Queen of the Sylphs (10 page)

Right now, however, most of the family was gathered in the dining room at the center of the house. It had a stream flowing down one side, filling a deep channel in the stone floor before it vanished again on its way to the bathrooms where it fed the tub with continuously fresh, if cool, water. A huge harvest table made of solid malachite rose out of the floor. Five people ranged around it, all of them talking at the same time they grabbed the food Iyala had prepared. She stood in the doorway to the kitchen, eyeing her husband and Heyou as she brought in some potatoes.

“I didn’t expect you,” she said, setting the bowl down and opening her arms.

Heyou immediately launched himself at her. She was a large, immensely broad woman, and he wrapped himself in her hug, his head nearly vanishing between ponderous breasts.

“Ah now,
you
I can hug without worrying, my duck!” she exclaimed, squeezing him with a strength that probably would have broken a human boy’s ribs. Heyou just made a happy exclamation, lost to the depths of her bosom. Galway laughed and headed to the table.

Several of the young people sitting there had been born to the couple, but there were others that he and Iyala acquired over the years. They ranged in age from twelve to twenty-two, and Galway never bothered to remember which were biologically his; he’d picked up the rest from the towns and hamlets he visited during his travels. Iyala called him a soft touch, but he wouldn’t leave an abandoned child to suffer. She’d never turned down any of the boys or girls he’d brought, and she hadn’t turned down Heyou either. Her only comment had been about not having to feed him.

It had taken the rest of the family longer to adapt. The fights between the boys had been, as Heyou put it, “Wonderful.” No one got seriously hurt, and once all of the boys’ courage and status was established, Heyou had become family.

Right now, he was content to be hugged to death by his adopted mother and the rest of the children were happy to let the battler take the brunt of her affections. Galway used the opportunity to fill his plate, and he settled down like everyone else to eat. Usually he took a cold meal to work with him, and he was glad of the opportunity for something better.

Nelson, his oldest son, sat right across from him. “Why are you here, Pop?” Nelson asked. “You never come to lunch.”

“I had some business in the area.”

Galway saw Nelson look at Heyou. He was not a foolish young man. He’d first met Nelson in an alley in the Eferem capital. An eight-year-old at the time, the boy had tried to mug him. But that was long ago.

“You’re not working?” he asked.

Nelson shook his head. “Cal and I brought in all the cattle this morning. We’ll start gelding the calves this afternoon. I wanted a full belly for that.”

“I don’t blame you,” Galway said. Cal’s herd was up to a hundred animals, which at least kept him in the Valley instead of driving carts all over the place and babbling things he shouldn’t to anyone who might listen. Galway liked Cal, but the man had no concept of discretion. “Did his son help out?”

Nelson shrugged, chewing and swallowing before he answered, just in case Iyala was watching. “He was there, but he didn’t help all that much. He spent most of the time bitching about how his fiancée was stolen.”

Galway had to smile. Nelson’s expression said it all. He’d known Justin for years, and he never would have spoiled the boy like Cal had. Justin thought he was entitled, which none of Galway’s children did. Then again, many of Galway’s had been disabused of the notion before they even joined his family. The rest had learned fast. Including Heyou.

Behind him, Iyala finished mauling her newest, strangest son, and she let him go with a final kiss and a mad tousling of his hair. He reeled back, grinning, and flopped into a chair beside Galway. He looked like he’d been through a windstorm.

“You better bring Solie around to dinner soon,” Iyala warned him, her stern tone belied by her twinkling eyes.

Heyou’s grin faded. “I guess.”

Everyone glanced up in surprise. He stared down at the table.

Galway sighed. “Keep eating, you lot.” He looked at his wife before his eyes shifted to Heyou. She nodded and moved to pile another helping on the youngest children’s plates, whether they wanted it or not.

Nelson eyed Heyou suspiciously, like he suspected one of their infamous fights. Nelson was a peaceful sort now, but that hadn’t stopped him from hitting Heyou with a chair once while they were still working out their differences. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nelson,” Galway cautioned. “Finish your lunch.”

The young man processed that and sighed, digging back into his meal. He was done in minutes, and when he left, most of the other children followed. Heyou without a grin was an unusual thing, but they wouldn’t bother being worried until they had to.

The two adults weren’t quite so complacent.

“What happened today, Thom?” Iyala asked.

Galway shrugged, pushing his bowl away and regarding Heyou. After decades of everyone calling him by his last name, it still felt odd when his wife did otherwise. “It seems Solie wants to have children.”

“Ah,” Iyala breathed. “I see. So you’re going to be a father, Heyou? That’s a big responsibility.”

Heyou froze, incredulous. “Be a father? How do I do that? I can’t have human kids.”

“So?” Iyala started to clear the table, piling bowls so she could carry them to the kitchen. “I’ve only borne two of my children. The rest just showed up.”

Heyou blinked. He looked deep in thought.

“That doesn’t mean you just go and find a child to take home,” Galway pointed out. “That sort of thing tends to irritate a parent.”

Heyou smiled, his eyes twinkling, but his mirth didn’t last long. “She wants a baby
inside
her. I can feel it. I can’t give her that.”

“Do you want to?” Iyala asked.

“Yeah. I want Solie happy.” His response was immediate and he shivered. “I don’t want her to think about leaving me.”

“Well,” Galway said, with a speculative tap of his finger to his lips. “There is a way to get her pregnant, given a little intervention.”

“Intervention?” Heyou asked.

Galway gave a small smile. “Do you know how human women get pregnant?”

Heyou shot him a look. “Yeah—unless it’s different than cows.”

Iyala gave a hearty guffaw. Galway laughed, too. It was apparently considered a spectator sport among battle sylphs whenever the bulls were released into a herd.

“Well, if you know that, do you know what they do when they have a cow that’s especially reluctant?”

Heyou blinked.

“Don’t tease the boy, Thom,” Iyala said. “Just tell him.”

Heyou’s eyes got huge as Galway explained.

Chapter Seven

Solie sat in an opulent private garden created by her friend Loren and Loren’s water sylph. Shore was someone Solie considered a friend as well, though the little sylph had only spoken to her once and was obviously still nervous around her.

It had been Shore’s idea, actually, to make the garden, and the space was beautiful, with trickling streams and richly flowering bushes. The area was small, only a few hundred feet across, but it lay directly through wide doors that led from her bedroom, and her view of the growing settlement was cut off by an encircling wall, making a serene retreat for Solie whenever she wanted to get away. Also, thanks to the addition of wind chimes and the artful arrangement of the trickling streams, most of the noise of the town was blocked as well. Solie could pretend she was miles away from everything, safe in her own private little haven.

Unfortunately, too many people knew about it. Solie saw that such feelings were uncharitable, but this was the only time this morning she’d had a chance to sit and have some tea. Loren didn’t
need
to be sitting here. Not like Solie did. She had a talent for gardening, and with Shore to help her she could make as many private gardens for herself as she wished.

Well, maybe it was the dynamic between Loren and Lizzy that was making Solie twitch. Lizzy had been kidnapped off the docks and sold into slavery because Loren convinced her to come along to Para Dubh. Loren hadn’t been kidnapped at all. Thanks to Shore, Solie could feel the girls’ tension far more clearly than she would have liked.

Loren was twenty, older than Lizzy but younger than Solie. She was attractive, but the only thing in her life that she took responsibility for was Shore. The little water sylph sat beside her, looking like a younger version of Loren, her hair only a little damper. There was no sign of Lizzy’s sylph, but Solie had to wonder how long it would take Ril to decide to show up, given how tense the girl felt.

Seated in one of two chairs nearby, Gabralina chewed on a biscuit with great enjoyment, oblivious to what else was going on at the table. Her friend Sala sat beside her. Until Lizzy arrived, Loren had been regaling Sala with the story of how she became Shore’s master after the sylph’s original master died.

Solie almost groaned. Why had she decided to let all of them into her garden in the first place? It hadn’t even occurred to her that Loren and Lizzy wouldn’t have already talked. But Lizzy looked ready to dive over the table at her friend. She sipped her tea and licked her lips, not turning away from Loren at all. She was clearly furious.

Sala turned to Solie, one eyebrow raised. The young queen glanced away, giving a brief shudder. The tension was ratcheting up even more between Loren and Lizzy, and Sala’s calm placidity felt cloying in comparison.

For her part, Loren looked guilty. She felt remorse as well, along with fright. Faced with something she couldn’t hide from behind her usual shallow chitchat, the girl didn’t know what to do. Solie sighed inside and wondered if she should just call Mace and ask him to bring the Widow. Lily Blackwell would knock the two girls’ heads together and be done with it.

Lizzy continued to glare, and Solie tried to hide another sigh. This was supposed to be her break! For half the afternoon she had meetings with merchants wanting to set up permanent shops in the town, and then others with the local planning committee about the next phase of reconstruction to bring more arid land back to life. After that was Petr the priest, and they would decide how many more people to train to utilize the gate, as well as how many sylphs they would invite through this year. She also had to sit with Devon, who was understandably nervous at the prospect of going to a foreign kingdom.

She did hope he agreed. Devon was a dear man and a gentle person, and she couldn’t imagine anyone she’d trust more to do this job. Well, other than Leon, Galway, or the Widow Blackwell, none of whom were in a position to go. But she had no intention of forcing him.

Her mind was turning more and more to the things she wished she could have, and her hand pressed against her childless belly for a moment. She then took control of herself and turned back to see if she could stop this silliness before broken crockery started flying.

“So,” Lizzy said, her teeth gritted so tight she could barely speak. “How have you been, Loren?”

“Good,” the girl replied. “I’ve moved out of the hive apartments. Stria made me a cottage on the lake in return for Shore making Cal a vegetable garden.” Then, realizing perhaps that discussing her own good fortune and the Porters’ earth sylph might not be the best move, she fell silent, her throat moving convulsively.

Lizzy’s teeth ground loud enough that Gabralina finally looked up from her plate. Sala said nothing, just continuing to watch everyone with that surprisingly flat gaze.

Solie was just lifting her hand, not able to stand any more, when Shore spoke. She’d moved from her chair to stand beside Loren, her small fingers appearing over the side of the small round table next to her childish face. “I’m sorry,” she said in her light, bubbling voice.

All five human women stared.

The little sylph closed green eyes with endless waves of ocean in the iris. “I left you there. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

The little sylph’s distress and regret were so great that none of them could help but feel it, and the anger and resentment that had been building among them collapsed. Loren threw her arms around the water sylph, hugging the small creature to her and telling her how wonderful she was, while Lizzy dropped to her knees to hold them both, telling Shore that it wasn’t her fault, that no one could have known what those men on the docks would do and that Shore should be proud of saving Loren from the same fate. Somehow, in reassuring Shore, the words became true, and the two friends-cum-enemies ended up sobbing in each other’s arms, everything forgiven.

It was infectious. Gabralina watched for a moment, eyes brimming, then dove herself into the pile with an unladylike wail. Solie was just about to join them when she saw Sala. Gabralina’s friend continued to watch without any emotion. None at all. There was nothing wrong with that, exactly, but still Solie felt a chill.

A step sounded behind her, and she turned to see Claw peering out into the garden, on guard and drawn by the morass of emotion. Solie smiled, seeing as she did the reflection of the table and her friends in the glass doors he’d pushed wide. Behind her, Sala was beaming at the battler, her face transformed into something almost beautiful. Claw stared back, entranced.

Sala’s emotions didn’t change, however. Still placid, still calm—and Solie spun to see her face had once again gone blank. The girl sipped her tea and watched the three women and the water sylph untangle themselves, saying nothing, feeling nothing.

Solie turned back to the battle sylph. “Thank you, Claw,” she said, suddenly wanting him to leave for reasons she couldn’t explain. “Why don’t you go see if Rachel needs your help?”

Claw gave a convulsive swallow and nodded. Another battler was summoned to take his place as guard, and Solie felt him move inside the house almost immediately, but this one ignored the women as much as they ignored him.

Solie turned back to Sala, but the woman didn’t meet her gaze, smiling at Gabralina instead. The queen took another sip of her tea, wondering what it was that had her spooked. Maybe her fears were just a woman’s vapors.