Moran is not flying.
No. She wont let me heal her.
Yes. I forbade it.
Kaylin stared at him in outrage. She managed to shut her mouth before words fell out.
I did not expect you would become involved with the sergeant. She is in the infirmary; you are a street Hawk. You have a sergeant, and if he growls incessantly about the difficulty of having you in his ranks, he is capable of containing any damage you cause. The Hawklord exhaled. I did not expect that you would come to work with a Dragon in tow. I have been told very, very quietly that the Dragon is worth more to the Emperor than the rest of the Hawks combinedincluding myself.
...By the Emperor?
Yes. Lord Bellusdeo has occupied much of my time. I would ask you to leave her at home, but it has also been made clear that the choice is to be Lord Bellusdeos. I did not expect to add Moran dar Carafel to the list of things with which I must deal. What are you trying not to say?
...The Emperor is fine with Moran living with me.
The Hawklord closed his eyes briefly. Is it too much to hope that you did not hear this directly from the Emperor himself?
Yes, sir.
The Emperor may change his opinion soon. It is his prerogative.
Kaylin said a lot of nothing for a long time.
I wish to know two things. First: tell me what happened this morning. Records, map. The mirror finally surrendered an image that Kaylin could see. She obligingly approached it, scanning the lines that were supposed to represent streets and buildings. She lifted a finger, and a point appearedin bright, scarlet redbeneath it.
Here. Kaylin then recounted the events of the morning, leaving out the general snark that passed for conversation between Bellusdeo and Mandoran. In fact, she tried to leave Mandoran out of the discussion altogether. The Hawklord wasnt buying it, and she surrendered and answered his pointed questions.
Have you examined the site?
Nowe came straight to the Halls. Moran was the target, and we couldnt see the assassins; we wanted to get her to safety. The Halls have some of the most impressive protections against illegal magic in the city. Only the palace has better. Are the Imperial mages at the site?
That would be one of the many, many difficulties this morning has caused.
What difficulty?
The nature of the assassin is unknown, yes?
Kaylin had just finished saying as much, and chose to wait.
The Aerian Caste Court is, however, attempting to invoke the laws of exemption. They do not wish the incident to be investigated at all.
As a Hawk, Kaylin despised the laws of exemption. The laws were the laws. Crimes were crimes. But exemptions could legally be granted to the racial Caste Courts if both the criminals and the victims were all part of one happy race. She understood, as only someone born in the fiefs could, that money and power created their own special laws of exemption on either side of the Ablayne Riverbut damn it, she hated official sanction.
On what grounds? she demanded.
He was silent.
First, she said, raising a finger, the attack took place on Darrow Lane. Its one of the busier stretches of Elantran streetfront, and it is definitively not in the Southern Reach or the Aeries. The Hawklord nodded. Second, we couldnt see the would-be assassin. We have no idea who, or what, he or she was. They could have been Barrani. They could have been mortal. In order for the laws of exemption to be invoked, the assassin would have to be an Aerian. She slowed down then.
Is there a third point?
Third: there was visible property damage. The street was shattered. No argument can be made that the magic used didnt affect the rest of the non-Aerian population. People were probably injured by bits of flying debris. Um, can I go back to the second point now?
Yes.
If the Caste Court is attempting to invoke exemption, theyre pretty much declaring the assassin was Aerian. Which strongly implies that they know who the assassin is. Or was.
Yes.
Kaylin swore. A lot. The Hawklord didnt even grimace.
Lord Grammayre, who exactly is Moran?
He exhaled and turned back to the mirror. You said that Teela, Tain and Mandoran were in pursuit of the assassin.
Kaylin nodded. Teela must have expected serious trouble. She brought her runed sword. If they catch the assassin, and the assassin isnt Aerian, the Caste Court can go
Yes. The second matter I wished to discuss with you is Morans rooms.
Her rooms have nothing to do with the Halls, Kaylin replied.
The Hawklord waited.
Shes a guest. Shes under Helens protection. If Moran wont discuss the rooms with you, its not right that I do.
I have spoken, briefly, with Moran about her current living situation. He waved a hand across the mirror. Records, personal.
Kaylin dared a glance at Severn; Severn was frowning. It was his concentration frown; he wasnt expecting danger. He watched the mirrors rippling surface while it stilled.
The Hawkord did the same.
* * *
The image that came into view made Kaylin wonder if the Hawklord had somehow already seen the inside of Morans rooms. She understood that asking questions to which one already knew the answer was an interrogation techniquea way of gauging how much someone else knew, or how much they were willing to admit to knowing. It was also a way of determining how much truth you were likely to get.
Do you recognize this? the Hawklord asked.
The Records capture looked like Morans rooms. The ones hed asked about. But as the mirrors view pulled back, she realized that these werent Morans rooms. There was too much sky and too much rock in the distance. Mostly rock. She could see Aerians flying precise, tight circles to the right and above. She thought she recognized the formation, but it broke and regrouped.
No, she said, to the Hawklords question. I dont. This is in the Southern Reach?
In one of its outer recesses, yes. It is considered a primitivea very primitiveresidence. They are not much used in modern times.
This primitive residence, however, wasnt uninhabited.
All of Kaylins experience of Aerians was in the Halls of Law, or rather, with Hawks. There were no old Aerians in service to the Imperial Law. This was Kaylins first glimpse of an elderly Aerian. Her hair was silver with age; hints of iron added color to what otherwise would have been a uniform white. Her wings were frosted in the same way, but they showed no other sign of age to Kaylins admittedly unfamiliar eye. But they were rigid, held high.
Who is she? she heard herself ask the Hawklord.
She was Gennet.
Her flight? No one used flight names in the office; the Hawklord had gently forbidden it. But Kaylin knewfrom racial integration classesthat the Aerians were not distinguished by family name so much as flight name. Shed badgered Clint for his, but he pointed out that he was working on roster time, which meant he wasnt obliged to answer. Was, in fact, obligated to do the opposite.
The Hawklord was silent for so long, Kaylin was certain he didnt intend to answer. She had no flight, he finally said.
How could she have no flight?
You think of flights as family, he replied. They serve that function; they are almost analogous. But they are moreand lessthan that. Gennet, at the time of this Records capture, had kin, but she had no flight.
The Hawklord was silent for so long, Kaylin was certain he didnt intend to answer. She had no flight, he finally said.
How could she have no flight?
You think of flights as family, he replied. They serve that function; they are almost analogous. But they are moreand lessthan that. Gennet, at the time of this Records capture, had kin, but she had no flight.
Did they kick her out?
No, Kaylin.
Did she leave?
No. And it is not of the flights that I meant to speak. But he watched, and so did Kaylin, as a child came running out of what looked like the mouth of a cave. An Aerian child. She was young, perhaps six or seven, maybe older. Her hair was dark, long; it fell about her shoulders and down her back, swishing as she moved. She was looking up, and up again. Kaylin could see the shadows cross her upturned face.
That girl, Kaylin began.
The Hawklord lifted his left wing in a snap of motion, as if he were shaking off liquid. The image shattered, scattering across a surface that quickly became simple and reflective. Kaylin faced herself and the Hawklord in the oval frame.
That child was all that remained of Gennets family.
Gennets dead, Kaylin said flatly, although she meant to ask instead of state.
Yes.
How do you have this in Records?
It is personal.
These are official Records!
Yes. Yes, they are. He turned to study her. Have you seen Morans quarters?
Kaylin nodded. When he failed to look away or respond, she said, Yes. And then, taking a deeper breath, and remembering everything she owed this Aerian, she continued. Yes. Her rooms look very, very much like this impoverished residence. I thinkI think she was happy there. That was Moran, wasnt it?
The Hawklord didnt answer.
Chapter 3
Teela and Tain had arrived at the office by the time Kaylin had finished her meeting with the Hawklordor until the Hawklord had dismissed her, which was more accurate. She had gotten no further information from him, and she wasnt certain what to do with the information she had gotten. She couldnt figure out what the Hawklord wanted her to do.
But she was angryand disturbedby the Aerian application for exemption status. She wasnt certain what she hoped Teela and Tain had found. No, actually, that wasnt true. She wanted the assassin to be a Barrani Arcanist, because everyone with any capacity for thought considered them to be raging social evils.
She didnt want them to catch an Aerian.
She accepted, as she glumly made her way down the stairs, that she was being unfair. The only Aerians shed met were all Hawks, and she desperately wanted the Aerians to be above something as grim and illegal as assassination. But of course Aerians were people. If the Hawks managed to be Hawks first, it didnt mean there was nothing left over.
Kaylin had always wanted family, ever since her mother died and maybe even before that. But she wondered if the lack of family was a possible advantage to her working life. She didnt have family responsibilities that tied or bound her; she didnt have to choose, consciously and continuously, between being a Hawk and being a human.
She hadnt expected Clints reaction to Morans injury. She hadnt expected to be told to butt out, to not care, to offer no helpexcept by Moran. She wanted to storm to the front doors and shout at Clint the way shed been smart enoughbarelynot to shout at the Hawklord.
Shes a Hawk, damn it.
I think everyone knows that, kitling, a familiar voice said. Everyone knows you think thats the only thing that matters, as well. When Teela came into view at the arch that separated the Tower stairs from the office, she looked up. I assume you didnt mean to say that out loud?
Does it matter? Kaylin replied, flushing. Its not like its going to change anyones attitude anyway.
The Barrani Hawk shrugged. If youre going to think out loud, you might want to do it in a place with less acoustical emphasis.
* * *
Teela had not chosen to meet Kaylin at the foot of the Tower stairs for no reason. Although Tain was absent, Mandoran could be seen in the distance, sprawled across Teelas chair. The rest of the Barrani Hawksthere were only two in the office at the momentviewed him with healthy suspicion. If he noticed, he didnt care.
Did you catch him?
Thats making an assumption.
Fine. Did you catch her?
No.
Did you at least see the assassin?
Not directly.
Teela
Kitling, Teela said gently, weve been pulled off of the investigation. The Aerian Caste Court
Can stuff itself!
Perhaps, was the neutral reply. But until the Caste Court is told to, as you put it, stuff itself by the Emperor, that calls not ours to make. What did the Hawklord say?
He told me that the Caste Court had applied for pretty much instant exemption.
Teela nodded, as if shed expected no less. It made Kaylin feel vaguely stupid or naive, neither of which she enjoyed. Her life in the fiefsor her life since shed been thirteenshould have destroyed that naïveté completely.
But they were Aerians.
You need to stop idolizing the Aerians. As comforting statements went, this was about rock bottombut it was pure Teela.
I dont idolize them.
You do. Kitling, they have wings, yes, but theyre mortal. Theyre people. Wings dont give them any moral or ethical advantage over anyone else who lives in this city. I know there were no Aerians in the fiefs. But there were no Dragons, either, and you dont expect the Dragons to somehow be paragons of virtue. Theyre not a single thing. Theyre people, like the rest of us. And some of them are going to be unpleasant sons of bitches. Its just the law of averages.
I dont expect them to be paragons, Kaylin replied.
Good. Thatll make things in the near future much less painful for you.
* * *
Kaylin did not immediately leave to go on patrol. She should have, but Marcus was busy growling at paperwork and his mirror. He was aware that shed returned to the office, but he wasnt yet of a mind to object. Or dock her pay.
She tapped Mandoran on the shoulder. He looked up at her. Are we leaving? he asked, deserting the chair Teela was almost certain to kick him out of anyway.
Yes. Were patrolling Elani. You always enjoy that.
And the Dragon?
Shes staying here.
Good.
Kaylin exhaled heavily. She liked Mandoran, most of the time. It didnt stop her from wanting to smack the back of his head. You know, I think youd actually like her if you could treat her with a smidgen of respect.
Not worth the effort, he said, straightening his clothing. His hair, being Barrani hair, was straight and perfectly untangled.
I like Bellusdeo.
Yes. And she likes you. Bellusdeo and I were born, raised, and trained in a world that doesnt exist anymore. I am never going to be happy about Dragons. And she is never going to be happy about Barrani.