"Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon - Mage Wars 03 - The Silver Gryphon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

thinks will listen how there's never been anyone as young as I am posted so far away on his first
assignment."
Blade laughed ruefully. "You're probably right. And mine is probably doing the same—except—"
 She didn't complete the sentence, but Tadrith knew her well enough not to pressure her. They each
had their own set of problems, and talking about them wasn't going to solve them.
Only time would do that.
Or so he hoped.

Silverblade sat back on her heels when the twins began to argue over what Tadrith should pack.
She was in no real hurry to get back home; since she was still living with her parents, she did not even
have the illusion of privacy that her own aerie would have provided. The moment she walked in the door,
the questions and congratulations—bracketed by thinly-veiled worry—would begin, and at the moment
she did not feel up to fielding them.
She breathed in the scent of salt air and sunbaked rock, half closing her eyes. I love this place. The
only neighbors are other gryphons, quiet enough that the sound of the surf covers any noise they
might make. And I love the fact that there are no other humans nearby, only tervardi, gryphons,
and a few kyree.
How she envied Tad his freedom! He really had no notion just how easy a parent Skandranon was
to deal with. The Black Gryphon had a sound, if instinctive and not entirely reliable, knowledge of just
when to shut his beak and let Tad go his own way. He also attempted to restrain his enthusiasm for the
accomplishments of his twins, although it was difficult for him. But at least he showed that he approved;
Amberdrake had never been happy with the path-choice his daughter had made, and although he tried
not to let his disapproval color their relationship, it leaked through anyway. How could it not?
Perhaps "disapproval" was too strong a word. Amberdrake understood warriors; he had worked
with them for most of his life. He respected them most profoundly. He liked them, and he even
understood all of the drives that fueled their actions.
He simply did not understand why his child and Winterhart's would want to be a warrior. He can't
fathom how he and Mother produced someone like me. By all rights, with everything that they
taught me, I should never have been attracted to this life.
That was a gap of understanding that probably would never be bridged, and Blade had yet to come
up with a way of explaining herself that would explain the riddle to him. "Blade, would you play secretary
and write the list for me?" Tadrith pleaded, interrupting her reverie. "Otherwise I know I'm going to forget
something important."
"If you do, you can always have it Gated to us," she pointed out, and laughed when he lowered his
eartufts.
"That would be so humiliating I would rather do without!" he exclaimed. "I'd never hear the last of it!
Please, just go get a silver-stick and paper from the box and help me, would you?"
"What else are gryphon-partners for, except doing paperwork?" she responded, as she rose and
sauntered across the room to the small chest that held a variety of oddments the twins found occasionally
useful, each in its appointed place. The chest, carved of a fragrant wood that the Haighlei called sadar,
held a series of compartmentalized trays holding all manner of helpful things. Among them were a box of
soft, silver sticks and a block of tough reed-paper, both manufactured by the Haighlei. She extracted
both, and returned to her seat beside Tad. She leaned up against him, bracing herself against his warm
bulk, using her knees as an impromptu writing desk.
As the twins argued over each item before agreeing to add it to the list or leave it out, she waited
patiently. Only once did she speak up during the course of the argument, as Keenath insisted that Tad
include a particular type of healer's kit and Tad argued against it on the grounds of weight.
She slapped his shoulder to get him to be quiet. "Who is the trondi'irn here?" she demanded. "You,
or Keeth?" Tad turned his head abruptly, as if he had forgotten that she was there. "You mean, since he's
the expert, I ought to listen to him."