Savona didn't dance with anyone else," Nee said.
We were curled up in my sitting room. Outside the window, the garden was a silhouette in the faint blue light of dawn.
"We only danced that once. But then he asked me that question about my favorite color," I said. "Ought I to wear it tonight?"
She pursed her lips. "I'll wager my best necklace all the decorations in that ballroom tonight will be lavender, even if he has to empty the entire city today to find them. Did he say anything else?"
"He asked me to call him Russav."
Her eyes widened. "I don't think calls him that--except for Vidanric, and sometimes Tamara. I think I told you that he inherited when his parents died under mysterious circumstances, when he was very small. We all grew up calling him Savona."
"Well, I can't think of him as anything but Savona." Again that sense of rushing down a rock-strewn river engulfed me. "What does it all mean?"
"It means you are going to be very, very popular," Nee predicted.
"Is that it?" I said, frowning.
"You mean, what does it signify in personal terms?" she asked, her brows rising. "That question, my dear, you are the one to answer, not I."
"But I can't answer it," I wailed. "I feel like I'm in a whirlwind, and the wrong move will dash me on the rocks."
"You'll learn how to maneuver as you steer your own course," she said. "Everyone began with no experience."
I shook my head. "I think that Savona was born with experience." She set her cup down. "He was always popular with the wilder children, the ones who liked dares and risks. He and Vidanric both. Only, Vidanric was so small and lightboned he had to work hard at it, while everything came easy to Savona, who was always bigger and faster and more coordinated than anyone else. I think it was the same when they discovered flirting--" She hesitated, then shrugged and closed her lips.
And since the subject had come to include Shevraeth, I didn't want to pursue it. Ever since our conversation on our arrival at Athanarel, Nee had stopped talking about him. I told myself I didn't want to hear any more anyway.
We were curled up in my sitting room. Outside the window, the garden was a silhouette in the faint blue light of dawn.
"We only danced that once. But then he asked me that question about my favorite color," I said. "Ought I to wear it tonight?"
She pursed her lips. "I'll wager my best necklace all the decorations in that ballroom tonight will be lavender, even if he has to empty the entire city today to find them. Did he say anything else?"
"He asked me to call him Russav."
Her eyes widened. "I don't think calls him that--except for Vidanric, and sometimes Tamara. I think I told you that he inherited when his parents died under mysterious circumstances, when he was very small. We all grew up calling him Savona."
"Well, I can't think of him as anything but Savona." Again that sense of rushing down a rock-strewn river engulfed me. "What does it all mean?"
"It means you are going to be very, very popular," Nee predicted.
"Is that it?" I said, frowning.
"You mean, what does it signify in personal terms?" she asked, her brows rising. "That question, my dear, you are the one to answer, not I."
"But I can't answer it," I wailed. "I feel like I'm in a whirlwind, and the wrong move will dash me on the rocks."
"You'll learn how to maneuver as you steer your own course," she said. "Everyone began with no experience."
I shook my head. "I think that Savona was born with experience." She set her cup down. "He was always popular with the wilder children, the ones who liked dares and risks. He and Vidanric both. Only, Vidanric was so small and lightboned he had to work hard at it, while everything came easy to Savona, who was always bigger and faster and more coordinated than anyone else. I think it was the same when they discovered flirting--" She hesitated, then shrugged and closed her lips.
And since the subject had come to include Shevraeth, I didn't want to pursue it. Ever since our conversation on our arrival at Athanarel, Nee had stopped talking about him. I told myself I didn't want to hear any more anyway.
( Sherwood Smith )
[ Court Duel ]
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