The Will of the Empress - By Tamora Pierce Page 0,9
It's all wrong, she told herself. We should be in Discipline, with the kitchen and the table all in one room, and Lark and Rosethorn ... Stop it! she ordered herself tartly. She put down the teapot and slid her fingers behind her spectacles to wipe away tears. When she could see again, Daja had taken charge of the teapot.
"Things change," Daja said softly. "We change with them. We sail before the wind. We become adults. As adults, we keep our minds and our secrets hidden, and our wounds. It's safer."
* * *
Chapter Two
The 29th day of Carp Moon, 1043 K.F.
Number 6 Cheeseman Street
Summersea, Emelan
Duke Vedris, riding into the courtyard followed by his guards, was dismounting when he heard Daja's familiar voice raised in a bellow. "Tris! That little flying glass monster of yours just stole fish roe pearls!"
A moment later the duke heard Briar shout, "Tris! Tell this creature it cannot roost in my shakkans! Lakik's teeth, I'd have her guts for string if she had guts!"
From the top of the house, booming on a mad swirl of wind, they heard Tris yell, "I'm meditating up here!"
The duke looked at the sergeant of his guard. "Did you know that the magical rune for discord is the combination of the rune for house and two runes for mage?"
The woman grinned. "I wonder what it would be for a house with three mages?"
"Number 6 Cheeseman Street," murmured one of the other guards.
The shutters on a third-floor window slammed open, and a red head poked out. "Mila's blessings! One moment, Your Grace!" Tris called. The shutters closed with a snap.
"Your Grace is lucky," said the guard who had just spoken. "That one likes you. It could be so much worse for us all if she didn't."
The duke frowned briefly at the man. "Tris is sharp-tempered, it's true, but she is a good friend to those in need."
The man bowed his head. "Yes, Your Grace."
Within minutes a manservant had taken charge of the guards and the horses and Tris had settled the duke in the sitting room. "I'd like to speak with the three of you, if I may?" asked Vedris when she had served him tea. "I know you're busy, but I have a rather large favour to ask."
Tris curtsied, blushing slightly. "Of course, Your Grace," she said. "The others are on their way. They just need to tidy up."
He smiled at her. He had long known that the younger Tris had admired him, as a young girl would admire a polished older man who talked of books with her. From the colour on her cheeks it seemed that some of her old feeling still remained. "Did you summon them from here?" he asked. "Sandry told me you had all closed your connections to one another."
Tris's blush deepened. "I sent the maid. We're not who we were, Your Grace," she explained. "Would you like it if Sandry walked freely in your mind, among all the things you have been and done?"
"Shurri Firesword, I would not!" The very thought gave Vedris gooseflesh.
"They say travel gives you a world of experiences." Briar came in, still drying his hands. "Well, I have plenty of experiences I wouldn't share with my worst enemy."
Vedris raised his eyebrows. "Not even with the girls, who understand you best?" he asked mildly.
Briar grinned. "Particularly not with the girls."
"I know about the cookmaid," Tris muttered. "You're lucky she's too silly to think you're serious."
"What are you worried about?" snapped Briar. "I make sure any girl I go walking with knows I'm not serious."
"Walking?" asked Daja. She entered the room and kissed the duke on the cheek before she looked at Briar and raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you call it?"
Vedris saw that all three of the young mages frowned, despite their jokes. The discord Sandry had told him about still continued, it seemed. "Please spare me what any of you call it," Vedris said delicately. At the sound of his voice, they all looked at him. Briar grinned and shrugged, taking a chair. Daja followed suit, while Tris poured out tea for the others.
As she did so, Chime sailed into the room on widespread wings. She dropped the bag of tiny, fish roe pearls in Daja's lap — one pearl floated in her glass body where a real creature's stomach would be — and continued on to settle gracefully on the duke's shoulder. Emitting the musical glass croon that was her purr, Chime rested her head against Vedris's cheek.