arrange, but soon. In return, you must provide room and board, and you must listen and take what she says seriously.'
'She?'
'One of our initiates,' said Dhauna. 'As you might have noticed, most of our clergy are women.'
'Chaney would like it here,' said Tal.
'So would you,' said Dhauna. Before he could protest, she added, 'Just not yet.'
They smiled at each other.
'There is one thing that Maleva didn't tell me,' he said as she sipped some more wine. 'I overheard her daughter say something about a Black Wolf heresy.'
Wine spurted from Dhauna's nose. She caught most of it in the glass, which she set aside.
'Your grace, I didn't mean-'
'It's all right,' she said, mopping her chin with a handkerchief drawn from her sleeve. 'I should have expected that. Just don't mention it openly, not here. After all, it is a heresy.'
'Of course.'
'You know what heresy means? It means it's untrue. Still, it's a big lie that comes from some little truths. Did you tell Maleva when you were born?'
'Yes, she asked me that. The time, too.'
'Were you born during a new moon?'
'I don't know. She didn't say anything more about it.'
Dhauna sighed.
'What does that mean?'
'Well, it means either you were born under a black moon or you weren't. We don't know, since Maleva enjoys being mysterious. That works well with the people where she lives, but it's annoying to civilized people like you and me.'
Tal chuckled.
'That wasn't a joke,' she said, frowning.
Tal wiped the smile from his face, but he felt a blush rise to his cheeks.
'But that was,' said Dhauna, shaking her head mirthfully. 'Don't be so gullible.'
'You don't seem very much like a high priestess,' said Tal.
'You don't seem very much like a werewolf,' she replied. 'Not tonight, at any rate.'
'About the Black… thing… business,' he prompted.
'If you were born during a black moon, a new moon, then it might be easier for you to learn how to ride the moon. That's our poetic and mysterious way of saying, learn how to control the change.'
'Why didn't Maleva tell me about that?'
'Well,' said Dhauna, 'perhaps she was trying too hard to persuade you to join the temple.'
'That can't be it. She was really trying to help me. I can't believe she would just leave out telling me that I can control the change.'
'You haven't proven that you can,' said Dhauna. 'Not everyone succeeds at it, especially those bitten by wolves, boars, and the other savage beasts. Those who suffer the benign lycanthropy have it much easier.'
'Benign lycanthropy?'
'Werebears, for instance,' said Dhauna. 'They are not as susceptible to the call of the Huntmaster.'
'You mean Malar, don't you?'
She nodded.
'He's also called the Black Wolf, isn't he?'
'Sometimes my attendants listen at the door,' she said. 'Don't embarrass me.'
'Sorry.'
'The temple of Selune does not actively oppose the Beastlord,' she said. 'We're not friendly with his followers, and some of our clerics take it upon themselves to defend folk against lycanthropes-with our blessing, naturally- but we concern ourselves primarily with other evils.'
