Page 156 of Cast in Atonement

Evanton nodded. “They are not. But should the elemental fire die, they would not exist as they are now, if they existed at all. There is no world we can envision that does not involve fire. If True Words are alive in the fashion Imelda suggests they are, it is possible that a similar, almost elemental version of those words also exists.”

“So...you’re saying True Words are like elementals in some way?”

“No. I suggest it as a possibility, no more; the speaking of True Words was neither my study nor my duty. I believe the former Arkon did study and could speak those words.”

“So can Sanabalis. But they don’t exactly converse when they do.”

Evanton nodded, frowning. “I am the Keeper of the garden; I do not know if there existed a governing authority with jurisdiction over the language of the Ancients. We can argue about whether or not the words spoken by the Ancients were, or are, sentient in and of themselves at a later time; there are far too many variables to give the question full consideration now.

“Mrs. Erickson can see the ghosts of what you perceived as True Words. She can speak with them. That is proof enough that at least some of those words were once alive.” He turned to Mrs. Erickson. “I apologize for the interruption; I feel the Ancient is waiting.”

Mrs. Erickson nodded. The words had not come to her hands, as they’d done once before.

Kaylin exhaled. If she was the new Jamal—he would have been so offended to hear that—she only had one option here: to lift the restraint that Mrs. Erickson had imposed on herself for almost the entirety of her life. She trusted Imelda Erickson; this wasn’t a matter of trust. The Ancients and their opaque purposes weren’t things meant for people like them; the Ancients were gods. How could a mortal give purpose to a god?

What directive could be offered that would make sense to an Ancient? Mrs. Erickson couldn’t speak True Words any more than Kaylin could.

But Mrs. Erickson didn’t see the Ancient as a godlike being. She saw a dead person, probably a dead human. She listened and she interacted; if the Ancient weren’t dead, she would have invited him into her rooms and offered him a cup of tea. Maybe the dead perceived Mrs. Erickson the same way: as one of them, as someone with whom they had once shared some elements of common ground.

“Kaylin—do I have permission to break my promise?”

Kaylin smiled at Mrs. Erickson. “Just once,” she said, just as Jamal had done. “Just now.”

Mrs. Erickson’s smile was bright; she recognized the phrasing, the intonation. She continued to look in Kaylin’s direction, but she was no longer seeing Kaylin.

“I’m terribly sorry to have to do this,” she said, her voice soft, a thread of steel in her tone. “But you must leave Kaylin now. Come here.”

The guests on her arms shuddered—or maybe that was Kaylin herself. But even if they struggled against Mrs. Erickson’s gentle but implacable command, they obeyed; they uprooted themselves from Kaylin’s skin. In Kaylin’s eyes, they maintained the shape and the colors they had taken when they had finally come to rest on that skin, but those colors became dimensional as she watched them unfold.

In Mrs. Erickson’s eyes, clearly, they maintained the forms she had seen—none of which were words. This time, when she held out her hands, they came to her, like wayward children who had tried to avoid being caught out doing something they shouldn’t—with the expected poor results.

Kaylin looked at her arms; they were, as expected, bleeding.

The sleeves of the dress she wore wrapped themselves gently around the visible wounds while Hope roared.

“It’s not trying to eat my blood, Hope—it’s trying to bandage the wounds. Look at the fabric and calm down.” She looked at her feet. “You’ve made your point, and I don’t think the green is trying to fight you. I think the green is trying to somehow calm the Ancient in the only way it can. Through me. Through Mrs. Erickson.”

You do not know what the cost will be. Two voices overlapped in Kaylin’s head—Hope’s and Severn’s.

“I know what the cost will likely be if we fail,” she replied. “And Serralyn thought we should absolutely trust the green. Maybe you know more than I do—but the cohort came back from the green, from the Hallionne, and the green did not interfere.”

“If it weren’t for the interference of the green, they would never have been jailed,” Severn pointed out.

Kaylin nodded. It was true. But the laws of the green stated clearly that children were not to be exposed to its influence. Those who lived in the West March had a healthy respect for the green; those who lived in the High Halls did not. Lack of respect sentenced Barrani children to captivity for centuries. Only Teela had escaped it—but she was Barrani; she had not escaped the memories. And she had not forgiven her father, at whose hands her mother had died.

Kaylin closed her eyes. “I’ve done what you asked, even if I didn’t fully understand it. I therefore have a favor to ask in return.” She spoke, now, to the green.

Both Hope and Severn were surprised; Severn’s surprise banked instantly, because he realized what the favor would be.

“We’re missing one of the children sent as a sacrifice to the green in the hopes that you would bestow enough power upon them that they could become useful tools. I know Hallionne Alsanis was connected to the green in some fashion. Maybe he thought you maintained an interest in the fate of those children; maybe you felt responsible for them somehow.

“If you do, Terrano came with the Keeper to this place; he never left it. Even when we found the Keeper, we could find no sign of Terrano. His friends know he’s alive, but they can’t reach him. I’m hoping you can.”

The sleeves which had wrapped themselves around Kaylin’s injuries unwrapped themselves, cloth once again draping in the expected way impractical long sleeves did.

Kaylin’s arms were no longer injured, but better, they were no longer cold. She hadn’t been worried about the wounds—she knew she could heal them herself. Hope, however, had been less certain.

Evanton pinched the bridge of his nose. “You are certain you wish to have Terrano brought back from wherever it is he managed to get stuck?”

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