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The Lilac Cottage


Lilac Cottage had large windows along the front, through which could be seen . . . quite a number of people. Voices and laughter drifted out of those generous windows, and music, too.

“She cannot possibly want to see me this evening,” Padi said, staring at the scene before them. “There’s no room even for Eet.”

“Eet at least must enter. I promised Vaiza and Torin faithfully to have him back to them this evening, and last I had heard from Geritsi, they were determined to join the Opened House Party.”

“Opened House Party?” Padi repeated.

“Indeed, yes. Whenever an empty cottage is reopened to a new resident, there must be a party, else we would not be Haosa. Lilac Cottage was opened to Aunt Asta this morning. She immediately met three of our cousins in the square and enlisted their aid in shifting her belongings. They grabbed carts, while a fourth volunteered to dust and air out the house.”

Tekelia paused as a particularly loud round of laughter burst from the open windows.

“The sister who was readying the house called in more bookshelves from the village holdings, and, there being no reason to keep it secret, let it be known that the Oracle for Civilization was home at last. Cousins began arriving even before she had returned with the carts, so she had ample help in getting unpacked.

“More came as news spread, bringing food, of course . . . ”

“And presto! An instant crush, and your aunt the hostess of the season,” Padi said.

More laughter spilled through the windows, followed by a bright glissade of music.

Padi hesitated. Tekelia settled the strap of Eet’s bag over one shoulder.

“I must certainly go in and exclaim over the new arrangements and assure myself that my aunt is well, and not overtaxed by all these people.”

Padi took Tekelia’s hand.

“Lead on, my friend, and I will do my best to follow.”

As they approached the front door, two people came out from the house, and looked up with glad cries.

“Tekelia! Padi! Well met!”

Stiletta and Klem from the Ribbon Dance, Padi remembered, and produced a wide Haosa smile.

“Well met again,” she said.

“I warn you, Cousins,” Klem said, “the whole village is inside that house. You might fare better out here on the path. Someone’s bound to see you and bring out a tray.”

“No, but Tekelia will want to make certain that we’ve done well for Aunt Asta—” Stiletta gave them an owlish look. “She said that we were all to consider her our aunt, and she would consider us all niblings, open to her care and correction.”

“Grace and threat in one neat sentence,” Tekelia said. “Don’t say you weren’t fairly warned.”

“Never,” Stiletta vowed, and tugged on Klem’s arm. “We promised Kencia our aid in the night garden.”

“That’s right, work calls!” Klem said gaily, and off they went at an angle to the path.

“The night garden?” Padi asked, as they moved toward the door.

“I’ll show you,” Tekelia said. “Though perhaps not tonight.”

Hand-linked, they walked down the path and through the open door. Just inside, Tekelia paused, a move with which Padi sympathized entirely.

It was a crush, the room awash in people, with a particularly dense knot at the back, where, Padi strongly suspected, Tekelia’s Aunt Asta would be found.

Well, she thought, taking a breath, best to get on with it. After all, we were summoned.

Her companion, however, still tarried. Padi looked at the side of Tekelia’s face, then out over the room again, seeing it as might someone who was constrained not to touch any other person.

It would, she conceded, be tricky, and with the stakes so high, even someone as matter-of-fact as Tekelia might need a moment to plan.

“I could,” she said, leaning to Tekelia’s ear, “go first, and break trail for you.”

At that moment, a clear voice overrode the general racket.

“Tekelia, well met!”

Tekelia’s fingers tightened around hers, and she looked back over the room to see that people were—shifting.

The crowd condensed and a path opened before them. Tekelia stepped forward, and Padi, too, watching as the way continued to open.

They’re afraid, she thought.

No—that was not exactly correct. There were smiles aplenty, and nods of acknowledgment as they passed. Padi recognized faces from the Ribbon Dance, felt their affection wash warm against her heart.

They were afraid, she realized, but not of Tekelia. Tekelia was welcome, indeed.

No, they were afraid of touching Tekelia—of the outcome of touching Tekelia.

And if she thought back, who at the Ribbon Dance had crowded Tekelia? Who had taken Tekelia’s hand? Padi yos’Galan, and none other. It was only the crowded venue that made their restraint more obvious this evening.

Padi felt something flicker in her breast—not quite anger and not quite pity, but some complicated mixture of both. What did it do to one, she thought, as they moved down the room, to always have people withdraw from you, to never be offered a hand, to always be on guard against an unintended contact? The smiles and gestures of welcome did not obscure the fact that people were drawing away.

“There you are! Padi, it’s good to see you again!”

Geritsi slentAlin stepped into their path. Her hair this evening was done in a very proper knot, held with an ornate comb.

“Geritsi, well met,” Padi said, and glanced about. “But where is Dosent?”

“Home. She does not care for large crowds.”

“She may have a point,” Padi said, and Geritsi laughed.

“I was just thinking the same thing. But, here—Aunt Asta had just now asked if you had arrived,” she said. “I thought I’d felt Tekelia outside, and volunteered to lead you in.”

“We were outside, but the way opened and now we are inside,” Tekelia said. “Where is my aunt?”

“The back parlor.”

Padi eyed the mass of bodies between them and the doorway she barely glimpsed in the back wall.

“I’ll lead you in, never fear it,” Geritsi said.

“We are in your hands,” Tekelia said. “Where are Vaiza and Torin? I promised to deliver Eet back into their care.”

“They’re attending Aunt Asta,” Geritsi said, “she’s the tonic they need, I think. I heard Torin laugh.”

“She is a force, my cousin Bentamin has long sworn it.” Tekelia glanced to Padi.

“Shall we go on?”

“I would not see you forsworn; therefore, you must return Eet to the children. If Geritsi will guide us—”

“You can place your faith in me,” the other woman assured them.

“Then, lead on,” Tekelia said, and squeezed Padi’s fingers.

* * *

The back parlor was less peopled than the great room, most of them clustered near the center, where an elder lady with an untidy mass of grey-shot dark hair tumbling about her shoulders sat in a large chair, a child leaning against each knee.

“Tekelia!” she exclaimed gladly. “I had quite given you up!”

“You said this evening, so we have arrived on time,” Tekelia pointed out. “And you don’t seem to have been short of company.”

“Oh, my dear, no! They are taking such very good care of me! I’m quite overwhelmed.”

Tekelia smiled at the children.

“Hello, Torin. Hello, Vaiza.”

“Tekelia!” the boy said gladly. “It’s good to see you!”

“Hello, Tekelia,” the girl added, with a solemn smile.

“I have Eet here. Are you ready to receive him, or shall I take him to Geritsi’s house?”

“I’ll take him,” Torin said, stepping forward.

Tekelia held the bag out. She took it and peered inside.

“He’s sleeping,” she said softly, “and he has—is that a dolly?”

“It is,” Padi said. “Lady Selph gave it to him. My father had made it for her, because she had left the rest of her cuddle on our ship, and he thought she might be lonely.”

“But now Lady Selph is lonely again,” Vaiza said, stepping to his sister’s side, and peering into the bag.

“I’ll make her a new doll when I go home,” Padi said.

“Now, my loves,” Aunt Asta said, reaching out to touch small hands. “I must ask you to go with Geritsi, so that Tekelia, and Padi, and I may talk in private.”

“It’s time you had something to eat,” Geritsi said, picking up on her cue. “And I know Feyance had promised to show Torin his mandola. Both are in the kitchen, so I think we have our direction.”

“Goodbye, Aunt Asta,” Vaiza said. “Can we come to see you tomorrow?”

“I think that might be arranged—or, you know? I’ll come to see you. I haven’t met Dosent yet.”

“Good! Torin and me’ll make cookies for you!”

“I look forward to that,” Aunt Asta said as she rose from her chair. Geritsi caught each twin by a hand and led them into the crowd.

Tekelia looked at Aunt Asta, eyebrows up.

“In private?”

“No one can hear anything in all this roar,” Aunt Asta said comfortably, and turned, holding out a hand.

“You must be Padi. I remember seeing you on Ribbon Dance Hill that night. A woman on fire, you were. I am so very pleased to see you again. I am Asta vesterGranz.”

Padi put her free hand out, and found it pressed between two soft, warm palms.

“I’m pleased to meet you, too, ma’am,” she said honestly. Her hand was pressed again, and released.

“You must call me Aunt Asta,” the elder lady said, comfortably. “One cannot have too many niblings.” Her eyes narrowed somewhat. “And you are still on fire, I see! Oh! And Tekelia—”

She turned, hand extended, and cupped Tekelia’s cheek.

Behind her, Padi heard a sharp sound, as those nearest them drew in a collected, horrified breath.

Tekelia’s fingers around hers were viselike; shoulders rigid.

Asta vesterGranz merely leaned closer and kissed Tekelia’s cheek, before stepping back, her smile beatific.

“Aunt Asta—” Tekelia’s voice failed for a moment, then came back, shaky but sharp.

“I cannot believe you took that risk.”

“But there was no risk at all, was there, my dear? Padi centers you.”

“You don’t know that!”

Aunt Asta’s brows pulled together.

“Don’t I? You know, it is very noisy in here, and I’m so unused to crowds. You’re quite right that I might have not understood what I Saw.”

And that, Padi thought, was a hit worthy of Father.

“There’s quite a pleasant green space just behind the house,” Aunt Asta continued. “My library overlooks it. Why don’t we all three go out where it’s cooler and there are less people, and I can be certain of what I’m Seeing?”

Padi waited, feeling the grip on her fingers ease, and a certain settling in the air between them.

“Yes,” Tekelia said mildly. “By all means, let’s go outside.”

* * *

Outside, there were flower beds bordering a wide green space, and a sweet-scented breeze, bearing music on its back.

Near the center of the space was an open-sided pavilion, sheltering a table and some benches. Aunt Asta led them there, and settled onto one of the benches, patting the space next to her.

“Padi, will you join me? Tekelia, draw that other bench closer. Now, isn’t this much cozier than all the din inside?”

“It is,” Tekelia said, having moved the bench forward without actually touching it. “I’m only aquake to learn what must be private.”

“Well, Padi’s Sorting for one, thing—ah, food and drink arrive. Thank you, dear.”

“Thank Geritsi,” Tekelia said.

“Whom you asked to see us supplied,” Aunt Asta returned. She smiled up at the two lanky persons approaching, one carrying a tray of various foods, the other a pitcher and glasses.

“Thank you both!” she said happily. “Now, don’t go before you tell me your names.”

The older of the two grinned and bowed. “I’m Yferen, Aunt Asta.”

The other, who seemed much younger, ducked his head in a sort of half-bow. “Ander, ma’am. I’m—new.”

“Well met both! Ander, my dear, please do call me Aunt, or Aunt Asta.”

The boy’s smile transformed his face.

“Yes, ma—Aunt Asta. Thank you.”

“Not at all. I’m new, too, you know. We must have tea together soon, and share our impressions. Right now, I have some private business with Tekelia and Padi.”

They both bowed this time, and strode away, Yferen putting his arm around Ander’s shoulder.

Aunt Asta drew a deep breath and turned on the bench to face Padi.

“Before we continue, I must say that I remain deeply mortified by the use to which I put Captain Mendoza. I would very much like to apologize. Do you think she might come to me—at her convenience, of course! I would go to her, but having once gotten away from Civilization, I feel that I ought not to go back.”

“I’m certain she would like to meet you, ma—Aunt Asta,” Padi said, catching her error in time. “However, she has accompanied my father, her lifemate, up to our ship for a few days.”

Asta vesterGranz patted her gently on the knee.

“At her convenience, my love! I am completely at her service.”

“I will give her your invitation,” Padi promised. “I will be speaking to the ship tomorrow morning.”

“That is very well, then,” Aunt Asta pronounced. She tipped her head.

“Tekelia tells me that you have yet to be Sorted. I believe I may be able to perform that service for you, if you like.”

“My elders and my teachers all set great store by Sorting,” Padi said. “The situation has been that I have been too . . . bright for them to See properly. I have been given basic lessons and forms, and I do not hide from you that I am not a very apt student. I do begin to think that, if we only knew what my Gift is, more applicable lessons might be offered, and I would become—more apt.”

“Exactly!” Aunt Asta smiled. “It’s important to know your strengths, so that you might build on them properly—and also to know your weaknesses, so that you may protect yourself.”

She stood, and smiled gently down at Padi.

“Stand with me now, that’s right, and only rest your hands in mine. If Tekelia would provide us with some quiet—thank you, dear. Now, if you please, Padi yos’Galan, open your shields so that I may See you.”

The last person who had undertaken to Sort her had not asked so gently, nor had Padi been so well disposed toward them.

She opened her shields, and saw Aunt Asta’s eyes widen, even as she smiled.

“You brook no nonsense, do you, my love? Well, now, what do I See?

“A little Foresight, but not enough to disrupt your peace of mind. A strong aptitude for Healing—you will want to take training there—it’s a gentle and useful Gift.”

“My father is a Healer,” Padi said.

“Then you will have a mentor close by. That’s good. I See that you have a deep relationship with luck, and a strong sense of reality. Neither of those is a Gift; however, they form the framework through which your Gifts operate. I expect that is how you are able to center Tekelia and neutralize their most chaotic aspect. I can See the shape, but I do not wholly recognize it. You may, indeed, be the bearer of a new Gift.”

She moved her hands away from Padi’s.

“You Look like Haosa to me, Padi yos’Galan. Your Talent acts directly upon the world; you require no tools to focus your will. You must be very careful about the energy you expend—your teachers will be able to address that with you.”

Padi looked past Aunt Asta to Tekelia, who was sitting calmly, listening, certainly. Her sense, through the link they shared, was that Tekelia was interested, but not at all distressed.

“Excuse me if I have not quite understood,” she said to Aunt Asta. “You seem to say that my Gift exists to—center Tekelia.”

“Certainly, your Gift does center Tekelia,” Aunt Asta said.

“Yes, but, ma’am—I hadn’t known of Tekelia until very recently, and Colemeno only slightly longer. It was far more likely that Tekelia and I would never meet than that we would. Had we not, what of my Gift then?”

“An excellent question!” Aunt Asta exclaimed. “We are not our Gifts; our Gifts are only a part of the wholeness of ourselves. You are a very strong multi-Talent, with a great deal of scope. It will fall to you to decide how much, and what sort, of training you wish to take in order to be the best Padi yos’Galan you can contrive to be. I do counsel you to take training as a Healer. Not only is it a good and useful Gift, it can be too easily misused in ignorance, and real harm done.”

Padi inclined her head. “Of course, I don’t wish to cause unintended hurt.”

Aunt Asta laughed.

“No, any harm you do will be intentional, I warrant! Let the good you do be intentional as well. You have a long discovery before you, my dear—how I envy you!”

She stepped to the side.

“Now, children, I think we should eat something—and Tekelia, you may let the ambient in again.”


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