VARNA Chapter 3
- "I understand that you have questions." said Rhigen, who had just identified himself as Glasha's father. "Not here, though. Let's go outside."
- "Durgat - my bodyguard - won't like that, unless he can keep an eye on me."
- "The garden, then."
We found a wooden bench in Gerdar Tanle's garden. It was a small place, but fairly private. Durgat could linger by the doorway even while he kept us in sight.
That gave me a moment to think. All I knew of Rhigen was that he was a half-elven musician who had played for my father in Elmina several times over the years. That fact alone made me angry.
- "This is fine." said Rhigen. "Now you can interrogate me. But please keep your voice down."
Interrogate? I didn't care for his attitude. But I had questions, as he'd said, and I wanted to get them out.
- "Does Glasha know?"
- "Of course. As soon as I learned of her birth, I came to see her - and several times thereafter. Once she was old enough to keep a secret, I told her who I was."
- "Why didn't you acknowledge her as your daughter? And why did it have to be a secret?"
- "We kept it secret to protect her. I couldn't bring her to live with my folk; she would not have been accepted. And if your father had learned of her parentage, he would have sent her away." Rhigen didn't seem the least bit apologetic.
- "My father has many half-elves - and half-orcs - in his employ. And why wouldn't your folk have accepted her? Elves don't mistreat half-elves. Half-elves are supposed to be among the most tolerant and most tolerated people in all of Leinyere."
Rhigen's expression didn't change.
- "I'm not an elf, Lord Tauma. Nor am I half-elven."
- "But..." With his fine features and remarkable beauty, I had assumed that he was an elf - that, and the fact that he hadn't changed one iota since the first time I'd seen him. With ears like his, he certainly wasn't human. That only left...
"You're... fey?" I hadn't known that the fey so closely resembled elves - though I learned later that Rhigen used a small glamour - just a little magic - to increase the resemblance and to hide his true nature.
- "I've trusted you with our secret because Glasha assures me that you can keep it safe."
- "I... yes, I can."
- "You stood up to defend her - though she says that it was as much for the principle of the thing as for her alone."
- "You know about that?"
- "It was a popular topic of conversation here for some time. And Glasha herself told me of it when last I saw her, two months ago."
I felt like a fool. Glasha knew her father, but she'd never told me. I hadn't needed to know, I suppose, but I still could have wished that she'd trusted me more. And my first instinct had been to accuse Rhigen of abandoning or neglecting his daughter, when plainly they had been in contact all along, however infrequently.
- "What do you know of the fey, Tauma?" Rhigen asked me.
Now I was embarrassed. I knew what everyone else did: that the fey were innately magical, and that the merest touch of cold iron could sicken and even poison them. They were graceful dancers and incomparable singers and musicians, to the point that even the elves envied them. They were long-lived, but not immortal.
Everything that I knew after that was superstition and ignorant prejudice. There was the old saying: 'Elves can hide, but the fey can disappear'. Missing objects were often blamed on 'thieving fey'. Human females were susceptible to enchantment by male fey; unexpected children sometimes resulted from these unions. Human men were equally vulnerable to the wiles of the fey: men who went missing were sometimes believed to have been beguiled. Missing children were supposed to have been stolen - it was easier to blame the fey for the 'disappearance' of unwanted children.
But now I understood why Rhigen could not have taken Glasha to join his people; they would not take in children of mixed parents. This was not simple racism: a half-fey child was not innately magical in the same way, and could not join a hidden community.
And Rhigen was perfectly right about my father: the vast majority of the people of Elmina would have insisted that he send her away, before she began thieving, or curdling the milk, or preventing pies from rising, or some other such nonsense.
What did I know of the fey? "Not enough." I admitted.
For the first time, I saw the glimmer of a smile on his face - or perhaps it was simply a twitch at the corner of his lips.
- "That's a good start." he said. "It's a little different here. You would expect country folk to be more leery, or even afraid of non-humans. But given the Gerdar's example, they seem to understand that we aren't coming to murder them in their beds. At the very worst, they might be the victims of an innocent prank."
Rhigen stood up. "I shall be here tomorrow, should you wish to talk any more. In the meantime..." He handed me a small package. "She sent you this."
- "Thank you." I got out, remembering my manners only at the last moment.
It was a piece of paper, folded over several times, and tied together with a piece of string. I opened it, and read.
Dear Tauma,
If you've received this, then I hope your first meeting with our mutual friend went well. I also hope that you will forgive me for not sharing our secret until I had his permission. And if I may be allowed one more hope, it's that you will meet and talk some more. I believe that you could learn a great deal from each other.
I've received three of your letters. The last one was the fourth, though - somehow, your third seems to have gone astray. It may yet arrive. I earnestly hope that it does, and that none of your other letters fail to be delivered. It would leave a terrible gap in the story of your travels.
It would also mean that I would have to go many more days without being reminded that you are still thinking of me, just as I think of you every time a bird sings, or a tree speaks to me... or every day, when I wake, and when I lay down to sleep. Sometimes I draw on the aether, and I think of you then, too.
Please keep writing to me. Your letters are a wonderful gift. Keep travelling, so that you see and learn all you can. And then come home to me.
Your Glasha
It was only a short note, compared to the massive quantities of paper and ink that I'd used up over the past months. But those last two words struck me in the heart, like a physical blow. I read it three more times before I folded it up again and tucked it away.
***
I met with Rhigen the next day.
- "Glasha says that you have some talent." he said.
- "I'm trying."
- "You will always be trying, no matter how good you become. You've learned from a practitioner - but that's not necessarily a bad thing."
- "Glasha said that I could learn from you."
- "There's not much that I can teach you in an hour, Tauma. Except this: a strong mind doesn't have to be paired with a weak body - just as a powerful physique need not be paired with a low intellect. Balance is important. You needn't be exceptionally physical or intellectual. There is much to be said for harmony."
I wish that I could have stayed with him for several days - but that would have been to overstay our welcome with Gerdar Tanle. Rhigen promised to come to Elmina again, and to visit with me as well as with his daughter.
- "Thank you." I said. "It has been an honour."
Rhigen actually smiled. "You sound like one of us."
- "I wish that I did."
Hurmas, Sezima and I departed the next day, with Durgat and our guards. I made a point of thanking Gerdar Tanle for her hospitality, and let her know that I had learned a great deal at her house.
- "I hope that one day I can return the favour." I said.
- "Then we have all benefited." she said.
***
