Chapter 6

Having discreetly slipped out of the guest room after Lisia expressed a desire to sleep alone, Cobweb awoke the next morning in his own bedroom.

It was to be a busy day for Lisia, his first appearance giving testimony before the House, and once he was dressed, Cobweb decided to go by and invite him down to breakfast. Aruna the evening before had been relaxing and fulfilling for both of them and Cobweb was eager to continue their friendship and help him experience the world outside Harling Gardens for the first time in his life.

Cobweb tapped at the bedroom door. "Lis, are you up? It's Cobweb."

"Come in!" he called. When Cobweb came in, Lisia was at the dressing table already in a blouse and long skirt, his face made up for the day. He'd reshaped his long light brown hair into a convoluted bun at the back of his head, sticking it with hairpins. He turned away from the mirror. "How do I look?"

Cobweb moved in closer. "Confident and beautiful."

Lisia grinned and modestly looked away. "Thank you. I'm trying to be sure I look all right for the hearing." He got up and went over to the bed, where for the first time Cobweb noticed sheets of marked up paper scattered all over. Lisia picked up a notebook and began to gather up the papers, stuffing them inside the cover. "I woke up early to review my notes and come up with a final outline of what I want to say. Hopefully that goes well too."

"Oh, I'm sure it will," Cobweb said encouragingly. During the hearing Lisia was expected to deliver a narrative on the basics of his life at the facility, and give an accounting of the present situation, and plans for Harling Gardens' future.

"Maybe..." Lisia sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Maybe it will. I don't know. I mean, I've told a lot of people already, so that part's easier, but this is all so official. It feels so final to me, like what I say here is going to affect things for a long time."

"Probably it will," Cobweb said. "I hope it will. There should never be a need for a place like Harling Gardens."

Lisia was away at the hearings until late afternoon. Cobweb stayed home, painting in his workroom. Tyson was busy with lessons and Azriel accompanied Byrony on a trip to the markets for household supplies. All day long his mind kept going to the hearings, imagining the scene and what Lisia would be saying. He also found himself wondering what he would say in his place.

Cobweb had never been placed on trial in such a way, never forced to give testimony before a hearing. There had been some talk of it, rumblings among some of the Gelaming as well as former Varrs, but Swift had used his authority to squash the possibility before any serious debate arose. No one ever asked Cobweb what he knew of Terzian's activities or those of other Varr leaders. For this Cobweb had always been grateful, as for him it was not something he wished to discuss. No one could possibly understand what he had gone through anyway, the choices he had made, and so to explain it, especially to an audience ready to assign blame and guilt, was not a desire of his.

Finishing up the painting he'd worked on, around three o'clock he decided to take an hour's horseback ride through the countryside. It was lovely to have such freedom, to have the harlings safely cared for and for the terrors of war to have finally disappeared. No longer was Forever a haven of peace amidst war; now it was the center of a more peaceful, hopeful world. Out in the woods Cobweb enacted a small ritual for Lisia's benefit, praying that, just as he'd said that morning, there would never be another Harling Gardens. No more war, no more bondage. Those days would be behind them.

Returning to the house through the fields behind, Cobweb was able to sense that the harlings were both at home, out in the garden. They were with Lisia. He left his horse with the stable hand and stealthily made his way down the garden path, wanting for a moment to observe how Lisia and the harlings were doing together.

They were all settled into a corner of grass by a densely landscaped section of the garden. From Azriel's alternately rapt and delighted expressions, along with Tyson's more skeptical smirk, it seemed Lisia was telling a story, animating it with his hands. Lisia had let down his hair and looked very comfortable.

Azriel let out a squeal and clapped as the story apparently came to an end, jumping up and wrapping his arms around Lisia from behind. Edging in closer, Cobweb saw that Tyson had a pad of paper and had actually been sketching during the story. Azriel, seeing his grandhostling, giggled and scrambled behind a bush, pretending to hide, while Tyson, not seeing Cobweb approach, began to talk.

"You're so good with Azriel, Tiahaar Lisia," he said.

"Thank you, Tyson. He's a very good harling. So are you." Lisia glanced up at Cobweb, now only a few paces behind, although Tyson still didn't see him.

"Well, not everyone is so good with harlings," Tyson elaborated, Azriel meanwhile darting out to scurry behind another flower bush. "You must be a great hostling. Do you have a lot of harlings?"

Cobweb winced at the question. Lisia's face froze for only a moment, however, hardly long enough for the child to have noticed. "I am headmaster at a school in the northwest mountains. There are over 180 harlings at Harling Gardens."

"180! Whoah, I can hardly believe it -- that's a lot of harlings!"

"Yes, but we have a lot of hara looking after them. That's why I'm so good with harlings. Still, coming here-- Ow!" Lisia jumped and twisted around as Azriel tugged forcefully on his hair. "Azriel, stop that! It hurts!"

"But I wanted to braid it!" he cried, surprised and holding two clumps of hair in his small hands.

Lisia reached over and swept Azriel onto his lap. "That's very sweet of you, but I think before you do that, you ought to get a comb and some ribbons. You can get some from inside and then I'll show you how to do it. If you want to look nice for dinner I could ever put braids in your hair. Would you like that?"

"Would you really!?" Azriel asked excitedly, running towards Cobweb as soon as he saw Lisia begin to nod his head.

When he ran into Cobweb, he found himself stopped in his tracks, albeit briefly. "Tyson," Cobweb called out, alerting his harling to his presence, "go with your brother to help him find what he needs. Go in my room to find one of the smaller combs and take some ribbons and things. You know where it is, but Az is a little small to reach them."

With both harlings disappearing into the house, Cobweb approached Lisia and slipped down onto the grass beside him. Lisia was looking relieved the harlings had gone.

"Lis, I'm sorry about that," Cobweb began, apologetically.

"About what?" Lisia leaned over to exam a flower at the edge of the lawn.

"The harlings -- really I'm sorry Tyson had to ask you that question."

Lisia straightened and shrugged. "Oh, he was just being a normal harling, always curious."

"But asking you if you had harlings..."

"Is normal," Lisia finished for him. "It hurts me to think about it but I have to think about it every day. I gave testimony on it in front of a few hundred hara today. Anyway, it's always on my mind. This was just another example of it."

He sighed, pulling a section of his hair over his shoulder so he could work on the knot Azriel had put in it. "Speaking of examples, I must admit I'm still trying to understanding how this... 'family' works. You said for Tyson to go help his 'brother' but Azriel isn't really his brother, is he? He's his--"

"Tyson is Azriel's half-uncle," Cobweb cut in, "if you want to split hairs. Around here it's always been easier just to say they're brothers. They're practically brothers, close in age and living together."

"I guess that makes sense. It's just that we never--" Lisia paused, a catch in his throat.

"Never...?"

"Never thought of ourselves like that. I never had a family, any 'brothers.' It was just hostlings and then everyone else."

At that point Azriel could be heard singing out from inside the house, a silly song about braids and flowers, and thus the conversation was ended. Lisia's pained expression morphed into a confident smile and soon both harlings were leaning how to make proper braids. Cobweb, listening in, was not thinking so much about Tyson and Azriel as he was about the harlings who were absent: Lisia's 24, none of whom would ever know him as their hostling.