The Emperor's Wolves (Wolves of Elantra #1) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,107
To Random, she said, “I cannot answer all of Severn’s questions. If you can, you must answer them.”
“You want him to know.”
“I want him to know.”
“Tessa wanted to meet him.”
“Ollarin?”
“Yes. Tessa saw him, and she wanted to meet him.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I knew that she would want to meet him. After they visited. I knew she would want to come back.”
“And she did.”
Random nodded. “We were older. She was your age. Jerrin didn’t come. Tobi came with her, but Jerrin didn’t. Jerrin was scared.”
“Did she make an appointment for her second visit?”
“No.” Random looked at Ybelline.
Ybelline said, “She knocked on the door. Her understanding of the workings of the Oracular Halls remained incomplete.”
“But you met her the same way you did the first time?”
Random nodded. “I knew. I knew she would come. I had made things for her. I had to warn her.”
“You were afraid for her.”
“I—Yes. But she was afraid, too.”
“Why?”
“Because she’d met Ollarin.”
Ybelline nodded. “Yes. Yes, she had.”
“Random, the first oracle—the one you hadn’t expected—did it contain any warning for them? Any hint of the future?”
“No!” Random’s hand clutched the one that Severn had not moved; her knuckles whitened, and Severn’s hand tingled almost painfully as her grip cut off blood flow. “No! It wasn’t! There was no warning! She wanted to meet him because he...he wanted to...” She swallowed. “He wasn’t afraid of the Tha’alani, either. He wasn’t afraid of the Tha’alaan.”
“Did Ollarin come here, Random?”
Random’s eyes widened, revealing whites. She didn’t answer.
It was Ybelline who said, “Yes.”
* * *
Random was no longer the child she had once been, but Random wasn’t exactly adult, either. Severn wondered what she might have become had she had more experience of the outside world. He didn’t ask her if she could leave. He didn’t ask her if she had ever tried.
But she answered the question he didn’t ask. “I can’t leave. I could never leave. I didn’t grow up here.”
Severn nodded.
“I grew up outside of the city. That way.” She lifted an arm, as if pointing to her left would mean to Severn what it meant to her. “Master Sabrai found me. He rescued me. We almost died. He said if I left the Halls, I would die.”
“You believed him.”
“He’s an Oracle, too. Not a powerful one, which is why he can leave. He talks to people like the Emperor. And people like you. Sorry. He doesn’t...have visions the way we do. Some of the Oracles he searches for he finds too late. We don’t want to die,” she added. “Not if there’s no reason.
“I wasn’t afraid of Ollarin. I wasn’t afraid for Tessa—not then. I knew Ollarin would like her. I knew she would like him. She wanted to find people who weren’t afraid. He wasn’t going to be afraid of her.”
Ybelline said nothing.
“But if the oracle hadn’t arrived then, if she hadn’t seen what I saw, she wouldn’t be dead.”
Ybelline said, voice low, “No. But that is not your fault. Tessa made a choice. She was young, naive. She was hopeful.”
“She was like you.”
Ybelline’s eyes were hazel now.
“I don’t want you to die.” Random turned to Severn. “I don’t want Ybelline to die.”
“Is that why you made the appointment for us?”
Random nodded. “I made it because I knew you would come. Like I knew Tessa would come back.”
“Why did Ollarin come to visit?”
“He knew.”
“He knew that Tessa had come before?”
Random nodded. “I think you can take those with you, now. I think they’ll hold their form and shape.” She extricated her hand from Severn’s, rose, and turned toward Ybelline. Ybelline had already opened both of her arms, and Random walked into them, walked into her, as if she hoped to meld there permanently.
She was crying.
“I need to borrow something to carry them in,” Severn began.
“There’s a bag under the bench. One of my friends made it for me. He gave it to me two days ago. It’s for you. You don’t have to bring it back.”
Ybelline’s arms were around Random, as words were dissolved by tears. Severn took the figurines, the small tableau, and the sketches. He packed them as carefully as he could, given lack of preparation, and when he was done, he looked at Random’s back. He couldn’t see Ybelline’s face; she had, once again, drawn Random into the Tha’alaan.
Severn almost wished he could join them, and that was a new and disturbing thought.
* * *
Master Sabrai might have given Random free rein within the confines of her workshop, but he was clearly concerned. The drink