Place with hardly a jolt.
“Well flown,” said an unexpected voice.
“Sher!” said Felin, turning in astonishment. The Exalted Sher Benandi was lying couchant along the ledge, the burnished bronze scales of his sixty-foot length shining in the morning sunlight. “I mean Exalted Benandi,” Felin corrected herself in a little confusion. “I had not known you were home.”
“Oh, good hunting to you, Blest Agornin, if we must be on such terms, which I say we should not. I have called you Felin and you me Sher since we were little wingless dragonets crawling around together. As for not knowing I was here, do not you say you are here to see my mother and will have none of me,” Sher said, dropping his jaw in an absurdly exaggerated leer.
Felin laughed, a spontaneous chuckle that seemed to rise from her toes. She did not think it appropriate in a parson’s wife to laugh like that, but she had, as he said, known Sher since they were dragonets. “I am delighted to see you, just surprised, that’s all. I saw your mother only yesterday and she didn’t tell me you were expected.”
“Does she keep you dancing attendance every day?” Sher asked, disapprovingly, then went on without waiting for an answer. “Well the truth is I came on the flick of a wing. My visit was proving damnably dull, and I thought a little rest at home would be pleasant.”
“Would prove restorative after a debauch, you mean,” Felin countered, though as she spoke she wished she could catch it back. Sher did look tired, not just weary after his long flight but worn as if from troubles.
Sher laughed, dutifully. “My mother was pestering me,” he said.
Felin smiled, disbelieving, knowing how well Sher had learnedto ignore and bamboozle his mother. “She must be very pleased to see you now,” she said.
“She would have been happier if she’d had a month to prepare,” Sher said, ruefully. “I’ve come out here to escape from all the preparation being done at once now I am here, even if it is to result in the most comfortable gold in my bed and all my favorite dishes for dinner. No doubt you’ll be invited.”
“Not today, for Penn is still away.”
“Away? When it was Firstday but three days ago and will be Firstday again in another two? What was my mother thinking to allow that?”
Bon’s death had loomed so large in Felin’s life she had forgotten there could be anyone who did not know it, and was taken aback for a moment by Sher’s teasing. “The Exalt did have to manage without Penn for one Firstday, though he arranged for Blessed Hape to come out to take the service in the church. But his father was dying, and has died, so she had to agree.”
“Old Bon has died? I’m very sorry to hear that,” Sher said, his big dark eyes suddenly remorseful. “I don’t suppose you knew him well, but he was a wonderful old dragon, rock of the mountains. I visited Agornin several times when I was in school. What’s to become of the place? Penn can’t take it, of course, can his little brother?”
“No, though old Bon hoped to live long enough that he could,” Felin explained. “Avan, the brother, isn’t up to it, so it’ll be managed by the Illustrious Daverak who is married to Penn’s hatch-mate Berend, and at last go to one of their children.”
“I remember Berend,” Sher said, smiling. “I see her from time to time up in Irieth, where she acts the haughty Illust’ with me as if I’d never chased her down a mountain when she was learning to fly. All the same, that’s sad about Agornin. Penn should have said, I might have been able to help his brother. Too late now.”
This offer of help when once it was too late to be of use seemed to Felin so characteristic of Sher that she could not answer it. “I must see your mother,” she said.
18. THE EXALT
If the inside of Benandi Place was not in quite the disorder Sher had represented, this was because his mother was a remarkable housekeeper. Felin, accompanied
“Well flown,” said an unexpected voice.
“Sher!” said Felin, turning in astonishment. The Exalted Sher Benandi was lying couchant along the ledge, the burnished bronze scales of his sixty-foot length shining in the morning sunlight. “I mean Exalted Benandi,” Felin corrected herself in a little confusion. “I had not known you were home.”
“Oh, good hunting to you, Blest Agornin, if we must be on such terms, which I say we should not. I have called you Felin and you me Sher since we were little wingless dragonets crawling around together. As for not knowing I was here, do not you say you are here to see my mother and will have none of me,” Sher said, dropping his jaw in an absurdly exaggerated leer.
Felin laughed, a spontaneous chuckle that seemed to rise from her toes. She did not think it appropriate in a parson’s wife to laugh like that, but she had, as he said, known Sher since they were dragonets. “I am delighted to see you, just surprised, that’s all. I saw your mother only yesterday and she didn’t tell me you were expected.”
“Does she keep you dancing attendance every day?” Sher asked, disapprovingly, then went on without waiting for an answer. “Well the truth is I came on the flick of a wing. My visit was proving damnably dull, and I thought a little rest at home would be pleasant.”
“Would prove restorative after a debauch, you mean,” Felin countered, though as she spoke she wished she could catch it back. Sher did look tired, not just weary after his long flight but worn as if from troubles.
Sher laughed, dutifully. “My mother was pestering me,” he said.
Felin smiled, disbelieving, knowing how well Sher had learnedto ignore and bamboozle his mother. “She must be very pleased to see you now,” she said.
“She would have been happier if she’d had a month to prepare,” Sher said, ruefully. “I’ve come out here to escape from all the preparation being done at once now I am here, even if it is to result in the most comfortable gold in my bed and all my favorite dishes for dinner. No doubt you’ll be invited.”
“Not today, for Penn is still away.”
“Away? When it was Firstday but three days ago and will be Firstday again in another two? What was my mother thinking to allow that?”
Bon’s death had loomed so large in Felin’s life she had forgotten there could be anyone who did not know it, and was taken aback for a moment by Sher’s teasing. “The Exalt did have to manage without Penn for one Firstday, though he arranged for Blessed Hape to come out to take the service in the church. But his father was dying, and has died, so she had to agree.”
“Old Bon has died? I’m very sorry to hear that,” Sher said, his big dark eyes suddenly remorseful. “I don’t suppose you knew him well, but he was a wonderful old dragon, rock of the mountains. I visited Agornin several times when I was in school. What’s to become of the place? Penn can’t take it, of course, can his little brother?”
“No, though old Bon hoped to live long enough that he could,” Felin explained. “Avan, the brother, isn’t up to it, so it’ll be managed by the Illustrious Daverak who is married to Penn’s hatch-mate Berend, and at last go to one of their children.”
“I remember Berend,” Sher said, smiling. “I see her from time to time up in Irieth, where she acts the haughty Illust’ with me as if I’d never chased her down a mountain when she was learning to fly. All the same, that’s sad about Agornin. Penn should have said, I might have been able to help his brother. Too late now.”
This offer of help when once it was too late to be of use seemed to Felin so characteristic of Sher that she could not answer it. “I must see your mother,” she said.
18. THE EXALT
If the inside of Benandi Place was not in quite the disorder Sher had represented, this was because his mother was a remarkable housekeeper. Felin, accompanied
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