Is it better to have had a good thing and lost it, or never to have had it? -- Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend
In the next few days Abi completely forgot about both Imrahil and his portrait. Aunt Jiarlúr arrived in Eldrin. She swept into her older sister's house, grabbed hold of her niece within minutes of greeting everyone, and dragged her into the sitting room by the ear. Abi was beginning to hate that sitting room. No good ever came of her being brought there. It was where her parents broke the news of her impending marriage, it was where Kitri cornered her in front of Irímé, and worst of all it was where Haliran had made her blackmail attempt. It was rapidly becoming her least favourite place on the planet.
Aunt Jiarlúr closed the door and turned to glare at Abi. She planted her hands on her hips. "What's this I hear about necromancy?"
If she wanted a full repetition of the whole sorry story she could just ask her mother. Abi didn't feel like going over the whole thing yet again. She shrugged and said nothing.
Aunt Jiarlúr continued to glare at her. Realising she wouldn't get an answer, she changed the subject. "So. I've been saddled with you for this Gengxin trip. Have you ever been to Gengxin?"
Abi thought for a while. Had she ever been? She'd heard Mirio talk about it, and she knew Kiriyuki had visited, but had she ever gone herself? If she had it was so long ago she'd forgotten. "I don't think so."
Her aunt sighed. "It's a good thing I have. I suppose it's up to me to teach you as much protocol as possible before we get there. Though I doubt it'll do any good. Remember this. On this trip you'll be an official representative of the empress and Saoridhlém itself. If you do anything to offend the Gengxinese, your actions will reflect on all of us. Make one wrong move and I'll have you strung up by your thumbs. Cause any trouble and by the Nine Heavens I'll make you wish you were never born."
This trip sounded more and more like it would be nothing but utter misery. Abi sighed wearily and resigned herself to a long, long journey.
~~~~
So many strange things had happened lately -- and had happened so quickly -- that Irímé felt as if he was living in the midst of a whirlwind. Turning into a dragon, seeing Abi turn into a phoenix, Ilaran leaving, Abi being arrested and now being sent off to Gengxin... All of it seemed more like a dream than reality.
Ironically his mother was the most constant thing through it all. The minute she received part of his wages she went off and bought more animals for her menagerie. A lifetime of keeping his mouth shut stopped him from telling her what he thought of this, but only just.
At last the day came for him to go to Tananerl. Irímé breathed a sigh of relief after saying goodbye to his mother and leaving the hotel. Siarvin, Shizuki and Koyuki -- who was coming with them to Tananerl, possibly for a visit or possibly to live there -- were waiting for him outside. Siarvin eyed his many suitcases with a mildly judgemental expression. Koyuki looked astonished.
"Are you bringing your entire house?" Shizuki asked, staring at the suitcases.
Irímé felt slightly embarrassed. Maybe he shouldn't have bought quite so much. "Of course not."
Getting all his luggage into the carriage proved much harder than he expected. Siarvin's mildly judgemental look became more and more severe after they all, with the help of the coach-driver, spent several minutes trying to fight everything into the luggage compartment. In the end they had to put some of the suitcases on top of the carriage and the others on the floor and seats. It was a very uncomfortable journey when no one could move without bumping into a suitcase.
"How are we ever going to get all of this unpacked and put on the train?" Koyuki wondered.
Irímé winced. "I think I should have left some at home and sent for it later."
"Yes," Siarvin said grimly. He was having to hold a suitcase against the carriage door to stop it toppling over on top of him.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the carriage finally arrived at the station. No trains went directly from Eldrin to Tananerl. It was much too far away. Instead they would take a train to Veiteos, the furthest this line went, and would change there to another train that took them to Tananerl. When the air ship companies finally settled their disputes with various city councils, then there would be a way to travel directly to Tananerl. Until then, everyone would just have to make do with the extra inconvenience.
Abi was waiting at the station. Arafaren and one of her older sisters lurked behind her. Irímé would have thought they were there to be chaperones if not for the dark looks both of them kept shooting at Abi. Oh. This was about the house arrest business, then.
The porter came to help put all the suitcases -- everyone else's as well as Irímé's, and his embarrassment was somewhat lessened when he saw that Shizuki had brought a large collection of luggage too. Not as large as his, but enough to explain why there had been so little room in the carriage -- onto the train.
Abi approached him. Then she glared over her shoulder as her siblings followed.
"What happened?" Irímé asked. "I went to see you but your parents said you weren't allowed to see anyone."
Abi grimaced. "Grandmother found out about the necromancy. She's put me under house arrest and tomorrow I'm being sent to Gengxin."
He'd already heard about that. "But she already knew about the necromancy."
"She didn't know I'd broken my promise not to do it any more. And she was furious when she found out."
I told you so, Irímé wanted to say. It took a great deal of effort to keep his mouth closed.
"So you're going to Gengxin and I'm going to Tananerl," he said instead. "I suppose the next time we'll meet will be--" Our wedding, he almost said, but the words practically choked him. There were some things he just did not want to think about.
Judging by the horrified look on Abi's face her thoughts had gone along the same lines. She very quickly changed the subject.
"When you see Ilaran, could you tell him I'm sorry? For..." She glanced back at her siblings. They looked suspicious. "...For everything?"
"You should tell him yourself," Irímé pointed out.
"I know, but when will I ever get the chance? It's not likely we'll ever see each other again. And anyway, do you really think he wants to see me again?"
She had a point. Behind them the train whistled. Shizuki leaned out of the window and waved for Irímé to hurry up.
"I'll tell him," Irímé said. "Try not to cause trouble in Gengxin."
Abi made a face. "Why does everyone keep telling me that? What do they think I'll do? I know how to behave properly at funerals."
Just don't raise the dead again, Irímé thought. He decided not to say it in front of her siblings. "I'll write and tell you what Tananerl's like."
Abi nodded. "And I'll write about the funerals. You'll see I won't cause any trouble."
Usually engaged couples would hug or kiss when about to be separated for a long time. Neither Abi nor Irímé were the sort to kiss anyone, and they hadn't hugged each other in public since they were children. (The hug after Abi turned into a phoenix didn't count since it wasn't really public and also caused by extreme stress.) So instead they bowed somewhat awkwardly and said goodbye.
As Irímé walked towards the train he heard Arafaren say, "Why do you want to apologise to Prince Ilaran?"
"Mind your own business," Abi snapped.
The train pulled away from the platform. The last Irímé saw of Abi was her standing on the platform and waving to him. For a split second he could have sworn he saw a shadow hanging over her like a cloud. Then it was gone, and shortly afterwards the train had left the station and Abi was out of sight.
I hope that doesn't mean something is seriously wrong, he thought.
Oh well. There was nothing he could do about it now even if there was. And at least Abi had a talent for getting out of trouble unharmed.
~~~~
Depending on how you looked at it, it took Ilaran either a surprisingly long or surprisingly short time to realise something was definitely... well, not wrong exactly, but odd. And very unwelcome. He'd been under so much stress in Eldrin that he hadn't had a chance to consider there might be side-effects of Abihira going through his memories -- and him going through hers. After everything that had happened, that possibility completely slipped his mind until he was on the train from Veiteos to Tananerl.
He didn't really think he would be possessed again. The traces of the parasite left in his mind were like scars or dead tissue, a reminder but not a threat. But just in case he was wrong he spent most of the journey locked up in his cabin. It had another benefit in that it gave him a chance to sleep. Until now he hadn't realised just how tired he was.
On the second day of the journey Ilaran awoke with a confused sense of being annoyed by being constantly watched. He checked all over his cabin to make sure there wasn't the smallest crack for someone to spy on him. When he was satisfied he wasn't really being watched he put it down to a nightmare and went back to sleep. The next time he awoke it was with the feeling of being completely and utterly bored. That was harder to explain away as a nightmare. And the next time confirmed there was something much more serious to blame for this.
Ilaran had dinner, read a few pages of a novel, then decided to doze for a while. He didn't intend to fall deeply asleep. Yet the next thing he knew he was in a very dusty room. Most of it was indistinct shapes in the way dream-places usually were. Abihira knelt on the floor in front of him. A young man who he vaguely recognised as one of her brothers was busy sweeping near the door.
What's he doing here? Ilaran wondered.
He could understand having a dream -- or a nightmare, more likely -- involving Abihira. But why had his mind decided to include a man he'd never even spoken to?
An inkling of the truth began to dawn on him. Abihira picked up something in front of her -- a portrait, he realised when he focused on it. Thoughts filtered through his head, thoughts that were indistinct like voices in the distance and most definitely not his own.
Ilaran glared at Abihira. "Congratulations. You've just dragged me into your mind. Will I never be free of you?"
Unfortunately their connection appeared to be one-way. Abihira showed no sign of having heard him. She set the portrait aside and picked up the next one.
Her brother said something. Ilaran couldn't hear him or her response. The first thing he heard clearly was her brother -- what was his name, anyway? -- saying, "He had a fight with Granny and Granddad. I don't know what it was about. But apparently he threatened Granddad with a sword. So he was arrested and sent off somewhere to calm down. But then the boat sank and he drowned."
On its own that was completely meaningless. But then he saw the label on the portrait and did a double take. Birthday portrait of Imrahil Mihasrinsilru, born 2654 in the 3086th year of Emperor Junhasan.
"What? Imrahil wasn't sent away. He got drunk and decided to go swimming."
It had been well over a thousand years since Ilaran had given any thought to Imrahil. He had so many relatives he'd never met that he'd never bothered to keep track of them or how they died. But everyone knew the circumstances of Imrahil's death. He'd been so unbelievably stupid that no one was ever likely to forget.
Yet why had Abihira's brother heard a different story? Siblings were never likely to cover up each other's idiocy. Ilaran wouldn't have been discreet if one of his siblings had died in such a pointless and absurd way.
Odd.
Ilaran firmly resisted the urge to investigate. It was none of his business. And the less time he spent in Abihira's head, the better for both of them.
Now that he knew where he was it was easy to retreat back to his own mind. Then he was briefly dumbfounded by the realisation that he had gotten dragged into Abihira's mind from over a thousand miles away. Telepathy was usually only effective within a range of half a mile. How the hell--
Don't think about it, he told himself. Just stop it happening again.
He constructed the strongest telepathic shields he was capable of. With any luck that would be enough to keep Abihira out.
For the rest of the trip home he wasn't disturbed by any more of Abihira's thoughts.