Erin put her arms on top of the balcony railing and rested her chin on them, looking out at the garden below. There were wide staircases leading down from the center of the balcony and from each end, and quite a few people had left the ball proper to go down and walk along the garden paths. Children were playing and laughing on the grass below where Erin was sitting. Lanterns similar to the ones on the balcony were scattered throughout the garden on tall metal hangers. The spots of white light looked like they were floating on a lake of green foliage.
“Len beland?”
Erin raised her head and looked around. A teenage boy with light brown hair was standing behind her. She recognized his thin, serious face from the Nylad. It was the prince from Aner. He was looking at her with a concerned expression.
Erin sighed. “Glerá. Lo seh iveh nur Silmarith."
She expected him to apologize and leave when she told him she couldn't speak Silmarith, like the blonde girl had done. But he didn’t. He took a few steps closer to her, looking at her with intense, blue-grey eyes.
“I said, ‘Are you all right’?”
“Oh. Well, yes, I just—”
Erin broke off suddenly and put a hand over her mouth, staring at the prince in astonishment. She had just realized that the words coming out of her mouth weren’t English and neither were the ones he had just spoken. But somehow she had understood it all.
“How…how are you doing that?” she asked shakily, the words coming easily to her in perfect Silmarith.
He smiled at her, completely transforming his solemn features. “Just a little magical trick,” he said quietly. “Do you mind if I join you?”
“Oh...no. Not at all.” She slid over on the bench to make room for him, and he sat down next to her. “My name is Erin Archer. Or Erin Lir-Anaurian here, I guess. What’s yours?”
“Jechrin Sil-Talinde.” He looked at her with one eyebrow raised. “Anaurian, is it? Emerged or hereditary?”
“Emerged. I only found out about this world and my clan and everything a couple of days ago.”
“That must be a lot to take in. How did you find out? And how exactly did you end up as the emperor’s guest at the Council Ball after only two days?” Jechrin gave her a playful grin. “You must have gotten a heavy dose of Anaurian blood to manage that.”
“Well, there was some blood involved, but not quite like that,” Erin said grimly. “It’s kind of a long story. It really all started a few months ago when I was in an accident at school and my leg got really badly hurt….”
Almost before she realized it, she had started explaining everything that had happened to her since her injury—all about the pain medication and Wraith and going to stay with Kirchel. Then about going through the cave and finding Arturyn and getting attacked by the sethien and the Mataiths. It was much more than she would have told the average stranger, but she found Jechrin remarkably easy to talk to. He was kind and understanding and seemed sincerely interested in her, despite the fact that he was a Silmarith prince and she was a complete outsider.
“You’ve really been through a lot, haven’t you?” he said sympathetically when she had finished.
Erin sighed. “Tell me about it….”
“I’m glad things worked out as well as they did and that you made it here safely in the end.”
He sounded like he really meant it.
“Well...thanks....” Erin looked away, feeling a little shy.
A sudden scream of laughter from the children playing below the balcony made them both turn to look down over the railing.
“Have you seen the gardens yet?” Jechrin asked.
Erin shook her head. “There hasn’t been time. I only got here yesterday, and I’ve been at the Council celebrations all day today.”
“How about a walk, then?”
He stood up and held out a hand to help her to her feet.
They went down the balcony stairs, Jechrin letting Erin hold onto his arm to steady herself while she limped carefully down. The garden was beautiful, even at night. It was filled with ornamental trees and shrubs and with flowers of all shapes and colors. There was a network of wide stone pathways running through the garden—enough of them that Erin was sure she would have gotten hopelessly lost if she’d been there by herself. But Jechrin knew his way around, and he led her through some of the more impressive parts of the garden while they talked and laughed together. After seeing his somber countenance that morning and hearing Tabitha describe him, Erin was surprised to see Jechrin acting so friendly, even playful.
“Where is Aner, exactly?” she asked him as they reached the center of the garden, where there was a large pool of water with a fountain shaped like the legless imperial anaurian in the center. “I really don’t know much about the geography of this world.”
“It’s on the western edge of the empire,” Jechrin said. “Next to Lomáril. Part of the western side of Aner borders the sea, and in the south, where the capital is, there are mountains and lakes and huge, beautiful forests. But the northern side is on the edge of the Matathar—the badlands—which is harsh and dangerous country. That’s the Mataith homeland.”
Erin shivered slightly. She remembered Arturyn saying that the Mataiths had probably taken some of the people in Celadrier back into their territory as slaves. She realized she was very lucky not to be there right now herself.
“I hope Arturyn can persuade the Council to do something about the Mataiths,” she said aloud. “Something to stop them from coming into Silmar again and attacking more people. They’re horrible, evil things.”
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“They are what they have learned to be,” Jechrin said quietly. “Living in a hostile environment, they, too, have become hostile. But that doesn’t mean they’re innately evil.”
Erin frowned at him. “You’re defending them? Do you realize what they were going to do to me?”
“Yes, I do,” he said evenly. “And I’m not trying to defend their actions in any way. I’m just saying it’s unwise to pass final judgment on a culture before you fully understand it. There are some in the Silmarith government who say we should simply send in our armies and wipe out their entire race before they can do us any more harm. But how is it any better for us to murder them than it is for them to murder us?”
Erin was quiet, considering that.
They had reached the edge of the pool now. It rose up several feet above the ground, and there was a stone wall running around it to hold the water. They sat down on the wall, and Jechrin turned his head to watch the water splashing from the anaurian’s mouth down into the pool.
Erin, on the other hand, was watching Jechrin. He was an odd sort of person. One minute he was joking and laughing with her like any other teenage boy, and the next he was talking about learning to understand the culture of bloodthirsty monsters. He was only a little older than she was, and yet he seemed remarkably mature and empathetic.
“Your cousin,” Jechrin said suddenly, turning back to face Erin. “The one you said you were staying with. Is she the woman who was sitting next to you at dinner? The one with dark hair, who was wearing a purple dress?”
“Yes, that’s her,” Erin said, nodding. “Then after dinner she was dancing with….” She hesitated, realizing why he was asking.
“With my father,” Jechrin finished for her. “Yes, I saw them.” His voice was calm, but his face had regained its serious expression, and his eyes suddenly had an intensity to them that hadn’t been there before.
“Why…?” Erin began awkwardly, not sure how best to phrase her question. “Is…is your mother…?”
“She’s dead,” he said, very quietly. “She died almost five years ago.”
“Oh. I’m sorry. I just…you don’t seem very happy about Kirchel being with your father, so I just wondered….”
Jechrin sighed and shook his head. “No, it’s not like that. It’s just….” He paused briefly, apparently considering what to say. “It’s just unusual,” he said finally. “My father hasn’t been interested in any other women since my mother died, so it seems strange for him to suddenly take an interest in your cousin. That’s all.”
“Oh. I see.”
Privately, Erin wondered if that really was all. She had a feeling that Jechrin wasn’t being entirely honest with her. But maybe he just didn't like the idea of his father getting romantically involved with someone else but didn’t want to say so. That seemed reasonable enough.
Jechrin was still looking troubled. He was staring at the fountain again, his brow furrowed slightly as though he were deep in thought. His left hand was resting on the wall in between them, and, wanting to offer him some comfort, Erin impulsively reached out and put her hand on his. Jechrin stiffened and quickly turned to look at her with a startled expression. But after a moment, his face relaxed, and he smiled at her.
“You know...I’m really sorry that you had such a difficult time getting here, but I am glad you’re here,” he said softly. “I'm glad I had the chance to meet you.”
Erin felt her face flush a little. “I…I'm glad, too....”
There was a slightly awkward pause.
“For some reason….” Jechrin tilted his head, looking at Erin thoughtfully, as though he was trying to figure her out. “It's strange, but I feel like I’ve known you for much longer than just tonight. I can’t really explain it.”
Erin frowned. “I feel kind of the same way, now that you mention it.” There was something very familiar about Jechrin, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.... “Maybe we knew each other in a former life or something.”
Jechrin laughed. “Maybe that’s it.” Then he sighed and stood up. “Well, it’s getting late. Shall we head back?”
He helped her to her feet, and they started walking back through the maze of garden paths toward the palace. They were within sight of the balcony outside the ballroom when Jechrin paused and stepped over to one side of the path, reaching into one of the bushes. Erin watched him, puzzled, but that side of the bush was in shadow, and she couldn’t see what he was doing. After a moment, he returned to the path holding a large rosebud.
“Here, take it,” he said, handing the flower out to Erin. “Giving a rose to someone you just met is...well, it's complicated. But it’s a kind of Silmarith tradition.”
Erin took the rose from him. It was a creamy color with darker yellow and orange tints on the edges of the petals. “It’s beautiful. I didn’t know there were roses here. We have them at home, too.”
“Yes, no one knows for sure which world they originally come from,” Jechrin said as they started walking again. “Or if they’ve been in both worlds all along. They’re very magical flowers, you know. Object mages have been studying them for centuries, and they still keep finding new uses for them.”
They reached the balcony stairs and went up, Erin holding onto Jechrin’s arm for support again. The children, she noticed, were no longer playing on the lawn around the base of the stairs. The group that had been up on the patio was also gone. She guessed that their parents had sent them off to bed. There were now only adults and older teenagers in sight.
As they passed through the doors back into the ballroom, Erin glanced to her left along the balcony and saw Kirchel and Teral sitting on a bench not far away, talking. Kirchel also held a rose in her hand—a light pink one.
She didn’t seem to notice Erin walking by.
Feeling a small stab of resentment, Erin turned away. She didn’t think that Jechrin had seen his father and decided not to mention it since he didn’t seem to like the idea of Teral and Kirchel spending time together.
Jechrin helped her find her way back up to her bedroom, and they lingered out in the hallway to talk for a few more minutes before she went inside.
“You’re staying here all this week, aren’t you?” Erin asked. “So we’ll be able to see each other tomorrow?”
Jechrin nodded. “I can come back here in the morning, if you want. That’s probably easier than you trying to meet me anywhere else, since you’re not very familiar with the palace yet. Does your cousin already have plans for you tomorrow?”
Erin shrugged. “Not that I know of. But I haven’t talked to her since dinner.” She tried not to sound unhappy about it, not wanting Jechrin to think she minded Kirchel liking his father.
“Well, I’ll just have to do the best I can to keep you entertained if she doesn’t,” Jechrin said, grinning. “I'll see you tomorrow, then.”
After they had said goodnight and Jechrin was gone, Erin closed her bedroom door and went into the bathroom to fill a drinking glass with water. She put the rose Jechrin had given her into it and set it on the table in front of the fireplace. Then she stood and looked at it for a moment with a small smile on her face before she turned and went over to the closet to find a clean nightgown to change into.
As she climbed into bed a few minutes later, she couldn’t help wishing that her friend Carla were there. Carla would be the best, although her sister Sylvia, Kirchel, or even her mother might do, as long as she could have someone to confide in at that moment. She had just spent the evening with a real, live Prince Charming, and it seemed a crying shame not to have someone there to giggle about it with.