Fool’s Quest

“Vindeliar,” she said and went pale. Her calm façade cracked and I saw a brutalized woman clinging fiercely to the reassuring trellis of clean clothing, a warm bed, and regular meals. Once one knows what heartless people can do, it cannot be entirely forgotten. It always remains among the possible things that can befall you.

“You’re safe,” I said uselessly.

She looked at me. “For now,” she said quietly. “But Bee is not. She bit him to set me free. And I fled.”

“It’s a thing done,” I said woodenly. “Don’t dwell on it.”

Silence fell. Chade smiled on. I wondered what other herbs he’d been using.

Shine spoke suddenly. “Badg—Prince FitzChivalry. I want to say I’m sorry.”

I looked aside from her. “You already said that, Shine. When we first found you. It wasn’t your fault they took Bee.”

“I’m sorry for more than that,” she said quietly.

I reined us away from that topic. “Do you know why Bee bit the man holding on to you instead of the White gripping her?”

She shook her head. A silence fell in the room and I let it grow. Some things are not made any better by discussing them.

“The Skill,” I said quietly. That brought her eyes back to me. “Has anyone spoken to you about it? That as a Farseer, you may have inherited a talent for it?”

She looked startled. “No.”

“Well.” How did I approach this? Obviously, Chade had not removed the block he had put upon her. Nettle knew she had Skill and knew she was sealed. Was it my place at all to intervene? I took a breath and set myself on the safer path. “Well, you might. I am sure that when they feel the time is right, they will test you for the Skill. And if you possess it, they will give you the training to master it.” I was sure that any such training would be far different from the harsh lessons I’d been subjected to.

“She has it.”

We both turned to look at Chade. His head was still doing that tiny sideways wobble that was almost like a nod.

“I do?” Shine lit suddenly, glowed with excitement.

“You do. Of course you do. And you are strong in it.” Chade’s smile grew stronger and for just an instant his green eyes were as piercing as ever as he focused his gaze on her. “Do you not recall how you sought me out in my dreams? How you, untrained and unknowing, used your Farseer magic to find me? My . . . beloved . . . daughter.” He spoke each word clearly and separately. His eyes never left Shine’s face. Something passed between them, something special and private, and I knew with a lurch what he had done. Her Skill-seal had been words that he was certain only he would ever speak to her. Who else would call her beloved and daughter in the same breath?

Their eyes were locked and I realized they were breathing in unison. Shine’s lips formed an unspoken word. Papa. The stillness in the room felt like a deep pool. I watched them, unable to tell what was happening, unable to decide if it was wonderful or terrible.

I heard the outer door of Chade’s chamber open. Steady’s voice preceded him. “You know he isn’t supposed to Skill, Fitz!”

“It’s not me,” I said, and saw the shock on his face as he entered the room. He looked from Chade to Shine and then opened his eyes wide and in that instant, I knew that he called for Nettle. His gaze flashed back to me. “She should stop! Lady Shine, please, please stop. It may be the death of him.”

“Stop?” she said and her voice was that of a dreamer who speaks in her sleep. “It’s my papa. I thought he had forgotten about me. Or abandoned me.”

“Never,” Chade vowed, and the strength in his voice made me wonder if she was not restoring him rather than destroying him.

“I don’t know what to do!” Steady confessed.

“Nor I,” I admitted. It seemed a very long time before I again heard Chade’s door open. This time it was Nettle, very pink in her cheeks, and a tall woman I had never met before. She seemed to take it all in at a glance. Nettle glanced at her companion. “We separate them. Very gently. I will help Lord Chade restore his walls. See if you can help the girl. Steady, be prepared to help.” My daughter spared me one glance. “It would be better if you were not here. I can feel him plucking at you again, trying to draw you into the current.”

“I’ll go,” I said, stifling both my fear and reluctance. I was useless and perhaps worse than useless here. A hindrance to them. I did not doubt what Nettle told me and yet it stung my pride that she dismissed me so that she might do her work. What was Burrich’s old saying? As useless as teats on a bull. That was me. I was becoming very weary of being useless and incompetent.