“No, I suppose there isn’t anything wrong,” she said. “I’m just worried about your father-it’s got me nervous that we haven’t found the couch yet, and that we still don’t... well, I’m nervous.” She looked at the children’s faces-Lirrin was openly worried, while Telleth was clearly trying to hide his own concern and look grave and mature. “It’ll be fine. You go ahead with your game. In fact, if you can keep an eye on this spriggan, I’d appreciate it.”
“Sure!” Telleth said, managing a smile.
“Chase?” the spriggan said.
“I don’t think I want to play anymore,” Lirrin said; Kilisha saw the girl’s face, and regretted mentioning Ithanalin’s condition.
“We have fun!” the spriggan insisted. It ran up and tugged on the hem of Lirrin’s tunic. She batted it away.
The spriggan danced around her hand and tugged at the tunic again.
“Stop that,” Lirrin said angrily. Telleth quickly tried to grab the spriggan away from his sister, but it dodged. He ran after it.
The spriggan doubled back and ducked between Lirrin’s legs.
“Hai!” the girl shouted; then she, too, grabbed for the creature. A moment later they were chasing the spriggan back and forth across the room again, just as they had been when Kilisha came in. The apprentice smiled, then slipped quietly back out of the room and down the stairs.
Once she was back in the workshop, though, she stopped. What was she supposed to do here? She had no jewelweed, so she couldn’t practice the Restorative, and she couldn’t think of any other useful magic to do, given that her potions were all prepared and Yara had forbidden any further love spells. Yara had also ordered her to stay in the house, so she couldn’t levitate again to see whether the morning light might give a better view than had late afternoon.
That reminded her to check on the potions. She found the three vials where she had left them after completing the last spell and was relieved to see that yes, she bad remembered to label them the night before, though the labels were nowhere near as clear and neat as Ithanalin would have made them.
Each vial held seven sips, seven doses. She read the labels-OPT. STRENGTH, VAREN’S L., TRACEL’S L.-then carefully tucked all three into her belt pouch, next to her mostly empty vial of brimstone and a tiny, tightly scaled bottle that held a single drop of dragon’s blood. A chip of chrysolite, necessary for conjuring the Yellow Cloud, was wrapped in a bit of rag and tucked behind the brimstone.
With the potions in there, the next time someone like Kelder asked her whether she had any magic with her she would have something better than the Yellow Cloud to use. Being able to levitate to see over the rooftops might yet be very useful in finding the couch- if she only had some hint where in the city to look for it.
She was just closing the pouch when someone knocked on the front door.
“Kelder,” she said to herself. “Maybe be can check the gates.” She hurried through the parlor, almost tripping over the bench’s tether as it wandered toward the door, clearly curious about who had knocked. “I’ll be right there!” she called.
The latch apparently decided that meant the new arrival was welcome, and clicked itself open. The door swung inward slightly.
“Kilisha?” a voice called-a female voice. Kilisha stopped, her hand just short of the latch.
“Who’s there?”
“It’s me, Nissitha. Nissitha the Seer.”
Kilisha swung the door wide. “What can I do for you?” she asked, looking out at her neighbor and trying to display polite interest, rather than mere puzzlement, at this unexpected visit.
“Adagan told me you wanted help finding a runaway couch?” Nissitha said hesitantly.
“Yes!” Kilisha smiled hopefully. “Have you seen it?”
“Well, no,” Nissitha admitted. “I was hoping you could tell me more about it-what it looks like, where it was last seen, that sort of thing.”
“Oh.” Kilisha’s smile faded. “Come in, and I’ll tell you.”
Nissitha stepped in. The bench stepped aside to make room for her while the chair rocked a little closer. The coatrack cowered back into its corner, and the table moved to one side for a better view. Nissitha looked around, her eyes wide.
“They won’t hurt you,” Kilisha assured her.
“You said some furniture had been animated... ” Nissitha said, her voice trailing off.
“Yes, and we’ve found most of it, but we still need the couch. The one that used to stand over there.” She pointed.
“Oh,” Nissitha said. “What did it look like?”
Startled, Kilisha blinked. “Oh, you must have seen it. It’s been there as long as I’ve been Ithanalin’s apprentice!”
“I’ve never been in here before,” Nissitha said. “What did it look like?”
Trying to hide her astonishment that someone who lived just next door had never before been in Ithanalin’s parlor, Kilisha said, “It’s modest in size, enough to seat two comfortably, but three adults would be crowded. The wood is stained dark, and the front legs are carved in reverse curves, with claws on the bottom. The upholstery is red velvet, and the arms arc partially upholstered as well as the back and seat. It looks almost new-Ithanalin put a preservation spell on it when Telleth first started walking, so the children wouldn’t damage it.”
Nissitha nodded. “And it’s animated?”
“Just like the others,” Kilisha confirmed, a sweep of her arm indicating the chair, bench, and table.
“Where was it last seen?”
“The tax collector followed it, but he lost sight of it on the East Road heading west, where Low Street forks off.”
“So it could be anywhere?”
“I’m afraid so.” Kilisha hesitated, reluctant to say anything rude, but she was puzzled by Nissitha’s presence and questions. If she was a true seer, why would she need to ask all these questions? And if she was a fraud, why would she bother to ask all these questions? She had never before shown any signs of going out of her way to be helpful in the five years Kilisha had lived there. “Arc you going to help search?”
“I thought I might,” Nissitha said, with a toss of her head that sent a ripple down her lush mane of black hair.
It popped out before Kilisha could stop herself. “Why?”
Nissitha grimaced. “I don’t suppose you’d believe it’s just neighborhness.”
“Not... uh... well, you know,” Kilisha said.
“Well, it is neighborliness, partly,” Nissitha said, “but I admit it’s directed more at Adagan than at you or Ithanalin.”
Sudden enlightenment burst in Kilisha’s mind as a dozen scattered incidents over the past year suddenly fell together. Nissitha wasn’t married; neither was Adagan, and Adagan was a handsome, charming fellow perhaps a year or two younger than Nissitha-close enough in age that the difference didn’t seem significant, in any case.
Kilisha had suspected for some time that Adagan preferred men to women, but perhaps she was wrong-or perhaps Nissitha either hadn’t noticed or hoped to change that. Nissitha clearly wanted to impress Adagan with her enterprise and helpfulness by finding the runaway couch.
“And it would be good advertising, don’t you think,” Nissitha added, “to find this couch that a wizard can’t find?”
“I suppose it would,” Kilisha agreed. And it really didn’t matter why Nissitha wanted to help; any help was welcome. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, is there anything else you can tell me about it?”
Kilisha turned up an empty palm. “I can’t think of anything.”
“Does it have any known likes or dislikes?”
“No.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“I don’t know,” Kilisha admitted. “It’s big and heavy enough that I suppose it could do some damage if it wanted to. It shouldn’t be particularly aggressive, but I don’t really know which personality traits it got.”