early breakfast hour in the morning, if that is acceptable.” She turned to Birgide. “The Master Gardener is extremely important to the House—and extremely particular. If you are willing to meet him on short notice, I will take you there myself.”
* * *
Birgide had not lied; she had several baskets of different weight and textures which required attention; the walk to the Master Gardener’s office was not particularly brisk. As Birgide insisted on carrying a clay urn of some weight in her own arms, Jewel slowed her customary pace to walk by her side. “How is it,” she asked, “that Duvari, a man who defines the absence of charm, has managed to gather people who exemplify it to his service?”
Birgide chuckled. “We obey Duvari,” she said, the lines around her mouth clearly marked, over time, by that smile. “But we serve the Kings. We are aware—in a way that Duvari will never openly acknowledge—that your interference in Avantari preserved the lives of the Princes of the Blood; you served as the only effective defense of the future Kings we will also serve, should we survive to do so.
“It is why,” she added, the smile fading as her expression became much graver, “word of the . . . changes . . . in the physical structure of Avantari itself have been minimized where possible. Had those alterations occurred in any other circumstance . . .” she failed to finish the sentence, and because she carried something heavy in both hands, also failed to shrug.
Jewel accepted the implied shrug in its place. “I know you probably can’t answer this, but I haven’t been to Avantari. I wasn’t technically there the day the changes occurred, either.”
“That is part of the concern,” Birgide replied. “Your question?”
“How . . . notable . . . are those changes?”
Birgide raised a brow. “You really haven’t traveled to the Kings’ palace since then.”
“No.”
“And you were not informed?”
“I was informed that some structural changes had occurred at the end of the battle; I was also told that they were, architecturally, superior. They strengthened the halls, rather than weakening them.”
“But you were not given a sketch of the actual differences?”
“No. This may come as a surprise to you, given the import of House Terafin, but I have not spent most of my adult life traversing those halls. I am familiar with the Trade Commission’s offices, and with the galleries and the halls that lead to—and from it—but I have seldom entered the Hall of The Ten. I was not right-kin.”
Birgide raised brow, no more; to reach the Master Gardener’s offices, they had to pass by the large doors that led to the main terrace. Jewel paused there, and Birgide turned as well, to look out on the trees that she had correctly named: Ellariannatte.
“So,” she said softly. “It was not mere rumor.”
“No.”
“I had some thought that the trees were misidentified, but one of my sources was impeccable.” Her eyes were wide and unblinking as she lifted her gaze, exposing the whole of a surprisingly long throat to do so. She lowered her head slowly, and turned. “You do not know how these trees came to be here.”
“I don’t understand the mechanics, no.”
“A subtle difference.”
Jewel nodded.
“The changes within Avantari are not as immediately striking—or were not, to me, but architecture is not my area of specialty. To some, however, they are the same; some of the pillars are notably different, and one section of wall has been reworked in a way that has been difficult to suppress. There are apparently two rooms that have undergone large changes, but those rooms did not see heavy use; I do not know if you will be required to view them. They are the most significant transformation, however, and I believe access has been extremely limited since then. Thank you,” she added, nodding, as she pulled her gaze from the height of those trees. “Where it does not come into conflict with my duties and my oaths of allegiance, Terafin, I will repay courtesy with courtesy.”
* * *
Jewel introduced Birgide to the Master Gardener with some stiffness; she found the Master Gardener about as easygoing as the Master of the Household Staff, and she was very careful about how she impinged on either’s territory. Birgide, however, was Birgide Viranyi, a name which meant nothing to Jewel, and apparently a great deal to the Master Gardener. When Jewel informed him that Birgide wished to be considered for employ on the Household Staff, she thought his eyes