He wondered if that made him a fool for love, if it made her a fool for love. He did love her, didn't he? 'Round and 'round the question went in his mind. There were a dozen anecdotes, more, to demonstrate what a fool he was. The songs she'd no doubt heard in some tavern, some inn, on the corner of a street, a minstrel crooning out words that were meant for her but delivered in generalities. The fact that he had an unusual fascination with pinecones, because they reminded him of Iluq, and so he sometimes pretended to use them when he was practicing 'herbalism'. Or Koe as he was now. Lying beside her, speaking to her as he might a lover, not a soul from the past that did not belong in the present. She was jarringly out of place here, in a way that he did not fear for himself. What did that mean? What was Ilyein doing here, for that matter?
No.
He had to concentrate on the present.
In songs you could count on a varying amount of strange circumstances taking you were you belonged, although not perhaps where you wanted to be. So it was for them. Iluq was here as if summoned by his longing and his lust and his alienation. Ilyien here as if summoned by his need for a stalwart companion. What role did the Prince play in all of this? Not her Prince. She had said as much to him, and he believed, but only because he was uncertain if he would stay should he fail to believe. Iluq was not incautious with her affection. She did not seek only what she wanted. The troubles of others were foremost in her mind in many ways. Which was probably how she fell in with this king and his son. Staying in one place for so long a time, Koe knew, was a recipe for disaster. It was far more interesting to catalog the changes of the world as you went.
Concentrate.
Ha. What would Minaht say if she could see him now?
"You mustn't fear," Koe told her with a sly smile, in spite of the fact that she could not see. "Dragons are a clever lot, Iluq. We've wings to fly above the cracking earth. I doubt we are so rare as you think. Just a touch more secretive than before."
He cleared his throat.
"As for specific dragons, well... it isn't often that I'm at a loss for words. Iluq..."
And he trailed off, trapped now in one of the infrequent moments he'd only just mentioned.