CHAPTER 30 #3
Gin smiled, more than a little mischief in her face. “Well, I’ve had to hire two people to replace you, and even then they aren’t half as good. If you even get tired of your new life, you let me know and there will always be a job for you here.”
Hallie laughed, and shook her head. “I’m glad you’re being kept busy, but I don’t think I’ll be getting bored anytime soon.”
“I imagine not.” Gin paused, and Hallie tensed slightly, wondering what she might say next.
As the older sister, Gin had been in line to take over the family vine, but hadn’t stood in the way or opposed Wilona, and had remained a loyal member of the vine for as long as Hallie could remember.
“Wilona might not be happy that you’ve got out of the vine, but I am.
I hope you get to see the world and show those stuck-up hochlen just what us karlen are made of. ”
“I will do my best,” Hallie said, an unexpected sting in her eyes. With another person, she’d have been tempted to step forward and share a hug, but this was Gin, and she would not welcome such a gesture. “Thank you.”
“You take care of our girl, now,” Gin said to Girard, face and voice stern. “She’s one of a kind.”
“She is, indeed. And I will do my best,” Girard said gravely.
Rosalia came around the counter as if on cue, carrying a tray with bowls of soup and bread, setting it down on the table. She smiled at Gin. “I’ve got your order set up for you, Gin, when you’re ready.”
“Ready now,” Gin said, and headed across to the counter with Rosalia, accepting a large paper bag. She headed out of the bakery, pausing to send a brisk nod in Hallie’s direction before she left.
Rosalia called her assistant out from the back of the bakery to deal with any customers while she took a break, then sat down with Hallie and Girard to have her own lunch.
Hallie felt her heart lighten at her friend’s obvious joy in her new life, and couldn’t help laughing as Rosalia started asking questions.
The rest of the city, and the world, might not know exactly what had happened in the Conclave building, but even the restricted news in low city had reported that some monumental changes had taken place, and Rosalia wanted to know as much as Hallie and Girard could tell her, and all about the Conclave building, what Cotovatre had served at her party, and a thousand other things.
Settled with excellent food and company, knowing that her freedom was secure and that the Conclave was as safe as it could be, the lively conversation was the perfect way to chase away the last lingering effects of her meeting with Wilona.
After lunch, Hallie and Girard had filled the car with boxes from Rosalia, the interior of the car scented with vanilla and fresh bread and a dozen other scents that Hallie couldn’t identify as Girard drove them back to high city.
There hadn’t been a lot of time between getting back to the apartment buildings and needing to get ready for the evening, but Hallie was glad she’d taken the time to shower and change, putting on one of the tunic top and trouser sets that Cotovatre had given her, along with a knee-length soft coat to ward off the likely chill of the night air.
She’d then helped Girard unload the car and add Rosalia’s baking to the vast array of food that was being gathered. Everyone was bringing something.
Before the party truly got underway, and while there was still a bit of daylight, Girard invited Hallie to take a walk with him through the gardens that wove around the apartment building they now lived in.
The gardens actually laced around several apartment buildings, providing the illusion of privacy as well as delightfully scented fresh air.
Hallie was somehow both shocked and not surprised to find that the gardens stretched farther than she had imagined possible, including a small lake and several copses of fully mature trees.
By the time their exploration was done, night had fallen.
If the gardens had been lovely in the daylight, they were enchanting at night.
Tiny lights had been strung in some of the trees and along the edges of the flower borders, providing just enough light for hochlen eyes to walk without falling over.
Trestle tables had been set up by the forensic team and, over the course of the hour or so as the party got underway, the tables had filled to overflowing with drinks and food.
Someone - Hallie suspected the forensic technician Brennus Bowen - had brought a speaker which was playing soft music as a backdrop to the laughter and chatter that was scattered all around.
Hallie stood next to Girard, part of a group that included Isoud and Leodegan, her arm linked through Girard’s, the slight breeze stirring her hair so that it brushed his shoulder. He didn’t seem to mind.
“We finally identified that drug,” Isoud said, into a lull in conversation.
“The one that the insurgents had all been given,” Leodegan added, perhaps reading the confusion on Hallie’s face. The medical examiner shook his head. “Very rare. And nasty stuff. It would have killed them in the end.”
“Finding out that Hoel was behind it gave us our best lead,” Isoud said. “The drug was made from a rare sea creature that is only found off one of the islands in Hoel’s homeland.”
“Can you treat the people?” Hallie asked. Last she had heard, all the humans that Hoel had recruited to his cause were under medical care and some were unable to move at all.
“Now that we know where it came from, yes,” Leodegan said. “We should have them all fully treated and ready for questioning in a few days.”
“Sounds like we’ll have some interrogations to do,” Hallie said, looking at Girard.
“Seems likely,” he agreed easily. “At least they won’t be shooting at us this time.”
“Did I hear that you got a market stall dropped on you?” Leodegan asked, mischief in his face and voice. “And id didn’t even crack that hard head of yours?”
They all laughed as Girard shook his head, a hint of colour in his face at the good-natured teasing.
Brennus started telling a remarkably silly and wild story about a foolish injury.
Hallie felt a laugh vibrate through Girard.
She leaned slightly into him, feeling the warmth of him and knowing that he would be there for as long as she might want.
She looked around the people gathered, the breeze stirring her hair again, and felt an unexpected pang of sadness even as she smiled at Brennus’ tale.
Not that long ago, she had sat at a dining table in low city with some of her favourite people, and here she was with some more of her favourite people, a lot of them fairly new faces who she was growing to like and respect.
But she could not see how the two gatherings would be able to meet or reconcile.
They came from two different worlds and although Cotovatre and Emmet were comfortable in both, and Girard was learning to be, Hallie knew that the same would not be true of almost anyone else here.
She had two separate collections of friends, and that pained her.
Then she had to laugh at herself and shake her head.
A bare few months before she had been blessed with only one true friend in the world, and had counted herself lucky to have that much.
Now her circle had widened and expanded.
Her connections, old and new, reflected the vast changes in her own life and circumstances over the past few months and she could not regret any of them.
The freedom that she had longed for and which had seemed to out of reach for so many years was now hers.
And, thanks not only to her ancestor’s generosity but also to the healthy salary she was now getting from the investigators’ offices, she now had the resources to follow her own wishes.
It was more than she could ever have dreamed of.
And the diverse circle of friends was a blessing.
She would never be able to forget where she had come from, and that was a good thing.
She’d seen what happened among the hochlen when they only kept company with other members of the elite.
And how far some people were willing to go to make the world as they wanted it.
She glanced around the gardens and saw Cotovatre and Peredur in conversation.
It looked extremely civilised, and also on equal footing.
It was possible, Hallie knew, to live among the elite and not become jaded or arrogant.
She had two fine examples of that in front of her.
And Emmet was not far away, wearing his hochlen disguise, smiling at the tale that Brennus had started but which Isoud was now elaborating upon in lurid terms.
The Conclave might have fractured, and Hallie might have a difficult balancing act ahead of her in keeping up with her vastly different circle of friends, but she thought that was just as it should be.
In the pocket at her hip she still carried a silk bag with the remnants of the zauber.
There had been nothing left of it but sparkling dust when she’d eventually got a chance to look.
And yet, she could not bring herself to get rid of it.
So she had collected every scrap she could.
And that morning she had imagined she felt the very faintest stirrings of magic from it.
She wasn’t sure if she had wished so hard that she had fooled herself, but she was not going to give up on it.
She turned to look at Girard to find him already looking at her, his eyes full of warmth and affection that she could feel all the way through and all the restlessness and displacement that had plagued her for days vanished, fading away as she realised that home, for her, was not a place but a person, and she would never be without him.