Silence. It was broken by Lord Barian, and only after another twenty steps had gone by. It is a title you earned.
Yes, but its only important to Barrani, and none of the Barrani Hawks use it. It doesnt change my job description. It doesnt change my duties. And it sounds pretentious.
He laughed. She actually liked the sound of his laughter. At any other time, she might have joined him.
If five such nightmares are unusual, and they arrived at the exact same time as the Consort, did it not occur to you to intervene or give her warning?
You must have known, he replied. You intervened.
Yesbut you might have done the same. Youre the Warden. Im a Private in service to the Imperial Hawks.
And yet you did intervene. Why?
Because shes the Consort and whatever the black birds were they were clearly causing a lot of pain! She struggled to hold on to her temper, but every step of descent increased her anxiety. Anxiety was a product of fear, and Kaylin had never handled fear well.
Yesbut you might have done the same. Youre the Warden. Im a Private in service to the Imperial Hawks.
And yet you did intervene. Why?
Because shes the Consort and whatever the black birds were they were clearly causing a lot of pain! She struggled to hold on to her temper, but every step of descent increased her anxiety. Anxiety was a product of fear, and Kaylin had never handled fear well.
And it was your responsibility as Lord of the Court to come to her aid.
No! She exhaled. Yes. She slowed and tried to walk in a more measured, less stomping, way. Tell me how the nightmares affect you.
Do you generally speak about your mortal nightmares?
Only if Im feeling spiteful and want to bore the guys in the office.
Lord Severn?
She means it literally. She does speak from time to time of her nightmares; it is not uncommon in mortal cultures. Severn spoke in High Barrani. If the Consort fails to wakeand Kaylin is beginning to realize that this is now likelyit is Lord Kaylin who will attempt to wake her.
How?
How did Lord Kaylin touch the dreams of the Hallionne? he replied, his voice the essence of the calm Kaylin lacked. She does not ask for the information to imply any weakness upon the part of the Wardens; no more does the Consort accept the burden of those nightmares as criticism. But Lord Kaylin is awake; the Consort is not.
The Lady was forced by circumstance to fully wake Bertolle; she was forced, only a few days later, to wake Kariastos. Were it not for the Consort, it is my beliefmy mortal beliefthat the Hallionne Orbaranne would now be lost. The Consorts ability to speak to the green has been tested without pause since she left the High Halls. It is possible that the absorption of these nightmares, without the prior wakenings, would not have unduly taxed her; we will never know.
What we now know is that she sleeps. What Lord Kaylin asks, she asks because any information might provide prior warning.
Prior warning?
Lord Kaylin is a healer, Severn said.
Chapter 7
In general, Barrani were more likely to be impressed if Kaylin was introduced as a rabid, three-headed dog. Kaylin stumbled, and righted herself on the side of the tree. She glanced at Barian, whose eyes were predictably darker in shade.
Barrani do not require sleep, he said. In that, you are correct. Frequently, when in the sleeping Hallionne, my kin will do so; it passes time. Sleep is therefore not a foreign concept. We are not often visited by either dream or nightmare in the mortal sense; I believe, in cases where sanity is not in question, sleep is required for mortals to experience either state.
You have nightmares when youre awake?
In a fashion. We do not seek the nightmares of the Hallionne for the simple experiencealthough there are those among my kin who might for the novelty of it. The Wardens absorb the nightmares of the Hallionne in part because they are, and have been for centuries, our only contact with Alsanis.
Kaylin concentrated on the descent, her hand hugging bark, her forehead growing permanent furrows. Why are the Wardens the keepers of the Hallionne?
If you mean to ask why the other Hallionne have no visible keepers, I commend you on your observation. The answer is twofold. I will give you the common and accepted variant. The Warden tends the green. The heart of the West March is the heart of the green; it is where the ancient stories are remade and renewed. Ancients once lived in the West March; the forests and the environs were their creation.
It is said that the Ancients who created our race chose to dwell here. He fell silent until the descent ended, once again, with solid floor. Kaylin, by dint of lessons with Diarmat, had learned to wait; she didnt press him for the second explanation.
The Lord of the West March has said little about the battle surrounding the Hallionne Orbaranne. What I know is this: many of the men and women who set out into the forest at Orbarannes urgent request were lost. Those who returned spoke of the transformed, and a forest infested with the particular danger they posed.
They thought the unthinkable, when they arrived within range of Orbaranne: that the Hallionne had fallen.
Kaylin said nothing. She knew, better than anyone, how close that had come to being the truth.
I have also been told that the danger passed, and only when it hadand miles of forested land had been utterly leveleddid you exit the Hallionne at the side of the Lord of the West March. You did not enter it by his side.
No.
He paused again, falling silent as the Barrani often did when they were sifting through their perfect memories. You spoke of the brothers of the Hallionne Bertolle.
She nodded.
They were, at one point, kin to the being that ascended. They were, in a loose sense, his family. They remained with the Hallionne, asleep in the heart of his domain. Did you likewise see Orbarannes kin?
She shook her head. Orbaranne didnt have brothersnot the way Bertolle once did.
Did you speak with the Hallionne Orbaranne?
She hesitated. He marked it. But she finally said, Yes. We waited together for the Lord of the West March. I think she knew he was coming; I certainly didnt.
Did anything about Orbaranne strike you as unusual?
Im not Barrani. I dont generally enter the Hallionne, and as far as I can tell, the Barrani dont really like them. But now that you ask, yes. Orbaranne seemed almost human, to me. Ive been inside other buildings that have personalities and voices. Most of them can appear human, but theyre really not. He led and she followed, thinking. The transformed tried to destroy Orbaranne.
Yes.
Iberrienne kidnapped hundreds of humans in order to do so. She hesitated again. When they failed, she kept the humans within the Hallionne. She said they wouldnt be able to remain for longbut they were her guests.
And guests are the reason for the Hallionnes existence.
Kaylin nodded, her frown deepening. Is it possible that she was mortal, when she chose to become Hallionne?
That is a question only the Ancientsor the Hallionne herselfcould answer. Did you note anything else about Orbaranne?
Had she? Kaylin remembered the last glimpse shed had of the Hallionne.
Hallionne were buildings, like Tara was a building. They could hear what anyone within their walls was thinkingand their walls could be immense; the outer dimensions didnt confine the interior at all. Within their realms they were like small, distinct gods; they could change the furniture under your butt if you thought it was uncomfortable. They could re-createdown to the smallest of detailsan apartment youd lived in for most of your adult life, even if you couldnt remember them as clearly yourself.
So it wasnt a surprise that Orbaranne could re-create the festival gates of Elantra. It wasnt a surprise that she could map out the streets and the buildingsin varying states of repairthat girded them. But she couldnt create the people.
And for a brief time, she didnt have to. She had guestsshed called them guestsin the form of over a hundred humans who had been taken, marked, and dramatically altered by Barrani. They couldnt leave; Orbaranne knew that. But she couldnt keep them, either. While they were willing to stay, she provided them the comforts of the best parts of home.
Which was the duty of a Hallionne.
But it wasnt why. Kaylin knew. Shed seen the expression on Orbarannes Avatar. Orbaranne was happy. She had company.
I thinkI think the Hallionne get lonely, she finally said. She expected Barian to say something dismissive; if Teela were here, she certainly would have.
But he said, with a pained half smile, Yes. Even Alsanis. We would visit, as very small children. My earliest clear memories are of Alsanis. He was always bemused by infants, and there were so few. He expected us to be able to assume adult form instantly, and at will.
Alsanis was like Bertolle?
I do not know Bertolle. I have never spoken with him. But I believe you would find them similar. The hospitality of the Hallionne was not, of course, required by the denizens of the West March; we did not go to his halls for protection or escape. We paid our respects. We listened to his stories. Ah, no, not the regaliabut stories of a bygone age, in which nothing in the universe was solid or fixed.
Imagine a world in shape and form like the Hallionne: ever-changing, always responsive, always both ancient and new. The second duty of the Wardens, and the duty that is only rarely referenced, is that: we were his distant, lost kin. We kept him company. It is a small thing; to most of my kin, who see the Hallionne as fortresses in times of war, it is insignificant.
Children are lonely. Children crave affection and company. Yes, Lord Kaylin, even Barrani children. But it does not, and cannot, define them. They do not speak of it; it is a weakness. But if it is a weakness, it is one I believe the Hallionne share, and in just the same fashion. It does not define them, nor does it define their duties; it is a yearning.
He had led her to the entrance of the hall, and offered her an arm. Lord Severn, will you wait or will you return to the halls of the Lord of the West March?