Heart Fire (Celta Book 13) (23 page)

Then he ate a quick sandwich and suddenly Pinky appeared, ready to be friendly and munch with him. Antenn gave his Fam some chopped furrabeast—very lean and a smaller portion than usual.

Pinky smiled, then lowered his head and began snarfing it down.

You are very odd today.

“Yeah?”

The HouseHeart made you weird.

“Uh-huh.”

And you wore a sparkly white robe.

Antenn froze. “You could see that?”

Pinky paused to look at him and snort.
Of course, Cats have wonderful vision.

Neck burning, Antenn wondered about the ferals he’d petted near Primross’s office and Felonerb RatKiller,
and
whether Tiana’s Fam would comment on Antenn’s garb to her.

After a deep burp, Pinky sat and looked at Antenn.
Where are you going now?

“To the Turquoise House.” He picked up his plate and utensils and dumped them in the dish cleanser. “You can come if you want.”

Another belch.
I have heard that TQ has a special cat.

“He has several ferals. And Felonerb RatKiller is living there.”

Pinky hopped to all paws, flattened his ears, and hissed.
I do not like him. Why is he there? Is he living INSIDE?

“Yes, he is the new Fam to FirstLevel Priestess Tiana Mugwort.”

Tail thrashing, Pinky lifted his nose.
She has poor taste.
Without another word, he sauntered over to one of his pillows—the one in the sun—and curled up.

Antenn stopped in the rectangle of bright light shining through the windows himself and took a precious minute to just
be
. Maybe a little of Tiana’s serenity was rubbing off on him. Though he was pretty sure he’d soon find out how deep that calmness of hers went as she reexperienced the firebombing of her home. His gut tightened. He wasn’t looking forward to this. Nope, worse than that, he
dreaded
it.

A soft snuffle came and he glanced at his plump, light-beige cat and some of his tension eased. He crossed over to stroke his Fam’s stomach. Pinky didn’t awake, but stretched, and Antenn gave him a couple of more pets. The fur remained one of the softest things he’d ever felt . . . and Pinky . . . one of the great gifts of his life.

Odd how a cat had kept him sane . . . and his brother had gone mad.

T
iana ate a beautiful, tasty, and healthy lunch and alternated between nerves and calm . . . that is, she’d feel the nerves, then worked at being peaceful.

The Turquoise House informed her that her mother had sent over a plan for the sunroom and he’d implemented it. When she looked at the space she’d been stunned at the staggered garden beds filled with thriving plants, a pond the length of the room, and a small fountain. A fan-backed wicker chair with colorful cushions stood in the room—TQ stated he’d put out several chairs within his chambers.

After lunch, once again nervous about the upcoming regression, she decided to occupy her mind with arranging her few belongings in the House. She set her small personal treasures on the top of a bureau that had appeared that matched the bed, and hung her clothes in a bedroom closet, though TQ had offered a variety of free-standing wardrobes from the simple and inexpensive to what appeared to be elegant heirlooms.

Finally she unwrapped the architectural drawing of TQ and hung it on the bedroom wall. The map in multicolored ink fit perfectly.

There was a sound like a gasp from TQ. “That is
me
! That is my floor plan!”

“Yes.” She stepped back and admired it. “It looks well in this spot.”

“But how did you get it?” Some creakings. “I only have my floor plan filed in the GuildHall with a request that it be
private
.” His tone took on a slight haughtiness. “Like the other intelligent Residences.”

“It was a gift.” She enjoyed the lilt of emotions in his voice, sensed the avidity of his interest, and decided to spin out the story a bit. Sinking down onto the bed, she continued. “Yes, it looks very good.”

“A gift! From whom?” In her mind she saw a young man hopping from foot to foot, perhaps even a boy. The Turquoise House might think he was a mature adult, but he simply wasn’t. Not in human terms and especially not in sentient dwelling terms.

She leaned back on a pillow.

Tell me, tell me, tellme!
The excited demand shot to her mind faster than words could be said.

“I was given the piece by the Fam, Mica. Camellia Darjeeling’s Fam, before Camellia married Laev T’Hawthorn.”

“A
Fam
!” TQ’s voice was back and a near squeak. Tiana hadn’t spent much time in the company of Raz Cherry, the actor who’d given TQ his voice, but she’d never heard him squeak like that. Hadn’t ever heard a grown man squeak like that. Maybe TQ needed some remedial voice lessons . . . but, oddly enough, right here and now, sitting in the sun on a wonderful bed, she didn’t want to share the House with her Family . . . not even her best friends.

Right now, this moment, she was alone in a House as she’d never been alone before. No other resident—human resident—living with her. And she liked it. Who knew?

“You are telling me all this too slowly,” TQ grumbled.

“I’m teasing you a little.”

“Oh.”

“And where your floor plan came from originally is a mystery to me, too. Now settle yourself in patience and I will continue.”

“All right.”

“I was given the gift not quite a year ago by Mica, who found it for me when my friends and I attended the Salvage Ball—that party where one brings items one doesn’t want and leaves them for others as a price of admission.”

“Ooooh!” TQ said.

“Mica found Camellia a carved cat, gave my friend Glyssa a beautiful leather wallet engraved with gold, and showed me the scroll of a floor plan that was revealed to be yours.”

“A cat sculpture that had once been made by Laev T’Hawthorn to Camellia Darjeeling. A wallet created by Jace Bayrum for Glyssa Licorice, and
my
floor plan to you.” Now TQ’s spoken words reminded Tiana of a pounce . . . and the thread of logic was a little scary. Camellia had married Laev, and Glyssa had wed Jace. “Mica said it smelled, or felt, or something, like me.” Tiana stood. “I mounted and framed it for my sitting room at—”

“BalmHeal Residence,” TQ ended. “I know
all
about that.”

“What?”

“It was here within my walls that it was determined that BalmHeal had awakened and needed a Family of caretakers.”

“Really? I never knew that!”

“Yes. I was BalmHeal’s first House friend!” Pride throbbed through TQ’s voice, and once again Tiana couldn’t help but compare him to that other intelligent Residence. She’d nearly had to beg for a wooden frame for TQ’s floor plan from BalmHeal. Then she’d had to refinish it. This morning the Residence had wanted it back.

BalmHeal Residence had always loved Tiana’s sister, Artemisia, the best.

Looking out the window at the modest land around TQ, Tiana ached in homesickness for FirstGrove, but not so much for the Residence itself. TQ was so very accommodating.

“It is a wonderful item to have on my walls,” TQ said with satisfaction. “Thank you. You seem pensive. Would you like more to eat or drink?” A small click came and a no-time door opened from the wooden cabinets next to her table in the sitting room.

“Cocoa?” asked TQ.

The smell steamed and had her mouth watering. Cocoa in the middle of the day, easily obtainable, easily offered.

“You are rich, indeed.”

“Yes. I have been lucky in my friends and in my occupants.”

When Tiana crossed from bedroom to sitting room to get the large pottery mug full of the beverage and topped with white mousse, a floorboard creaked under her foot.

“Yes, TQ?”

“I would be very grateful if you performed some rituals in my HouseHeart. I have not had renewal rites like the other Houses and Residences for some time.”

“How long?” she asked as she went back to the corridor and moved through the House, opening the doors and leaving them open, a smile spreading on her face as the notion of pure freedom filtered through her body. The doors were always closed at BalmHeal Residence, and she liked them open . . . and hadn’t known that until now.

“Ah.” There came a tiny creak. “Sixteen years.”

Tiana simply stopped, staring out the window to her left that looked out on the back grassyard. “Sixteen years!”

“Yes.” TQ rushed into speech. “Naturally I had the Sandalwoods from GreatCircle Temple come and do rituals before and after the medical experiment, but they have not been in my HouseHeart for years. I wanted . . . I was waiting . . . I wanted someone special.”

“Oh. I’m honored that you consider me special.”

“You are
the
best priestess.”

Tiana gasped. “Me!”

“You live in BalmHeal, who is My Good Friend and Mentor. He loves you.”

“Not as much as Artemisia.”

“That is because BalmHeal has always been a Healer household,” TQ said.

“And you?” she asked, amused at herself and TQ and the whole conversation.

“I have had many tenants, and I have let several people into my HouseHeart, and Artemisia has been my Fail-Safe person to know of my HouseHeart. Before.”

Tiana frowned. “Before?”

“Before you. I want you, a priestess to be my Fail-Safe person until my Family comes.”

All she could do was to repeat what she’d said with all the depth of feeling that she had. “I am honored.”

Felonerb appeared, smelling incredibly bad. He pranced around.
I got it. I got it. That terrible sewer rat. I got him and I killed him and I ATE some of him and left the rest for the ferals, to show that I am STILL RATKILLER!

“Fabulous,” Tiana said, breathing through her mouth. It didn’t help a lot.

“Yesss,” her Fam said, trotting with pride. She studied him. He left little bloody smears and tiny bits of . . . stuff . . . fell from his claws as he walked. But as she watched, the floor seemed to absorb it.

Perhaps you would like to clean yourself in the HouseHeart
, TQ offered.

The cat stopped in his tracks; his ears pricked straight up, his eyes went large. “Yesss.” This time it sounded like a soft, hesitant breath.

You are almost to the staircase into my HouseHeart. I would like to show it to you.

Tiana hesitated. “How much time do we have before the witnessing?”

“Sufficient, I believe,” said TQ aloud, then went back to telepathy.
I will alert you when it would be good for you to begin your cleansing waterfall. My HouseHeart will soothe you, and I would love for you to see it.

I have never been in a HouseHeart!
Felonerb said, then actually emitted a squeak of delight.
I NEED to see one.

I would like to see it, too
, Tiana said. This would be her second, for she’d been in BalmHeal Residence’s, of course. She thought of Antenn Blackthorn-Moss and the ones he’d experienced, and wondered if TQ’s had been one of them.

Look!
TQ said, and a piece of the carpet, the entire floor, lifted.
My stairs. My entry room is very large and now has a standard illusion. I am thinking on its final configuration. My Family MUST have something especially made for them.

“All right,” Tiana said out loud. She reached the stairs, a tight stone spiral like nothing she’d ever seen before, and on one side darkness and depth loomed. No railing.

Ooooh!
RatKiller exclaimed, and zoomed down the staircase.

Tiana summoned a bright spellglobe to illuminate her way and took the steps slowly. Once down, she stepped into a summer’s day in a deciduous wood, with tall, thick-boled trees and sunlight slanting through them, dappling lower bushes, the occasional flower, and leaves that covered the ground in a thick layer. She dissipated her own spellglobe.

“I had a cave with stalactites and stalagmites,” TQ said. “But I outgrew it.”

“Oh.”

I LIKE this.
Felonerb took off, slithering between the trees.

TQ said, “It is beautiful, isn’t it? I copied it from several vizes and records of Earthan forests that the Ship
Nuada’s Sword
sent me.”

“Very pretty. From Earth, you say.” She took a deep breath but smelled only woods and green growing things.

“Yes.”

“And there is a path to your HouseHeart?” She squeezed sideways between a couple of trees and swore bark scratched her skin. “How large is this entrance area?”

“Yes, there is a trail. You are smart, you will find the path! And the moles got carried away.”

“The moles.”

“They helped me with my HouseHeart. It was originally small, but they wanted to teach their pups to communicate telepathically and work with other sentient beings, and I volunteered.” A pause. “Most of the other Residences were too stuffy.”

“I understand.” She
had
found a track, probably from Felonerb’s passing, and tramped down it.

“As I said, this is mostly illusion.”

“It’s very well done, including all the senses.” She heard birdsong she didn’t recognize that was probably Earthan, too.

“Thank you. I liked making the spellglobe sun. I tried several different sizes.”

“Um-hmm.”

“I have an entrance rhyme that must be chanted nine times,” TQ said, and told her it. So she began the chant.

Felonerb raced back to her, grinning.
Follow me!

She was glad to do that.

“Will you want me to do a ritual in this space?”

“No, I think in the HouseHeart, and upstairs in the MasterSuite or MistrysSuite, and perhaps you will celebrate some rituals and holidays in my back grassyard.”

“That sounds fine.”

“The High Priest and Priestess say you are
the best
at writing rituals.”

“Thank you,” she mumbled, irritation flickering that she’d be treasured for a desk job instead of leading circles.

“You can always write rituals for me and celebrate them here,” TQ said.

I am a Fam now, I get to go to human rituals. They will let me in special holiday circles when accompanied by a human. I like those. They have food.

Tiana laughed. “Yes, mostly they do.”

Do you have food in your HouseHeart, TQ?