Lirith cast one of her mysterious smiles at Grace. 'I'll miss you, sister."

Grace nodded. An ache welled up in her chest.

522 mark anthony them all, that she.wanted them to take care of themselves, and that she was so terribly afraid they would never come back. But the mist seemed to creep into her lungs, constricting them, and all she could say ill a soft voice was, "Goodbye."

The three wheeled their horses around and rode across the bailey. After a moment the fog closed behind them, and they were gone. Grace gazed into the mist, then sighed, turned, and headed back into the castle.

It took her longer than she had intended to return to their chambers.

However, in Castle Spardis--she had discovered over the last two days--the shortest distance between two points was nothing even close to resembling a straight line. She passed through archways to nowhere, walked down corridors that led her in circles, and climbed stairways that ended in blank walls.

In a way getting lost was welcome, for it gave her time to think--something she had not had in great quantities since leaving Calavere. Falken, Durge, and Lirith had their mission, and Grace had hers. And it wasn't simply determining the political situation in Spardis.

536.

Once again, in her mind, she went over every aspect of Melia's condition she had been able to assess. Melia's breath rate and pulse were depressed, and she exhibited no pain response. However, her pupils still responded to light, and there was no sign of reflexive contraction in her extremities. That was good--it meant there wasn't brain damage.

If brain damage was even something one like Melia could suffer from And that was part of the problem. Melia was not mortal. Grace had no idea what effect that had on hei physiology--if the lady even had a physiology. However, Grace had no choice but to treat her as she would anyone, and so far there was nothing that indi- 523.

She had examined the room where Melia fell, but she had found nothing of interest--some furniture, a tapestry, and a marble bust of a man. That was all. Beltan had suggested the wine might have been the cause, but all of them had drunk of the same wine, and Lord Siferd was the lastperson in the castle who would have wanted to poison Melia. Besides, Lirith had examined the residue in the wine goblet with the Touch, and she had detected no trace of toxin.

Before Grace found any answers, she found their room. With a breath she opened the door and stepped through. Travis looked up from the chair in which he had been slumping.

"Well," she said, "they're gone."

He nodded, his gray eyes dim behind his spectacles.

Grace glanced at the door that led to Melia's chamber. "How is she?"

"The same. Beltan's with her. He still won't sleep. I think he's waiting until he collapses on top of her. But Aryn and Tira are resting in the other room."

"You should get some rest yourself. You look awful."

537.

He grinned up at her. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Travis lay down on a cot. Grace set his spectacles on a table and covered him with a blanket. Then she rose and started to turn away. "Do you think they'll do it?" His voice was low and hoarse. "Get the Stone of Fire from Dakarreth."

Grace turned around. His eyes were shut.

"I don't know," she said. "Yes, I believe so. I think maybe I have to."

Travis did not open his eyes, but he nodded. Grace watched him until his breathing grew deep and even--it took a minute, perhaps less--then she moved across the room and slipped quietly through 524 * mark anthony Now what?

She sighed. There was nothing more she could do to help Melia. She supposed she might as well work on her other mission, the one given her by Boreas, although it hardly seemed important. If Falken failed, then who ruled what Dominion would be moot. Dakarreth would rule them all.

But if she really believed the bard was going to succeed, then it was important to find out who this new regent was, and whether he had Queen Inara's and Prince Perseth's best interests in mind.

Renewed purpose brought energy to Grace's limbs. She started down the corridor.

Five missteps, a half-dozen questions asked of servants, and thirty minutes later, she found herself in front of a gilded door in the castle's north wing. Exactly which north wing it was she couldn't say, for Spardis seemed to have three of them. As she approached the door, two guards in black polished armor intercepted her, crossing spears to bar the way.538 "No one is to disturb Queen Inara," one of them growled.

Grace took a quick step back to avoid having her nose sliced off. "Then could I please send a message to her?"

"The queen is taking no messages during her seclusion."

She lifted a hand to her chest. "By whose orders?"

"By command of the regent. If you wish to send a message to the queen, you may petition the regent when he returns."

Grace ducked her head, then turned and walked down the corridor before she got a spear stuck in her. She hadn't thought she would be able to get in to see the queen, but the attempt had been interesting. If Inara really was in seclusion, shouldn't the prohibition against communication have been her own?

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