“What’s your name?” Sithe
asked, after she’d sent Godric away to deliver a letter. He’d tried to protest — This late? Dawn’s Watch is three
turns out! I haven't slept at all! What kind of guardian are you? — but later thought better of this. Sithe’s eyes had a habit of
growing too big for her head when she was riled, and Godric knew better
than any of her other children when it was best to avoid crossing her.
The only one more familiar with that lesson was
Godric’s twin brother, Fuller.
Sythius glanced first at
Cell, as though convinced her question had been directed at him. Then he looked back, saw her still
watching him, and he said, eventually, “Sythius.”
“Hm. And where did you come
from, Sythius?”
Sythius frowned. He
lowered his head, deep in thought. He started to talk, too low to be heard at
first. Eventually she started to make out certain words: “white” and “cracked
ground” and “cold.”
“With skies like a
blanket settled over the world,” Cell recited. Sythius looked at him. “A land
where time holds no sway, where the winds tell stories and the stars hold court
with our dreams.” He looked at Sithe as though this should tell her something. “Look
at what he wears, Milady,” he said. He gestured to the big man’s breeches. “Telandran
tiger.” The jerkin. “Vastaavi leopard.” Boots and gloves. “Delanian
winter-sloth.” He put a hand almost lovingly on the bear pelt wrapped around
the giant’s shoulders. “And, of course. The Avrok grizzly.”
Sithe frowned. “The Dark
Lands,” she said. “Importing from so far away would be ... ridiculous. This
man doesn’t look like he has a copper tab to his name. You’re telling me he
hunted these furs himself, aren’t you?”
Cell nodded slowly.
“You expect me to believe
that this ... man.” She stopped. It was obvious that she was about to use a
word that was much less flattering. Sithe cleared her throat. “This man not
only survived out there on the roof of the world, where even the Aklai’s honor guard sleep with an eye on the back of their
heads, but hunted there?”
Cell’s eyes were sparkling.
* * *
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