Page 33 of Valdemar

She paused. Then squinted. Then shook her head as if to clear it.

“I see . . . something that makes no sense,” she said hesitantly. “There’s a pair of blue eyes just over your shoulder. Just eyes. Nothing else. They’re watching me.”

He smiled slightly, and Restil knew why. “That would be a vrondi. They’re air spirits. We have a bit of history with them.”

Restil wondered why his father didn’t tell the girl that vrondi were attracted to the truth—but then he realized that his father had been, well, very sly. He had probably called the vrondi here on purpose, to make sure Lythe did tell him the truth.

Don’t blame him.

He hadn’t invoked the Truth Spell from the vrondi, or Restil would have seen the girl glowing blue even if he hadn’t bothered to use mage-sight. But Kordas’s unique bond with the vrondi, with the ones he had called Rose and Ivy especially, probably meant they could still talk to him if they chose to.

“Do you see anything else?” Kordas asked. “I don’t actually expect you to, but I haven’t used my own powers to look.”

She shook her head. “No, King, nothing but the blue eyes.”

“Well, at least that means I don’t have any spirits spying on me!” he joked. But then he turned to Restil. “You’re roughly the closest thing Rothas has to a friend—a peer. Am I correct?”

Well, that threw him for a moment. He had to think about it. “I have been the one showing him around when he’s not studying or practicing. Or performing, but he’s been cautious about doing that without express permission. I think his mentor advised him not to.”

Kordas nodded. “That’s good,” he said. And nothing more, but Restil got the hint. Ah, great, I get to be the one to have the little talk with Rothas, and let him know he’s neglecting his lifebonded and making her unhappy. Now, that was probably mostly because Rothas was—to put it unkindly—something of a bonehead. He wasn’t terribly observant, which hadn’t mattered that much in the past, when he didn’t actually need to gauge an audience’s response, because his Gift would carry him through. He also wasn’t used to needing to care about anyone’s feelings but his own. He definitely wasn’t unkind . . .

He’s a great big blundering puppy, is what he is.

But Isla was back to the girl. “Suppose we were to be able to break that curse and you both were able to wake and sleep when you chose again. What would you want to do? Go home?”

Lythe shook her head. “Not home. My mother would just want me to marry . . . someone. Someone not Rothas. I’d never heard of lifebonds before this. No one in our villages has. She likely wouldn’t believe it, just like she doesn’t believe I can talk to animals and see things. Stay here, if you’d have me. I guess Rothas would want to stay here too, since he’s getting all these lessons and everyone loves to listen to him.”

But it was clear, at least to Restil, that she wanted more. He wondered what she had daydreamed about, before—

“I . . . you’re going to laugh at me,” she said plaintively.

“We won’t laugh,” Isla told her firmly.

“Before, I had this daydream that someone handsome and exciting would come to the village, and we’d fall in love, like in songs and wonder tales. He’d be completely devoted to me, and he’d take me away, and—well, I didn’t get any farther than that, because I didn’t really know what I wanted, I only knew it wasn’t in our little village. And I really didn’t think too awfully much about that dream, because really, what was the chance that someone like that would come along? I just didn’t want to marry some old man with bad breath who’d paw me and lay on top of me and stuff me with children, and I’d spend all my time having babies and tending children, and running a household. I didn’t want that! The whole idea made me feel like someone was about to suffocate me! I wanted my life to be . . . I don’t know . . . special. Different. With fun in it. And being pawed by night and working like my mother did by day isn’t any fun.” She paused again. “Really, that was why I went out at night, to have fun while I still could, because the older I got, the sooner I’d be in a place where I had no choice, and everything would be dull and sad and ordinary.”

She raised her eyes to Isla’s, and there was pleading in them to be understood.

And of course they all understood. Isla nodded sympathetically. “And your mother didn’t understand that at all, because so far as she was concerned, the height of your ambition should be to marry well and be in charge of your own household.” Tactfully, Isla did not mention the part about Lythe’s mother very probably wanting to be the one being cared for, for a change.

Lythe sighed with relief. “Exactly. And even though the curse was horrible, because no one wanted to be around me, at least no one wanted to marry me either. Why would they? They wouldn’t want me doing all the chores at night when they were trying to sleep. And when there were children, I wouldn’t be awake to take care of them. So at least I didn’t have that hanging over my head. But then . . . I met Rothas. And it was wonderful, but it was also horrid. I didn’t know him, and I still don’t know him, not really! He seems nice. He’s kind. He never forces me to do anything. He’s handsome. But . . . this is like a nightmare version of my dream.”

“I can see that,” Isla agreed.

“Why did this happen?” Lythe cried.

Kordas sat back on his stool. “Well . . . no one knows. Was it the gods? Maybe. Something you were born with? Maybe. Another, unintentional effect of your curses? I can’t say. All I know is that a lifebond can be stretched, it can be fought, but it can’t be broken. I’m sorry, Lythe, but the simple fact is that no one else will ever be attractive to you, and no matter how far you are from him, it won’t be far enough to rid you of wanting to be with him. And that would be true even if you came to hate him. We have . . . some very sad tales to that effect, including actual tragedies.” He paused. “A lifebond can bring out the best in two people—but if it’s ill-placed, it can bring heartbreak too. I’ll just leave it at that. If you had never met, things would be very different.”

“If we’d never met . . . at least I’d still have a life I understand,” she said forlornly. “So would he, I guess.”

“I wish I had a better answer,” Kordas said, into a silence filled only with insect sounds and the snoring of Trusty at her feet.

If they’d never met—well, Rothas would have the better life of the two of them. He only needs to be in a safe sleeping spot before the end of twilight, and with his Gift, that wouldn’t be hard to come by. Heh, easier than most wandering Bards. He’d still be in demand, still be able to carve out a living with his abilities. Huh. Since he’d be insensible at night, people would be more willing to trust him around their susceptible wives and daughters! But Lythe, well, drifting around alone at night, talking to animals and spirits, may be romantic in a way, but it’s a sad sort of life to have to live. And it would leave her vulnerable if someone in her village decided that he could do what he wanted while she slept and get away with it.

He concluded that he was going to have to talk to the amiable blockhead. It would ease some of Lythe’s unhappiness if she at least liked the silly goose.

Well, all this information at least told him—and, of course, his father and mother—that some of their fears could be put to rest. Lythe clearly had no idea of the power she could exercise over Rothas if she chose to. And he was pretty sure she wouldn’t choose to do so anyway.

“Well, Rothas has his lessons and his performing to fill his days. So how can we fill your nights when you aren’t working with the Palace animals?” Isla asked, practical as always. “What do you want to do? Is there something you want to learn? Helping the Healers? Learning to bake? There must be something!”