Page 135 of Cast in Atonement

“No. I’m on my way to Azoria’s again. Tomorrow morning. When the Keeper comes to get us.”

“Us.”

“Helen may have warned you. The Keeper thinks Mrs. Erickson’s presence is necessary.”

“Does he?” That was definitely a no.

“The Ancient I may have mentioned is, according to the Keeper, dead. But dead doesn’t mean to Ancients what it means to the rest of us. I think he’s stuck in his current state, and his current state—unhampered by Azoria—is bleeding into the rest of the landscape.

“Evanton thinks it’s only a matter of time before that bleed escapes Azoria’s old place and begins to transform the world the rest of us live in. Which would not be a good thing for the rest of us.” Kaylin exhaled. “If you want to tell him no, you can tell him no. I warned him you wouldn’t like it.”

“What, exactly, do you expect a frail mortal woman to do?”

“I don’t know. She can talk to the ghosts she brought home from the palace. No one else can. But I think they’re related to the Ancients because they clearly have will and an ability—as ghosts—to possess a Dragon Lord. Evanton believes—Ugh. He thinks she has some chance of somehow escorting the dead Ancient off this particular stage, because he believes—as Helen does—that that’s the core of her gift. She used it, once Azoria was dead. She freed the dead that were trapped in various paintings or household pieces of furniture. She set them free.

“I think he believes she can do the same for the Ancient.”

“And you?”

“Pardon?”

“What do you believe? You found Evanton. You clearly arranged to bring him to his home.”

“Emmerian did that.”

“Pardon?”

“Emmerian went full Dragon and flew him home.” Kaylin exhaled. “We’ve suspected that Azoria had ties to the green; she could grow a flower that only grows in the green. When we went to find Evanton, we found one of those flowers—no, more than just one. We had a scholar from the Academia with us; he believes that Azoria’s connection to the green was carefully controlled—it was like a tiny drip. But when she died, that control slipped, and the green now has more of a presence in Azoria’s former home.

“Evanton agrees. But Evanton felt that the green’s intent was to contain the dead Ancient’s spreading power—and for what it’s worth, Evanton believes that’s what the Ancient wants as well. My marks responded to either the green or Evanton, and some of them left my skin permanently to shore up Evanton’s work to contain the Ancient.

“But it wasn’t enough. And it’s not something we can leave to someone else. Mrs. Erickson isn’t getting any younger, and even if she was, I’m going to get old—and when we’re gone, the problem will remain and the temporary solution will have vanished. I don’t think the Ancient will make any attempt to harm Mrs. Erickson; the ghosts she brought from the palace didn’t.”

“And if you’re wrong?” The question was chilly. Bellusdeo’s eyes were definitely red now.

“I’ll be the first in the line of fire,” Kaylin replied. She met, and held, the angry Dragon’s gaze. “I understand why Mrs. Erickson is important to you. But Evanton believes if we don’t make this attempt, everyone will die. Everything will die.”

“Helen?” Bellusdeo snapped.

Helen’s Avatar materialized in the room; she clearly didn’t trust just her voice to make her point. “Kaylin believes everything she’s said is the truth.”

“Do you?”

“I would have some reservations, but it is clear from Kaylin’s memory that the Keeper believes this. The Keeper has his role and function. I may, with great effort, ignore his demands—he does not have the right of command. But his word carries weight to even a damaged building such as myself. I believe, however, that Kaylin has another duty to accomplish before tomorrow morning.”

“Teela, Tain, and Severn were waiting for me to wake up,” Kaylin added. “I think they want to strategize.”

“Let them. What duty is Helen talking about?”

Kaylin grimaced. “The green believes that I can carry the ghosts that Mrs. Erickson has been keeping calm—the ones I could vaguely see as words, and she can see as people.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. But... I could see Jamal with my own eyes; I could see him without Hope’s wing. I could talk to him; he could hear me. It’s not the first time I’ve seen a ghost. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s significant. I think the green believes I can take the dead words and place them on my skin, where the marks that vanished once sat. Look, I didn’t exactly talk with the green. We didn’t have a conversation. The green didn’t tell me what to do.

“The green could sort of communicate with Evanton, and Evanton told me what he thought the green wanted. The important point being: the green believed I could do this.” Kaylin swallowed. “Mrs. Erickson is exhausted a lot of the time. I think it’s because the dead words don’t sleep, and she’s the only thing that can calm them down.

“It’s the power she has that has the calming effect—but she’s using it constantly. Mages can’t use their powers without driving themselves to exhaustion. Clearly shamans can’t, either. If I can take the ghosts onto my skin, if I can carry them that way...”

---