Priestess of the White

Dreamweavers did not travel with armies. They travelled before and behind, in small groups. They waited at a distance during the folly of battle, then, afterward, they entered the battlefield and the camps of both armies simultaneously to offer their assistance.

Jayim glanced at Leiard, then quickly away.

“What is it?” Leiard asked.

“Nothing.”

Leiard smiled and waited. It was unusual now for Jayim to hesitate to speak. After a few minutes, Jayim looked at Leiard.

“Do... do you think you’ll meet with Auraya at some point?”

At her name, Leiard felt a thrill of hope and expectation. He took a deep breath and reminded himself why he was here with Arleej.

“You’d have to meet in secret, wouldn’t you?” Jayim persisted.

“Not necessarily.”

“I guess you’ll be safe so long as the other White aren’t around to read your mind.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think you will... get together? One last time?” Jayim asked.

Leiard glanced at Jayim. The boy grinned.

“This is no small matter, Jayim. I’ve put us in great danger. Don’t you understand that?”

Don’t be such a bore. The poor boy is a virgin. What he saw in your memory was more interesting than anything he’s imagined before.

Leiard frowned at the familiar voice in his head. Not quite gone yet, are you, Mirar?

It’ll take a few more mind links to get rid of me. Maybe a lot more.

“Of course I understand,” Jayim replied, his expression serious. Then he grinned again. “But you have to see the funny side, too. Of all the people you had to pick. It’s like one of those plays the nobles enjoy. All scandalous affairs and tragic love.”

“And their consequences,” Leiard added.

I like the boy’s attitude, Mirar said. He has a sense of humor, this one. Unlike the man I’m stuck inside...

“Sometimes the lovers get away with it,” Jayim pointed out.

“Happy endings are a luxury of fiction,” Leiard replied.

Jayim shrugged. “That’s true. Of all the secrets you could have had, I wasn’t expecting something so... so...”

“Risque?” Leiard offered.

Jayim chuckled. “Yes. It was a surprise. I don’t know why, but I thought the White wouldn’t be... um... they’d be celibate. I suppose if you’re immortal it’s a bit much to expect. Perhaps that’s why Mirar was like he was.”

Leiard choked back a laugh. Well? Was that the reason you were so badly behaved?

I don’t know. Maybe. Does any man know why he does the things he does?

You’ve had plenty of time to work it out.

Sometimes answers can’t be found, even when you have all the time in the world. Immortality doesn’t make anyone all-knowing.

“I wonder if all of the White are like that?” Jayim wondered. “If immortality makes them... you know. Surely people would have heard about it if the other White were bedding everyone in sight.”

Leiard scowled in indignation. “Auraya has not been bedding everyone in sight.”

“She might be. How would you know?”

“Enough gossip,” Leiard said firmly. “If you’ve time for gossip, you have time for lessons.”

Jayim made a disappointed sound. “While we’re travelling?”

“Yes. We’re going to be travelling a lot for the next few years. You’ll need to become accustomed to receiving your training on the road.”

The boy sighed. He half turned to look over his shoulder, then changed his mind.

“I can’t believe I’m not going home after this,” he murmured, almost too faint to be heard. Then he straightened and looked at Leiard. “So what am I going to learn today?”

Something has happened, Imi decided as she followed Teiti, her aunt and teacher, along the corridor. First there had been the messenger, panting from exertion as he hurried up to Teiti, whispered something in the old woman’s ear, then limped away. Then Teiti had told her she must leave the pool and the other children, and would not listen to any of Imi’s protests as she dragged her home.

They had taken one of the secret routes, which instantly made Imi suspicious. When they had reached the palace the guards hadn’t smiled at her like they usually did. They ignored her completely, looking stiff and serious. The guards who always stood beside the doors to her room smiled, but there was something in the way they then glanced up and down the corridor that told her that they, too, were nervous about something.

“What’s going on?” she asked Teiti as the doors closed behind them.

Teiti looked down at Imi and frowned. “I told you, Princess, I don’t know.”

“Then find out,” Imi ordered.

Teiti crossed her arms and frowned disapprovingly. Unlike the rest of the palace servants, Teiti wasn’t easily intimidated. She was a family member, not a hireling, and of a status only a little lower than Imi.

Teiti did not scold Imi, however. Her scowl of disapproval changed to a frown of worry.

“Sacred Huan,” she muttered. “Wait here. I’ll go and see if I can learn what is happening.”

Imi smiled and pressed her palms together. “Thank you! Please hurry!”

The old woman strode back to the doors. She laid a hand on the handle, then turned to regard Imi suspiciously.

“Be a good girl, Imi. Don’t go anywhere. For your own safety, stay here.”

“I will.”

“If you’re not here when I return, I won’t tell you anything,” she warned.

“I told you, I will stay here.”

Teiti’s eyes narrowed, then she turned away and left the room. As the doors closed behind the old woman Imi raced into her bedroom. She ran to a carving on one of the walls and slipped her hand behind it. After a little groping around she found the bolt. She pulled it back and the carving silently turned outward like a door.

Behind it was a hole. Her father had shown her this hole many years ago. He had told her that if any bad people should invade the palace, she should crawl through the hole and wait until they were gone.

He hadn’t told her that this hole was the beginning of a tunnel. She had discovered this one night when boredom overcame her fear of venturing into an unknown dark place. Pushing a candle before her, she had only managed to crawl a short way before encountering a wall of stone and mortar.

It wasn’t a completely solid blockage, however. The adult who made it must have had little room to move, and had done a poor job. She had been able to hear voices beyond it, filtering through cracks and holes in the barrier. Voices she couldn’t quite understand.

So for a month she slipped into the hole every night, long after she ought to have been asleep, and chipped away at the blockage. The dust and crumbs of mortar she tipped into the privy. The larger stones she smuggled out in her clothing.

Now, as she climbed up into the hole, Imi congratulated herself again for her discovery. Once the blockage had been removed she had crawled on to find a small wooden door, latched on the tunnel side. She had opened it to find herself in a small cupboard. Beyond that was a room lined with pipes.

She had guessed at once what this was. Her father had told her that he had a device that enabled him to speak or listen to people in other parts of the city. He had described the pipes that carried sound.

He didn’t know that she knew where it was, or was using it herself.

Coming here was the most delicious fun. She always made sure she knew he was busy somewhere late at night before she crawled through to the room. There she pressed her ear to the ear-shaped openings in the pipes