Lucy said nothing more, and he worried that he had stifled the conversation, but the wind had picked up and howled around them, and he decided talking was probably going to be difficult anyway.
It took an hour before they found something that resembled a road, and another half hour before a small huddle of what looked like narrow towers loomed out of the mist.
“Turn here,” Bane said in his ear, and Dray turned into a paved lane that led to a garage that was open on both ends, looking out at the escarpment on one side, the sea on the other, although almost nothing was visible now in the thick fog that swirled in blinding patterns in the wind.
He powered the hover down and waited for Lucy to climb off. When she simply sat there, arms still tight around him, he turned to look at her.
She blinked up at him. “Sorry, I can't seem to unclench my hands.”
He covered her hands with his own, warming them, and then carefully eased them apart, then he turned and put his hand at her waist and lifted her up and put her gently on the ground.
She stood, shivering, as he swung off the hover himself.
“What is wrong with her?” he asked Bane, using the Grihan dialect from Xal he'd grown up with so she wouldn't understand him.
“I don't know. I can't see her.” Bane sounded panicked. “What have you done to her?”
“Nothing.” He looked around, feeling a little panicked himself. “Where is the door into the tower?”
“I can't see that, either,” Bane told him, voice going icy. “That's why you're there.”
With a curse, Dray walked toward the cliff side, and saw a narrow path leading to the right. He followed it, amazed at how close to the edge the path was, and found a door set into the stone face of the building.
He tried the door, but it was locked. “Do you have a way to open this up?”
“I'm looking.” Bane's answer was short. “I have found a way into the system, but it's hard to pinpoint the exact house--”
“Open them all then.” Dray turned and strode back to the garage.
Lucy was still standing where he'd left her, hunched over in her Tecran cloak.
He scooped her up, and then nearly dropped her as he realized she weighed far more than he'd been expecting.
He had to heave her a little higher in his arms, and pull her tight against his chest. The walk beside the cliff had him in a light sweat by the time he got to the door. He pushed against it, and it opened, and suddenly they were in a warm, sheltered space.
It smelled slightly strange; the meaty, gamey scent he'd noticed on some of the Tecran he'd come into contact with.
“Where are we?” She was shaking even worse now they were in the warmth of the house and she barely got the words out between chattering teeth.
Bane must have answered her, because she nodded and hunched over, crossing her arms over her chest.
“What do you need?” He didn't bother to hide the panic in his voice.
“Cold.” She rubbed her arms with shaking hands. “Is there a hot shower?”
And then he got it, and he felt a hard, sharp sense of disgust for himself.
He wasn't with a colleague. She didn't have a uniform like his, with temperature regulation. She'd traveled in freezing temperatures with nothing but his own body to protect her from the wind.
And she hadn't said a word.
“Let's find one.” He scooped her up again, bracing himself against her weight this time, and headed up the staircase that curved to his left.
The first level contained a cozy lounge and a kitchen, the second level a bathroom and a bedroom.
He set her down and ran the shower. When steam started billowing, she edged past him, dropping her cloak, and stepped into the hot water with her clothes on.
“Can you find me something else to wear?”
He nodded, backing out and closing the door behind him.
And then turned and leaned back against it, fists clenched, and called himself every insult he could think of.
Getting her out of danger in Fa'allen had been his first priority, and he'd managed that with Bane's help, but after that, his failure to find out what equipment she had, and whether she could cope with the cold--
With a grunt of disgust, he pushed away from the door and began going through the closet set into the curved wall. He chose items that looked like they'd fit and put them on the bed.
He opened the bathroom door a little way and heard the sound of the water still running.
“I've put some things out for you. There's more in the cupboard if you don't like them. I'll be looking around the rest of the house.” As soon as the words were out, he realized he'd spoken in Grihan.
There was a moment of silence, and he was about to repeat it in Tecran when Bane spoke in his ear.
“I've translated that for her.” The censure in Bane's tone was clear, and Dray bowed his head, just as annoyed with himself as Bane.
“Thank you.” Lucy's words were choked. The beauty of her voice was clogged, and he knew there was something wrong, but when he waited a beat for her to say more, nothing was forthcoming.
He closed the door and left, climbing up the next flight of stairs to find an identical bedroom and bathroom above, and then, on the top floor, a comfortable, plush room with an even more massive window than the rooms below, although the fog pressed up against it, leaving smudges of frost in its wake.
“How is she?” Bane asked, his voice overloud in air muffled by fog.
“I think she'll be better once she's warm. I'll make some grinabo for her, and something for her to eat.”
“That's all it was?” Bane sounded dubious.
“I think so. If the Grih get too cold, they can die. I think Earth people are similar.”
“Don't let her die,” Bane said, and there was a warning in his tone that chilled Dray.
“I won't.”
“No one will like the results if she does.” There was a promise in Bane's voice that made Dray wonder what he was talking about.
He decided he didn't want to find out.
“Can you connect me to Ambassador Dimitara?”
“She has been asking about you,” Bane conceded. “Quite vociferously. Just give me a moment.”
There was silence, and Dray left the top floor and ran lightly down the stairs. He stopped for a moment on Lucy's floor but he heard her moving around and that settled him a little, allowing him to continue down to the kitchen.
“Dray?” Dimitara's voice was sharp.
“I'm here.” He started pulling out mugs and bowls, taking some ready-made dishes out of the cooling unit and opening cupboards to find the grinabo maker.
“Where is here?”
“It might be better not to say, just in case someone is listening.” He guessed Bane would have good shielding, but Dimitara was sitting in a Tecran office, with hostile Tecran all around her. He'd take nothing for granted.
She was silent, then drew in a breath. “True. You're safe?”
“We are.” He didn't mention Lucy, but Dimitara's gasp told him she understood what he meant by 'we'.
“Good.” He heard a rustle, as if she was shifting in her chair. “That's very good. Things are less well here. The mass protests in the square haven't turned violent, but they show no signs of dissipating.”