An pontificates
More talking?
An
I paced my room, thinking of the problem of Glorina. I had been hearing regularly from Jasin about how things were going. Or not, with Glorina. I'd been working with Tolly's men in Haranbeth, where Lord Raltin seemed to be headquartered.
Once we began to know what to look for, we had found traces of Lord Raltin, his men, though no mention of any girls or young women among them. 'Lord' Raltin himself appeared to be somewhat of a recluse. Few ever saw him, and he had about a dozen different names. And those not of his party that had met him, had a pleasant recollection of him. And that was it. Pleasant, but no memory of hair color, height, weight, anything. Much as I tried, I could not make them bring up any memories more specific.
And no one had even thought that odd until we began asking them.
But we thought we had a trap nearly laid out for them, to be sprung as soon as all the pieces were in place, to trap him and his men, and hopefully any women, girls, children, that he had in his power, so we could get them away. Just another couple of weeks, a month at most, as I understood it, would make the trap utterly inescapable.
I wasn't involved in the traps, as my talents lay elsewhere.
But Glorina. She clearly was not happy. And unless I was mistaken—which did happen, occasionally—she had changed her loyalties from Lord Raltin to Tolly. Which wouldn't be good for either of them in the long run, unless it could be moderated.
I would tell him so, at the meeting. Tomorrow.
An
"But don't you see," I told Tolly, "everything she has, everything that she owns, comes from you. It isn't healthy. For either of you."
Tolly growled at me. "Better me than Lord Raltin."
"Most of the things I have, I came with," Glorina said softly. She was being overly literal again. "What I really need is something to do. I've been sitting here, useless, ever since you found out. Maybe you can't trust me with your paintings again, but let me do something."
Tolly shook his head. "It's not that we don't trust you, Glorina. But you're my guest. Until we get everything sorted out, and it's safe for you to be on your own again."
"Tolly," I said warningly.
He glared down at me. "Fine," he said, and sat down at his desk. He wrote out a check and handed it to her. "That should support you for quite some time," he told her. Then, to me, "Satisfied?"
"Not really," I said.
Glorina looked at the check in her hand, and back at Tolly. "I don't understand," she said. "How is this supposed to help me not to be so dependent on you?"
Tolly looked at her helplessly.
"My brother means well," Jelana said, sending him a sharp glance. "But he doesn't always think. Come on, Glorina."
"Where are you going?" Tolly asked.
"Shopping." She gave Tolly a mischievous glance. "Somewhere you can't come."
"Somewhere . . . " Tolly said. "Be careful, will you?"
"Don't worry." Jelana's voice softened. "I won't leave her. We'll be safe, Tolly." She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "And we will come back."
Tolly sat at the desk with his head in his hands. "Don't tell me. I handled that poorly."
"Your sister will take care of things," I said.
He looked at me. "I don't know what she needs."
"Glorina told you what she needs."
"She did?" Tolly hoisted himself up and started pacing. "Why didn't I notice?"
"You were too busy arguing with me to listen."
He stopped and looked at me. "So, what does she need?"
"Work. Something to do."
He frowned. "But she's my guest. She doesn't have to do anything."
"That makes her feel useless."
"Useless? That's the last thing she is."
"So find her something to do."
"To do." He looked thoughtful, then sat back down at his desk, and pulled out a pen and paper. "I'll figure something."
I shook my head at him, then went to talk to my brother before driving home again.
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