Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3)(74)
Author: Kristin Cashore

Bitterblue cursed the tears that kept running down her cheeks. "Perhaps you've forgotten the events of the last few days, Po," she said plainly. "It pains me to be rude, and I apologize for my rudeness. But, Katsa, you have brought a woman who controls minds into a castle of people particularly vulnerable to such a thing. Look around," she said, gesturing to the courtyard that continued to fil with people. "Do you think this is good for them, to be standing here, mindlessly staring? Maybe it is," she said bitterly. "If she truly comes in peace, maybe she can be their higher power, and keep them from committing any more suicides."

"Suicides?" said Katsa in dismay.

"I'm responsible for these people," Bitterblue said. "I'm not going to welcome her until I understand who she is and how her power works."

THEY WENT TO the library to talk about it: Bitterblue, her Council friends, the Del ians and Pikkians, away from prying eyes and empty, captive minds. Passing Death's ruin of a desk, she remembered that Death was in the infirmary.

The strangers seemed neither surprised nor offended by Bitterblue's lack of hospitality. But when she walked them into her alcove, they stopped, eyes widening, and gawked at the hanging, murmuring among themselves in words Bitterblue knew the sound of, but couldn't understand. The woman with the power, in particular, exclaimed something to the others, then grabbed hold of one of her companions and motioned him to say something, or do something, to Bitterblue. The man stepped forward, bowed, and spoke in a heavy but somehow pleasant accent. "Queen Bitterblue,"

he said. "Please forgive my—poor speech—but Lady Bier remembers this—" The man gestured to the hanging. "She is moved to—" He stopped, in frustration.

Katsa interjected quietly. "She says that Leck kidnapped her, Bitterblue, and murdered one of her friends, a very long time ago. She believes this is a scene from the kidnapping, for that is the coat he gave her to wear, and they passed through a forest of white trees. Afterwards, she escaped, and fought him. In the fight, he fel through a crack in the ground, then presumably followed a tunnel that brought him to Monsea. She's moved to tell you how sorry she is that he found his way back here, and did harm to your kingdom.

The Del s only discovered the seven kingdoms fifteen years ago, and the only tunnels they've known until now have brought them into far eastern Estil , so they were some time in discovering the problems in Monsea. She's sorry for letting Leck return and for not helping Monsea to defeat him."

It was strange to listen to Katsa interpret. It involved long, silent pauses on Katsa's part, which gave Bitterblue time to gape and wonder, and be boggled at some of the more astonishing things Katsa said. Which Katsa then followed up with even more astonishing things.

"What does she mean, r eturn?" Bitterblue said.

Katsa squinted. "Lady Fire is unsure of what you're asking."

"She said that the tunnel brought him back here, to Monsea," Bitterblue said. "That she all owed him to return.

Does she mean that Leck wasn't Del ian? Does she know he was Monsean?"

"Ah," said Katsa, pausing for the answer. "Leck was not Del ian. She doesn't know if he was Monsean, only that he was from the seven kingdoms. There are no Gracelings in the Del s," Katsa added, speaking for herself now. "My arrival created quite a commotion, let me tell you."

I'm from the seven kingdoms, B itterblue thought, completely. Dare I hope I'm Monsean? And this woman, this strange, beautiful woman. My father killed her friend.

They discovered the seven kingdoms fifteen whole years ago? "That man cal ed her Lady Bier," Bitterblue said. "But you cal ed her Lady Fire, Katsa."

" Bir is the Del ian word for fire, " said a worn and familiar voice behind Bitterblue. "Bee-ee-rah, or, in our letters, B-i-r, Lady Queen."

Spinning, Bitterblue faced her librarian, who was listing a bit to one side, like a ship taking water. He held the charred remains of the Del ian-Gracelingian dictionary in his hands.

Part of its back end was gone, the pages were warped, and the red cover was now mostly black.

"Death!" she said. "I'm glad you could join us. I wonder—"

She was hopelessly confused. "Perhaps we should all learn each other's names and sit down," she said, after which there were introductions all around, and hands taken, and manuscripts cleared from the table, and additional chairs found and wedged in among the others. And names almost immediately forgotten, because there was too much else going on. They were a group of nine travelers: three explorers, four guards, one healer, and the lady, who served as ambassador, and also as a silent translator, and who invited Bitterblue to cal her Fire. Most of the travelers were browner-skinned than the most sundarkened Lienid Bitterblue had ever seen, except for a couple who were paler, and one, the man who'd spoken before, who was fully as pale as Madlen. Their hair and eyes were also a range of hues— ordinary hues, aside from Lady Fire. And still , there was something in the way they all looked—in their jaws? In their expressions?— something they all had in common. Bitterblue wondered if they saw some sort of distinctive similarity when they looked at her and her friends too.

"I don't completely understand this," she said. "Any of it."

Lady Fire said something, which the pale man made a move to translate, in his nice, funny accent. "The mountains have always been too high," he said. "We have had—stories, but no way across, or—" He made a motion with his hand.

"Under," said Po.

"Yes. No way under," said the man. "Fifteen years ago, a —" He paused again, baffled.

"A landslide," said Po. "Revealed a tunnel. And now the stories will no longer be mere stories."

"Po," said Bitterblue, disturbed that he was publicly displaying his own ability, even though she knew he was pretending that Lady Fire was talking to him mental y.

Wasn't he? Or maybe she was talking to him mental y, and if so, did Lady Fire know what Po was? Wouldn't that make her a thousand times more dangerous? Or— Bitterblue grasped her forehead. Had Bitterblue, sitting here, thinking about it all , revealed Po's secret to Lady Fire?

Po's hand found its way around Katsa to Bitterblue's shoulder. "Take a breath, Cousin," he said. "This comes on the tail of too many horrible days. I believe this will seem like good news once you've had the time to absorb it."

I remember the day we all sat in a circle on this library floor, she thought to him. The world was far smaller then, and still too big.

Every day is so overwhelming.

The pale fel ow was trying to talk again, saying something about how they were all sorry to have arrived during horrible days. Bitterblue raised her eyes and peered at him as he spoke, trying to place something.

"Whenever you talk," she said, "there's something familiar about it."

"Yes, Lady Queen," agreed Death dryly. "Perhaps that's because it's a stronger version of the accent spoken by your healer Madlen."

Madlen, thought Bitterblue, staring at the man. Y es, how odd that he sounds like Madlen. And how odd that he's pale with amber eyes like Madlen. And— My Graceling healer, Madlen.

There are no Gracelings in the Dells.

But Madlen has only one eye.

Just like that, one of Bitterblue's anchors in this world turned, suddenly, into a perfect stranger.

"Oh," she said dumbly. "Oh dear." She thought of all the books in Madlen's room and found the answer to another question. "Death," she said. "Madlen saw Leck's journals on my bed, then that dictionary appeared on your shelf. The dictionary is Madlen's."

"Yes, Lady Queen," said Death.

"She told me she came from the far east of Estil ,"

Bitterblue said. "Fetch her. Someone fetch her."

"Al ow me, Lady Queen," Helda said, in a dark voice that made Bitterblue glad she was not Madlen at this moment.

Helda pushed herself up and swept off, and Bitterblue stared at her guests. They'd all gone over a trifle sheepish.

"Lady Fire apologizes, Bitterblue," Katsa said. "She says that it's embarrassing to be caught spying, but regrettably, not spying is never an option, as no doubt you understand."

"I understand that it makes for an interesting definition of the peace they claim to come in," said Bitterblue. "Did they make Madlen take out her own eye?"

"No," said Lady Fire emphatical y.

"Never," added Katsa. "Madlen lost her eye as a child, doing an experiment with liquids and a powder that exploded. It made it possible for her to pretend."

"But how does she heal so wel ? Are all healers in the Del s truly so gifted?"

Katsa translated. "Medical knowledge is highly advanced there, Bitterblue. Medicines grow there that we don't have here, especial y in the west, which is where Madlen is from, and science is paramount. Madlen has been kept supplied with the best Del ian medicines during her time here, to keep up her pretense."

Science, B itterblue thought. R eal science. I would like that kind of progress in my kingdom, in a sane manner, without delusion. Suddenly, she loved Po for his stupid paper glider, because it was based on reality.

Then Madlen came into the alcove. First, she went to Lady Fire and kissed the woman's hand, murmuring something in their language. Then she rounded the table to Bitterblue and fel to both knees. "Lady Queen," she said, bowing her head, speaking thickly. "I hope you'll forgive me for deceiving you. I have not liked to do so. At every moment, I've not liked it, and I hope you'll all ow me to stay on as your healer."

Bitterblue understood then, something about how a person could lie and tell the truth at the same time. Madlen had made something of a fool of her. But Madlen's care of Bitterblue's body, and of her heart, had been genuine.

"Madlen," she said, "I'm relieved. I was steeling myself against the possibility of losing you."

THE TALK CONTINUED. Bitterblue's concept of the world had never been stretched like this before, and she was a bit light-headed.

The Del ians described what it had been like to discover a world to their west. The Del s knew war, and the Del ian king had no wish for it. And so, discovering a land of seven kingdoms in which too many of the kings were warmongers, the Del ians had chosen secret exploration, rather than making themselves immediately known.

They were exploring eastward as wel .

"The Pikkians have a sizable navy," Katsa explained, "and the Del ians have been growing their navy slowly as wel .

They've been exploring their coastline and waters, Bitterblue."

They'd brought maps. A squat, tough-looking woman named Midya did her best to explain them. The maps showed wide expanses of land and water and, in the north, unnavigable ice.