Page 63 of Gryphon in Light

:Good, I’ll go present myself to the Elders. I’m among you as an advisor and I won’t withhold anything from you. If there is something you should know, I’ll tell you. If I don’t know something, I’ll tell you that, too. And I’ll help you, not just talk to you. I can do quite a lot . . . : the cat bared his teeth, and unsheathed his claws, : . . . including fight.:

Kandor burst into a mighty guffaw. “He be little, but he be fierce!” he exclaimed.

:So I am. And now I will leave you, but I’m never more than a call away. Just picture me in your mind, and I’ll come if I am able.:

And the cat did . . . something. It was as if he folded himself, and folded himself again and again, getting smaller each time, in the blink of an eye. And then he was gone.

:Ahem,: said a polite Mindvoice, just as Firesong was beginning to get bored with going over the same ground for the third—or was it fourth?—time. Everyone’s head came up at once—which is how Firesong knew that everyone had heard that Mindvoice, not just him.

This is turning into an . . . interesting day.

And before anyone could ask who had interrupted them, there was a kind of wiggle in the air in the open space in the middle of their circle—and a cat appeared.

Firesong was the only one who recognized immediately what he was looking at, and that, only because he was familiar with the Karsite ambassador and his . . . advisors? “Firecat!” he exclaimed in an involuntary shout, making everyone else jump out of their skins.

:Why, yes I am, thank you,: said the Firecat. :Please call me Serenshey, and I am here to help. Really help. I am to come with you. The Star-Eyed and the Sunlord sent me to be their eyes, ears, paws, and your advisor and aide.:

“So the Iftel gryphons know you are here?” Firesong asked, since the rest seemed to have lost their tongues. “Did they know you were coming?”

:No, they do not know yet, but they will be relieved. Firecats are far more common in Iftel than in Karse.: Serenshey didn’t elaborate on that, but Firesong was well aware that for generations while the red- and black-robed priests ruled Karse, Firecats had been thought to be mythical. Even now, there weren’t that many, but at least now the corrupt priests did not have a license to try to kill one if they saw it.

“What do you know that we don’t?” asked Willowheart, coming straight to the point, as usual. Willowheart never beat around the bush.

That set the Elders off on a questioning session that at least had the benefit of covering newer ground than the earlier discussion had. Firesong held his peace and listened closely, but there didn’t seem to be any of the usual opaqueness and double-talk there usually was when gods spoke.

Well, I can’t speak from personal experience, he realized after a moment. So that’s probably not fair. But the last time the Star-Eyed spoke directly to a Hawkbrother was a long time before I was born, and that seemed to be couched in riddles.

Then again, this time it appeared that the gods themselves feared they were imperiled. So maybe that was the reason why their spokes-creature was being a lot more direct than usual.

But eventually, it got to the point where Serenshey had nothing more to say than, :We don’t know.: And when he had repeated himself enough times, Firesong deemed it his job to intervene before the Firecat got annoyed.

“I’ll take Serenshey to the Iftel gryphons,” he said, breaking into oh-so-polite interrogation. “Since it doesn’t seem as if we’re going to get any more information without actually going where we are supposed to go. Meanwhile, my advice is that we get the expedition up and out of here with all speed.” And with that, he got up and walked away. He didn’t have to look back to see if Serenshey was following him; the Firecat’s looming magical presence—roughly the size of one of those Iftel gryphons!—told him that Serenshey had taken his “suggestion” and acted on it.

:Thank you,: he Mindheard. :I understand their anxiety. We’re all anxious. But how many times and how many ways can I say “I don’t know”?:

“As many as you can take before you walk away,” Firesong replied, only now looking back over his shoulder. “Do you want me to carry you, or something?”

:That won’t be necessary,: the cat assured him, and stepped up his pace to a trot. Which looked so charming, Firesong had to smile.

“Does it bother you that you look like a cat?” he asked, finally. “It would me. I’d be annoyed. At least Companions are imposing.”

:We’d rather be overlooked. It’s quite useful.: The cat looked up at him and winked. :Something your partner knows how to do, and you should learn.:

He barked a laugh. “Never. But you knew that. Are you going to be at all useful when it comes to magic? We can always use mages on this journey. The more, the better off we’ll be. Especially if you can call on the least little bit of divine help.”

:I don’t know yet. If you think of magical energies as being notes on a scale, divine magic is not the same as the magic you use, or the kinds the Elementals use, either. I’m still learning about being on the mortal plane. It’s hard to get used to being material, for one thing.: Firesong was impressed by Serenshey’s candor. He hadn’t expected the Firecat to be anything but enigmatic. :I don’t think I can help with your Heartstone project, for instance, except that I can provide extra shielding when you finally decide to activate it.:

“Well, do you eat?” he asked reasonably. “Do you sleep? Do you need rest at all?” All things not one of the Elders had thought to ask.

:I do, but I don’t have to. If I call on those divine energies, I don’t need to do any of those things, but that comes at the cost of being “visible” to things I’d rather didn’t see me. I can be hurt and killed, which would be both painful and annoying. Everything extraordinary comes at a cost. So if I want to remain less visible, I do need to eat and sleep.:

“Well, that’s magic in a nutshell,” mused Firesong, and turned in to the little garden path that led to the ekele. “Let’s see how my guests have made themselves at home.”

On the lowest floor, in the big gathering room, there were no signs of the heavy feeding that Firesong knew had taken place. The hertasi had already cleaned up with their usual efficiency. Instead, the biggest pottery water-jars that the Vale produced had been set up along the side, with pottery mugs suitable for a gryphon’s talons beside them, and three enormous, dark gryphons lay so heavily asleep on piles of cushions near the jars that Firesong suspected nothing would wake them.

:They’ll sleep like that until sunset,: Serenshey observed. :They pushed themselves hard to cover the last leg of the journey, and they know they are safe here. All their defenses are down, so they can sleep as heavily as they need to.:

“The others are probably on the sky-terrace,” Firesong guessed. “I can’t imagine any of them in a guest room. They wouldn’t fit on a bed. Let’s go up.”