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

no-nonsense competence that Blade despaired of emulating.
Now if I looked like that.... Ah, well. Too bad I inherited Mother's interior instead of her
exterior!
Unlike her mate, Winterhart had not dressed for a special occasion, which much relieved Blade. Her
costume of a long linen split skirt, tunic, and knee-length, many-pocketed vest, was similar to anything
she would wear on any other day. The only concession she had made to Amberdrake's sartorial splendor
was to harmonize with his browns and ambers with her own browns and creams.
"I hope we won't be unwelcome, but we would like to see you and Tadrith leaving, Blade,"
Winterhart said, quite casually, as if they were only leaving for a few days, not six months. "We do know
how to stay out from underfoot, after all. Yours is not the first expedition we've seen on its way."
Now it was her turn to flush. "Well, of course I want you there to see us off! Of course you won't be
in the way!" she replied, acutely embarrassed. "I would never think that!"
The only trouble was, deep down inside, she had been thinking precisely that.
She gulped down her cooling tea to cover her embarrassment and guilty conscience, as Amberdrake
toyed with a piece of bread, reducing it to a pile of crumbs.
He's trying to pretend that he isn't worried; trying to put on a brave face when I know he's
feeling anything but brave. Why? Why is he so worried? If he's transparent enough for me to see
through, he must be all of a knot inside.
Finally Amberdrake looked up at her, slowly chewing on his lower lip. "I know I probably seem as
if I am overreacting to this situation, ke'chara," he said quietly. "I shouldn't be so worked up over the
simple fact that you and your partner are going off on a normal, peaceful assignment. I realize that I am
being quite foolish about this, and I can't even pretend that I have some mysterious presentiment of
doom. It's all due to oldтАФwell, I suppose you'd have to call them habits, habits of feeling, perhaps."
Winterhart stood behind him and put her hands on his shoulders, gently massaging muscles that must
have been terribly tense. Outside, seabirds cried, greeting the dawn and the winds that would carry them
out to their fishing grounds.
Amberdrake reached up and covered one of his mate's hands with his own. "I have two problems
with this assignment, really, and neither of them is rational. The first is that it is you, my daughter, who is
going off for six months to a place that is unsettlingly far away. And you'll be all alone there, except for a
single gryphon. If it were someone else, I would see him or her off with a cheerful heart, and go about my
business."
"But it isn't," she stated.
"No." He sighed, and patted Winterhart's hand. "Your mother is handling this better than I."
"I have perfect confidence in Aubri and Judeth," Winterhart said serenely. "They wouldn't send
anyone that far away who wasn't prepared for any contingency." Her tone turned just a little sharp as she
looked down at him. "If you won't trust Blade, dearheart, at least trust them."
"Intellectually, I do." Amberdrake protested. "It's justтАФit's just that it's hard to convince the
emotions."
He turned back to Blade, who was even more embarrassed at her parent's decision to bare his soul
to her. She struggled not to show it. And underneath the embarrassment was exasperation.
Can't he learn that I am grown now, and don't need him to come haul me out of difficulties?
Can't he just let me go?
"The other problem I have is very old, older than you, by far," he told her earnestly. "And it has
absolutely nothing to do with your abilities; it's something I would still feel even if you were a warrior out
of legend with magical weapons at your side. It doesn't matter to my heart that this is peace time, that you
are simply going off to man a wilderness outpost. The point to my reaction is that you are going out.
WhenтАФ" momentary pain ghosted over his expressive features. "тАФwhen people used to go out, back in
the days of the wars, they didn't always come back." She opened her mouth to protest; he forestalled
her.
"I know this is peacetime, I know you are not going forth to combat an enemy, I know that there is