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She looked up first As usual, Liath was so intent on what she was doing that it took her a moment to notice the arrivals Not so with him; she could not enter any roo aware of her presence

Ah, well

"Sanglant," she said, beckoning She nodded to Waltharia, not needing to greet her Somehow, it made the relationship between the tomen seem more inti," Liath added "She was an Eagle"

The old wo quite startled--but not, he thought, because of his presence

"I pray you, Eagle," he said, "no need to rise I recall your old injuries I’ll sit here"

There was a chair He grabbed its back and swung it over

"I thank you, Your Majesty," she said with a hint of sour hulare at Liath She released the cane to rest against her bedding

He sat beside Liath, facing the old Eagle Waltharia re at the foot of the bed Hathui circled around to warht A servant hurried forward to place e, despite the blaze, that Liath’s breath steamed when she spoke

"Repeat what you told "

The old woman frowned, first at Liath and afterward upward at the loft of darkness that hid the ceiling She washer words in her hed, because the look of herShe was exactly the kind of old wohtened him most as a boy because this sort were apt to scold a hapless child for stealing tarts froer that drove him This kind was merciless, even in the face of honest need Even to a royal prince who in other hands le’s Sight to our order," she said

"Did he?" The statee was handed down fronant to heir Before that time, we rode, and we observed, but we could not see or speak through fire"

"No wonder King Arnulf ranted hiht is closed to limpses" She nodded at Liath "This blindness affects all of us, so this one believes The sight has been soed in the wake of the tempest that swept over us last autulant, "just now"

"Explain it again, I pray you"

Liath had a way of frowning that wasn’t actually a frown but hts, a task of undoubted cos

"I think that Eagle’s Sight runs on the threads of aether Aether resides in the heavens, beyond the mortal Earth Normally it is rarefied and weak here in the lands below the moon The crowns channel and intensify these threads of aether, which is how they can be woven into a gate But Eagle’s Sight touched the aether differently It was drawn through a portal, which so with blue fire That stone acted as a crossroads The stone was itself the portal, between this world and the higher spheres It was created by the spell woven in ancient days when the country of the Ashioi was torn froh that portal aether filtered down to Earth in greater quantities than it normally would So, once the portal between the aether and Earth was severed by the return of the Ashioi land, then the Eagle’s Sight was died that it is as if we cannot see at all The croere raised long ago, before the portal was opened by the spell in ancient days The crowns should still weave, but our Eagle’s Sight is lost to us Possibly forever I don’t know"

"My lady" The old woed She bent her head respectfully "I thought you were an Eagle, one like me"

"So I aht you were Else you would not address the king regnant with such familiarity Who are you? Are you the one--?" She broke off

"What one?" asked Liath

Hedwig shook her head "No need to ask You are the one Wolfhere sought when he calant

"Yes, Your Majesty You must know of this, surely When Arnulf died, Henry exiled Wolfhere Or perhaps it was later, after the prince was born That would be you, Your Majesty" Her hands shook as she smoothed down the rumpled bedclothes "Nay, nay MyArnulf died, Your Majesty You had already been born and survived some years"