Roca waited until the woman reached her. "Mother."

Lahaylia nodded. "My greetings."

"I am glad you came."

Her mother spoke with a softness she rarely showed. "I thought, if you would allow-I would visit with my grandson."

Roca's voice caught. "Yes. I would like that." She moved aside. "Please come in."

So the Ruby Pharaoh acknowledged her second grandson.

27.

Lyshriol.

Eldri walked through the rubble piled around the edges of the courtyard. The work crews had said they would move it, but now they were gone and it was still here. He would have to enlist some people to help him carry it out.

He raised his head, inhaling the crisp air. Ever since his nightmare fifteen days ago, he had been in a daze, certain that Roca and Eldrin had died. He had sent riders to ask Brad if he knew anything, but they had yet to return.

Garlin was walking toward him from the rebuilt castle. It looked exactly like Windward, reproduced from "satellite images," whatever that meant. But it had lost an indefinable essence, a sense of age and history he had always loved, though he had never realized it until that elusive quality was gone.

Garlin's smile quirked. "Why do you scowl at me?"

"My apology." Eldri grimaced. "I am contemplating carrying rocks."

"An excellent reason to frown."

"Yes, indeed." A dark speck in the sky caught Eldri's attention. "What is that?"

Garlin squinted. "I believe it is Brad's flyer."

"Maybe he has news of Roca!"

His cousin laid a hand on his arm. "Don't put your hopes too high."

Eldri turned away, unable to bear Garlin's compa.s.sion. It felt like pity. He had put his hopes too high over and over, every time one of the offworlders visited. And every time they dashed his hopes. No one would give him news of Roca and Eldrin.

The flyer came on, soaring through the sky, visible now as a silver craft. Eldri walked with Garlin out under the portcullis. As they crossed the bridge, he looked into the chasm that surrounded Windward.

He couldn't see far enough down to locate the remains of the battering ram that he and his men had pushed off this arch of stone.

Brad's flyer landed in the open area beyond the bridge, the place where Avaril and his army had camped. Eldri stood back with Garlin, shielding his eyes with his hand as the craft settled down. He tried to contain his agitation, but it seemed forever before the machine rumbled into silence.

Eldri started forward, his heart beating hard. Then the hatch opened. Brad jumped out and waved, a great smile on his face. Eldri blinked. Although Brad always seemed to enjoy his visits, at least when he wasn't starving in a siege, he had never looked this happy to see Eldri and Garlin before.

Eldri came up to him. "h.e.l.lo, Brad."

"h.e.l.lo." His smile widened. "I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise?" Eldri asked, perplexed.

A woman appeared in the hatchway of the flyer.

In that moment, for Eldri, the world stopped. He didn't feel the wind blowing or the sunlight on his face; he didn't see the towering mountains or the sky above them; he didn't taste the air. He knew only the sight of the woman.

Roca.

Eldri ran forward as Roca jumped down from the flyer. He almost threw his arms around her, then jerked to a stop when he saw the bundle she carried.

A baby.

"By the suns," Eldri said. "What beautiful child have you there?" His eyes suddenly brimmed with moisture.

Roca extended the baby to him. "Your son."

He took the boy into his arms, holding him the way he had held so many children of his friends and servants. His son looked up at him and gurgled.

"He smiled!" Eldri gave a shaky laugh, his heart filling with an indescribable emotion. "He smiled at me."

A tear ran down her face. "I saw." She came forward, and he moved the baby in his arms so he could hold both his son and his wife. As he hugged Roca close, his tears mingled with her hair.

His family had come home.

Roca and Eldri relaxed on the rug before the fire in their bedroom, Eldri with his arms around her waist and Roca reclining against him. Eldrin was curled in her lap, playing with a ball of polished blue gla.s.swood.

Eldri was finally content. He had been torn in two; now he was complete. But he ached for the tragedy that had devastated Roca and her family. He didn't comprehend all its nuances, but he understood that the truth could destabilize her government. A new Imperator ruled. The a.s.sembly called her father's death an accident, letting the story spread throughout their realms. Her family had to be preserved, lest it weaken this "Kyle web" that held their empire together. But speculation ran wild: the grandson had killed the grandfather to take his throne. Given what Eldri had seen of his wife's firstborn son, it didn't surprise him that no one wanted to naysay that great, metallic warlord.

Roca had been restrained since she came back, mourning for her father, who had somehow died and not died. Eldri wished he could heal the wounds in her heart.

"Will your family be all right?" he asked.

"Someday." She spoke softly. "It will take time."

He bent his head over hers. "If only I could help."

"You do, just by being here."

So they enjoyed the warmth of the fire. After a while, she said, "ISC is going to build a medical clinic near Dalvador."

He still couldn't untangle the mess of relations between her people and Brad's. "ISC is the Skolian army, yes?"

"That's right."

"Lyshriol is part of Brad's Allied Worlds."

"His people have agreed to relinquish their claim." Dryly she added, "It will take much debate and bargaining to settle on terms."

He thought of the Dalvador Plains where he had lived all his life. "Will the starport stay in the same place?"

"I think so. ISC will probably buy or lease it. Brad has asked to stay on, as a liaison for your people and mine."

"I am glad. I like him."

"I too." She hesitated. "What will happen with Lord Avaril?"

He grimaced, acknowledging the unease he hid from everyone else except Garlin. "He has gone away for now. I fear though that someday he will return."

"You'll be ready for him." She closed her eyes. "My people can help. We can do a lot for your people."

He tensed. "You must not change Lyshriol."

"We won't. You will oversee anything we do." She traced her finger along his arm. "Perhaps someday we can understand your people, why you are so different from us."

"These psychologists ask many questions." He sighed. "They say odd things, that we are a living 'computer.' They want to know why we interpret symbols differently than your people, why we can do math but not read. I don't understand a lot of it."

Roca laughed softly. "They don't, either, yet. Pieces are there, like the way you count in octal instead of decimal, or the binary aspects of your world: two suns, two moons, two sets of opposing fingers."

"Do you think they will make sense of it?"

"Someday."

It would be interesting if they did, but Eldri wasn't holding his breath. "Well, perhaps that will make them happy."

She smiled. "Perhaps."

They relaxed for a while, watching the flames. Every time Eldri looked at his son, he marveled anew that this boy was his. Surely no child had ever been so fine. Even his hands were normal, with a hinge and four fingers.

"Tell me," he murmured to Roca. "How many children would you like to have?"

A hint of her mischief sparkled. "A hundred."

"Ai, Roca! It would be bedlam."

She laughed. "Perhaps so. How about ten?"

"Ten. Yes." Although he could tell she was joking, he liked the idea. Among his people, ten wouldn't be unusual. He contemplated a family full of laughing children with gold hair and eyes. "What should we name them?"

"Althor for the next boy, after you."

"If it is a girl, we must name her Roca."

A memory stirred in her mind, one so vivid, Eldri picked it up: the statue of the warrior G.o.ddess in the corridor outside his suite, the one Roca had run past when she had gone to Brad's suite during the battle and sent off the fliers.

"Her name should be Sauscony," Roca said. "After your G.o.ddess of arrows."

"Not Roca?"

She shook her head. "But I would like her to have my mother's name. Lahaylia."

"She will be strong and beautiful."

"That she will." Roca tickled her finger along the back of his. "Pick another name."

He considered. "For a boy, Kelricson."

She smiled. "Who is Kelric, that our son should also be his?"

Eldri nuzzled her ear. "The G.o.d of youth."

"Ah. I like that."

"Roca?"

"Hmmmm?"

Eldri spoke with care. "We must name our children after your family, too." He made himself say it.

"Including Kurj."

Her mood turned somber. "Thank you."

"Why?"

"For not hating him."

He brushed back her hair. "I cannot hate those you love."

Roca turned to him, with Eldrin cradled between them. Her voice gentled. "You are my life, Eldri."

"As you are mine."

So they sat together, symbols for an empire that had seen too much death, offering instead, in simply their existence, a promise of new life and a future for their people.

Family Tree: Ruby Dynasty Boldface names refer to members of the Rhon. The Selei name denotes the direct line of the Ruby Pharaoh. All children of Roca and Eldrinson take Valdoria as their third name. All members of the Rhon within the Ruby Dynasty have the right to use Skolia as their last name. "Del" in front of a name means "in honor of."

= marriage + children by

Characters and Family History