Ashton was right about how close the community was, and from what I saw was also right about no one being able to walk to it. In a matter of minutes we had passed over the part of Vediaster it had taken days to cover on seetar-back, with the valley of Gerleth, Dallan’s country, taking its turn sliding by far below us like a handmade miniature nestled in a cup. A large chunk of impassable mountain range came next, its gray and white bleakness chilling me even at that distance, and then we began to slide out of the sky. On the other side of the range was a valley that looked even larger than Gerleth, but where Gerleth had a number of passes leading in and out of it, this second valley didn’t seem to have any. It was locked up tight within walls of stone, and flying looked to be the only way in or out.
It really is amazing how fast a transfer slip can reach the ground from very high up, without anyone in the slip feeling the least sense of movement. We landed near what seemed to be a fairly large town, not quite on the scale of the city of Vediaster, but looking a lot like it. The area was unwalled and the surrounding fields were neatly planted, there was forest in the near distance into or out of which a pleasant stream ran, and people could be seen all over the streets of the town, and in the fields, and near the forest. It came as a shock that most of those people seemed to be darkhaired, with blonds only a small percentage; in other places on Rimilia you rarely saw anyone who wasn’t blond, and . . .
“Don’t you think you’ve been standing next to that port long enough?” Ashton’s voice came from behind me, too gentle to be called intrusive. “We’re home, Terrilian, and you don’t have to be afraid of what you’ll find here. Besides, Murdock left me a message with the pilot that you’ll be staying at his house for the afternoon. Irin has gone off hunting with Rissim, and they won’t be back until later. Once they do get back we’ll be lucky if they don’t break the door down trying to get to you, but until then we can all have a nice, quiet visit. Come on; Murdock must be wondering what’s keeping us.”
I think I would have preferred standing by the port a little longer, pretending to be sightseeing instead of admitting I was hiding, but Ashton’s arm around my shoulders didn’t let me do that. The heavy twisting inside my middle had postponed the knifing instead of giving it up entirely, which meant I might as well go ahead and do what I could before the real attack came. I sighed privately on the inside, wondering where all the hurry I’d felt earlier had gone; and let Ashton urge me out of the slip.
Somehow the air was warmer in that hidden valley than it had been in Vediaster, and we walked from the transfer slip into the town. I carried the pouches of clothes without minding, hugging them to me just a little as I walked and looked around, not really hiding behind them but also not feeling quite as-exposed. No one came rushing over offering undying love and/or friendship—which was a relief but quite a lot of the people we passed greeted Ashton with their minds, faint curiosity rippling in my direction. The town had dirt streets and one-story houses and shops, stalls clumped together with an occasional one standing alone, people moving through it, kids playing-everything I’d seen before more than once on Rimilia, but at the same time-different.
For one thing, it wasn’t just the big blond men who wore haddinn and swordbelts. Most of the men on the street were armed, and they seemed to have quite a lot of the-arrogance and untouchability-that I usually associated with l’lendaa. The dark-haired warriors were just as big as the blonds they outnumbered, but there was the faintest shadow of deference from dark-haired toward light. As far as the women went there were very few blonds, and quite a number of the dark-haired ones had green eyes.
Which still didn’t entirely account for the difference I felt. Letting my senses move out past the curtain I continued to maintain finally showed me what the main difference was: no clamor of uncontrolled minds. Even in Vediaster, where a large number of the women were mentally active, walking or riding through the streets brought that din of minds that had always made it necessary for me to shield in some way. The community had no more than a murmur as a backdrop-with an occasional “shout” from one of the children who briefly paid more attention to the game being played than to mental calm. Everyone else seemed to be-considering the people around them, and consciously keeping the noise down.
“This one’s Murdock’s house,” Ashton said with a touch to my arm before gesturing to a small building on our left. “He’s not here often enough or long enough to need more than a few rooms, but those of us who stay enjoy spreading out a little more. Come on inside.”
She led the way to the metal-braced wooden door and through it, held it for me, then closed it behind us. It was dim and cool in the small entrance hall we had entered, and Ashton didn’t wait for anyone to come out to greet us. She immediately led the way to the left, brushing aside a cloth hanging, into a room that was large enough to hold more than a dozen people easily. It was made of polished dark wood and decorated with bright cloth hangings and carpet fur, had cushions scattered around and a large fireplace with a fire set but unlit, and candle sconces appeared here and there on the walls. Two double doors in two of the walls had been thrown open to provide light and air, and Murdock himself half-reclined on a special chair that didn’t rise more than a few inches off the floor. At first glance he seemed to be relaxing among the floor cushions, and I suddenly realized that was exactly the way he wanted it to look.
“Well, we’re finally here,” Ashton announced unnecessarily, heading straight for the pitcher and goblets that stood on a small table not far from Murdock. “For a minute or two I really believed I’d be bringing an ordinary citizen out of Vediaster with me, but they ganged up on her. She now has a ‘surrogate’ to handle business while she’s not there, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s still their Chama. ”
“it would have surprised me had the matter gone any other way,” Murdock answered, his cold, wintry smile standing as poor agent for the warmth of welcome in his mind. “The w’wendaa of Vadiaster feel no confusion or hesitancy when it comes to knowing what they want, and what they want is Terrilian as their Chama. Since it’s quite impossible at this time for them to accept anyone else, they sought for and found a way to keep her. Do have a cup of kimla, child. It was prepared not long ago so it must still be warm.”
“What do you mean, they ‘ganged up’ on me?” I asked from where I’d stopped, addressing both of them even though it had been Ashton who had said it. “They didn’t like the idea of me not being Chama any longer, but if I’d really insisted they would have had to let me go. What choice would they have had?”
“The same choice they did have,” Ashton said, straightening away from the small table with a cup in her hand. “Even though they couldn’t reach through that curtain to your mind, they knew you were reaching through it so they projected belief in their cause almost nonstop. Even the ones who aren’t supposed to be actives were doing it, and I could almost see the way your determination to let them work out their own problems became the determination to help them work it out. You need to learn how to tell when you’re being pushed around, girl. We’ll be glad to take care of it when you start training with us.”
I couldn’t decide which was more irritating, Ashton’s grin or the knowledge that I’d been forced again to do something someone else wanted. That had happened to me too often in the past, suddenly waking up to the realization that someone else’s mind was affecting mine without my being aware of it, and I didn’t care for the idea even a little. I’d have to do something about it in the very near future, but Ashton’s “training” would probably not be the something.