Page 72 of Cast in Conflict

Liannor grimaced and mounted Riaknon’s back.

“We are ready, Liatt,” Riaknon said.

“And excited to be so, I see. Very well.” She turned to Kaylin. “These are my guards; I require no others.”

“No, I imagine you don’t. Starrante was involved in some of the fighting; I can well imagine that one of his kin would be more than enough to guarantee safety.”

“Starrante was fighting?” Riaknon asked.

“It’s a long story.”

“I would hear it.” Riaknon lifted his front arms, briefly. He then paused. “That is ‘please’ in our tongue.”

“We will walk on foot,” Liatt said. “The story of how you met Starrante will be much more pleasant than idle chatter.” Implying, heavily, that otherwise they’d be walking in stiff silence.

Kaylin exhaled. She glanced at Mandoran, who very determinedly refused to meet her eyes. When she stepped on his foot, he said, “What? He didn’t ask me. He asked you.”

Kaylin told the story. She attempted to start at the beginning, but felt obliged to answer Riaknon’s questions, and Mandoran threw an oar in, usually to correct her, which didn’t help. Riaknon took the correction, but didn’t expect mortals to have infallible or perfect memory. He also understood that with only two eyes, most races had difficulty accessing all available visual information.

Still, he told Liatt, he was now convinced that the corporals and their Barrani companion were telling as much of the truth as they were capable of processing.

Liatt nodded as if this was expected. Nothing about her posture, even while walking, implied that she had relaxed. Or that she could. She walked slowly; she might have been taking a leisurely stroll alongside visitors she didn’t trust to wander about her property at will. But she followed where Kaylin led, noting, as they crossed the border of her fief, the repair of the buildings that had been removed by the creation of the Towers themselves.

The roads hadn’t changed; they remained the roads that led out of the Academia. When they reached the circular road upon which the building that housed both students and library stood, Bellusdeo came to greet them.

“I should warn you,” Kaylin told Riaknon as they approached, “that the chancellor is also a Dragon.”

“Dragons are ferocious in their protection of the things they value and prize,” Riaknon replied. “And it is likely a Dragon that is needed now. I can hear my hearts beating; I feel almost young again.”

“Did you attend the Academia?”

“No. Aggarok did; I am not sure he loved it as much as was expected.”

Bellusdeo had been watching them come, and if the presence of one of Starrante’s people had come as a surprise, none of it showed. Her eyes were orange, but with the exception of a single interaction, that was the best they’d been all day.

“The chancellor would be pleased to meet with you,” she told the fieflord. “Here, you will be styled as Lord Liatt, unless you express a different preference. Appropriate titles of respect are to be offered in the absence of stated preference.” She glanced at Kaylin. “The woman who led you here is known as Lord Kaylin or Corporal Neya, when titles are to be used.”

“I prefer Kaylin.”

“Indeed? And I prefer Liatt.” This was the first thing the fieflord had said that came as a surprise to Kaylin.

Kaylin saw Liatt to the chancellor’s office; it was, and remained, large. The chancellor rose when Riaknon entered the room; Liannor, who had remained mounted for the entire journey, now dismounted.

Liatt introduced them all, and Liannor immediately availed herself of a chair. There were no chairs available for Riaknon. Or rather, no regular chairs. The chancellor, however, said, “Those two sections of wall, and a portion of the ceiling, have been modified for your use, if you wish to take weight off your feet.”

“I had best not. Liatt doesn’t like the webbing.”

“I do not dislike it, but it is not meant to be passable for my kin.”

Liannor said, “And if you didn’t forget it was there, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

Riaknon clicked.

Kaylin found herself relaxing. Liannor had spent much of her life around Riaknon and didn’t find him terrifying at all. Which meant, in time, Kaylin wouldn’t either.

Her reactions were her reactions, yes. They were visceral and instinctive. But her behavior was a choice—and if she had to struggle to make the right one, that was part of her job, wasn’t it? She did look forward to the day when those instincts replaced raw primal terror with the comfort Liannor clearly felt.

“Before we begin,” Liatt said, “I have a request.”

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