The road through the forest proved to be wide enough to almost accommodate continuing to ride side-by-side—in part because there was so little undergrowth. It wound through a sea of golden leaves, circling broad trunks, and occasionally picking its way over miniature mountain ranges of root systems. The air was also noticeably cooler and damper, prompting a brief pause to ensure the Duchess was properly wrapped. Above, as distant as the ceiling of a great hall, the canopy glowed brilliant red and yellow in the afternoon light, but little warmth broke through to the ground.
"Do you get many traders coming this way?" Fallon asked Tesin Asaka, who he suspected was keeping to the end of the string of horses to act as rear guard. Even though she must be not more than twelve or thirteen, he had no doubt she was more than capable of fulfilling the role.
"Not to the Rest," Tesin replied. "We travel in to Theal quite regularly, though, and pack back what we need." Her brightly interested eyes were focused on Dezart Samarin, who was in turn studying Sukata. "They do not quite like us in Theal, but they like the trade goods we bring out from the Rest. I cannot yet decide whether the Imperial Army arriving to billet so many horses in readiness for us will have raised or lowered us in the town’s estimation."
"Was local distrust the reason the Kellian settled in Semarrak?"
"That and economics." Tesin glanced up alertly as several small birds emerged briefly from the canopy, darting for insects. "There are varieties of fungus and certain trees that only seem to grow in Semarrak. The forest’s edge is picked clean of them, but we have little difficulty reaching far better harvesting points. Aurai led the Ten to see the doubled value of settling here."
"Who?"
The girl blinked once at Fallon’s tone, but answered with unimpeded calm. "It is Aurai that the Rest is named for. She was the Ten’s teacher and guide for many years."
"Oh." Someone in the past, who had travelled with the original Kellian golems? Fallon, aware of Sukata glancing back, pushed everything but simple fact out of his head and said in a throat only a little constricted: "That—my sister’s name was Aurienne. We called her Auri."
"I see," Tesin said, though plainly she did not fully understand his reaction. "The Ten’s Voice was Lenaurai, originally."
This time startled response came from ahead of them. Dezart Samarin had slewed around in his saddle in a rare moment of open surprise. The Dezart’s mount’s reaction to his distracted grip on the reins postponed an explanation, but soon enough he turned again to Tesin and said:
"Aurai’s Rest was founded by Lenaurai Falcy?"
"You know of her?" It was Sukata who asked.
"She’s mentioned in the Imperial histories," the Dezart said, resuming his usual light tones. "How interesting to know what happened to her. Did, ah, your Aurai leave any descendants?"
"Not going to turn out to be the lost heir of the Empire or anything is she?" Fallon said, then instantly regretted it. And he had been criticising Kendall for saying incautious things to the Imperial representative!
Fortunately, Dezart Samarin took this with his usual good humour. "Rather the opposite," he said.
"Why does it matter if she had descendants?" Tesin asked.
"If I count my generations correctly, it doesn’t," the Dezart said, more than confusingly. "Which makes the question only idle curiosity."
"Aurai had three children," Sukata said, calmly. "There are many among us who can trace our lines to them."
"I shall have to add a footnote," was all Dezart Samarin said to that, which was not at all a satisfying response, but neither Sukata nor Tesin pressed him, and then a glimpse of a small stone building ahead provided a distraction.
This was not the Rest, apparently another day’s travel into the forest, but a traveller’s shelter surrounded by a circle not large enough to accommodate all their horses.
"Aren’t they likely to be attacked?" Fallon asked Tesin, as he helped prepare pickets for the horses in a well-trammelled clearing just outside the circle. "The creatures here hunt more than humans, right?"
"We would sense a predator’s approach. And the first group intended to sweep as they travelled, to clear the way."
The Kellian girl, with a stake in one hand and hammer in the other, paused to gaze back at the shelter, and at Duchess Surclere standing with Lord Surclere. Fallon was not yet adept at reading minimal Kellian expressions, but he recognised this as thoughtful evaluation backed by banked intensity, for almost all the Kellian looked at Duchess Surclere like that. He did not doubt he’d have equally complex reactions to someone whose commands he literally could not disobey. In fact, given that he kept trying to will his teacher into producing an answer to a question he dared not ask, his own expression might not be all that dissimilar.
Had she started to guess there was a question? To hear Auri, trapped on the edge of existence?
He let his breath out in a slow hiss, sternly putting these thoughts aside and mentally reciting Verisian verse for all the remainder of the fleeting afternoon. Then, after evening meal, he curled up in a corner of the small but by that time pleasantly warm hut as early as he could feasibly excuse himself.
He had been thinking about it too much: the conversation he would have with Duchess Surclere once she understood enough to start it. By now he was confident that there was at least a chance she could stop him dying, at that most dangerous point, but her physical weakness remained one of the biggest barriers to his own survival. It would be best if she dealt with this Eferum-Get uncle before learning of Auri.
Sighing, Fallon drifted into the Dream, and watched his sister inspect the well-built but cramped shelter before wandering outside to marvel at the trees. The two lieutenants were removing nose bags from the horses, while Lord Surclere’s mother was bringing extra water from a nearby stream.
"Everything’s so huge," Auri said, bounding lightly up to try to stand on a tree limb arcing over the stream. "You could practically ride along these branches. Were you attacked by anything on the way here?"
Auri addressed questions to Fallon even when she hadn’t brought him into the Dream and, if he remembered, he answered them in the daily diary. Hopefully he would have more room at the Kellian settlement so he could leave the book propped open.
"Why is he upset?" Auri asked now, having jumped down to peer up into Lieutenant Meniar’s face. "Did he argue with his partner?"
Fallon’s dreaming mind did not react quickly enough to do more than note the Lieutenant’s distracted frown, as Auri moved restlessly on to circle through the horses, examining them critically, and declaring a long-necked bay her favourite.
"She looks like she has a lot of personality. I bet she nips the other horses, just to make mischief."
Sukata’s touchy mare. Fallon wouldn’t be surprised at all if she nipped as well as kicked. Auri stroked the mare as best she could, but as usual there was no reaction. Even cats and dogs—and Kellian—failed to sense the bored girl trying to win their attention.
A circuit of the far limits of Auri’s reach flushed no hidden predators, but the sprawling immensity of the trees kept her entertained, along with attempts to bound through piles of fallen leaves. They did seem to rustle minutely when she kicked, just as still water would hold a suggestion of a quiver. Back home, Fallon had once set out a big bowl of water, in the hopes that Auri would be able to establish a yes/no communication with their father, but Father had not noticed at all, and Fallon had woken exhausted.