Chapter Thirty~seven

The Winds Are Shifting

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When Kazia opened her eyes again, it was late afternoon and she was in her own bed.

Brandra and Neiphi were there, sitting in chairs they had drawn to her bedside.

She yawned, and it hurt her head. The pain seemed less than it had been, but now there were other aches and bruises making themselves known all over her body.

She put a hand to her head and felt a bandage wrapped there.

“Lady Kazia!” Brandra cried, rising from her chair and grasping Kazia's hand.

“Mistress! We were so scared!” Neiphi added, bouncing onto the bed.

“Neiphi, don't jostle her,” Brandra said. “Go bring Mistress Amelys.”

Both were a flood of almost every emotion one could name, and it crashed into Kazia almost as hard as the Archive ceiling had.

“Please,” she said, shrinking away from them. “Please calm yourselves.”

Neiphi ran from the room.

Kazia's head began to throb, and she touched her temple gingerly.

“You're going to be fine,” Brandra said. “It isn't as bad as we feared. The wound is shallow – it seems you've got your comb to thank for that - and your brain was surely addled a bit, but you're expected to be just fine with some rest.”

“My comb?” Kazia asked.

“It's like your mother was looking out for you, isn't it?” Brandra said, smoothing Kazia's hair back from her forehead. “The comb was damaged, but don't worry. The Queen herself has sent it to her own jeweler to see if they can't fix it up.”

Amelys came in then, looking disheveled and wiping at her eyes.

“Mistress Amelys, were you sleeping on my settee?” Kazia asked. “I'm sorry to wake you.”

“Sorry to wake me?” Amelys replied in mock indignation.

“The gall of this child!” she said to Brandra.

Kazia patted the other side of the bed.

“You should have just come here,” she said. “I am embarrassed that my hospitality has been lacking.”

“Impudent urchin,” Amelys retorted. “I'll keep that in mind the next time you almost die.”

Kazia tried to sit up, but her head began throbbing again.

“Careful, dear,” Brandra said.

Placing an arm around Kazia to steady her, she piled all of the pillows behind her.

Neiphi was sitting at the foot of the bed, bouncing nervously again.

“Madame Brandra, will you and Neiphi give us the room for a while?” Kazia said.

“Of course, dear, we'll go find you something to eat,” Brandra answered. “Do you think you can manage some soup?”

“I think so.”

As Brandra finished with the pillows, Kazia grasped her hand and gave a weak smile.

“Thank you, Madame Brandra.”

“Of course darling. Come along, Neiphi!”

Brandra ushered Neiphi out of the room, and Kazia sighed as their emotional turmoil exited with them.

“Is there any news of Eaphan?” Kazia asked, resting back on the pillows. “Kelvaran said he was badly injured.”

“He is here in the castle infirmary,” Amelys told her. “He is expected to recover, but it may take quite some time. His injuries were severe.”

“I fear that he took the brunt of the blow upon us,” Kazia said. “He may have saved my life. And Kelvaran. Where is he?”

“In bed, if he knows what's good for him,” Amelys said, “although I've had a damnable time keeping him there. He has several cracked ribs but he will recover - if the fool will stay put.”

“He didn't say,” Kazia mused, remembering how she had lain on those cracked ribs for hours.

“Of course he didn't. So it's Kelvaran now, is it?” Amelys said, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh,” Kazia answered. “No, I forget myself.”

She looked at Amelys quizzically.

“Do you think my brain is damaged?”

“Your brain will heal,” Amelys said. “As for Kel, he has been in quite a mood.”

“I'm sure. His friend is injured, and the University was attacked. I know the implications, Mistress. It was Valesk, wasn't it?”

“That is unverified as of yet, but yes, it is most likely.”

“Where does that leave us now?”

“Nowhere good. But I feel there is something more to Kel's disposition. Did anything happen that I should know about?”

“Nothing of larger importance. I'm afraid I may have said some foolish things to him in delirium.”

“You didn't divulge your-”

“No,” Kazia said. “I wanted to. It was hard to explain what the energy dampers in the Archive were doing to me. Perhaps I should? If he understood-”

“I wouldn't just now. It's a risk yet.”

“Before last night I was clear-eyed where he was concerned, that it was best to simply stay out of his way and do my work. Keep to myself and tinker with the machines, isn't that what I've always said? Now...”

“We have had word from Master Giao today,” Amelys said.

“Mistress!”

“He has found his wife in Brinland. He intends to stay there with her.”

“Oh, good for him! But he will be sorely missed here. Surely we can convince him-”

“The point is that the portal is proven to work as he intended.”

“Yes,” Kazia said. “But I knew that already.”

“I know you did.”

At that moment, heavy footsteps thundered across Kazia's apartment, and Kelvaran burst into the room, a wave of anger lashing out from him to Kazia.

She winced and held her head.

“How long has the transmitter worked?” he demanded.

“It doesn't,” Kazia answered.

“Then how have I heard the two of you chattering through it just now?”

Kazia was stricken with embarrassed trepidation.

“What did you hear?”

“I heard my transmitter working,” he said. “Mistress, I told you, did I not? She's been withholding it.”

“I have not!” Kazia protested. “It did not work the last time I tested it. But if it's working now, then just take the damned thing and get out!”

“Kelvaran,” Amelys said sternly. “Leave here at once. I'll sort this out.”

“Where is the watch?” he asked.

Kazia gazed blankly at him.

“Well, it's in here, isn't it?”

“Of course not,” Kazia said, looking around the room.

She spied a glint of brass in one of the chairs at her bedside.

“Neiphi...” she said, waving a hand at the chair. “There it is. Take it and go.”

“No, Kelvaran,” Amelys said. “We'll need to test further to make certain. But do go back to bed.”

“Mistress, you know what this means,” Kelvaran said. “It's time.”

Amelys stared at him, her expression stony.

“Time for what?” Kazia asked.

“Nothing to concern yourself with at this moment,” Amelys said. “Kelvaran, home now. Now. We'll discuss this later.”

He glared at the both of them for a long moment.

Kazia stared back at him in defiance of his gaze, steeling herself against his maelstrom of anger and impatience.

But as they locked eyes, Kazia felt that fear again, that she had felt from him in his laboratory, and then hiding behind that... a sense of relief - directed to her - and a gentle, tender affection.

“No...” Kazia whispered. “No, no.”

“Kazia?” Amelys said.

“Mistress, make him leave,” she murmured, closing her eyes and leaning back against the pillows.

Kelvaran turned then and stormed out of Kazia's apartment.

Amelys went to Kazia's dressing table and picked up the vial of Seamist there.

“Mistress, what is going on?” Kazia asked.

“The winds are shifting,” Amelys answered absently, handing the Seamist to Kazia. “You rest now. Here comes Madame Brandra with your supper.”

 

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