Page 40 of Horn of Winter

Because the law does not work that way. Just cause, and all that rubbish.

The Ninkilim murdered my mother.

You have no direct proof of that as yet.

True, but I suspected all Sgott would need was a name to at least haul the ring leaders in and question them.That still doesn’t tell me why you can’t just reveal their identities.

Because the wind also does not work that way. She is a weapon, and a gatherer of locations and intent, but she cannot reveal deeper information such as identity. She cannot even whisper a description, because wind and storms are of land and tree, cities, and seas; they have no care for those who dwell within them.

Does that mean I can’t send the wind on a mission to track down a particular person?

In normal circumstances, I would say yes, but in your case, that is a great unknown.

I frowned.Why?

Because you were born of both an Aodhán line given a triune blessed by multiple goddesses and the loins of a minor storm god. No one truly knows how your genetics will combine, and what might come of it. Expectation does ride high among those gods who remain that splendid chaos will be forthcoming.

You gods and your chaos, I muttered.

Her laughter spun around me, as sharp as it was warm.It is the spice of godly life.

Why were you attempting to contact me if not about the Ninkilim?

There has been an unsettling energy asserting itself on the storms.

Is it a relic-type energy? Or human? Because the council has tasked me with finding Borrhás’s horn, and there was a recent ice attack where the entire building was encased.

The horn’s ability to encase would depend on who, exactly, wields it.

Does that mean a regular storm witch could still use it even if he or she wasn’t an ice witch?

Possibly. I would have to ask.

My eyebrows shot up again.Borrhás is still hanging around? He hasn’t moved on?

He is one of the inconsistents.

Meaning what?

He hasn’t fully committed and has a godly foot in both worlds, so to speak.

Then you’ll ask him?

I will, but he may choose not to answer, particularly if he’s the reason the horn has fallen into human hands. As I have mentioned previously, chaos is a drug few can resist for very long, and he has not partaken of that well for a while.She paused.He also has little liking for me.

I frowned.And that impacts the situation how?

If the freezingisa result of his horn, it’s likely not a coincidence it’s made an appearance here, in a city I often frequent, and a place that holds a godly seedling.

A godly seedling was certainly a new way to describe my origins.I wrinkled my nose.If you are going to speak to him, can you also ask him if the two halves can be made whole and how I can rid the world of it? The council wants it back, but I’m not sure that is ever going to be a good option for any of the relics. Destruction or at least removing them from this world would be the optimum, wouldn’t it?

For the relics of those who have moved on, yes. For the inconsistents, or for those who remain attached to this world but are neither hag nor curmudgeon, I would think they’d prefer their relics remain.

Because of the chaos thing?

Indeed.

Well, fuck.

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