"Promise you won't tell, but she's the daughter of the famous Queen Taniquel. I know it's supposed to be a secret, but it's so exciting that I just had to tell someone!" Eduin felt the breath leave his body. Queen Taniquel's daughter! "The very same," Dyannis chattered on. "She visited Hali some time back, along with my brother. I think he's a bit smitten with her, if you ask mee could barely think about anything else. He wasn't indiscreet in his thoughts, and I'm sure he believed himself shielded, but after all, I am his sister ..." Queen Taniquel's daughter! Exultation flared within him. Quickly, he clamped down on his emotions, lest they arouse the insatiable curiosity of Dyannis. "You're right," someone said with his voice, "this is an exciting development. That is, if it's true. It may all come to nothing. No matter how carefully we choose our underKeep-ers, many cannot withstand the training. And then there are losses from marriage and family affairs and the normal course of life." Death. Some of them die. How easy it would be to add another death. A woman foolhardy enough to try a Keeper's work No one would suspect. . . "I am sorry," Dyannis said, her voice shifting to gentleness. "That was tactless of me, to bring up your own disappointment. Yet take heart. You may yet find your place, where your talents will be appreciated and cultivated." He let her talk on for a little while, making comments when he was expected to. Then he excused himself and made arrangements to work on the relays that night. Eduin finished the work assigned to him and waited for a pause in the incoming messages. It came early in the evening, because there was little news. He was alone in the circular room. The other worker had retired after a period of silence on the relays. In an offhanded way, he'd offered to stay on alone. Bending over the glowing blue screen, he reached out his mind to his counterpart at Hestral Tower. Eduin, came a mental voice, vaguely familiar. It was Serena, a sound enough leronis if a bit of a gossip on the relays. We heard you had left Arilinn. Whatever are you doing at Hali Not much. Biding my time. Combing musty old records. His mouth twisted into a dark smile at her responsive giggle. Then, with all the finesse he could muster, he pitched his mental voice for just the right degree of causalness and impact.
