Mercedes Lackey - Winds Of Change

Elspeth nodded; she felt the same. Starblade bore many years' experience, and knew the magics involved as only a Tayledras Adept could. Better to err on the side of safety.

"I think," Darkwind said slowly, "that we may practice outside the Vale for some time in relative safety. It will only be as we approach the greater Adept-magics that we will need the shieldings of the Vale."

"By then, the Council and I should have come to some decision on the Stone," Iceshadow told them. "Either we shall have begun to heal it ourselves, or we shall have found a way to deal with it." He glanced at Elspeth, with a certain amount of expectation in the look. She sighed, knowing what that look meant. "If you're wondering if You can count on my help with this Heartstone of yours, I do remember those oaths I just took," she said, with a little shake of her head. "I can't say I like the idea of mucking about with that much power gone wrong, but what I can do, I will." Both Iceshadow and Starblade gave her nods of approval, but she wasn't quite done. "What I need to know, here, is this-how much more trouble from outside can we expect while we're doing all this? Starblade, I hope you'll forgive my asking this, but You were a point of weakness before. just how vulnerable are you to more meddling?" Starblade wet his lips with the tip of his tongue before replying. "To meddling-I would say not at all. Even if Falconsbane still lives, and as I said, I do not think that he does, Iceshadow and Kethra have changed all the paths that made me open to him. To have me so his slave again, he would have to have me in his hand. He would break me faster-for I am that much more fragile than I was-but he would have to have me to break me."

"And?" Elspeth raised an eyebrow.

"And I shall not leave this Vale until I walk through the Gate to a new one," he told her. "I have been broken and am mending, but I am still weak to be broken again, and I will not chance it, for tuhe sake of all of us." Elspeth nodded, satisfied, but Skif frowned. "What about attack?" he asked. "Are you weaker to attack than-say-Iceshadow~" Starblade looked mildly surprised by the question. "I-think not," he said immediately. "The weaknesses I have still require someone who knows me to exploit, and to have me, if not within physical touching, certainly within sight." Skif glanced over at Tre'valen, who shrugged. "The only magics I know intimately are those of the Goddess," he said. "I am of no help nor hindrance in these things. These are good things to know, Starblade.

I thank you for telling them."

"I can't think of any more questions," Skif admitted. "I'm no mage, and I'm no help to you. Frankly, I'll be a lot more help in finding Nyara and that damned sword she carries."

"Now that I need to know something of," Starblade said immediately.

And Elspeth found herself the focus of every eye in the little clearing.

She fidgeted a little, uncomfortably. "I don't know as much about Need as I'd like," she replied, reluctantly. "She predates the Mage Wars, I think. At least, I didn't recognize anything she showed us when she let us into her memories. So she's either very old, or from awfully far away."

"I would say, very old," Darkwind opined, toying with a feather in a gesture uncannily-and probably unconsciously-like his father. "I would say, she is as old as the oldest artifact I have ever seen. She gave me the impression of great age, as great as any of the things I have stumbled upon in the ruins." Elspeth tilted her head back and took a deep breath of the cool, flowerscented air, using the moment to think. "What I do know is she was a member of some kind of quasi-religious order, with gods I never heard of-male and female twins." She gave the Hawkbrothers a glance of inquiry; all three of them shrugged as if the reference meant nothing to them either. "Well, even though at one time she'd been a warrior, she called herself a Magesmith." Elspeth closed her eyes for a moment, to call up the memories that Need had shared with her and Skif. "As to how she became a sword in the first place-someone attacked the Order while she was gone-wiped out the older members, enslaved the young girls, stole everything they could carry. The only ones left were Need, who was too old to fight, and a young apprentice. So Need took a special sword that she'd forged spells into, spells of healing and luck-and forged herself into it as well."

"How~" Iceshadow asked, genuinely interested.

Elspeth shook her head. "It wasn't something I'd have done. She did some kind of preparation, then she killed her human body with the blade so that she could move her spirit into the sword. Then as long as the girl carried her, Need could give her both the skills of a fighter and of a Mage- Smith." All three of the Adepts looked startled at that. "How could that be?" Starblade asked.

"Well, she could operate on her own as a mage, or through her bearer," Elspeth told him. "Or she could direct her bearer, if the bearer was Mage-Gifted-that was how she worked with me, after I refused to let her take me over. But for fighting skills, you had to let her completely take control of your body." She grimaced. "I'm afraid I wouldn't let her, artifact, mage, or no. She didn't much care for my attitude." A hint of smile appeared around Starblade's mouth; Darkwind grinned openly. "Why am I not surprised by that?" the younger mage said, to no one in particular.

Elspeth was glad that the darkness hid her flush; Darkwind seemed to have an uncanny ability to poke pins into her pride. Maybe it was just ill-luck, or bad timing.

She licked her lips and kept her temper. "I think that she wasn't used to being thwarted," she said carefully. "Captain Kerowyn, who had her before I did, told me that I would have to be prepared to counter her, that she'd have me haring off to rescue whatever female nearby was in trouble, whether or not it was a good idea to poke my nose into her problems. That, though, was while she was still-" Elspeth thought a moment. "As I remember, she called it 'being asleep." I gathered that the personality was dormant, unconscious for a long time. Need never told me why."

"The blade may not have wanted you to know why," Tre'valen said smoothly. "Certainly, if you contradicted her will, she would not be so free with revealing secrets."

"That's true," she acknowledged. "Anyway, she didn't start to wake up again until I was at Kata'shin'a'in. So I don't know as much as I'd like to about her. I think she is likely to take over Nyara; I think that after years of her father molding her to his whim and will, Nyara is inclined to be manipulated like that." Skif bristled, and started to say something. Darkwind's thoughtful statement forestalled him.

"That would not be entirely ill for her," the Hawkbrother said quietly." Especially since-it seems, at least to me-Need has no intention of doing anything detrimental. I think she seeks to make her bearer a stronger woman. It is just that she does not like to have her will thwarted." Elspeth smiled ruefully. "I can testify to that," she said.

"It seems to me this might be a good thing for the Changechild," Starblade added thoughtfully. "Despite what has happened, I-I can feel pity for Nyara. She and I-" he faltered "-we have much, much in common. What Falconsbane did to her-it is very like what he did to me. It may be that this sword, if it has healing magics like those of Kethra and Iceshadow, can reverse some of the things that were done to the girl, even as Kethra is aiding me. I hope that is so. For her sake, and for ours." There didn't seem to be anything else to say; Elspeth sat there awkwardly for a moment, until Iceshadow cleared his throat conspicuously.

"If there is naught else that we can tell you-" he said.

Elspeth shook her head; so did Skif. "Not that I can think of," she replied. "Although I probably will come up with a dozen questions I should have asked just before I drop off to sleep tonight." Iceshadow chuckled; Starblade nodded knowingly. "If you can recall them when you wake, feel free to ask them," Iceshadow said, rising.