Free Mouse and Dragon by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee Page B

failed to acquaint him with one who stands within Korval's protection."
    Aelliana shivered, suddenly cold in the warm afternoon. If aught were to happen to me . . .  So blithely said, and yet—
    "Aelliana?"
    Nothing , she told herself firmly, is going to happen to Daav. She took a deep breath and looked up at him. "I beg your pardon," she said.
    He frowned slightly. "I'm a brute," he said comprehensively. "Pulling you from here to there with no time to rest. It will be quickly done here, I swear it, and gently, too. Er Thom at least has address."
    He opened his door. After a moment, Aelliana opened hers, and stood out onto the 'crete apron.
    Before her, the grass stretched like blue-green velvet from apron's edge to a pleasant patio agreeably populated with chairs and small tables. Behind them, tall glass doors stood open to the day, the house stretching above and beyond . . . 
    She stared, suddenly understanding the scope of the building before her. This was no humble thing such as Mizel's house on Raingleam Street. This was house writ large, bold, and proud—and if she had not been told "house" she might instead have supposed it to be a—a mercantile center, or a building attached to an university, or—
    "Aelliana?" His hand came lightly to rest upon her shoulder; she felt concern, and a tang of self-anger.
    "Your brother lives here ?" she demanded. "It is—how many? In your clan?"
    "Ah. You must understand that Trealla Fantrol is Korval's showpiece. Our mother taught that, in the past, it was also a fortress, guarding the mouth of our valley, and denying those with . . . unfriendly intent . . . access to Jelaza Kazone—yos'Phelium's house, you know—which is much less grand, and quite a bit older.
    "As to how many we are—very few, in these days. We have never been a large clan, even at our most fulsome."
    "I see." She took a breath, recalling the calming spin of color Daav had named the Rainbow. Carefully, she called a prism to mind, one hue after the other—but the exercise failed to calm her.
    "I suggest that we press on, Pilot," Daav said softly. "I engage that Er Thom will not eat you. He will make his bow, fix your face in his memory, and doubtless say something pretty and pleasant. We need not even stop for a cup of tea, if you would rather."
    He was, Aelliana realized with a start, soothing the woman she had been yesterday. The woman she was today—she was startled, and uneasily aware that her manners were not High, but she was not afraid .
    "I am not frightened," she said, firmly. "I agree that it is best to continue—and even to drink a cup of tea. It would be very bad of me, as one who has accepted Korval's protection, to disdain the nadelm's hospitality."
    A flicker of brightness, gone before she could identify it, as Daav took his hand from her shoulder and moved across the lawn with his long, noiseless stride.
    I am not , Aelliana told herself, following, frightened .
     
    The room beyond the patio was small—perhaps a family parlor, with comfortably shabby chairs and a litter of books and projects in process adorning various side tables. Near the open doors, a smaller chair sat next to a larger, both angled away from the garage. A fleece throw was draped, haphazard, across the back of the larger chair. In the smaller sat a stuffed animal with large round ears and rounder blue eyes, apparently left to enjoy the view.
    Daav moved quickly through the room to the hallway beyond, unhesitatingly turning left, as silent on the polished wooden floor as he had been across carpet and grass.
    Aelliana sighed. Every Scout she knew had the knack of silent movement; perhaps she would ask one of them to teach her. For this afternoon, however, she contented herself with walking as lightly as she might, and taking care not to bump into the occasional artfully placed flower table or art piece.
    Ahead of her, Daav paused at the intersection of halls, head tipped as if he were listening to the