Chapter 17

17

Killian was once again standing in the quad when Kaylin and company returned. Severn walked beside her; Teela and Tain walked behind. Mandoran had chosen to remain with Helen, as both Teela and Serralyn would have a cohort ear in the conversation.

An odd, purple haze enshrouded Killian, visible only with Hope's aid. Or insistence. Kaylin swore if there was one more thing mixed in an already chaotic emergency, she'd scream.

"Evanton did not return?"

Kaylin shook her head.

"We currently cannot be heard by the rest of the Academia," Killian said, as he turned and led them to the main building.

"Then no. He hasn't returned. The garden is becoming more unsettled, and poor Grethan has probably pulled out half of his hair in panic."

Killian did not reply. Instead, he gestured the doors open; they flew to the sides with enough force she could hear the students responding in surprise in the quad.

The chancellor was in his office with Emmerian; they were both facing the door when it opened—Killian once again using more force than necessary. The chancellor didn't ask about Evanton, no doubt already informed of the bad news by Killian.

"Killianas has spoken extensively to me about Azoria in her student days," the former Arkon said, without preamble. "I have my own thoughts about that discussion, but it is not a discussion which Killianas can repeat; he can speak—with reluctance—to me because I am chancellor. He will not divulge information to anyone who is not. Even this discussion pushed him to his absolute limits."

Kaylin frowned and turned to the Academia's Avatar. "Why?"

"We are built for specific purposes. Students can—and should—expect privacy; if they choose to share information or elements of their lives and thoughts with their fellow students, they may do so. But if they have never shared those things, it is not up to me—a building created to provide a safe haven for students—to share them. It is not a matter of preference, Corporal. It is a matter of imperative. The only exception made was made for the chancellor. He is, for want of a better word, equivalent to a captain of a Tower.

"The situation is extreme; it is not every day that we lose the Keeper, and the consequences of permanent loss—or death—will affect every student and therefore every student's safety. Even so, there are boundaries, and skirting those boundaries has been difficult for me."

"Which is why you're covered in purple?"

Killian frowned. "Purple?"

"You seem to be shrouded in a black-purple smoke or haze."

Killian was surprised. He considered the question for some time, and then said, "Yes. Yes, I believe what you perceive with the aid of your familiar is due to the struggle against restrictions. Understand that I want to help. I want to offer the chancellor what he feels he needs, even if it is not clear to me. Living beings have much more flexibility than sentient buildings; the information that might prove of use is not clear to me. The chancellor wishes to have all information, all interaction, all my records, in order to assess; it is his assessment that makes the information valuable.

"I am reduced to working against myself and the rules that I was built upon; I work against the almost physical adherence. It is, and has been, taxing."

"And it is done," the chancellor said, voice uncharacteristically soft. "There is no further point in frustration or rage at your limitations. We all have limitations, Killianas. We are not measured by those limitations; it is in our attempts to understand them, accept them, and work with them that we shine."

The chancellor turned, indicating that the standing group should sit. As was usual, Severn and Tain chose to stand, Teela, to sit. Kaylin chose to pace until Hope squawked. She then took the chair next to Teela.

"Azoria was an excellent student. Her ambition—to start—was the gaining of knowledge; this much, Killianas could freely discuss; it was shorn of specifics. It was common and accepted knowledge which one might be privy to in discussions with the various people who taught her.

"But Azoria's private ambitions were not. She became a member of the Arcanum after leaving the Academia. That had been her intent before she gained entry here. Again, this was—or would have been—common knowledge. What was less common knowledge was her intent. We do not question intent if the students themselves are devoted to learning.

"Azoria had not yet become outcaste. She had not yet fallen so far afoul of the High Court that her political disposition was one of the very few that required all Barrani, anywhere, to kill on sight, if they had that ability, or to summon those who could if they did not."

Kaylin nodded. She knew Nightshade was outcaste—and that for the Barrani, outcaste generally meant having fallen afoul of the High Lord and his political faction. There were historical examples of Barrani who had been repatriated, although they were few. The Consort seemed fond of Nightshade, and he, respectful of her.

Kaylin knew what Azoria's crime had been. She wasn't certain any of the other Barrani did.

"I have Killianas's testimony. I have not yet spoken with Larrantin or the Arbiters. I believe it best at this juncture to attend them. Serralyn has gone ahead, and I believe Bakkon has been granted permission to enter the library at this time. The students are becoming more verbally restless at the shutdown, and it would be best to deal with this as soon as possible."

"It would be best to find the Keeper as soon as possible, yes," Kaylin snapped.

The chancellor's brows rose, and Killian actually winced. "An'Teela?"

"My presence in the library is not mandatory; it would nonetheless be appreciated. As you must suspect, the High Court has concerns. I am here as a Hawk, with the permission of the Lord of Hawks, but I have been asked to attend to this issue with extreme care and thoroughness by the High Lord and the Consort. The absence of the Keeper is of great interest to any caste court."

"Very well. I am sure the Arbiters will accept your inclusion if that is my decision."

Kaylin was less certain, but that fight was the chancellor's, not hers, and she really, really didn't need any more conflict.

Larrantin arrived at the office; his arrival was the signal to leave.

Killian once again led them to the doors that served as the library portal. He once again chose to shield the party from the student body, and his eyes flickered between their normal blue and the total black that outlays of power seemed to cause.

This time, however, the door "opened" from the inside.

Standing in the library were Serralyn, Starrante, Kavallac, and Androsse. No one looked happy. Not that Kaylin expected cheer and joy, but there were hints of anger in the gravity of their expressions, and Serralyn's eyes were as dark a blue as they got.

People filed in quickly. Kaylin wished Killian could join them, but he couldn't; the library wasn't part of the Academia.

"Terrano's not back," Kaylin said, meeting Serralyn's gaze.

Serralyn shook her head.

"But you heard something from him, found something connected to him."

This time, Serralyn's gaze went to Teela.

Teela shook her head and picked up the thread. "We didn't. Sedarias did, and she has Mandoran investigating; he's the only one who's almost as flexible as Terrano, and he's not nearly as reckless."

Kaylin thought Mandoran now repented his choice to remain behind. "Are any of you?"

Teela paused to consider. "As it is not relevant, I feel it wiser to keep my opinion to myself."

"She's worried."

"She is far more worried now, yes. Before you ask, we do not have any connection to Evanton; his whereabouts remain unknown. But it is reasonable to believe that any avenue to reach him—or Terrano—will be, or must be, found within Azoria's former abode." She lifted her chin and turned toward Androsse.

The chancellor said, "I have spoken at length with Killianas; it was a difficult conversation for him, and no further information will be forthcoming from that quarter. Larrantin?"

"I would prefer you begin," the scholar replied.

"Arbiters?"

"My preference would be not to speak at all," Androsse said. "Given the gravity of the situation, the three of us have conferred, and I have worked against my personal preferences for privacy."

Kavallac cleared her throat.

"But given our seniority," Androsse continued, "and given the restrictions on Killianas, we will start." Clearly this was akin to the royal we. "Azoria came to the library in her first year as a student in the Academia. Many of the students will seek out the library in later years, when their interest and academic focus have taken full shape. Azoria claimed that it was the knowledge that drew her; she had not yet decided on where to direct her focus.

"Indeed, she did not seem to have a single interest; she was interested in many things, and she researched them all with a depth seldom found in the student body.

"Serralyn previously found a book denoting ancient Barrani customs in the West March. We felt the book might be of interest given the subject of research; it was one of the tomes to which Azoria referred, and one that caused her research to grow in breadth as well as depth.

"She was interested in the botany of the West March, which included the more specific and less predictable botany of the green; she was—as are most Barrani who have yet to enter the green to bear witness to the regalia —very interested in the regalia as well. There was very little practical information about the ceremony, and the experiment with our young had not yet taken place." As Androsse spoke, books appeared on the table behind the Arbiters—a table Kaylin would have sworn wasn't there until the books dropped.

Teela responded to Androsse's opening comment. "The High Court believes that her interest in the green was more than academic; it is possible that her study of extant information about the regalia centered more on the power the green might bestow than the ceremony itself. We know, from conversations with her former slaves, that she was very interested in the rumored sword the green protected. Very little is known about that weapon, but it is offered to those who might have the capacity to wield it, should they pass the green's test.

"And that test is never passed," Androsse said.

No one corrected him.

"The Barrani do not share secrets when it involves power. There were historical wielders of the weapon; we have confirmation that the green offered a test; confirmation of the signs that indicated that the green considered somebody worthy of taking that test, and confirmation that those considered worthy failed to pass it." Teela also offered no acknowledgment that the green had selected someone it considered worthy of the blade. Or blades.

"It will not come as a surprise that Azoria was interested in those weapons; everyone was interested in those weapons to a greater or lesser degree. But it is our suspicion now that she had no interest in wielding them. I assumed that her interest in the botany had much to do with her interest in the weapons—and this is such a common interest, it was almost disappointing. She searched more broadly than most; she was stubborn. She did not believe anything was out of her reach if she put in the effort."

The hint of approval in the words did not please Kavallac. "Apparently you were correct. We can only be grateful that her reach exceeded her grasp."

"And if no one was intellectually ambitious, the Academia would have no reason to exist. Nor would the library," Androsse snapped, more heat in the words.

"We have plenty of intellectually curious and ambitious students—we always did. Serralyn is an outstanding example."

Kaylin winced on Serralyn's behalf; the Barrani woman's cheeks reddened the moment the Arbiter's words sank in. Her eyes were now a mix of blue and gold. What was gold again? Oh, right. Surprise. Gold was replaced by green, but the blue never left her eyes; worry about Terrano—and possibly Evanton—anchored that blue.

"While I agree with your assessment," the chancellor said, "Serralyn is only relevant to this discussion if we can reach an agreement about Azoria's intent and the knowledge that might have allowed her to act on it."

Androsse frowned. "I spoke more with her than the other Arbiters did, but I was not privy to those intents—whatever they may have been. She asked questions. She studied many things. I have mentioned the botany of the green, which I did not consider significant except in one way: I thought she might untangle that mystery, where other students spent more of their focus daydreaming about it.

"She expressed a strong curiosity about sentient buildings, and of course, as all Barrani of her age, the Ancients about which so little is known. It is not that research was not done—but that research had to be subtle or from secondary sources. None of the students—and I dare say almost none of the professors—had any interaction with the Ancients. Those that did encounter them had very little of use to say that expanded on our knowledge. We know the Ancients spoke in True Words. The Ancients created life, and also transformed it when the life created did not suit them. The reason for the lack of suitability was never made clear, possibly because it was not understood.

"Again, these studies were endemic among the students—Barrani, Dragons, even the mortals. There was nothing about the study itself that seemed dangerous or out of the ordinary; Azoria was, once again, more focused.

"Even her interest in True Names, and in the powers inherent in them, was not unknown. I cautioned her about this; too many of her kin attempted to remove themselves from their own True Names, considering their existence a very unfortunate vulnerability.

"And last, she studied what very little information we could provide about Necromancy."

"You're not going to tell us that that was normal, are you?" Kaylin asked. She tried to be polite.

"It is rarer, but it is not unknown. Most of the people who are interested in the study are mortals. The Barrani in their youth are not as concerned about death. Nor are they concerned about what happens after: they know. Their names return to the Lake of Life."

"Given the noninformation we received, I'm assuming she didn't get much further—I mean, she was only a student and we had three Arbiters looking. Right?"

Androsse's eyes darkened instantly. Kavallac's darkened as well, but not as much; she clearly didn't like Kaylin's attitude, but could accept that perhaps Androsse deserved some of it.

"She did not find information we would consider useful in this case, no."

"Or at all?"

"Clearly something she stumbled upon was of use, but I would guess that information would be in the Arcanum's records."

"You said everything eventually comes to the library."

"Upon the death of the individual, yes. But there are exceptions; if Azoria's books had arrived in the library, this entire conversation—such as it is—would be moot."

"We may have further word on the possible resources in the Arcanum soon," Teela said.

"Arbiter Starrante?" the chancellor said.

"She was very interested, as Arbiter Androsse has said, in True Names, but in specific True Names that became the source of life. She knew how the Barrani acquired their names—and felt some resentment at the lack of agency; she believed that Barrani should be allowed to waken and age like mortals did, proving themselves worthy of a name. Or dying of old age. Even the Dragons had agency the Barrani lacked."

"And the Ancestors?" Kaylin cut in. It was always safe to interrupt Starrante.

"Very little is known about how Ancestors acquired True Names, but yes—names were required." It was harder to tell when the Wevaran was looking at specific people because he had so many eyes, but she thought she detected a pointed glance in Androsse's direction. "She asked how Wevaran names were granted. I am certain she asked how Ancients achieved their names; she asked Arbiter Kavallac about the acquisition of Dragon names, but the Arbiter did not choose to answer.

"There were, however, younger students of Azoria's race on campus, and I am certain they were willing to discuss the gaining of names. All," he added, "were male."

"I did not choose to discuss our names with Azoria," Kavallac agreed.

Androsse was annoyed. Kaylin half expected him to vent his annoyance; he was practically vibrating in place. But even he understood the import of this meeting, and the consequences of failing to understand what Azoria had built. "I did discuss our names. I cautioned her as well: there is a reason that my kin faded, to be replaced, in the end, by the Barrani. Our True Names were far more complicated than her kin's. There was less danger of the knowledge of our names spreading; the will and intent to control was not enough to conquer the complexity of the names." He fell silent.

Kaylin thought there was more; she thought it was important.

Clearly, so did Starrante. This time, his eyes rose from his body and swiveled in Androsse's direction.

"Very well. The act of control mattered less to us because our acquisition of names changed with time. While we required True Words to live, we acquired the use of those words as we aged and gained both power and experience. We were not like Wevaran; we were not required to kill our infant siblings, if we had any. Our births were not like Barrani births. Many of our young could not survive the birthing process; they were warped beyond cohesion and recognition.

"You have your quaint caste courts. We did not. The elements of our birth were not decided by an impersonal, constructed container; they were decided by us. By those who claimed parentage. We could—and did—imbue spoken words with the element of immediate life, and we made of those words a blessing.

"Or a curse. We did not choose single words. We spoke as adults will, in sentences. Successful birth was a matter of trial and error. Children do not speak adult language at birth; not even ours. But we could understand the words we heard others speak. In time, we could understand the words we contained. They spoke to us, they spoke of us.

"Those who could hear, understand, withstand, could build upon the sentences that brought us life. We could add to them. We could, if cautious, change them, edit them, elevate their meaning.

"Many, however, were not cautious. In a few cases, the Ancients chose to end those lives for fear of the damage they might do to the rest of their creations." His smile was grim. "I was considered too cautious, too cowardly, by most of my immediate kin. But I survived and survive still. They are merely memories, their ambitions and folly forgotten."

"Did you explain to her how the acquisition of power—through True Words—worked?"

"I did. It was not relevant to her, or to any of her kin."

Kaylin exhaled. "It might not be. She couldn't imbue True Words with whatever is necessary to use them as part of a name. I don't think any of the Barrani can."

"No. That was not gifted them. It is bitter to think that my entire race was considered a dangerous failure, but perhaps facts cannot be argued against."

"But there's no physical place that you went to find these words?"

"We could speak them, Corporal. We gained words as we gained knowledge. Esoteric words were learned the way any language is learned by those who speak it. How do you contain language? How do you make, of speech, a hallowed ground?"

"Did Azoria study True Language?"

"She did. Most of the Immortal students—and some very few mortals—did. I believe the chancellor is capable of speaking in that language, although I am given to understand it is taxing for all who do."

Kaylin then turned to Starrante, frowning. "Your people are hatched in a clutch of a lot of little Wevaran."

"You may use the term spiders ," Starrante told her. "When we speak of our young, we refer to those who emerge. Of our hatched siblings, we can say very little except that they died, and in death, imbued us with fragments of a word, a name. All of our existences culminate in a single name, and that name is what allows us to leave the nest. I cannot tell you how those partial words come to be; I cannot tell you whether or not they are, in their parts, fully words at all. If my memory is the memory of the Immortal, it is a memory that fully begins upon emergence. We did not perceive our siblings as siblings and we could not or did not see the animating force at their core.

"But the atmosphere within the hatching ground has a particular feel—a taste, a texture, a quality of air—that we viscerally remember. Perhaps we must, to give birth; perhaps it is an instinctive drive.

"Azoria was much interested in the circumstances of our birth. As she was interested in the circumstances of all Immortal births, this did not seem unusual to me. She was not the first of our many students to ask."

"Did you answer the others?"

"Yes. To me it is a simple statement of fact."

Kaylin frowned. "Bakkon didn't seem to think so."

"He believes I have been too long in the library, but also understands that I cannot leave it. There is no retirement for Arbiters that does not imply death."

That was new information to Kaylin. "Bakkon felt that there was something in Azoria's manse that reminded him of the hatching grounds. Not by look—by look it is, or was, pure Barrani architecture—but by feel, by essence. It's the reason he wanted to return to examine the rooms in the absence of Azoria."

Serralyn nodded.

"Bakkon believes that his initial feeling was correct. In some fashion, Azoria created a similar environment, something that could mimic the hatching ground. He is anxious to return to her research rooms; he suspects that there is a reason she could perform such mimicry."

Kaylin frowned. "Reason?"

"Not all birth produces live children." Starrante's voice was grave.

"Some eggs, such as they are, never hatch. We do not have a geographic location in which we congregate to give birth."

"How do you choose where to give birth?"

"We choose a place that feels right. I am almost embarrassed to say I have no better information; Bakkon might."

"He does," Serralyn said, her voice uncharacteristically grim.

"Our race has reached its end," Starrante continued. "Our people are gone—all but a handful. There will be no more."

"Why?"

Starrante did not answer the question. When no words filled his silence, he said, "That is beyond the scope of your current duties. It is not a question Azoria ever asked of me. Had she, I would not have answered."

"Wait. You said you hatch, you crawl out of the birthing ground, when there's only one of you left."

"Yes."

"Hatch from what? Like, is there a giant egg, and all the little spiders are inside it?"

"That is the analogy, yes. It is very simple, it is easy to understand, and it is incorrect in any technical way."

"There's no physical egg."

"As you surmise. There is no physical egg. We are not breaking an eggshell the way your avians do; we are breaking the barrier that prevents us from entering the world itself. The eggs of which we speak are not visible eggs; they are not physical objects. But the laying of an egg requires the ability to create a pocket space, a dimensional reality. It is into that unseen space that the proto-children are injected. I cannot tell you how many of these spiders there are, and my guess is that the number differs depending on the complexity of the name they, combined, create.

"Nor can I tell you if the name itself is some component of our own names, broken and fragmented but nonetheless true shards."

"So where do the shards come from?"

"That is a question that Azoria did ask. I had no answer to give her that made sense to her as a student."

"Would it make sense to us?" Serralyn asked.

"It might make sense to Terrano, of all of you—but not without effort, concentration, and some academic focus on his part."

"So...no."

Starrante chuckled.

"It is possible that Azoria understood elements of the discussion; she was studious in a way that defines Terrano's studiousness. But if Bakkon feels that Azoria's home—or the part of her home that was not the area in which she conducted the majority of her research—had the same air, the same feel, as the birthing place, she had attempted to create a similar environment."

"You think she thought she could introduce people with True Names to the environment and then consume them somehow?"

"In essence."

"All of the people in that house were mortals. Dead mortals."

"So Serralyn has informed us. But you are Chosen, and the cohort is Barrani."

"She didn't exactly invite us in." Kaylin's frown deepened. "We know she could possess people. She could also influence them magically, possibly by inducing hallucinations. But possessing people isn't part of the Necromancer kit, or at least not the ones in stories. And it isn't part of the stories you brought to us.

"Pushing the people who owned those bodies essentially killed them. Until the moment she did that, she could entrap their bodies. She also finally figured out how to entrap the spirits—and transform them. But none of those victims had any hint of a True Name; none of their spirits were the necessary fuel for power that she sought. I'd bet a year's salary on it."

"Azoria did not research the names of mortals; she understood—as we all do—that they are born without names. The value of True Names can clearly be seen in their absence; mortals age and wither in a handful of decades. Without the name to sustain them, they have lives akin to the beasts."

Kaylin tried not to find this offensive. She mostly succeeded.

"It was not of relevance to her research at the time. But she must have done some experimentation in the time between her student years and now. It is clear that she could possess the bodies of mortals when you encountered her. I am far less certain that she possessed the bodies of her own kind in similar fashion."

Kaylin's frown deepened. "I'm not certain she didn't try," she finally said. "Given the number of dead, trapped Barrani in her private quarters in the High Halls. But she could and did drain all power from their names. I'm not certain that draining power in that fashion empowered her in a permanent way. I mean, I don't think she was somehow making their names hers; she was simply sucking all life out of them."

"How can you be so certain?"

"She didn't build the birthing place in the High Halls. She did have connections to the outlands, but those connections relied on the lack of awareness of the High Halls; it was after the High Halls shut down around the Shadow that had invaded. There was no connection, at that time, to the green. If you're thinking that she was attempting to create an environment in which True Names could be devoured—by Azoria—and result in a True Name that Barrani bodies were never meant to contain, I agree. I think that's what she was trying to somehow build.

"She knew True Words could be absorbed into Androsse's people. She knew that their bodies and her kin's were almost materially the same. There wouldn't seem to be a good reason—to Azoria—why she couldn't become what Androsse himself was."

Starrante's eyes swiveled instantly to Androsse, their color far redder.

Androsse's smile was a thin edge; it almost glittered in the library light.

"What did you tell her?" Starrante demanded, multiple clicks, light stutters, between the Barrani syllables.

Kaylin exhaled. "I take it you lied."