“Greetings, Master Elutire,” Kari said formally. “I am Karian Vanador, Sword… Hand of Zalkar, by his grace. My friend and I were hoping to speak to one of your lord’s priestesses. Her name is Danilynn Stahlorr.”
“Is this about official business, or a personal matter?”
“A little of both,” Kari answered honestly. She wasn’t sure why the priest would ask such a question unless Danilynn was in some sort of trouble. Master Elutire had looked at Eli sideways a couple of times; was Eli’s presence the reason he asked? It was possible he was afraid Eli might be seeking a relationship with Danilynn, or even simpler, a matter of the high priest being afraid Eli would take Danilynn away on another long set of adventures. Kari assumed the fact that the priest had not asked Eli’s name meant he already knew it.
“Very well, I will inform Mistress Stahlorr of your arrival,” Master Elutire said. “Please, be seated, and she will be out to see you shortly.”
Kari and Eli took seats on some of the benches fronting the altar. Kari regarded Eli to see if he was as curious to the priest’s words as she was, but the half-corlyps had a broad smile on his face. But why had the priest had been so interested in Danilynn’s business? Kari’s first assumption was always that Eli’s race was the primary reason for others’ hesitation, but if that was the case, Eli either didn’t see it, or just didn’t care. During their trip from Barcon, Eli had spent a lot of time thinking about Danilynn, and Kari was glad she’d been as frank with him as she had the night before they left.
“Mistress Stahlorr,” Eli whispered when they were alone again. “That’s promising.”
Kari chuckled. “What did you make of his attitude toward you? He didn’t even bother asking your name.”
Eli waved off the comment. “I’m sure he’s heard all about me from Danilynn. Poor old guy’s probably worried I’m going to get Danilynn killed somewhere. She rose pretty high up in the ranks of the church when we were working together. They were probably just happy she survived the Apocalypse and came to work here in the grand temple, and now they’re afraid of losing her. Maybe she’s in line to become the next high priestess.”
“Well, that would be something,” Kari said. “You’d better get used to the idea of living here in the holy city if that’s the case.”
Eli shrugged. “I don’t really have any ties back in Lajere that I can’t cut easily. I can leave the brothel to Antoine and a couple of the other men that work for me. I can trust them to keep watch over the place the way I did. I’ll miss some of the girls, but it wouldn't be the first time I cut my roots and moved somewhere else.”
“Well, I’m sure Danilynn will more than take the place of those girls you’ll miss.”
The half-corlyps snorted. “Kari, I never slept with any of the girls I kept watch over. Believe me, plenty of them were willing to, but… well…”
Kari realized she’d misspoken, and she reached up and gently clamped his snout shut. “Forget it. I didn’t mean to insult you. I guess I figured working in a brothel carried certain benefits, and I wouldn’t think any less of you if you had taken advantage of them.”
“Well, I would,” he muttered, but they went silent as a priestess emerged from one of the back rooms and approached.
As soon as Kari saw Danilynn, she remembered her. Danilynn looked different now, removed from the battlefield and dressed in the light robe of her temple instead of the blackened chain armor of a warrior-priest. She was a pretty girl, but not one who fell into vanity or took great pains to beautify herself. Danilynn had a natural beauty, much like Kari’s in-laws told her she had. Like all of the fures-rir, Danilynn had blue hair and eyes, though hers were of lighter shades than was typical. Her hair was long and straight, well-tended but not in a way that suggested she spent a great deal of time on it. Her eyes were small, but round and intense, and their light blue glow was eerie in the darkness of the temple.
As Danilynn approached, Kari got a better look at her in the dim light. Danilynn was a little taller than Eli, but still shorter than Kari, and even through the robe, Kari could see that Danilynn was an athletic woman. Her breasts were small, but that was typical among fures-rir women until they gave birth to their first child. Her face was all at once warm and intense, her snout was short and smooth, and she lacked the overbite typical among the lower class in fures-rir society. Danilynn looked like a product of fine breeding among the upper class or even nobility of the fures-rir, which left Kari to wonder why the woman had left her homeland so many years ago and never returned. Danilynn had fine teeth, and they showed prominently when she saw Eli and her mouth split into a wide smile.
“Eli!” she cried, and the half-corlyps rose and greeted his friend with a hug.
Kari rose but didn’t say or do anything to interrupt the reunion. It was even clearer now that her impression of Eli’s relationship with Danilynn had been correct, and Kari couldn’t help but wonder why the two had stayed apart so long. Eli was good at hiding his emotions most of the time, but this was not one of those times. By the way he held Danilynn tight in his embrace well beyond the typical length of a greeting hug, it seemed he was wondering the same thing. And though Kari didn’t know Danilynn very well on a personal level, the priestess didn’t protest the length of Eli’s embrace.
“Gods, it’s good to see you again, girl,” Eli said when they split apart at last. He gestured toward Kari. “I’m not sure if you’ve met…”
“Colonel Vanador,” Danilynn said, turning to Kari. She gave a crisp military salute, and Kari returned it with the typical demonhunter salute.
“Just call me Kari,” she returned. “I’m not lieutenant colonel of anything anymore.”
“No, now she’s a Hand of Zalkar,” Eli interjected.
Danilynn fixed Kari with wide eyes. “Hand of Zalkar? My word, it won’t be long before you’re the Avatar of your Order.” Curiously, she lacked any trace of the accent common to fures-rir. Danilynn spoke with nearly the same accent as Eli.
Kari pointed a finger in Eli’s face before he could utter a word. “Don’t say it,” she told him, but the half-corlyps’ laughter made Kari chuckle as well.
“So, have you come for the reason I’m hoping?” Danilynn asked Eli.
Kari leaned toward Eli and nudged him in the ribs with her elbow, but he kept his mouth closed. It seemed he’d lost his nerve. Before she started to give him another nudge, though, Kari noticed the look on Danilynn’s face. She wasn’t asking about a date. Kari wondered what Danilynn could be talking about, and then she remembered Eli’s tale about Ciceria asking them to go to the underworld and rescue her daughter. Eli had told Kari he had no intention of ever setting foot in the underworld, but unless Kari was mistaken, it seemed Danilynn wanted to. Suddenly, Eli avoiding Danilynn despite his feelings for her made a bit more sense.
“I brought Kari here to see you so you could tell her about our work with Jason Bosimar,” Eli answered at last. “I’ve told her the basics of everything we did, but you always knew more about Ciceria and her priesthood and whatnot. I think there’s a lot more you can tell her than I did.”