Priestess of the White

engaged in the new unofficial pastime, which he had dubbed sky-gazing. Most were looking at the Tower, however. It had not taken long for people to learn that a window in Auraya’s room had been replaced with a glass door so she and her Siyee friends didn’t need to ascend to the top of the building when they wanted a little aerobatic exercise. Seeing her emerge often brought cheers from her audience.

Thinking of the window-door in her rooms, Danjin shivered. Perhaps it was just as well she didn’t need him any more.

Of course she still does, he told himself. But it didn’t help. Here was an opportunity to learn about one of the few peoples he knew nothing of, but he couldn’t take advantage of it because she hadn’t included him in her discussions with them.

The platten stopped. He stepped off and thanked the driver. Priests nodded politely at him as he strode inside the Tower. He made the gesture of the circle in reply. The cage was resting at the base of the stairwell. He concentrated on his breathing as it bore him upward, keeping his mind from imagining the drop below it by recalling a verse of poetry he’d memorized, then translating it into Dunwayan. Arriving outside Auraya’s rooms, he stepped out and knocked on her door.

She answered it herself, and greeted him with a smile. Not quite the broad grin she had worn so often in the last two weeks, but a more subdued expression. He wondered what had tempered her recent high spirits.

“Come in,” she said, directing him to a chair. As she sat down he cast a quick look at the windows. To his relief, the glass “door” was closed.

“I know you’re disappointed that you haven’t seen more of the Siyee ambassadors,” she told him. “They may appear bold and confident, but in truth they find us landwalkers intimidating - especially as most of their experiences of us are as invaders and murderers. I’ve tried to keep the number of landwalkers around them to a minimum.”

As she spoke, a furry bundle on a nearby chair uncurled. Mischief blinked sleepily at them, then stretched, crept onto Auraya’s lap and curled up again. Auraya didn’t appear to notice.

“I was hoping to make it up to you by bringing you along, but I’m afraid that isn’t going to be possible now.”

“Bringing me along?”

A now-familiar sparkle entered her gaze. “To Si. To enter into negotiations for an alliance. Juran sent them a proposal months ago, and they want one of us to return with them to Si.” Her smile faded. “But the journey would take months, and involves crossing difficult terrain. You would have to climb mountains to get there, Danjin. Juran has decided that I must go alone.”

“Ah.” Danjin knew he would not be able to hide his dismay from her, so he did not bother keeping it from his face. “You’re right,” he told her. “I am disappointed. I am also concerned. In Somrey you had myself, Mairae and Dreamweaver Leiard to advise you. You are still too inexperienced, if you’ll forgive my frankness, to be tackling an alliance on your own. Can’t this wait?”

She shook her head. “We need allies, Danjin. More than lone sorcerers may venture north from the southern continent in the future. However, I will not begin negotiations with the Siyee immediately. I will spend a few months learning all I can about them first.”

“Then, perhaps if I left now I would arrive in time to help you negotiate.”

“No, Danjin,” she said firmly. “I will need you here.”

She reached under her circ, then leaned forward and opened her palm. On it rested a white ring. A priest’s ring. Danjin stared at it in surprise.

“You honor me beyond what I deserve,” he said. “But I do not wish to join—”

“It’s not a priest’s ring.” She smiled. “It is what we call a ‘link ring.’ Priests, as you know, can communicate with each other through their rings. They can because they are Gifted, and their rings are simple things. This,” she held the white band, “is more refined and took some time to make. If I need to communicate with you I can, through this. But that is all that it can do. It cannot link you with anyone else.” She held it out to him. “Wear this, and I will be able to speak to you from Si. Don’t lose it. I only have the one.”

He took the ring and held it up. It was plain and smooth, and he could not guess what it was made of. He slipped it onto his finger, then lifted his eyes to meet hers.

“There is one other matter that bothers me,” he told her.

She smiled and leaned back in her chair. “Your concern for me is heartening, Danjin, but I will be in less danger from Pentadrians in Si than anywhere else. It is a remote, sparsely populated place, difficult to traverse. The Siyee would notice and report intruders before they ventured far into their land. Why would any Pentadrian undertake such an arduous journey?”

“To find you,” he replied.

“They won’t know I’m there,” she told him.

“Then... for the same reasons you’re going.”

“The Si haven’t invited the Pentadrians into their land to negotiate an alliance as far as I or the ambassadors know. Nor have the Pentadrians approached any other lands.”

He sighed, then nodded his head in defeat. “So how long will I be at a loose end?”

She chuckled. “You won’t be, Danjin. I’ll be gone for only a few months - though if I’m successful Juran is considering sending me to the Elai. The courier he sent to them has not reported his progress for months.”

“The sea people.” Danjin whistled quietly. “Soon there’ll be no mysteries left in the world.”

A troubled expression crossed Auraya’s face, and she looked away. Mischief stirred. She looked down at him and her smile returned.

“There’s one other matter I wanted to discuss with you, Danjin.”

“Yes?”

“Could you come by each day and spend some time with Mischief while I’m gone? You’ll have to be careful. He’s getting sneaky. I keep finding him crawling around on the outside of the window. I’ve had a lock installed, but he’s already learned to open it, so I’m going to have the window nailed shut while I’m away.”

Danjin shuddered. “You do that, and I’ll take care of him.”

She chuckled. “Thank you. I’m sure Mischief will appreciate the company.”

After Danjin left, Auraya paced the room.

I know I sounded much more confident than I feel, she thought. It’s not any particular aspect of this journey that worries me, just that I must do it all alone.

She would not be out of contact with the rest of the world. She could communicate with the other White at any time. Juran had told her to consult with him before she made any major decisions. That was as reassuring as it was reasonable.

Dyara hadn’t raised a word of protest. She had filled the journey back to Jarime with lessons in magic, but there was less of a lecturing manner in her instruction. Dyara was no longer set on holding Auraya back until she had perfected every exercise but instead appeared determined to pass on everything she knew about wielding magic as quickly as possible, telling Auraya to practice whenever she had the time to.

“The rest of us had time to learn at our own pace. It may be that you, as the last of us, will not,” she had said cryptically.

Which only made it harder to avoid worrying about the future. Some nights Auraya woke from nightmares in which she was trapped, powerless, within the grip of the Pentadrian sorcerer’s magic. It was not comforting knowing that someone more powerful than her, who appeared to mean her and her people harm, existed.

She reached the window and stopped. Like any other mortal, she could only put her trust in the gods.

“Lee-ar.”

She turned to find Mischief staring at the door, his pointed ears upright and alert. Chuckling, she strode across the room. As she opened the door, Leiard froze, his hand poised ready for knocking.

“Dreamweaver Leiard.” She smiled. “Come in.”

“Thank you, Auraya of the White.”

“Lee-ar!” Mischief bounded off the chair. Leiard laughed as the veez dashed up the front of his clothes onto his shoulders.

“He likes you.”

“Lucky me,” he replied dryly. He flinched as Mischief began sniffing at his ear.