Once the quartet were gone, Rob traded sober glances with his wife.
“Alina,” she said.
He nodded. “Alina needs to know.”
“Is Matt going to be all right?” Adelia asked worriedly.
“Of course he will,” Kallima said, hugging her sister close reassuringly. “You know Matt. He's always getting into trouble and he always gets through it.” Her expression, though, said that she was less sure, and Adelia was telepath enough to pick up on that and be less than convinced.
“And he has Shon watching his back now too, not just Kian,” Tobin said. Both the younger children were fascinated by their alasir almost-cousin; Rob and Kara had concluded that they approved without reservation. Tobin could certainly have chosen a worse role model, or Adelia a worse infatuation. And their elder daughter's relationship with him, well, that was between them to work out without interference.
At the mention of Shon's name, Adelia relaxed visibly. “That's true. They'll be fine.”
*All right, Kalli, what aren't you telling?*
*The same thing Kian and Shon left out, for the same reason. Because there's a potential conflict of interest there for you.*
Rob picked up the marriage contract. “Keep me company to my office, Kalli? This is likely to get lost or damaged here, and if I don't add the seal now, it'll get forgotten tomorrow.” He gave Kara a quick kiss. “We'll be right back.”
Kallima fell into step with him, not asking, along the corridor and down a flight of stairs to his own office. Matt's was only a few doors down, along with Kara's and those of several Manor employees who handled a great deal of paperwork. No one was likely to be around at this hour.
Rob closed the door firmly, leaned against it.
“My Oath as a telepath matters,” he said quietly. “But responsibility to my people and my family comes before all else. If worst comes to worst, Tobin knows nothing and your mother can act as regent until he comes of age. Let me guess. Kisea is Shimai, who is legally a renegade and ran away from the College for reasons unknown. At least, unknown to anyone but her and Matt.”
“And Kian and Shon and Jori, I'd say,” Kallima said. “Now, if not then. She told me she's a controller. I believe her, she can do things I've never seen a telepath do. But you know Matt wouldn't trust her if she were even remotely capable of being like the ones in the stories. She saved me. My cousins are still definitely themselves, and is it even possible for anyone to influence Jori?”
“No, probably not.”
“So everything suggests that she is exactly what she looks like, only hiding a gift that probably no one really understands. And Matt knew all along why she ran away.”
“A siren mindhealer who does improbable cures,” Rob murmured thoughtfully. “That's what he asked his parents and Kian's to listen for rumours about, and to do so extremely discreetly. If a controller can tear a mind apart, maybe a controller could put one back together. But the Oath explicitly forbids all manifestations and uses of the controller gift.”
“And how's Matt going to react to a blanket condemnation like that? Judging anyone born with a particular gift, however rare, without giving them any chance to demonstrate how they'll use it?”
“Poorly,” Rob sighed. “Even in the abstract, let alone with the safety of someone he still feels strongly about on the line. I'm inclined to agree with him.”
“Why the formalized marriage, though?”
“It would certainly be less easy for the Assembly to condemn out-of-hand a renegade who happens to be the documented and recognized wife of not only a well-known sorcerer in good standing but one with an office as powerful as Matt's. They can't make her disappear the way they might someone with no family and no influence.”
“Could he argue that his Oath covers her as well?”
“That may be what he intends. Whether the Assembly will agree, however, is another matter. Especially for a controller. Well. Matt is family, and now so is Kisea, by any name. They can use all the support available. I can tell Alina and they can start for the College.”
“Depending on where they are, we might be able to have someone meet them with fresh horses and remounts and supplies.”
“A good thought. Kisea needs a horse. One of yours, maybe?”
“Honey,” she said, after brief consideration. “She'll do fine with an inexperienced rider but she'll be able to keep up with Rose and Butterfly.”
“It might help if I'm there to back Matt up. I imagine they'll protest and try to find a way around it, however.”
Kallima grinned at him. “I don't care if Matt's using magic, you and I with a remount each can get to the College almost as quickly. Especially since they'll have to slow down with a new rider.”
“Sweetheart, you were just...”
“I just went through something that was very bad, but it wasn't just my cousins that got me out of it, it was Kisea too, at least as much. I'm all right, really. And you aren't leaving me behind. Just try.”
Rob had seen that gleam in his sister's eyes a thousand times, and had learned when to surrender—because to continue objecting was an invitation for her to do something on her own, and if she was with him, at least he'd know she was safe. “All right. What else can we do?”
“Gear. We can at least make certain they get there in reasonable condition. Kisea and Kian dropped most of what they had when Matt and Shon turned up, apparently so Matt could adjust for Kisea's weight as well or something. In Kian's case, that's annoying, but I'm not hearing anything about Kisea having a home anywhere—before now—so probably that was most of what she owned. Mama always says clothes are a tool. Kisea confronting the Assembly in crimson brocade layered skirts is going to be less comfortable and also less sympathetic than Kisea confronting them in the kinds of clothes someone who lives on the road is used to. She's taller than Alina or I and curvier than Lori but I'll see what I can do.” She thought again. “Maybe a riding lesson. Shon's good and he can help a lot, but women are built differently and have a different centre of balance.”
“All good thoughts,” Rob agreed. It was Jordan's loss that his eldest child couldn't inherit while her brother was able to, but with any luck Tobin would have enough sense to listen to her. Besides, she'd probably be happier as the head of the stables and breeding program, in which Tobin had limited interest—and it was a role that would give her far more freedom in her personal life than a title would have.
“Keep watch for me, and I'll get a message started to Alina?” he asked, and she nodded, moving over to stand in front of the door. He settled himself in his chair comfortably, back straight, and closed his eyes. One deep breath, two, and he reached outwards, searching.
Before his own brother had decided that they'd both be happier with Rob holding the title, he'd been not only Chris' extra hands and eyes but also his own personal relay telepath, something they'd expected would be a permanent arrangement—even when it became clear that the sister several years younger than Rob was an even stronger telepath.
As it was, it helped enormously with maintaining communications, that he and Alina could both use the relays.
He brushed against the mind of his own house relay telepath Elric, who acknowledged him without surprise. While Elric handled the bulk of the messages in and out of Jordan Manor and relayed messages through, Rob still took care of his own personal communications. That meant reaching out, covering as much ground as possible, and connecting himself to the web of telepath minds that linked all of Caalden. Messages could race from the remote South to the farthest North in a matter of hours or less, depending only on the links that were active at that particular moment. With thousands of telepaths who had reasonably strong gifts and reasonable range all trained and many of them employed primarily or at least secondarily in that capacity, there were many possible routes for any message to follow.
*Well, good evening, my lord,* came the saucy reply from a telepath he recognized immediately, a woman who lived in a town elsewhere in the Jordan province. Since she was one of the closest relay telepaths outside the Manor and the one who worked the most hours, he encountered her frequently when he did this from home. *Looking for your sister?*
*Yes. I'm not sure where she is. The last I heard was in the vicinity of Blackwood in Guarin Province heading towards Sleeping Bear in the disputed lands.*
*We'll find her. What's the message?*
*Matt is headed for the College fast and may need us against the Assembly. Situation is complicated. Tell me if we can arrange horses and supplies.*
*Oh my,* she whispered, all humour gone. *He's challenging the Assembly? I know I shouldn't ask, I'm sorry, but... over what?*
*What matters most to Matt, of course. Justice and honesty, understanding and compassion, and any trespass against them. Up against Assembly politics, he needs all the support he can get.*
