Arrow's Flight (heralds of Valdemar, #2)

The second book in the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy is set in the kingdom of Valdemar, a realm founded centuries ago on the principle that "There is no 'one, true way.'" Valdemar is governed with the help of Heralds, individuals Chosen by Companions, telepathic horse-like beings who forge lifelong mental bonds with those possessing psychic abilities and selfless natures. Heralds serve as judges, administrators, and information gatherers, and by law, the Monarch must also be a Herald. A special ageless Companion stallion always Chooses the Queen's Own Herald, the ruler's most trusted advisor.

The narrative opens as Talia, a young woman from the Holderkin, a puritanical, patriarchal frontier community, is voted into full Herald status by the Heraldic Circle, the governing council of Heralds, after training at the Collegium, the Heralds' school in the capital city of Haven. Talia's psychic Gift is Empathy, a rare ability that allows her to sense and influence emotions and heal damaged minds. Her Companion is Rolan, the ageless stallion, making her the Queen's Own Herald.

Political tension surrounds the succession. Princess Elspeth, Queen Selenay's daughter and Heir-presumptive, is nearly fourteen and has not been Chosen by a Companion, a prerequisite for inheriting the throne. Courtiers, led by the powerful Lord Orthallen, the chief Councilor, pressure Selenay to name a different Heir. The crisis resolves when Elspeth is drawn to the Grove, the sacred place where Companions first appeared, and a Companion named Gwena Chooses her. Talia formally petitions the Queen to enter Elspeth as a trainee, and at the coronation ceremony, Talia silently mouths the forgotten words to help the nervous girl through her vows.

During preparations for Elspeth's formal investiture, Talia notices courtiers giving her fearful glances and senses hostility from Councilors, though she cannot determine its cause. Dean Elcarth introduces Talia to Kris, a handsome Herald whose Gift of Farsight allows psychic perception at great distances, and his partner Dirk, a tall, homely Herald. Kris will serve as Talia's internship counselor for the eighteen months of field duty every new Herald must complete. At a celebration afterward, Talia and Dirk perform a mesmerizing duet, and Talia heals her friend Skif's crippling phobia from a near-fatal accident during his internship.

The night before departure, Lord Orthallen visits his nephew Kris and plants seeds of doubt about Talia, relaying Court rumors that she has used her empathic power to manipulate Council votes and foster unnatural dependence in Elspeth. Kris cannot entirely dismiss the possibility.

Talia and Kris depart for a Northern Border Sector with two chirras, large, intelligent pack animals with thick fur suited to harsh winters. When Kris shares the rumors, Talia enters a destructive cycle of self-doubt. She knows she has read Councilors' emotional states and acted on that information, but cannot determine where evaluation ends and manipulation begins. Her empathic shields, which have always functioned on instinct rather than conscious training, begin deteriorating. She increasingly feels Kris's doubts pressing against her and dreads contact with villagers.

At each stop, Talia handles disputes competently but retreats into silence between villages. Her control nearly shatters at Hevenbeck, where a serving maid examined under a Truth Spell, a magical compulsion forcing honest answers, proves violently unhinged. The girl's madness batters Talia's crumbling shields so forcefully that Talia instinctively puts her to sleep in self-defense. Kris rides back to the Waystation without a word, and his silence destroys the last of Talia's confidence.

When they discover a plague-stricken village near the Forest of Sorrows, Kris enters to tend the sick while Talia rides Rolan to a distant Healing Temple. During the ride, Rolan offers to hold her shields from outside, providing a calm she has not felt in weeks. She returns with Healer Kerithwyn, a plague specialist, and discovers she can channel energy to assist in Healing. Before they depart, Kerithwyn warns that Talia's shields are riddled with holes and she projects uncontrollably when not exhausted.

A catastrophic blizzard, the worst in recorded history, traps them in a Waystation. When Kris confronts Talia about Kerithwyn's warning, something inside her breaks. She projects waves of suicidal despair and killing rage so powerful that Kris is driven to his knees and Rolan begins attacking Kris's Companion Tantris. Kris forces her to see what she is doing, and the storm dies. He holds her as she weeps, recognizing that the rumors triggered a feedback loop: doubt eroded her instinctive control, and loss of control deepened doubt until everything collapsed.

In the aftermath, Kris, Tantris, and Rolan take turns imposing external shields on Talia. Shared vulnerability draws Talia and Kris into a physical relationship. Kris begins retraining her Gift from the most basic exercise, "ground and center," and is appalled to discover she was never properly taught it. Her Gift had operated entirely on instinct, with no conscious foundation to fall back on. Training is grueling: Kris uses his Farsight to observe her energy patterns while the Companions test her stability without warning. They also labor daily to dig out of massive snowdrifts.

After a month, a road crew rescues them. At a Resupply Station, Talia heals a local woman known as the Weatherwitch, a title reflecting her weather-sensing abilities, whose mind shattered after her infant drowned. The woman delivers a cryptic prophecy: Talia will reclaim what was hers, find her heart's desire only after seeing "the Havens," and her greatest joy will follow her greatest sorrow.

As they resume the circuit, Talia's control slowly improves, though many villagers wear charms against dark magic, having heard the rumors. At Midsummer, courier Skif delivers letters. Kris notes that Dirk's unusually long letter and gift of a ballad book betray deep feelings for Talia; Dirk privately calls her "little bird," after a shy forest songbird. When Kris tries to end his physical relationship with Talia, assuming she is infatuated, she punches him on the jaw. Both realize the misunderstanding: she feared she was manipulating him, while his assumption sprang from vanity. Their bond settles into genuine friendship, sealed by an exchange of silver rings, a token reserved for a Herald's dearest friends.

The defining trial comes at Westmark, where a mob pursues a foreign trader accused of murdering a local girl named Karli. Under a Truth Spell, the trader reveals Karli begged him to help her escape something she would not name. When the girl's stepfather lunges at the trader, Talia perceives the truth through his surge of fear: He has been raping both stepdaughters since their mother's death and killed Karli when she tried to flee. The surviving sister confirms this. Talia makes a deliberate decision to use her Gift as punishment, forcing the man into a mental loop where he relives his abuse from his victim's perspective, a compulsion he can break only by accepting his guilt. Two senior Heralds witness the act and ask whether she judges this ethical. She answers that her Gift is fully under her control and that she made a reasoned decision. They nod with satisfaction and depart.

Over the following days, Talia rebuilds the villagers' trust through compassionate service. By the time she and Kris complete the circuit, her shields hold and her projection is under conscious control. She confides to Kris that she remains troubled by where the ethical line falls between reading emotions and manipulating them. Kris assures her she has been ready since Westmark. As inn lights appear on the road south, Talia looks toward home.