me clean," he said. "I was feeling old and useless."
"Let them clean," said Seraph. "I have it on the best authority that if it weren't for you, a lot more people would have been killed."
"Whose authority would that be?" he asked.
She smiled at him. "He says you play skiri well."
He paused and looked at her thoughtfully before gifting her with a secretive smile. "Maybe your informant is right."
"So sit and rest," she told him. "Enjoy the fruits of your labors for a day or two more. They'll work you hard enough later. I expect that attendance at Ellevanal's temple is due for an increase."
He laughed. "That may be, daughter. That may be."
"Shadowed," said Hennea, when they'd left Ellevanal's temple behind them.
"Karadoc is not tainted," said Lehr.
"Ellevanal is not of the shadow," agreed Seraph. "He's been Jes's friend for years. But Hennea knows that already."
"What's wrong?" Seraph heard Rinnie ask Jes. "Why is Hennea so upset?"
"Ellevanal shadowed that priest," said Hennea, keeping her gaze firmly on the road before them.
"What?" asked Lehr. "The forest king isn't of the shadow. Jes and I would know."
Seraph sighed. "The Colossae wizards knew how to ride in the heads of others. They called what Ellevanal did with Karadoc welaen. Shadow, the kind of shadow that you see on a sunny day is laen. Welaen then, translates best into Common as 'shadowing.' Its meaning to the Elder Wizards was broader and encompassed a whole range of magical ability. For us, only the touch of the Stalker or the Shadowed brings shadow-tainting." She directed that at Hennea.
"What your Mother means," said Hennea, "is that the Colossae wizards could ride with unsuspecting people or simply take over their bodies without permission - just as the Stalker does. Because of the misuse of welaen, the Colossae wizards forbade it - and there wasn't much that they forbade."
Seraph had forgotten the endless debating about what kind of magic was allowable. It came, she supposed, because the lack of morality among the Colossae wizards had destroyed the city and began the endless guilt-bound wandering of the Travelers. The other Orders just used their abilities as they could, but Ravens must endlessly debate about what was right and proper.
"Here is the bakery," Seraph said, with something like relief. She'd always been a practical Raven, especially after her teacher died and she became her clan's only Raven. Whatever it took to survive was not a moral line she expected Hennea would approve of.
They found Tier elbow deep in dough. He listened as Seraph explained what they were going to do.
"I'll follow you in a couple of hours. We've a lot of hungry folk to feed."
Seraph leaned over and kissed him lightly, careful to keep out of the flour. "You'll do no such thing. I won't have you climbing the mountainside with your knees still healing. When you're through here, why don't you wait for us at the tavern?"
He thought about arguing, she saw it in his eyes. "Fine," he said instead. "Just you be cautious up there. I don't want to have to trek up there and find our Jes as a frog."
"Can't do frogs," said Jes seriously. "Can't do horses either. Only animals with fur and fangs."
They started back up the streets. Since Redern was dug into the side of a mountain, new buildings had to be built above the rest of the village, and Volis's temple was the newest building in Redern.
"Maybe Jes shouldn't be here," Hennea said. "There's a lot of people."
Seraph had been keeping an eye on him as well. She'd have left him home, but he wouldn't stay without them. He wasn't paying attention to them now, just staring at the ground with a distracted air.
"If you wrap a sprain for too long, you ruin the joint," said Lehr.
"What?"
"I mean," Lehr explained, "if Jes doesn't ever come to town - pretty soon he won't be able to."
"Jes," said Seraph, touching his sleeve.
He looked up with a jerk.
"Do you need to go home?" she asked. "Are the people too much for you?"
"No, Mother." Jes shook his head. "I'm all right. Everyone is so excited today it feels like I have bees in my head. But we think it wouldn't be a good thing to leave you alone in the new temple."
He used "we" just as the priest had. Lehr started to speak, and Seraph held up a finger for quiet so she could solidify her first, nebulous thought. There was a connection between shadowing and the way the Guardian