25 Flocktime, 595 CY
Liberty
climbed the creaking stairs to the Crooked House’s second floor and softly
knocked on one of the doors. “Ilya? Ilya, it’s Liberty. May I come in, please?” After a
moment, a key turned, and the door opened.
Liberty entered
and closed the door behind her before turning back to take in the sight of her.
To say that Ilya Starmane cleaned up well was an
understatement. Her pale blond hair shone in daylight streaming from the open
window. The simple white blouse, knee-length skirt, and sandals she wore seemed
almost elegant against her fair skin. And when Ilya’s face broke into a genuine
smile, Liberty
nearly lost all ability to think.
If this is Ilya, she reminded herself. Don’t get sloppy. Not yet.
“Miss Liberty! I’m so relieved. I thought that, perhaps, the
doppelgangers had gotten the better of you.” Ilya was not relieved enough to
make a move toward her, though. Either doubts clawed at the elf, or this
facedancer was as gifted an actor as the others Liberty had encountered.
“They nearly did. They played one of their tricks on us… a
big one. I started questioning reality, sanity… everything that happened in the
Sodden Hold.”
Ilya’s smile faltered, then vanished. “I see.” She took a
chair next to a table, just large enough to support the plates left behind from
breakfast. The elf’s hand was close to a table knife, if not too close. “Then
you wonder if I am, indeed, Ilya Starmane. Or if the facedancers found me
before you did, and I’m one of them, trying to lure you into another trap.”
“It’s possible, yes. It’s also possible that the Ilya
Starmane I met was a doppelganger all along. They knew everything about us, you
see. And it’d be just like someone who knows everything about me to mess with
my head by sending a pretty elf my way.”
“You think I’m pretty?” Ilya blinked. Her features had a
slightly boyish quality, the androgyny found in so many elves.
“I think Ilya is
pretty.”
“I see.” The two words seemed suffused with the quality Liberty later came to
think of as Elven Mystery. “I don’t blame you for being suspicious. Indeed, I
would be disappointed if you weren’t. And if they wanted to trap me again, who
better to send than the one face I trust?”
“Trust me? You don’t even know me.”
“I know that Liberty
spoke kind words to me, even as I shouted at her and called her a monster. I
know that she killed two facedancers with fire. I know that she valued my
safety enough to warn me not to go home without her help. I know that she
didn’t ask me where I was going. I know that she gave me some coins, and let me
borrow her magic hat.” She gestured to a smart-looking cap perched on her
bedpost. “And I know that she set me free. I can’t think of any reason for a facedancer
to do any of those things.”
“Ilya, I – ”
“What I don’t understand is why Liberty did all of these
things and didn’t ask for a reward. My understanding has always been that
adventurers are a mercenary lot.”
“I’m not really interested in rewards.” Liberty wasn’t above
refusing rewards, but now she had
enough gold that she didn’t need to ask
for them.
“So I gathered.” Ilya crossed her legs. “I asked about what
happened here… about how you and your friends saved Tarquin from the
doppelganger. You didn’t ask them for a reward, either. You even took pains to
comfort Marta.”
The memory of Marta in her arms took on a different color,
now that Ilya had grown so important in her mind’s eye. “Anyone would have done
the same.”
Ilya’s laughter, though subdued and brief, sounded
absolutely musical. “I very much doubt that. My point, though, is this: Liberty is a girl I can trust.” She looked right
at Liberty for
the first time, her eyes the color of wild violets. Gray elf, Liberty
thought. Burn me down, she’s a gray elf. Noblest of the species… and she does make me feel more girl than woman.
“So it falls on me to prove myself to you.” And let that have whatever double meaning
she sees in it. When the elf nodded, Liberty
willed wild, bright flames into being around her hands. “Could any of the
doppelgangers you saw do this?”
Ilya shook her head, then stood up to fetch the hat of disguise for Liberty. Once she’d put it on, the sorcerer
willed it back to the semblance of the battered old top hat Constance had given
her years before. “And if it’s an illusion, it’s a convincing one. So, what
happens now? You still have no reason to trust me.”
“Take me to your home. We’ll find your facedancer, and I’ll
burn it to ashes. And if you turn out to be one of them, too, then may the gods
help you, because I sure as Hells won’t.”
“I find this proposition acceptable,” Ilya said.
***
The group walked awhile in silence. Liberty made a couple of attempts to engage
Ilya in conversation, but the elf remained quiet. She’s been steeling herself for what’s to come since the last time you
saw her, Liberty
finally reminded herself. Let her have
her tower of iron will, if it helps her.
As they got closer to the High Quarter, though, Ilya warmed
to Xan’s questions about the Starmanes’ business. Liberty only half-listened to the answers,
more wrapped up in the way Ilya said
what she said. She was also glad beyond words to have her Xan back – not an
impostor, and not the miserable survivor they’d found in the Sodden Hold.
Xan also supported her commitment to pursuing Ilya, even
once he’d understood that Liberty wasn’t looking for the sort of casual fling
he himself preferred. He’d been full of advice, at least some of which she
meant to follow… it was strange, having known
him all her life, to finally think of Alexander Quinn as a friend.
No, he was more than that; he’d called her family. Liberty hadn’t been able
to tell him how much that meant to her, now that all the other Graces were lost
to her, but Xan was smart enough to know it. And it made her doubly glad that
she hadn’t fallen into bed with him and Lia that first night at the Crooked
House…
Liberty
had seen her share of impressive residences, but the Starmane estate’s elven
architecture still took her breath away. She scarcely had time to admire it,
though, as Ilya led them straight past the confused guards, down a couple of
quiet hallways to a dining room, where the monster wearing Ilya’s face sat
taking lunch with the rest of the Starmanes. “Ilya” hissed and bolted from its
chair at once, trying to slip past the adventurers to escape. But Drake caught
the doppelganger in a flying tackle, and Mom buried his greatsword in its
chest, ending the encounter before it had even begun. Ilya gasped at the sight
and ran off down the hall, leaving the adventurers to explain to the horrified
Starmanes what they’d just witnessed.
Fortunately for Liberty,
Xan was ready for this task, speaking his impeccable Elven. Once the Starmanes
had calmed enough to allow Drake to remove the doppelganger’s corpse (after
Liberty searched it for a mindclone
sapphire, only to come up empty), Liberty excused herself.
***
She found Ilya in a bedroom that was bigger than some houses
she’d visited in Diamond
Lake. The bed that the
elf sat on would have looked large in a more normal room; here, the silken
sheets and delicately embroidered blankets became the focus. At least, they
would have been, had Liberty
eyes for anything but Ilya, who’d been weeping just moments before. “Oh,” the
elf said, sniffing. “Hello, again. Someday, you will see me at my best.”
I’m not sure I could
handle that. She closed the door behind her and approached, stopped about
ten feet away, not wanting to draw any closer uninvited. “I saw the same thing
in the Sodden Hold, Ilya. One of them wearing my face as it died…I was already
having nightmares, and now I’ve been seeing that, too.”
“It’s not just that. She – it – stole my life from me... Nobody
even noticed I was gone. And, in a way, that hurts more than anything they did
to me in the Sodden Hold.” Ilya was on the verge of breaking down.
Liberty
approached and sat on the bed, leaving a fair amount of space between them. “I
know, Ilya,” she said, hoping her compassion came through. “I’m sorry this
happened to you. It was never going to be easy for you to come back here. But
you’re strong, and you’ll get through this.” I started talking without knowing where I was going with this, didn’t
I? “And… I’ll help you. I still have work to do, but I’ll be here for you.
As much as I can.” Gods, that sounds
stupid.
She didn’t notice the presence of Ilya’s hand over hers
until the elf gently squeezed. “Thank you, Liberty,” the elf said, a warm smile finding
her face. “I am very fortunate that you and your friends found me. I don’t have
many friends – many real ones, I mean.”
As if on cue, a large, sleek cat emerged from under the bed.
Gray-brown with deep black stripes, it twined itself around the elf’s bare
calves before butting its head against Liberty’s
boot. “Well, except for Marlevaur, here,” Ilya said. “He’s always there for me.
Not that he could tell the difference
between me and the facedancer, the big dummy.” She playfully nudged the cat
with one slender foot, causing him to half-meow/half-purr.
“That’s how good the doppelgangers are,” Liberty said, leaning down to pet Marlevaur.
The cat rose on his back legs to meet her hand, landing with a thump. “He’s
beautiful.”
“Thanks. He likes you!” Ilya seemed genuinely surprised.
“That is so odd; he never likes anybody but me.” She slid off the bed to kneel
on the floor, next to the cat. In a sing-song voice, she said, “You are so
smart, Marlevaur! We are all friends, here.” Marlevaur tipped over onto his
side, becoming putty in her hands as she switched to Elven: “Liberty has exquisite taste, does she not?
She thinks we are both beautiful.”
“I do,” Liberty
said in Common. She moved to join them on the floor, then she switched to Elven,
too. “I have never seen anyone like you before.”
“I didn’t know you spoke Elven.” Ilya blushed fiercely, but
kept using her native tongue.
Liberty
used both hands to pet the parts of the cat that Ilya left neglected; there was
plenty of him to go around. “I speak enough to get by. How much can you really know
about me, anyway? We just met.”
“I know that, when you said ‘beautiful’ in the Sodden Hold, you weren’t talking
about my name.” Ilya aimed a quick violet glance at her before looking back
down at Marlevaur. “Well, not just
about it.”
“You are beautiful,
Ilya. I can’t be the first person to tell you that.”
“It seems different, coming from you.” Ilya smiled. “I know
you mean it. Maybe we haven’t known each other for long, but already I think of
you as… as a true friend.”
Liberty
placed her hand atop Ilya’s, sure she could feel the blood coursing beneath the
elf’s skin. “I am glad to hear this, but… could you think of me as anything
more?”
“I… oh!” The elf’s blush returned, her eyes locked on their
clasped hands. “You mean, as in a courtship?”
Liberty
cursed the formality of her Elven lessons; she lacked the vocabulary to discuss
this more casually. “You can call it that, of course. You aren’t married, are
you?”
“N-no.”
Are you betrothed, Ilya Starmane? Spoken for?”
When she found herself unable to speak, Ilya shook her head.
Then: “No. No, there is nobody serious. Despite Mother’s incessant meddling.”
“I know how brave you are. This cannot be as frightening as
all that.”
Still looking at their hands, Ilya said, “I have never been
courted by a human.” She paused. “Or a woman.”
”Woman” is good. This
would be a bad time for her to think of me as a girl again. “I don’t want
you to agree to this because you feel obligation to your rescuer. If my intention
offends you, you have but to say so. I will happily be your friend, instead.”
“No!” the elf exclaimed, loud enough to startle Marlevaur.
As the cat disappeared under the bed with his tail puffed up to an impossible
size, Ilya finally met Liberty’s gaze. “No. I never said that. But you must
understand, my parents… they would not approve.”
“You would not wish to offend them.” Liberty’s heart sank toward her navel. Blood will tell. It always does.
“Not after I just got them back, no. Not when I spent every waking
moment fearing that I’d never see them again.” She seemed back on the brink of
tears. “But then, they have always decided every part of my life for me. Trying
to make me into a responsible businesswoman and
a proper lady, when they’ve already got Ilrune to run the house when they’re
gone. He’s already married and everything, sure to have whole litters of heirs.
They don’t need me, Liberty, but they won’t let me go.” She made
a fist with her free hand, weakly bringing it down on the rug. “Especially now
that they’ve almost lost me forever.”
Liberty
moved a little closer. “Not long ago, my life was all laid out for me, too. But
I realized that it wasn’t my destiny; none of it was. I left it all behind for
what I was really meant to become.”
Ilya gave her a dubious look. “Are you saying that you’re my
destiny?”
“No. But I’m saying that you, and only you, have the right
to answer that question.”
The elf nodded, sighed, then sat up straight. “Then my
answer is yes. I would be honored if you would court me, Liberty…” She paused. “Do you have a family
name? If you do, I still don’t know it.”
She said yes. She said
yes! “It’s Grace.”
“Liberty Grace?” Ilya smiled. “It sounds so meaningful.”
“My mother was fond of the ‘virtue names,’ even before she married my father.”
“Interesting. I’ve never met anyone like you, either. I have
so much to learn about you… but surely your friends must be waiting for you.”
Liberty
had nearly forgotten about them, hypnotized by Ilya’s violet spell. “You are
right, of course. We still have much to do! But you should be safe here.”
“Of course! Marlevaur’s with me, now. As long as there’s
only one of me around, he’ll protect me. Father says he has the blood of the
cat sith, you know.” She leaned forward, bringing her mouth to Liberty’s ear. In Elven, she whispered, “But
send word when you’re free, and I will come to you.” Ilya’s breath was warm on
her neck, yet her flesh still broke out in goosebumps.
“I will,” Liberty
managed. She raised Ilya’s hand to her lips, placed a tender kiss upon it that
made the elf shiver. “Though I suppose I could stay a bit longer.”
At that, the door opened, allowing Ilya’s mother into the
room. She, too, was beautiful, with the same pale golden hair and boyish
features, unmarked by her extra century or two of life. Her silver gown was exquisite,
her jewelry very tasteful, her graceful movements somehow measured and carefree as she approached. “Are you
well, Ilya?” she asked in Common, presumably for the human’s benefit.
“I am. Or I will be. Mother, this is Liberty Grace. I owe her and her friends
my life. Liberty, this is Veranis Starmane, my mother.”
Veranis made a very small bow, causing Liberty to do the
same, though she still sat on the floor, holding Ilya’s hands in hers. “Your
home is very lovely,” Liberty said in Elven. “I’m sorry that I ran off, but I
was worried about Ilya as well.”
“Of course. We had no idea she had been taken from us. We
are in your debt, Miss Grace.”
She doesn’t like being
in anyone’s debt, especially a human’s. Liberty hated herself for thinking
this, but she couldn’t quite shake it off. “Think nothing of it, really.”
“We were… well, we were about
to have lunch. Have you eaten?” It took Veranis great effort to ask, but she
still made the effort. Maybe Ilya was wrong about her parents…
Liberty shook her head. “That’s very kind of you; sadly, we
don’t have time. There are more of those creatures loose in the city, and we’ve
got to find them.” She let go of Ilya’s hands, touched her on the shoulder as
she got to her feet. “We really should be going. But I know you and Ilya will have
much to talk about.”
Ilya stood up as well, giving Liberty a hug so light that it
almost seemed ethereal. “Goodbye, Liberty. Sweet water and light laughter until
next.”
“May it be so, for us all,” Liberty said with a smirk.
***
She found Xan talking business with Ilya’s father and
brother, while Mom leaned against the wall, bored to tears. Drake had returned
from his grisly errand, but he, too, waited in the corner, uncomfortably biding
his time. “If you fellows are ready,” she called, “let’s go finish this.”
She dodged everyone’s questions about her time with Ilya the
whole way back to the Sodden Hold, though the spring in her step and the smile
on her face told them just what they needed to know.