Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 437
but they did nothing to penetrate Tamsin’s air of gloom, and
that was his main concern right now. He had no miracle to
cure her of her grief.
She glanced wearily at him as he matched her pace.
"How are you doing?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I dunno."
Jordan took a pull from the waterskin he had bought in a
hamlet outside Rhiene. "Shall I tell you a story?"
She considered this idea. "What kind of a story? I don’t
want you to cheer me up."
"Well, I could tell you something depressing, then."
"No."
"How about something that’s just true?"
"I don’t want--" she gulped. "To hear a story."
They rode on in silence for a while. Jordan was thinking.
Eventually he asked, "Have you ever seen the queen’s summer
palace?"
"No."
"You want me to describe it to you?"
Tamsin sat up straighter. "Look, you don’t have to-okay,
why not. But not like it is now, all covered in blood.
Tell me what it used to look like before the war."
Of course Jordan had never seen it that way, because
Armiger had arrived well into the siege. He could imagine it
though, with his mental blueprints and eye for the architectural
detail buried under the siege scaffolding. And there were many
places inside that were untouched.
"They built it in a valley where there’s a tiny oasis,
centuries ago. The first building was a chapel of some kind-you
can still see traces of it in the stonework at the base of the
high tower. It’s all built of stone the same color as the sand
we’re riding over. Now there’s a big ring wall around the