Teela’s eyes darkened, although in the evening light the difference wasn’t as marked.

“Bakkon is going to join us, and most people have never seen a giant spider.”

“He is not a spider,” the Barrani Hawk said.

“Well, no, of course not—but he looks a lot like one, and I don’t want his presence to cause such a huge shock that...” She trailed off, but Kaylin understood: she didn’t want Mrs. Erickson to have a panic attack—or worse. “He really is a gentle person, and he wanted to come because he has some suspicions about what was done here—or what was tried.” To Kaylin, she said, “Mrs. Erickson has been telling me about her friends.”

“Have you seen them?”

Serralyn shook her head. “I might be able to do it if I follow Terrano—but it gives me a terrible headache, and I’m not sure that will be helpful.”

“Why doesn’t Terrano get headaches?”

“He is a headache; he doesn’t get them,” Teela said.

Mandoran laughed. He approached Mrs. Erickson and offered her a very correct bow, or correct if she had been Barrani. “Kaylin has said a lot about you.”

“Oh, dear.”

“No, it was all good. She also said you bake?”

Mrs. Erickson’s smile deepened. “It happens I do, and I didn’t manage to get to the High Halls today. Come, I made cookies. I hope you’ll all eat them—they really don’t age well.”

“Please wait a moment,” Serralyn told the old woman. “I’ll let Bakkon know that we’re all here.”

“I don’t have a mirror,” Mrs. Erickson began.

“I don’t need a mirror—Bakkon’s attached a bit of web to me, and all I have to do is pull it. He’ll follow the strand here, without walking through the streets.” She glanced at Kaylin, and added, “The Halls of Law get really busy when people are afraid, and a lot of people are afraid of garden-variety spiders that are utterly harmless. A Wevaran is going to generate a lot of panicked reports.”

“That makes sense. I admit I’m curious,” Mrs. Erickson replied.

She was also nervous, to Kaylin’s eye. To Kaylin’s surprise, she could see the thread Serralyn mentioned; it was bound around her wrist, so slender she’d missed it on first glance. Serralyn tapped it gently, as if afraid it would break.

Bakkon emerged from thin air, two legs at a time, as if he was carefully cutting a hole in reality through which he could step. She couldn’t see what lay behind him, and wondered if he could just...spit web that could portal him back to the Academia.

Kaylin, being petty, hoped the neighbor was spying through one of his windows.