Chapter 14

It was not until nearly two years had passed, during which time Cobweb had received many letters, that Lisia finally managed to get away from Harling Gardens to make the journey to Galhea. Even then it was not a pleasure trip, but a scheduled visit on behalf of the school. Nevertheless, Cobweb had extended a personal invitation to come by Forever for least an evening visit. Lisia had gladly accepted, although he would be staying in town with the rest of his party -- a group of some twenty young hara.

A messenger informed Cobweb within a half hour of the group's arrival. Knowing Lisia would need some time to make arrangements at the hotel and settle in, Cobweb took his time dressing. It had been six years since they had last seen one another in person and he wanted his appearance to leave an impression. One particular detail he was eager to show off was his hair, which he had recently dyed with streaks of dark red. Each section of red had been braided so that it floated among his long black tresses like snakes.

Mid-afternoon on that summer day, Cobweb left the house on his horse and, making his way down to the hotel, he felt very keenly that it had been too long since he had seen his friend. The letters and thought messages had done well to keep them in touch, but there was something in a personal visit that had been lost -- and it wasn't only aruna. He looked forward to spending time with Lisia as well as the hara he had brought with him. These hara, after all, were the resulting success of the work Lisia had been doing at Harling Gardens these last few years.

All the hara on the trip had been raised at Harling Gardens, products of the breeding program. Their reason for coming to Galhea was simple: They were about to begin their lives. Lisia, after months of working with the Parasiel and Gelaming, as well as representatives of several other tribes, had arranged for a week of meetings and appointments for the two dozen young hara. Some hara were applying to enter into caste training programs, while others were trying to obtain jobs. About a third of the hara were looking simply for a place within another tribe or community where, some hoped, they could eventually become hostlings, perhaps even consorts to important hara. Having received their tuition at Harling Gardens, they were all ready to fly the nest and Lisia, true to his word those many years ago, was assisting them. Although these sorts of arrangements had been going on for some years, this was the first time a group from Harling Gardens had come to Galhea, the capital city.

Cobweb arrived the hotel, dismounted his horse and handed over the reins to the hotel staff member on hand. The party from Harling Gardens, he was informed, would be found in the main courtyard. They had spent some time unpacking but were eager to chat with one another and being so many, had needed to meet in the open space. Thanking the staff member, Cobweb headed down the main corridor towards the sound of chattering voices, the energy of young souls experiencing their first time outside their sheltered home in the mountains.

He did not make his presence immediately known. Rather he hid himself behind a potted shrub at the end of the shady corridor, just where it opened up to the courtyard. Scanning the crowd, he located Lisia immediately, listening to six different hara talk at the same time. Lisia was nodding, offering advice, and generally being the mother hen that he had apparently grown up to be. Those harlings could not have been left in better hands, Cobweb thought.

Even knowing from Lisia the variety of different futures the hara were interested in pursuing, Cobweb was nevertheless impressed by the range of ways the members of the group presented themselves. They were not, as the Gelaming had feared, all soume hostlings like Lisia. Some of them clearly favored this aspect of the their nature, but others had apparently followed other leanings and instincts. One particularly striking har had shaved his head bare and was outfitted rather like a Varr soldier, only thankfully with a softer edge and no weaponry. Cobweb wondered what Lisia had thought about that, although he assumed the har had been encouraged to pursue whatever ideals had appealed to him.

After about a minute of observation, Cobweb was finally observed himself. Lisia broke off from the six conversations, holding up one hand and waving the other towards the corridor, before swooping over and offering a warm embrace. "Oh, Cobweb, I'm so glad you've come down!"

"As am I," Cobweb returned, offering an embrace in return before stepping back. Despite the recent travel, Lisia was looking remarkably well, full of vigor and even managing to appear respectably stylish. Wearing the same orange silk ensemble he'd been wearing the first time Cobweb had met him -- in the dining hall at the breeding facility -- he'd set his hair in beaded orange net so that it hung in a bunch at the back of his head in a manner both becoming and practical.

"That hair treatment of yours is wonderful," Lisia complimented Cobweb. "Something I didn't hear about in your letters. It's lovely to see you again."

The two hara managed to squeeze in a couple of minutes' worth of catching up before Lisia was once again drawn into conversation with his wards. Cobweb slipped into the crowd with him and for the next hour followed along with a multitude of conversations, including introductions to each of the hara, compliments on his hair, and question after question about life in Galhea and the rest of the world. In some ways they reminded him of the young Lisia he'd spent time with seven years earlier. Cobweb was, however, strongly aware that these hara were considerably less naive. Harling Gardens' staff had been deliberate about bringing in hara and ideas from the outside world in order to prepare the harlings for eventual exit.

It was only as the chattering began to die down that Cobweb noticed something he hadn't noticed right away. One of the hara, whose name Cobweb couldn't recall, had a head full of long brown hair -- with a stripe of blond running down the strands to the right of his face. He couldn't help but note the resemblance to Lisia. Aware of the ex-hostling's feelings on the matter of knowing his own harlings, he was about to smother the thought when Lisia slipped up beside him.

"I know what you're thinking," he spoke in an undertone, "but the hair's dyed. He thinks it's attractive, ironically enough."

Cobweb chuckled. "Ah, I see. Well, then, speaking of ironic, I must admit I'm very impressed with the diversity of this group."

"How they're not all hostlings like me?" Lisia queried archly. "I'm sure Ashmael would just be astonished, wouldn't he?"

"Probably," Cobweb agreed.

Tight scheduling meant it was two evening later when Lisia was finally able to visit the house on the hill for dinner.

Swift, who had participated in a number of the meetings, kept Cobweb updated on the progress of Lisia's mission. There were still more negotiations ahead, but so far everything was going smoothly. Two hara, having served in a staff position at the school for several years, had been able to accept positions within the Parsic administration, while another was apprenticed to a local tailor. The har with the dyed blond streak was being considered by the Kalamah representatives as worthy of becoming one of their tribe. It might be some years before he could become a consort, as was his hope, but he at least would have a beginning.

Lisia arrived on a speckled brown horse. Cobweb was waiting in the drive and saw the horse taken away as he led Lisia inside.

"It seems like yesterday I was here last," Lisia observed.

"Does it?" Cobweb asked. "It was six years -- but I suppose being so busy, time just flew by."

They were now standing in the main hall. Coming down the staircase were Swift, Seel and seven-year-old Azriel.

"Time to relax, Lis!" Swift exclaimed agreeably. "No more negotiating positions for today."

Lis laughed. "I appreciate that."

Seel stepped forward and offered his hand. "Swift tells me you've been wheeling and dealing for the past two days."

The words were lost on Lisia. "'Wheeling and dealing?'"

"Sorry, just saying Swift says you've been doing a lot of work for the harlings-- hara."

"Ah, of course. Yes, I'm supposed to do what's best for them."

Azriel, tugging on Swift's hand, had by then brought them into the dining room. The harling was not only hungry, but wanting to keep the adults from their conversation.

"Az, you were little last time Lis was here," Swift said, taking a seat. "You might not remember him very clearly."

"Yes, I do!" the harling protested, looking over to their guest, who was sitting down with Cobweb. "You braided my hair!"

"That's right," Lisia confirmed. "That was after you tried to do mine -- a lot of hair for a little harling."

Everyone chatted as the meal was brought in. Just as they were saying a toast, Tyson came in, his hair in a tangle. He was wearing his riding clothes. He was becoming quite a horseman, Cobweb told Lisia. Tyson was working hard to be stand-offish but managed to greet Lisia with some civility. Surprisingly he asked about the visiting hara and said he might like to go down and talk to them.

Once the meal had wrapped up, Azriel and Tyson left the table, leaving parents and guest to catch up.

"Azriel's gotten so big," Lisia remarked.

"Tell me about it," Seel sighed wistfully. "He was so tiny when he was born."

Lisia had a bit of wine left in his glass and drained it slowly as he sat back in his chair relaxing. "You know there aren't many harlings left at Harling Gardens actually. The majority have passed their Feybraiah already. Even the very youngest ones are only as little as Azriel."

"You must feel a little sad," Swift speculated.

Lisia set down his glass. "A little. Mostly I feel good about it, since I really just want them all to be happy and safe. The only really hard thing for me is not having any little ones around -- no infants or toddlers, just all older harlings and young hara."

Cobweb had already heard some of this from Lisia in his letters and had a question he'd wondered about. "So do you think there will be harlings again up there?"

Lisia's face registered surprise. "At Harling Gardens? I... I guess there will be. Someday. Even right now probably there could be some but we don't want to get in trouble given the agreement that was made. Anyway, everybody is thinking they have to wait until the harlings are gone and we're running it all on our own as an education center. Then we won't have those same rules anymore about having pearls. Somebody will have some."

"Any idea who?" Swift asked.

Lisia laughed, sounding slightly uncomfortable. "Well, probably Branad and Effrana actually. They keep talking about it."

"Pansea's talked about it, too, hasn't he?" Cobweb asked.

"Yes, actually he brought it up with me just a few weeks ago." He ran a hand through his hair. "He and his chesnari are waiting on it until all the harlings have passed Feybraiah."

"Awwww, I bet Pansea would be a wonderful hostling," Swift said. "I mean, well..."

"Assuming he'd host," Lisia finished. "I know you meant that. Yes, he would host. I'm sure of it. Despite being aware of all his options, he's still very inclined towards having harlings."

Seel, who had been listening in but not commenting, came in with a question. "So what about you, Lis?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you, silly. Besides the school, are there any plans?"

"Plans for what?" Lisia cocked his head, wondering what Seel meant.

"Oh, I don't know, anything." Seel shrugged. "You were talking about other hara and their plans for families and so on. I was just wondering if you had any plans for yourself."

For an instant Lisia's face fell but he covered the look quickly, shaking his head. "No, not right now. Too much work to do. I really can't think about that sort of thing. I have other goals I want to tackle first."

Cobweb had gathered as much. "Like setting up all your harlings. Tell me, it's really going well?"

"So far," Lisia said. "The Kalamah were quite interesting. I've met some before during a visit a couple of years ago. Tomorrow we actually have some Kakkahaar coming here."

"To talk about caste training arrangements?" Swift asked.

Lisia nodded. "Yes, that's exactly what they're coming for. Fern and Stonewall are very interested in pursuing some high level study and the Kakkahaar were recommend as good teachers."

"I sent the Tigron to study with them, all those years ago," Seel recalled aloud before remembering the unsavory aspects of that story and clamping his mouth shut.

"They're following in famous footsteps then," Lisia said. "It's been very fascinating meeting all these different tribes."

A stray thought snuck into Cobweb's mind. "Have you heard from any Sulh?" he asked.

"Sulh?" Lisia furrowed his brow. "No, I don't think so."

"I'm not surprised," he said. "Nomads still."

"You don't ever have contact with them, do you?" Lisia asked.

"Actually he has, a couple times at least," Swift answered.

Cobweb eyed his son, a bit perturbed at having his thunder stolen. "Yes, I have. I do. I'll tell you about it later." To Lisia alone he projected the thought: After dinner, I'll tell you more.