What Are You Doing Here?

Six had just settled onto the bed when someone knocked on the door.

"Go away. I'm tired," Six muttered, nowhere near loudly enough to be heard by anyone in the hallway. She closed her eyes in anticipation of sleeping. But the visitor knocked again, and then a third time.

After the fourth knock, Six muttered a curse, threw the blankets off and got up. "It had better not be Three coming to tell me I'm an idiot again."

She wrenched the door open with a scowl. Two men with the deep green skin that Sera had come to understand was typical of the Llinn family stood on the other side of the door. One was tall and lanky, the other shorter and broader. Both sported bright copper hair. The shorter one had spoken with them after dinner, Sera recalled, but she couldn't recall his name.

Six took a deep breath and rearranged her expression into one of polite inquiry. "Master Cobaltstar, Master Berylgleam. I am very tired. Could we speak tomorrow?"

The short one gave a rueful smile. "We're sorry to disturb you, Miss Six. But we heard something alarming on the news and couldn't just ignore it."

"Can we come in," the taller one said, taking a step forward without waiting for an answer.

Six would have automatically given ground, but Sera made sure they stood firm, holding tight to the door so that the men couldn't just go past them, and said firmly, "No, you may not come in. We can speak in the morning."

The tall man blinked in surprise, then glanced at the shorter one. Six quailed inwardly, but Sera closed the door on them. She swore softly as she discovered there was no lock. She looked around for something to block the door as one of the men knocked again. So far they were still being polite, but Sera had no doubt they would force their way when they got tired of knocking.

"Maybe we should just talk to them?" Six suggested.

'No. Trustworthy people don't try and force their way into your room late at night. They agree politely to meet at a more reasonable hour,' Sera said. She eyed the doorknob and concluded that trying to wedge a chair under it would not work. She didn't think she would have enough time to drag any of the furniture in front of the door, even if she could manage to shift and of the heavy pieces.

"Why don't we wait next to the door and leave when they come in?" Six suggested softly. It wasn't a bad idea, except it would only work if the men barged into the room without spotting them. "The bed."

Six hurried over to the bed and arranged the pillows and covers to make it look like she'd gone back to sleep. It would not stand up to scrutiny, but the room was dark, so the men would have to come at least a little ways into the room to check. Satisfied with her work, Six hurried back to stand against the wall behind the door.

The men knocked a few more times. Sera and Six both strained to hear any sound from the hall, but there was nothing to hear. And then there was silence. Six fidgeted as they waited. And the waited some more.

'Maybe they left?' Six asked silently, as Sera was beginning to feel foolish for alarming the other woman.

With a mental sigh, Sera admitted, 'Apparently I've overreacted. I'm sor--'

The doorknob turned, and the door opened slowly, stopping when it was open a few inches. Six stopped breathing--or perhaps it was Sera who held their breath. After an agonizing few seconds, the door opened a little further. No light spilled through the opening.

'They put the lights out,' Six noted. Sera nodded in agreement. The hall had been well-lit Three escorted them back after dinner.

The door was pushed open a little further, and the short man slipped through silently. A flash of alarm went through the women as he glanced around the room, but he didn't notice them standing beside the door. After a careful look at the door to the bathroom and then another scrutiny of the windows leading to the balcony, he gave a 'come' motion with his hand and moved slowly towards the bed. The tall man moved into the room after him, not bothering with his own survey.

When the men were two-thirds of the way to the bed, Sera thought, 'Now.'

Six slipped noiselessly around the door and into the hall. A glance in either direction confirmed that someone had turned off all the hall lights. Perhaps that was normal, but it seemed unlikely that someone would douse the lights while the two men were still in the hall. Or that they wouldn't have asked what the men were doing and chased them off.

'Where should we go?' Six asked.

'Three's room,' Sera answered immediately.

'Really?' Six asked in surprise, even as hurried across the hall. 'I thought you didn't like him. Should I knock?'

A soft curse drifted through the door at their back.

'No,' Sera said, and Six quickly opened Three's door and stepped through, shutting the door as quietly as possible.

Three's room was similar in size and layout to the room granted to Six. The furniture showed signs of wear and tear, and instead of a sitting area there was a padded exercise mat. Where Six's room had a dressing table, this room had a desk, with shelves holding a collection of books mounted above it. Posters very similar to what would be found in the room of an adolescent boy from Sera's own world were tacked to the walls, and the surfaces held an assortment of models, old toys, and other treasures collected over a boy's life. It was clearly Three's childhood room.

All of this was easy to see, because the man was still awake and the lights were on. He was pacing back and forth in front of Lady Snowpearl, who was seated on the foot of his bed and listening with narrowed eyes as Three was saying, " . . . so I rented a sheryn and tried to create a false trail heading south before we came here."

Neither Three nor his mother had noticed Six's entrance.

"And if I ask Sister Forty-Six, will she tell me the same story?" Lady Snowpearl asked pointedly. Three ran his hands through his hair.

"Um . . ."

"What aren't you telling me?" Lady Snowpearl asked. She considered a moment before saying, "Why would the Father Superior try to kill Six? She's a novice nun pledged to a temple ranked below his own. She hasn't even earned a name back yet. Lovely as she is, Six is beneath his notice. ."

"I . . . can't tell you that," Three said.

"Oakbranch," Lady Snowpearl said in warning.

"I can't tell you," Three repeated. "It's . . . it's not safe."

The temperature in the room dropped noticeably at that. Lady Snowpearl's voice was glacial as she asked, "What did you bring down on this household, Oakbranch? What danger have you put us in?"

"Where else were we supposed to go, Mother? There's no disguising her wing, not the way it's bandaged. And even then, she's too fair to blend in. Anywhere we went, we'd be spotted immediately. At least here we can forbid anyone to speak of her. If no one outside the household knows she's here, then there's no reason anyone will come looking. So the family shouldn't be in any danger," Three said.

"And what do I say when the authorities show up in the morning looking for you? Are we supposed to lie? Hide a fugitive accused of assault and kidnapping? Become accessories to your crime by concealing Six's presence from them?" demanded Lady Snowpearl. "You didn't think this through at all did you? Of course you didn't, you never think anything through. And mark my words, you stupid, stupid boy, we WILL have the authorities on the doorstep tomorrow. Because where else would a penniless monk go when he abducts an innocent young nun, but back to his family?"

Three opened his mouth to argue, but swore as he realized she was right. With a wordless shout he spun around, hands clenching as he looked for something to hit. After a moment he took a deep breath and said, "I'll get Six and we'll leave. Then at least we're not bringing trouble to the family."

"That solves nothing," Lady Snowpearl said wearily. "When the authorities arrive in the morning, you will surrender to them. We will formally challenge the Father Superior's claim of assault, and the authorities can escort Six back to the Temple--"

"No," Sera interrupted, and Lady Snowpearl and Three both looked over in surprise. "We aren't safe at the temple."

"Six! What are you doing here?!" Three exclaimed, as Lady Snowpearl drew in a sharp breath.

"Yes. What are you doing in my son's room at this hour?" she asked icily, eyes narrowed again. Sera blushed, abruptly aware that Six had gone to bed wearing nothing but underwear and a short, nearly sheer tank top. That it was entirely her own embarrassment she was sure of. Nudity — or near nudity— did not seem to be something that phased Six's people.

"We are here because Brother Forty-Three, despite his shortcomings, is the only one we can trust at the moment," Sera answered. Lady Snowpearl's brow lowered even farther as she frowned. Sera turned to Three, and discovered being comfortable with nakedness was not the same thing as ignoring it. Three was entirely transfixed by the sight of Six's nearly naked form. With a sigh, Sera turned back to Lady Snowpearl and continued, "Two men—I've forgotten their names—"

"Masters Berylgleam and Cobaltstar," Six contributed.

"Right. Them," Sera said, with a silent thank you to Six, "They came to our door after we'd gone to bed and tried to push their way into our room, claiming they had heard something concerning. We told them to wait until morning and closed the door, and a short while later they snuck into the room."

"What?!" Three shouted. "I'll kill them—"

"You will not," Sera said sharply. Or possibly it was Six. "You're already in enough trouble, from what we've heard."

"We," Lady Snowpearl repeated. She rose from the bed and paced over to stand in front of of Sera and Six, studying her intently. Sera looked calmly back. The other woman slowly circled them. When she'd returned to her starting point, she asked, "Who is 'we'?"

"You've met Six," Sera said evenly. "My name is Sera Conroy."

Lady Snowpearl drew in sharp breath, eyes widening as she gasped, "A Traveler!"