No Quarter by Tanya Huff Page A

worked unseen and not even the greenest of recruits was fool enough to satisfy curiosity by staring at the blades of Jür. Vree could hear Kovar's footsteps against the plank floor and her own blood roaring in her ears; nothing else.
    The silence stretched and grew brittle.
    Then a very, very old woman in a wheeled chair leaned toward her neighbor and said, in what she imagined was a whisper, "She's a pretty little thing, isn't she?"

    The silence disappeared in the mutual embarrassment that followed. By the time Vree set her plate of cold beef and vegetables on the table across from Kovar, she was the topic of every conversation but no longer the center of attention.
    *That's your third old lady.*
    *So?* Vree watched Kovar carry a piece of meat to his mouth on the tines of an implement she'd never seen before and carefully imitated his action. *What is this thing?*
    *How would I know?*
    *You're from Shkoder.*
    *A hundred years ago. And I was never in Elbasan and I never actually met a bard before Kars.*
    *That's why you're so,* she settled on, *tense. You keep being reminded of Kars.*
    *I'm so tense because everyone around us would as soon Sing me back into the Circle as look at me.*
    *I think you're overreacting.*
    *I'm not the one planning to climb up the chimney,* he snapped. He didn't want to be reminded of Kars— not by Vree, not by the bards. Unfortunately, what he wanted didn't seem to matter because every bard he saw reminded him not only of Kars but of how he'd failed him twice; the first time by pushing him into insanity, the second by leaving him there. Gyhard didn't know whether Vree had felt his reaction through their close contact or had come to it on her own; either way he didn't like it much.
    *But it's okay if you know what I'm feeling?*
    *Stay out of my thoughts, Vree.*
    *Strong emotions, remember?*
    *You going to answer Kovar's question or sit there like an idiot?*
    Vree jerked and found Kovar staring at her from across the table. "I'm sorry.
    Could you repeat, please?"
    He waved a hand at her plate. "I just wondered how you liked the food."
    "The food?" She looked down and realized she'd eaten most of it. "It's, uh, fine.

    Better than army cooking." She couldn't actually remember how anything tasted, but it seemed a safe comparison.
    "And Gyhard?"
    "He tastes what I taste."
    Kovar leaned forward, trying not to appear too anxious. "And do you like the same things?"
    Conversations died as every bard still in the dining hall waited for her answer.
    Vree's ears grew hot. She had no idea what Gyhard liked.
    *You never asked.*
    *You could've told me!*
    She felt the memory of a shrug. *It wasn't important. Besides, I was busy learning about you.*
    *What? And I'm not supposed to learn about you?*
    Kovar sat back. "I'm sorry; have I started something?"
    Before Vree could find the words, the double doors to the dinning hall slammed open and a short, dark-haired figure charged in.
    "Is she here? I heard she was here!" Without waiting for a reply, the young woman—girl—swept her gaze across the remaining occupants of the room. Quarry spotted, she flung herself forward, racing to Vree's side, her eyes gleaming. "You are here! And you do have two kigh! This is so amazingly amazing. When they told me you were coming, I just couldn't believe it. I'd have been here sooner, but I had garden duty this afternoon."
    "This is Magda i'Annice a'Pjerin," Kovar interrupted. If he had anything more to say, not even bardic training gave him the chance to say it.
    "Maggi. Almost everyone calls me Maggi. You're Vree, right? And Gyhard?
    Captain Liene told me all about you." She grinned as she took in Vree's expression.
    "You have no idea who I am, do you? I'm the healer, well, all right, apprentice healer who Heals the fifth kigh—it has something to do with my mother saving my brother's life before I was born, but they're still trying to figure out the particulars.
    Karlene must have told you about me. I'm the one who's going to