than it had been among earlier generations and it still cropped up occasionallyânot often, but more frequently than on pre-space Old Earthâon Safehold.
Nynian Rychtair had it. Sheâd never needed to consult her codebooks when she wrote or read a message, because she carried themâ all of themâin her head. Merlin and Owl had always known she smuggled a voluminous correspondence back and forth across the Border States, despite the war, but so far as theyâd been able to tell, all of it was fairly innocuous: correspondence with the business managers sheâd left behind, letters to some of the young women who had worked for Ahnzhelyk Phonda for so long, or messages from refugees to family and friends left behind, for example. Theyâd been unable to keep track of all of that correspondence once it flowed into Zion or other major Temple Land cities, and since theyâd âknownâ none of it had been encodedâand that Aivah was on their side, at least for nowâthey hadnât actually tried all that hard, given all the other charges on Owlâs surveillance ability.
âWe should be there in about another ninety minutes,â he said now. âWeâll get there well before dawn, not that I expect anyone would be in a position to see us even at high noon. Not in the middle of the Mountains of Light in March.â
âI imagine that would be ⦠somewhat unlikely,â she acknowledged, and he snorted.
âI think you can pretty much take it for granted. Thatâs the real reason Nimueâs Cave was located here in the first place.â
ââNimueâs Caveâ?â she repeated with a quirked eyebrow. âThatâs an odd name, even for a seijins â training camp. Does Captain Chwaeriauâs name have anything to do with the person itâs named for?â
âActually, it does. Quite a lot, in fact. I canât explain exactly what the connection isânot yetâbut I think youâll understand once we get around to explaining everything else to you.â
âIâm looking forward to that ⦠I think.â Aivahâs eyes gleamed with anticipation, yet his indirect reference to how little she still knew, how much faith it had required to come this far on the basis of so few hard facts, awakened an undeniable darkness under the anticipation. âI have to admit it was probably wise of you not to tell me quite how far weâd have to travel for that explanation until we were in the air. I wonât guarantee I wouldnât have backed out and run for my life, despite Saint Kohdyâs journal and his description of his hikousen , if youâd told me any sooner!â
She did not, he noticed, mention how much easier the isolation of their destination would make it if the inner circle ultimately decreed she must disappear.
âOh, I think youâre made of sterner stuff than that,â he said out loud. âStill, honesty compels me to admit that my timing wasnât exactly a coincidence.â
âNo, really? I never would have thought anything of the sort!â
âOf course you wouldnât have,â he agreed gravely. âOn the other hand, I felt confident that someone of your ⦠accomplishments would understand my thinking without taking it personally.â
âI think thatâs a compliment.â
âA very deep one, as a matter of fact. In many ways, you remind me a great deal of Prince Nahrmahn.â
âAh.â She smiled. âI never met Prince Nahrmahn. For that matter, I never crossed swords with him professionally, either. Still, everything Iâve ever learned about him suggests he was one of the best at the Great Game. I deeply regretted his death. Is it true he died protecting his wife from one of Clyntahnâs Rakurai with his own body?â
âYes. Yes, it is.â
âThen I regret his death even more deeply.â
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