FORBIDDEN TALENTS (5 page)

Tiowa we thank thee.

Our hearts are clear,

Our kopavi open to your call.

We honor those who guard the land

And share its fruit.

Hear us!

Accept our thanks.

Hear us!

Accept our gifts.

Hear us!
”

Loloma resumed his seat. Neven’s slight gesture brought the servants forward to begin serving the feast.

Celia looked across the square of tables at the Tewakwe delegation.
What did he mean by
“
those who guard the land
?
”
The Katsinas
?
The Elves
? Five months ago Loloma had told her the Katsinas might know of a way to send her home. At the same time he’d made it clear he thought it a bad idea. Tiowa had brought her here for a reason, he’d said.

Five months ago she had fallen in love with Dahleven. At the time, that had seemed like the best reason in the world to stay. It still did—at least when he was around.

She realized that Dahleven had spoken to her and turned to look at him.
“
I’m sorry, what did you say?
”

“
I said, it’s a pleasure to dine by your side again. Or it would be, if you were present.
”

A servant bearing a tray laden with roast venison stopped in front of her, preempting a retort. Celia selected a portion first for Dahleven, feeling unexpectedly resentful of the Nuvinland custom even though she’d been serving Ragni at family dinners for months and it hadn’t bothered her.

It only chafes now because Dahleven has been gone so long
. That was all it was.

RAGNI SETTLED BACK in his chair as the skald strode into the center of the square formed by the tables. The meal had been excellent, and most of those close enough for him to read with his Talent were relaxed and content. Lady Celia was more curious than relaxed though, and his brother’s annoyance stung like ice crystals in a sharp wind. Both of them had looked often across the square of tables during the meal, their gaze drawn to the Tewakwe. Ragni suppressed a grin. Dahleven was jealous of Celia’s attention and wouldn’t admit it—to himself, or anyone else.

His reserved older brother had fallen hard and quick five months ago. It wasn’t difficult to see why. Celia challenged Dahl; she wasn’t in awe of his position. Even more important, she lightened Dahl’s too-serious nature and made him laugh.

But his brother wasn’t laughing now.

Ragni supposed it was natural for Dahl to want Celia to attend only to him when he’d been gone so much, but in Ragni’s opinion that was exactly the problem. Dahl’s duties had kept him away too much. He’d overseen the closing of the Crystal Cavern and hunted down the last of Jorund’s Outcasts as well as seeing to his usual obligations as heir. And while he’d been gone, Celia had found her own way, settling into life here in Quartzholm, making her own friends and her own connections.

Celia’s affection for Dahleven fizzed through Ragni’s brain. She was just the sort of woman Dahl needed. Independent, loving, and not always comfortable to live with.

Thinking of love, Ragni’s glance strayed to Saeun, where she sat with his sister Kaidlin at the end of the table, too far away for his Empathy to sense her emotions. She smiled at something Kaidlin said. Saeun’s long hair flowed down her back, confined in a net of narrow braids. He wished he could work his fingers through it, loosening the strands until they flowed over her bare shoulders like a dark veil. He usually brushed her hair for her after their love-making. He hadn’t done that this afternoon. Instead, they’d argued about her fear.

What had that been about? Why wouldn’t she share it with him?

The entrance of Sangor pulled Ragni’s attention to the center of the room. The man sent by the Skald’s Guild to replace Eirik as the Kon’s skald was nothing like his skinny predecessor. Sangor was as round as an ale cask and his naturally resonant voice required no boost from Talent to command attention. His good nature had won him instant popularity, aided no doubt by his Long Watch Talent. He never tired of entertaining, and more than once he’d sung even the most die-hard of revelers to sleep.
It’s amazing how much Sangor can learn from a tired drunk
. He had quickly proved his worth, and his loyalty. Unlike the conniving Eirik.

The skald bowed to Neven and Gudrun, then to their Tewakwe guests.
“
Kon Neven, Lady Gudrun, Kikmongsowuhti Nai’awika and Kikmongwi Loloma, Lords and Ladies. We have broken bread together—and delicious bread it was.
”
He rubbed his rounded belly as his audience laughed and shouted agreement.
“
Thus, we again affirm our friendship and cooperation.
”
He paused and assumed a more serious demeanor.
“
But it was not always so. Once suspicion and misunderstanding brought us close to enmity. Only by the sacrifice of brave warriors and the wise council of the gods did we turn aside from that profitless evil.
”

Sangor told the tale of how Tilskynde the Hasty attacked the first Tewakwe he saw and how he refused to honor the words of the priests who said the future depended on their friendship. It fell to his son Solmund to make peace with their neighbors. At first the Kikmongwi would not hear him, but eventually they met.

“
Boldly Solmund declared, ‘Though my father’s honor is his own to guard, I would undo the wrong that was done by him.’

“
The Kikmongwi shook his head. ‘The breath of those your father killed has flown upon the road to Maski. You can no more call them back than you can catch the wind in a basket.’

“
Again, wise Solmund fell silent and considered the dark mask of the Kikmongwi’s face while the words of the priests prodded him. ‘And yet the gods have spoken,’ he said at last. ‘There must be peace between us.’

“
‘That is so,’ the Kikmongwi said. ‘But there is a debt between our peoples.’

“
‘I would pay it. I have brought all that the gods have given me to pay
weregild
.’

“
The Kikmongwi looked at the thralls and the wealth Solmund had brought with him over the Great Wall and shook his head. ‘It is not enough.’
”

Ragni felt the stiffening of offended pride among the Nuvinlanders. This part of the story always brought the same reaction.

“
‘You have not yet seen the greatest part of my gift,’ the generous Solmund said, and he called for Manni, his young son, to be brought forward. Fair and round-cheeked was the child, and strong of limb. No man looked with greater joy upon a son than Solmund did on Manni. Yet he took the child and placed him in the Kikmongwi’s arms. ‘Raise my son as your own.’
”

Sangor paused dramatically, and Ragni felt the swelling pride of the Nuvinlanders and the satisfaction of the Tewakwe fill the silence.

“
The shaman looked upon the round-cheeked boy, then returned Solmund’s steadfast gaze. ‘We accept your gifts. Your debt is paid,’ the Kikmongwi said. ‘Now we will feast and offer thanks to the gods for turning us aside from anger.’

“
And so began the friendship between our two peoples, which has continued to this day,
”
Sangor concluded.

*

Saeun stomped her approval of Sangor’s tale along with the rest of the Nuvinlanders, while the Tewakwe yipped and yodeled. The skald bowed again. She’d always liked that story and its message of distant kinship. Sangor had told it well, too. He was quite different in style from Eirik, the skald that had held the post before him. She gathered that Eirik had disgraced himself, though no one talked much about it. His recent blindness alone wouldn’t have been enough to make him unfit as a story-teller, though some might think his lack of sight an ill omen with regard to his ability to interpret what the gods revealed by the runestones. She doubted he’d followed Odin’s example and given his sight in a search for wisdom.

Loloma stood and lifted one of the strands of beads from his neck, holding it out to Sangor.
“
Thank you for the gift of your telling. We must never forget the past.
”

“
The roots of our friendship must be tended for the tree to flower,
”
Sangor answered. Stepping forward, he bowed to the Kikmongwi as the Tewakwe leader slipped the necklace over the skald’s head.

Saeun glanced at Ragni. He had that slightly distant look in his eyes that he got when he was using his Talent. That would be part of his job tonight. She almost wished it weren’t, and that Empathy wasn’t his Talent. Then she wouldn’t have to come up with some explanation for the fear he’d felt in her. She would have to explain, and tell the truth. Ragni wouldn’t let it rest. Because he loved her he would demand to know what troubled her. And the truth would kill his love.

He looked over at her and she startled. He frowned at that, but she knew she sat too far away for him to sense her feelings.

What was she going to do? She never used to care if he combed through her heart and saw her love for him. But that was before she’d tried to scry their future. Thank the gods he couldn’t read her thoughts as well.

Loloma smiled.
“
Will you gift us the tale promised earlier? How did Lady Celia find her place among us?
”

Sangor bowed and returned to the center of the room. The soft buzz of conversation stilled as his sonorous voice rolled over them.

“
Cunning were the men from whose loins sprang the Northmen. Courageous and strong the Nuvinlander root-stock! Beautiful and brave their women who gave us birth. And no less valorous is a woman who tonight graces our company. Valiant and shrewd, a Valkyrie sits among us, gifted by Freyr the ever-generous. Lady Celia, whose quick wits and bold actions saved Quartzholm from a fiery doom.
”

Saeun glanced over at the head table. She didn’t need Ragni’s Empathy to see Lord Dahleven’s pride, but Lady Celia seemed unhappy with the attention. Saeun couldn’t understand why. Despite the usual skaldic hyperbole, the woman from Midgard really was a heroine.

Lady Celia wouldn’t have gotten herself into a mess like mine
.

*

Celia looked down at the table, trying not to squirm. Everyone was staring at her, she could feel it. She hadn’t felt so much on display since her first night in Quartzholm, when Neven had paraded her in front of all the Jarls and Lords of Nuvinland. For a moment she wanted to hide, but then she remembered Gudrun’s coaching.
“
People will never think more of you than you think of yourself. Hold your head high.
”
Celia raised her eyes, pretending she was comfortable under the scrutiny, and listened to the skald’s exaggerated and glossed version of her first few weeks in Alfheim. It bore little resemblance to what had really happened.
The spin-doctors back home could take lessons from a Norse skald
.

“
Over Bifrost, Freyr led the fair Lady Celia from Midgard. Leaving her home far behind, she bravely stepped into Alfheim—
”

She didn’t remember Freyr, or any other god for that matter, leading her anywhere. All she remembered was finding those beautiful petroglyphs in the foothills outside of Tucson, falling through a rainbow of swirling color, and her desperate fear at finding herself in a strange and unforgiving desert.

“
—and greeted Lord Dahleven with bold words.
”

Oh, yeah. Bold. I begged him for water
.

“
Lord Dahleven greeted Freyr’s gift with warm welcome
…
”

Right. He thought I was a spy or an Outcast
.

Celia remembered those first, fear-filled days on the trail. Nothing in her life, not even her job as an emergency operator, had prepared her for the sounds of men screaming and clashing in mortal conflict .

“
…
Back to back they fought, surrounded by foes. Lord Dahleven cloaked his sword in their enemies’ blood, while, like a Valkyrie, Lady Celia opened the door to Valhalla for them.
”

She’d missed some of the story, and Sangor had left a lot out.

“
…
she blew the breath of the gods into the boy,
”
Sangor continued,
“
and death fled.
”

All the Nuvinlanders knew this part of the story, and they smiled and nodded; the Tewakwe whispered and looked wonderingly at her. Celia felt her face grow hot. All she’d done was use her CPR training. She’d since taught rescue breathing to Dahleven and Ragni and a dozen others.

“
…
The Outcasts carried away the fair lady to torture—and worse,
”
Sangor intoned with dark implication.
“
‘I’ll not submit to vile intent,’ our Valkyrie cried! Up she leapt, tossing aside foe after foe as they tore the clothing from her back. Naked, she fought through the dark and dangerous caverns
…
”