Page 63 of Cast in Conflict

“Candallar heavily implied that Karriamis sent him here. The chancellor believes that Karriamis, possibly with the cooperation of other Towers, managed to preserve the Academia in a kind of broken stasis, until Candallar could somehow make his way in. Candallar wouldn’t have looked because he wouldn’t have known to look, were it not for his Tower.

“And yes, it’s Candallar’s empty Tower we’re mostly concerned with—but the information about the other Towers could prove helpful.”

“How?”

She exhaled. “We think it’s a really good idea for the captains of the Towers to meet and discuss the situation with Ravellon. In person.”

Starrante, Androsse and Kavallac shared a wordless glance. Silence was a prod to continue, and Kaylin did.

“If the captains are necessary because they’re more flexible and because our knowledge of Shadow—and the abilities of that Shadow—change with time, more captains means more knowledge, right? The captains—the fieflords—can exchange knowledge vital to their Tower’s defense.”

Starrante clicked. If there were syllables contained in that clicking, Kaylin couldn’t hear enough of them to transform them into words on the inside of her head.

They are words, Nightshade said. But yes, the language is extremely difficult for even me.

“I fail to see how that is relevant to the discussion of the original Tower cores.” Androsse glanced at Kavallac.

“We’ll need to talk to the current fieflords—men and women who didn’t exist at the time of the Towers’ rise. We’ll need to negotiate with them, if we want them on board. Negotiations—I’m told—rely on knowledge of context. So, the more we know about the Towers’ peculiarities, the better we’ll be at presenting the idea.

“We’re not Shadow; we’re not seeking openings into the Towers themselves. Frankly, I never want to enter Nightshade’s Tower again while I’m still breathing.”

“You wish to be buried there?” Starrante asked, his tone almost implying confusion.

“No—but I’ll be a corpse, so I won’t care.”

“This is not the usual view of death among your—”

“Starrante, now is not the time. You encountered Durandel?” Androsse’s brow was folded into what was almost a single line.

“Nightshade’s Tower has never been entirely friendly,” Kaylin replied. “And two of the people sleeping in his basement decided to take a walk and ended up trying to torch the High Halls to the ground. I don’t need to know more about Durandel—I mean, we don’t. Nightshade is willing to talk.”

I would be highly interested in speaking with Androsse about Durandel. Perhaps I will gain permission to visit the library.

“And the others?”

“We intend—no, sorry. Lord Bellusdeo intends to approach all of the fieflords in an attempt to somehow arrange a meeting of the fieflords.”

She does indeed. Lannagaros has allowed such meetings going forward to take place within specified buildings on the Academia campus. He, too, desires some access to the fieflords, if for entirely different reasons. Durant is willing to take the risk of a full meeting; he has also agreed to keep his borders open for those who might apply to become students here.

That was the heart of the chancellor’s concern. But...he and Bellusdeo were friends. He understood her in a way no one else did—and this, this meeting of fieflords, was probably a concession to her experience with Shadow. Ravellon was personal to Bellusdeo.

“You’ve given us some information to work with. I know the Towers’ base personalities do change—I mean, they’re like gods in their own domain, but like prisoners outside of them, so that’s going to have an effect.

“But...I’m a little bit surprised that Durant is...Durant, given the core of his Tower was a Barrani woman.”

“How so?” Androsse asked.

“You’d kind of have to see his Tower. It’s...a building that we could make. I mean, mortals, humans, us. Most Barrani architecture is...” She struggled to find a polite word for pretentious, and failed.

Majestic.

It’s not majestic. It’s—it’s all overdone. It’s like it was designed to make visitors feel grubby and unworthy.

That is entirely your impression. Architecture is meant to create a mood, a tone, within a dwelling. It is not meant for visitors, but for occupants.

“Anyway, it’s very simple, very plain—I mean, creating a Tower like that would cost a lot of money, so it’s not like we could just randomly build it ourselves, but—it looks like it could, without magic, be built by us.”

“I see.”

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