Scarcely had she touched the call switch than a car pulled up, back door open.
“Service, Pilot?”
“Yes, thank you.” She tossed her bag inside and slid in after it.
“Healer Hall, if you please.”
She was shown into a side parlor, with assurances that the guide to her quarters would be with her very soon, and left alone. Aelliana sighed, put her bag on the seat of the nearest chair and wandered over to the table. There were several decanters and glasses set ready, but she did not wish for wine. Continuing her prowl, she came to a bookshelf scantily filled with old novels and out-of-date periodicals. She flipped through them, and had just decided that she ought to choose one of the garden magazines to while her time when the door opened and a woman whose face was immediately familiar to her entered the room and bowed.
“Kestra, Master Healer,” she said briskly, and straightened with a smile. “Pilot Caylon, how good it is to see you looking so well . . . ” Grey brows pulled sharply together.
It seemed to Aelliana that the Healer looked past her face, indeed, that her gaze was fixed slightly above her head.
“Yes,” Kestra said, considerably less brisk, “it is wonderful to see you looking so exceptionally well. This is beyond anything we had dared to hope for. How does your lifemate go on, if an old woman might inquire?”
Aelliana tipped her head. “He fares very well by my accounting. However, my eyesight is not so sharp as your own. It may interest you to know that it has not been given him to . . . experience me fully.”
“No? But surely—” The Healer sighed sharply and moved her hands in a gesture vaguely akin to forgive in hand-talk. “I am but seeing half the pattern. With the wholeness before me, I might see the flaw and the flow, but even then—perhaps not. There is a great deal of flash and brangle about your partner, which makes it difficult—but there! You are not here to satisfy my vulgar curiosities, though you must permit me to say again that it is gratifying to behold you thus. I had hoped that our work would give you some ease. That you have been able to take what we began and unfurl your wings so far . . . ” She bowed again, gently, as one who has beheld a wonder.
“Thank you, Pilot.”
“Surely, it is I who should thank you. Had you not made a beginning, I should—I should not have been able to build upon your work.” And, she added silently, she would not have been made privy to the complex, tricksy creature who was Daav yos'Phelium, without whom—
“We are both in debt to the other,” Master Kestra said.
“And so the debts cancel,” Aelliana said, and inclined her head. “When this current business is done, if you like, you may come to us at Jelaza Kazone, to view the whole of the pattern.”
“That at least would satisfy an old woman's curiosity. However, you remind me, most gently, of our current business. Allow me to show you to your lodging.” She turned with a sweep of her hand and crossed the room to the door. Aelliana stretched her legs, snatched up her bag, and followed.
“The Hall Master felt that you and those of our order would find more comfort if you were at some remove from the house. We hope that you will find it worthy. It has its own entrance onto the street, so that your visitors may come to you without recourse to our doorkeeper; and you may come and go about your business as it may be necessary. It is, admittedly, not convenient to the dining facilities in the main house, but there is a small and well- stocked kitchen. We can of course provide companionship. The guest need only ask.”
Master Kestra produced a key from her sleeve and used her chin to point at the stone cottage nestled in the far corner of the Hall's inner garden. Flowers surrounded it, and a small tree with long trailing branches covered with pale pink flowers half-concealed the doorway.
Aelliana paused, and took a breath against the tightness in her chest. The breeze brought her the sweet scent of flowers and a faint, musical tinkle.
“Wind chimes,” Master Kestra said. “We can remove them if they annoy. If this arrangement is not convenient to you, there is an apartment available within the house . . . ”
“No, it is—please do not remove the chimes on my account,” Aelliana said quickly. “As for the situation itself—I think that I will like it extremely. I have been—accustomed to having a garden, of late.”
“Perhaps you should look inside before making a final decision,” Master Kestra said, preceding her up the two shallow steps and sliding the key into the reader on the door.
There came a small beep, the door opened and the Healer stepped back to allow Aelliana to enter.
It was no bigger than their private apartment at Jelaza Kazone: a single large room divided into three areas by painted screens. The kitchen was small, but, as promised, well-stocked; the bedroom comfortable, the 'fresher unit slightly cramped but entirely usable. In the main room, a desk sat near the window; behind, an upholstered chair, a chaise and a double sofa were grouped companionably by a low table.
Another table, near the bookshelves, held a comm unit and an entertainment screen. The floor was covered with woven jute over which other rugs had been deployed with haphazard charm. At the very back of the room, beyond the bookshelves, was a short hallway. Aelliana opened the door at its far end, and stepped out onto a thin porch, three stone steps above street level. A modest hedge and a wooden gate separated her from the public walkway.
She closed the door, locked it and returned to Master Kestra, waiting patiently by the window.
“Of companionship,” she said, “I thank the Hall for its care. One would welcome a cat, if possible. The house —”
She looked about her once more, pleased and in some way soothed. “The house will do excellently.” She bowed gratitude to the house. “I thank you. Please convey my pleasure and gratitude to the Hall Master.”
“We are delighted to hear that the guest is pleased,” the Healer said, with no noticeable irony. She extended her hand. “If you please, Pilot?”
Aelliana put her palm against the other woman's soft flesh. Perhaps she felt a slight tingle of energy; perhaps it was merely her fancy. Whichever, it was only a heartbeat before Kestra broke contact.
“Felicitations,” she murmured.
