'She'll need to remember soon enough.' Veron paid his bill and looked out the window at the God Catcher. The two women entered through the large door below the statue's chin. He should have been quicker.
He would have to be quicker next time. He was close, closer than he'd ever been.
THREE
The God Catcher had quieted down by the time Tennora climbed up the twisting stairs, Nestrix in tow. The children were all tucked into their beds, their families finishing up the day's chores. Behind other doors came the murmur of her neighbors conversing genially and easily with their lovers and friends. A conversation here and there slid through the thin walls-the price of wheat's gone up and there are rumors of blue lightning around Blackstaff Tower and did you see that young man skulking around the square? Tennora caught snippets of them, but her own thoughts were turned squarely toward the tall woman walking behind her-and the leather bag hanging around her own neck.
It was like something out of a legend or one of Mardin's stories. A dragon trapped in the form of a woman- better yet, a dragon who had seen the Spellplague with her own eyes. She had probably seen all sorts of marvels, traveling over Faerun. The Sea of Fallen Stars; the Plaguewrought Land; the city of Airspur. Tennora wondered if she could see them all before she died. She gave her head a little shake as she reached the door of her apartment.
'You're a bright girl,' her uncle Eckhart had told her on more than one occasion. 'Why, Selune preserve us, would you waste that on daydreaming and fantasy when you could be focusing your mind on improving your status? Or at the least something useful like a trade?' He was right, of course-daydreaming about visiting the earthmotes over Chult wasn't terribly useful. She indulged herself nevertheless, and added a dragon to her dream.
She was jolted from it by the small, dusty trunk resting against her door. For a moment it seemed so out of place it might have sprouted there on its own. Then she remembered her aunt and the trunk of Tennora's mother's things she had sent along.
Tennora sighed. Much as she wanted to go through it, it would have to wait until Nestrix was gone. She reached over it to unlock the door, then dragged the trunk in behind her.
Tennora's apartment rested at the joint that led to the outstretched arm of the statue. It was small, but it was inexpensive and afforded her a lovely view of the square below and the edge of Market Street over the next building.
'This is your den?' Nestrix said, looking around dubiously.
'It's my apartment, yes.' Tennora lugged the trunk a safe distance from the door, then hung her stormcloak on the peg and secured the latch. 'Have a seat.'
'Where?' Nestrix said, looking around the crowded and compact room.
'On the chair.' Tennora pulled it out pointedly. 'I know this place is small, but it suits me.'
More than that-Tennora loved her apartment. The kitchen was simple and cozy, with a neat little hearth that warmed the whole space. Two of the walls were lined with bookshelves, and her bed was tucked away on a platform over her kitchen where the chimney warmed it. And all of it was hers-a far and pleasant cry from the capacious Hedare manor, its empty and lavish rooms, its overworked gardens, and its cold and lonely library.
She had come to study wizardry relatively late, and quickly saw that the distance between Master Halnian's tower, where she took most of her lessons; the House of Wonder, where her tests were administered; and the Hedare manor was enough to drive her to quit for the sake of convenience. At eighteen she had come to the God Catcher where Mardin had mentioned some of her classmates roomed, looking for a place of her own. It had taken the space of a heartbeat for Tennora to fall in love with the cozy, peculiar apartment in the shoulder of the God Catcher. It was hers, all hers, and just big enough to keep her in, happy and secure.
Nestrix sat on the edge of the chair, unimpressed. 'What are all those books for?'
Tennora shrugged. 'For reading. Those are histories. These over here are my books on magic. That shelf is all chapbooks. Romances, adventures. Some mystery puzzle stories, but I think they're often too easy to figure out. Or too ridiculous.'
'Oh.' Nestrix gave her a blank look. 'Where is Blacklock?'
'Away, most likely,' Tennora said. She went into the kitchen. 'We'll try to contact her tomorrow. Would you like some tea?'
'No.' She glanced around the room again and sighed. 'Oh fine, all right.'
Tennora hung the kettle over the fire and stirred up the coals. There was a dragon in her sitting room. She measured out a fragrant mix of tea and rose petals to add to the water. She was making tea for a dragon in her sitting room. She took two teacups from the wash water and dried them on her skirt. A dragon in her sitting room.
She was grinning like a fool. If her day had to be a terrible one, then at least it had ended with this. Strange and wonderful and worth talking about. And the promise of the ritual! She poured the tea and carried the cups out to the sitting room. Nestrix was staring out the window at the sphere.
'Here we are,' she said, taking her cup and perching on a stack of books.
'That is where she lives?' She looked back at Tennora. 'There's no door.'
'There's a door. It's magical. Only Aundra can open it.'
Nestrix frowned. 'But how does she reach it? You'd have to fly to get there.'
'And that's what she does,' Tennora said. 'She flies right up.'
'How?' Nestrix asked, still staring at the sphere.
'With her wings,' Tennora said. 'You didn't know Aundra was a raptoran?'
Nestrix folded her arms over her chest. 'No. No one mentioned it.'
'She looks like a woman crossed with a hawk,' Tennora said. Nestrix glared at her. 'Did I say I didn't know what a raptoran was?' she said.
'No,' Tennora said, 'I just thought… I mean, they aren't exactly filling the streets.' Raptorans were an elusive race, tucking their cities into high, sheer cliffs in the Yehimal Mountains far to the east. Few people in Faerun could identify a raptoran, let alone say that they'd met one. Tennora had only seen her reclusive landlady a few times, but each meeting she couldn't help but marvel at Aundra Blacklock, with her enormous feathered wings and her piercing yellow eyes.
Nestrix sighed, turned toward the window, and said nothing.
It would be a very long evening, Tennora thought, if this kept on. She sipped her tea, all too conscious of the weight of the heavy silence filling the room. Nestrix stared out the window as if the sphere would vanish if she took her eyes off it. That tore at Tennora's heart a little-the poor thing had likely seen plenty snatched out of her grasp. Not the least of which was the world before the Blue Fire.
'What was it like?' Tennora asked. 'Before the Spellplague.'
Nestrix looked back at her and frowned as if confused by the question. 'Not that different.'
Tennora blinked. 'Not that different?'
'Well, the world is still here, and it's still full of dokaal and treasures and threats and everything else. It looks different.' She gave her hand a distasteful look. 'But it's still the same world. Just as one who makes it through a fight is still the same self, even if she's bruised and bleeding and missing an eye. It's the features that change, and while that's the more important question-How has my life changed? — the world is not that different, in the end.'
'I never thought of it like that.'
'Dokaal never do. Even elves-you'd think they'd take the long view, but not this time. You're terribly narrow- minded.'
'You keep saying that- dokaal. What's it mean?'
'It means you and your ilk,' Nestrix said with a careless wave of her hand.
'Humans?'
'Human, elves, dwarves, halflings, those bastard strixiki that came with the fire-all you two-legs. Darastrix slayers, treasure-makers, magic-breakers.' She sighed. 'Perhaps it's because you lost your gods? Presumably that makes everything feel like it's changed. I don't think you could escape the dragon gods if you tried.'
