Sharon Shinn - Reader And Raelynx

“Hey, you want to come hack at me next?” she called out as Cammon slipped between the rails of the fence surrounding the training yard. “I’ll be in ribbons by then, so you ought to find it easy to bring me down.”

He grinned. He wasn’t much of a fighter-excellent defense, because he had no trouble guessing where his opponent planned to land the next blow, but almost no offensive skills. He had never actually defeated Wen-but then, she had never actually defeated him, either.

“Too cold,” he called back. “I’m looking for Senneth.”

“In the cottage.”

He nodded. “I know.”

In fact, both Senneth and Tayse were at home, though it was still odd to think of them sharing a house just like any ordinary couple. Most Riders lived in the barracks. The few who chose to marry-and were able to stay married-took up residence in one of the small cottages that fanned out behind the large communal building. Not until Senneth and Tayse had eloped last fall was Tayse willing to set up a household with Senneth. He had preferred her to keep a bedroom at the palace, in luxurious quarters more suitable for a serramarra. But married couples lived together; even Tayse, with his strict notions of class boundaries, recognized that fact. And so they had moved into the cottage, and Senneth had made a few stabs at decorating it, but she wasn’t exactly the most domesticated creature in Gillengaria. Kirra had not been able to stand it. The last time she was here, she had spent a small fortune with Ghosenhall merchants, buying curtains and rugs and sets of china, and so the small house actually had a rather homey feel.

Cammon wasn’t sure Senneth or Tayse had ever cooked in the kitchen, however. They took their meals in the barracks when they both were present, and Tayse ate with the other Riders when Senneth was needed at the palace.

Tayse greeted him at the door. “I was just going out to practice,” said the big man. “You want to come along? I’ll give you a workout.”

“Too cold,” Cammon repeated.

Senneth joined them. “I could ring the whole yard with flame,” she offered. “Make it nice and comfortable.”

Tayse shook his head. “Riders need to know how to fight in all kinds of weather,” he said. “Don’t want to make them soft.”

“I can’t think a few degrees of extra warmth will turn any of that lot soft,” she observed.

Tayse was still waiting, eyebrows lifted. Are you sure you won’t join me? You can never work too hard or be too good . Tayse was not the sort of man who believed in taking advantage of a quiet moment to let his bones go completely idle. A quiet moment was when you cleaned your sword or practiced a new way of throwing your knife. Cammon said, “Maybe later.”

Tayse nodded and ducked out the door. Whoever had designed these cottages had not allowed for a Rider as big as Tayse. Then he ducked back in. “Any news of Justin?” he asked.

Cammon nodded vigorously. “They’re on the move. Heading home.”

That pleased Tayse so much he came all the way back inside. “Where are they, can you tell? How soon will they be back?”

Cammon scrunched up his face and concentrated. He wasn’t good with actual physical locations, just general directions. He had the advantage of knowing where Justin had started out, though, and that made it a little easier. “They’re traveling pretty fast and going-north, I think. But they’re still in the Lirrens. He still feels sort of fuzzy to me. I’ll have a much better idea once they cross the mountains.”

Tayse glanced at Senneth, a faint smile on his face. “We should find a way to welcome them home.”

She laughed. “What, you missed having the Riders throw you a charivari on your own wedding night?”

“Charivari?” Cammon repeated. “What’s that?”

Tayse’s smile deepened. “When Riders marry. It is traditional to celebrate the event-”

“Since it is so rare,” Senneth interjected.

“With a party that sometimes becomes quite boisterous and continues through the night.”

“A drunken rout is what it is, and I don’t think Ellynor would enjoy it,” Senneth said. “Though I do think it would be nice to plan some kind of celebration for the day they arrive. If Cammon could tell us when that is going to be.”

“When they get closer, I will,” he said.

“Justin will suspect something,” Tayse said. “He’ll sneak them in during the middle of the night.”

“Easy enough for Riders to stay up and wait for them,” Senneth said, trying not to laugh. “Riders never need to sleep.”

“Well, we ought to mark the occasion in some fashion.”

“Kirra and Donnal ought to be here,” Senneth said. “We should send them word. Are they still in Danalustrous?”

Cammon nodded. “I’ll let them know,” he said.

“That will be nice,” Senneth said. “The six of us back together again. For a little while, anyway.”

“Seven now,” Cammon said.

“Seven,” Senneth repeated. “I wonder how well I’ll like Ellynor once I get to know her.”

Tayse shrugged. “She makes Justin happy. That’s all I need to know.”

Senneth looked at Cammon with a question on her face. Does she indeed make Justin happy? He grinned and nodded. “Almost as happy as you make Tayse,” he said. That made her laugh and shove him out the door. So, after all, despite the cold, pretty soon he was out on the training field with a weapon in his hand.

Nothing else to do if he was not going to have a chance to see Amalie.

THEprincess didn’t need him the following morning, either, but Cammon was not going to make the mistake of seeking out the Riders again. He was still sore from yesterday’s workout. Instead he bundled himself up in a heavy new coat-provided by Milo -and went in search of the raelynx.

The six of them had come across the wild cat a year ago when they were traveling through Gillengaria on a mission for King Baryn. Most raelynxes could only be found across the Lireth Mountains in the Lirrenlands, and they possessed their own kind of feral magic. They could not be caught-they could not be killed-they eluded every hunter’s trap, every householder’s poison. With their red fur, spiky ears, and great tufted toes, they were beautiful and lawless and terrifying.

The folk of the Lirrens had learned to control them, or at least keep the great cats from ravaging their communities. Senneth said it was because the Lirrenfolk were protected by the Dark Watcher, and the night goddess had claimed the raelynx as her own. During the long years when Senneth was estranged from her own family, she had lived among the Lirrenfolk and learned some of their customs, and she too had acquired the trick of controlling a raelynx’s appetite and rage.

Or at least, she had figured out how to keep this particular beast in check, but she admitted it was only because they had found it when it was just a few months old. A full-grown cat would have been more than even Senneth could handle. She had meant to return it to the Lirrens once they were safely done with their travels-and yet their adventures had never delivered them back to the Lireth Mountains. Strangely, once they returned to Ghosenhall, Queen Valri had been quite taken with the notion of keeping a raelynx on the property, and she had begged the king to allow her to keep it.

Madness. Even Cammon knew that. But he loved the raelynx, and he had been secretly glad to learn it would be staying in Ghosenhall, where he could visit it whenever he wished.

It was quite a trek through the palace grounds to the walled garden where the raelynx was kept. Several hundred acres surrounded the palace proper, and they were divided into a broad diversity of terrain with a handful of attractions-wooded areas, streams, gardens, living quarters, stables, gazebos, and follies. The garden holding the wild creature was about as far distant from the palace and the barracks as it could be. It was surrounded by a high stone wall and closed with a wrought-iron gate. Winter-bare trees poked their heads above the fencing; dead vines clung to the stone and mortar. Through the open grillwork of the gate, Cammon could see more of the same inside-brown grasses, nude shrubs, the bent and colorless stalks of tall flowers patiently enduring the indignities of winter.