identify one of the figures—a missing person—that I thought Killian might be living in a sentient building.” She didn’t cringe but failed to mention Nightshade’s intimidating audience chamber.
“But it’s when he used my name that I thought he might be a building, somehow. He was missing an eye.”
“And you think the eye that served as a portal was that missing eye?”
Did she? She considered the question with some care and then nodded. “If he’s a building, the eye is figurative. But...”
Helen’s eyes were obsidian, even if both remained firmly in her face. “He said he is not the master, and he does not seem to have control over the architecture?”
Kaylin nodded. She then turned to the Avatar of her house. “What is Killian, exactly? We know that there was a sentient building near the heart of the fiefs; it existed when the Towers were created.”
Helen nodded.
Mandoran, however, demanded to know how Kaylin knew this—which was probably Sedarias speaking, given his tone and his expression.
Teela, however, said, “The Arkon?”
Which was more or less the truth. “Yes. He wasn’t happy to see us, but he did confirm that before the creation of the Towers, there was a building near Ravellon. It existed between what’s now Nightshade and Liatt. It appears to have vanished when the Towers—and their perimeters—were established.” She now turned to Helen.
“You knew Killian.” The last syllable tailed up slightly, but it wasn’t really a question.
Helen nodded.
“How? As far as I can tell, buildings are entirely anchored in the lands they occupy. I mean, they are the lands they occupy.”
Helen nodded again. “You use your mirrors to communicate with those who are not currently sharing the same space you share. The cohort,” she continued, before Mandoran could speak—and he had opened his mouth, “use the bond of True Names. You have some experience with that.”
It was Kaylin’s turn to nod.
“We had something similar. Not as dire as True Names in the worst possible case, and not as flexible, in the best. But... I lost the ability to speak with others such as I when I made the choice to become as independent as I could.
“Some of the strictures that guided and enforced my behavior could not be changed—not safely. And yes, before you ask, every decision on my part was a calculated risk. But one of the things that could not be altered was the part of my function that required a lord, a master.
“I call them tenants,” she added. “And I choose. But once chosen, that master cannot easily be displaced.”
“It would be easy for you to kill them,” Mandoran said.
“It would be impossible for me to kill them,” Helen replied.
“Sedarias asks if that’s why you choose mortal masters.”
“No. It is not. Were I to meet a Barrani who was, in temperament and personality, identical to Kaylin, I would choose the Barrani as a tenant if I were otherwise empty.”
“...Yeah, that’s not likely.”
“But you existed without a tenant before me,” Kaylin pointed out.
“I did. There are things I could not do without a tenant. There are rooms and worlds I could not create; there are things I could not easily see. It is not all of one thing, or all of another. In order to make my own choices, I had to surrender the ability to obey a wider range of commands. I do not regret it, on most days.”
“Now?”
“I am concerned, as you must know. Killianas and I were not friends; perhaps it is better to say we were kin. His function was not my function; the space he occupied was both larger and more flexible.”
“So...he’s like you were, when you had no tenant?” Mandoran asked.
“I do not know. I imagine, were he damaged in the fashion I damaged myself, he would operate under the last orders he received from his Lord.”
“The Towers take different lords from time to time.”
“Yes. But the Towers are not what we were or are. They were built for specific functions; all else is meant to serve those functions. The Towers accept lords for different reasons than we did. Perhaps.
“I am disturbed by two things. Killian’s eye—and the eye that served as portal—and Killian’s presence in the building itself, a building that does seem subject to some oversight. It is clear to me that he is operating by a very strict interpretation of the mandates of his construction.”
“And the wall?”
“I am uncertain. People age, people die. If someone requires people of different ages, the wall—as you call it—might be the perfect containment. But