Page 57 of Cast in Conflict

Durant turned to Nightshade. “If possible, in the neutral territory of the Academia, I would like to have a small discussion with you, as a fellow fieflord. There are some issues with Ravellon and the border that have long provoked questions in me.”

“If there is anywhere to find answers,” Nightshade replied, “it is here. I alone may not have the information you desire—but all past research and all historical knowledge exist within the Academia’s library.”

He had not expected that Durant would know much about the library. The fieflord’s expression, however, made it clear that he had heard about it from somewhere.

Maybe his Tower. Kaylin desperately wanted to know who or what the core of Durant’s Tower had been on the day the Towers rose.

And it occurred to her, as she sat in this office, that Nightshade was right. Information and knowledge were here. But the library was often off-limits to even junior students.

“There is much,” Bellusdeo said, finally entering the discussion in her own right, “to discuss. The fieflords handle their responsibilities as captains to the Towers in ways that best suit them—but some have allowed people to pass through the Ravellon border. And return.”

Durant’s eyes rounded slightly in what Kaylin assumed was genuine surprise. “I hesitate to call you a liar,” he said, “but your source must be misinformed. I am not entirely certain it is even possible.”

“Your Tower was not his Tower. Candallar, for reasons of his own, allowed this. Something was brought from Ravellon into Elantra in the hands of a Barrani Lord of the High Court.”

Durant glanced at Nightshade; Nightshade nodded. “I believe it.”

“How was this even accomplished? The Towers themselves are built to prevent exactly that—among other things.” The ease and friendly aura of welcome vanished as Durant leaned forward in his chair.

“My Tower would not allow it,” Nightshade replied. “I cannot therefore answer with any accuracy. There are other matters we might, as fieflords who shoulder very similar responsibilities, discuss. I believe, if Tiamaris considered the risk necessary, his Tower would allow it. The Towers are not, and were never, all of one thing.”

“They were built to prevent exactly that!” Durant snapped.

“I highly doubt Farlonne’s Tower would allow what Candallar’s Tower did,” Bellusdeo told the fieflord. “But perhaps it would be best to allow Farlonne to speak for herself.”

Durant’s expression once again offered a genial, even amused, smile. Kaylin no longer believed it. “Lord Nightshade, how often have you spoken with either Tiamaris or Liatt?”

“Very, very seldom, as you are aware.”

“And if you wanted to ‘discuss’ a difficulty with Liatt, how would you go about that?”

“In the worst case, I would send a messenger with the message I desired to convey. There are mirrors within the Towers, but they do not function in the same fashion as mirrors in the rest of Elantra do. I would wait on her reply.”

“And Tiamaris?”

“I would visit Tiamaris in person.”

Durant’s smile faltered before it resumed. “I would not.”

“No. I have some experience with Tiamaris, and the corporal—” here he nodded in Kaylin’s direction “—is very, very familiar with Tiamaris’s Tower. She was present when the Tower chose Tiamaris as her lord.”

“You would trust yourself to another Tower?”

“I would trust my safety in this case to Tiamaris’s Tower. I would, however, insist the corporal accompany me.”

“Why?”

“Because the Tower of Tiamaris is extremely fond of the corporal. And the Tower has allowed things that my own Tower would forbid utterly unless I wished to...argue with its imperatives. For our part, we get along because I understand that the Tower has imperatives that are not mine, and I do not interfere in them. Is your Tower different?”

This time, Durant grimaced. “My Tower is...my Tower. She’s incredibly pretentious, and that pretension has been a source of conflict from time to time.”

“Is that why your Tower looks like that?” Kaylin cut in.

“Like what?”

“Like something we—normal people—could actually build?”

He grinned, and this felt genuine. “You liked that, did you?”

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