Cast in Wisdom (Chronicles of Elantra #15) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,8

it will make her happy.”

“You think he’s right.”

“I don’t know for certain,” Tara replied. “I don’t know what makes people happy or unhappy. I don’t know why some children can be happy in my garden, and some resent being forced to be here—it is the same activity for both. I understand that there are variances in personality, but I don’t understand what creates those variances.

“And no, Kaylin,” she added, although Kaylin hadn’t spoken a word, “I don’t think Dragons are more complicated than humans, Norannir or Barrani. They have different concerns.”

“And can hold longer grudges.”

Tara shook her head. “I think very few can hold a grudge as intensely as Morse can.”

“Yes, but that’s decades—that’s all we have.”

“Is that how you see it?”

“That’s not how you do?”

“No. I think Morse can hold a grudge for the entirety of her life.”

“Which is shorter—”

“I’m not sure it feels different from the inside, but I admit that I know far fewer Immortals.”

Morse cleared her throat. “I’m standing right here,” she told them both; the sharp edge of her glare was aimed at Kaylin.

“We know,” Tara said.

Morse snorted. “She forgets a lot, doesn’t she?”

“You’re going to criticize her manners?”

Morse chuckled. “Not hers, no.”

Right. “Do you understand what Bellusdeo needs?”

“I have been trying,” Tara confessed. She didn’t look up to the sky, but it wasn’t necessary; she could see what was happening. If Helen was Kaylin’s House, Tara was, in some fashion, the fief itself.

“My powers at the edge of my borders are very weak,” Tara then said. “If Bellusdeo were a Hallionne or a Tower, I would have far better guesses. But even the Towers and Hallionne differ. We have one imperative; that imperative produces necessary rules. But beyond those? Happiness is just as elusive as it is for you. Or Morse.

“And sometimes, in our attempts to find that happiness, we make mistakes; we confuse want with happiness. We discover that they are not the same, often at our peril.”

“She wants to be here.”

“She wants to be fighting Shadow. She wants to be part of the council of war that is concerned with Shadow, yes. But she wants that, I think, because she is confident that she has much to offer in that regard. The only other thing about which she can be certain is the continuation of her race.

“She is lonely.”

Kaylin opened her mouth and shut it again.

Tara nodded anyway. “Hatchlings might make her life busier, but I am not at all certain they would make it less lonely.”

“What would?”

Tara hesitated, which was unusual for the Tower. “Come,” she finally said. “Your stomach is making noise, and Morse has to eat, as well.” She then turned to Severn and said, “Good morning, Corporal.”

* * *

Tiamaris returned to join them in the small dining hall. Bellusdeo was not with him.

“She has gone to the border to visit her people,” Tara said in response to Kaylin’s wordless observation. To Kaylin, this was much like being at home.

“Tara says you’ve come to ask questions about my early years investigating the fiefs.” He spoke to both Severn and Kaylin as he joined them at the table. Morse had eaten and vacated her chair; she took up a position by the door. Her posture was casual—she was leaning against the wall with folded arms—but she was, in theory, a guard here.

Kaylin nodded. “We have experience in the fiefs because we were born in them. But Nightshade is not the fief we’ve been sent to investigate.”

“I assume it is not Tiamaris, either.”

“No. Inasmuch as a fieflord is trusted—by the Halls of Law—Tiamaris is trusted.” She wanted to add that if all fieflords were Dragons, maybe all of the fiefs would feel like part of the city proper. It was a nice thought, but even if that had been Imperial intent, there weren’t enough Dragons. The Arkon would never be pried from the library, and the Emperor would never be beholden to a Tower.

“We want to know what you learned of Candallar—or what you know now. He borders Tiamaris.”

“Finish eating your meal; we will retire to the mirror room before I attempt to answer any questions you have.”

* * *

“Candallar’s been hanging out in the warrens,” Kaylin said as they walked down the long, wide halls that led to the pool of water Tara called a mirror. Although Elantra proper was full of mirrors in various sizes, Tara—like Helen—considered their presence an unacceptable security risk. Understanding that Kaylin and Tiamaris considered them a necessity, the two buildings had created single rooms