"Who did what work?" she asked, confused. Did he ever speak plainly, she wondered with a touch of exasperation. Turning back, she looked at the image of Tavis again, the way he seemed to watch her. She was about to take another step closer when she felt a deep frustration from the man behind her. Startled to sense an emotion from him at all, she turned but the scene had changed.

He was still there, but further away now, in a separate pool of light. He was on his knees, sobbing over something clutched in his arms. She tried to walk to the closest edge of her own sphere of light, but never got closer to either the edge or the kneeling man.

Around him, the ground was stained red, and she realized that it was an unmoving woman he clutched to his chest. Fay's stomach turned when she realized it was the woman's blood everywhere, soaking his clothes, still leaking out of her torn body. As she watched, he held the dead woman tighter and cried out in grief. She wanted to reach out and comfort him, but the distance between them never diminished.

As he continued to sob in anguish, several figures, indistinct in cloaks draped to cover every part of them appeared out of the shadows. They descended upon the blond man and grabbed his head, his shoulders, arms, legs, and dragged him away from the body. They carried him backward as he fought to free himself from their grip, but Fay wasn't sure if they were really moving, even though the body was gone. The scene she witnessed remained the same distance from her, though she had stopped trying to reach the other light pool. The man's struggles caused him to look over his shoulder and he cried out again, in fear this time. They were dragging him toward a large golden frame with silver symbols shining across the top. His struggles grew frenzied and he finally managed to free one arm from his captors, but then it was too late for escape. They were pressing him through the frame, and a rippling substance that she knew should be but couldn't be gla.s.s formed around him as he disappeared through the golden rectangle.

The other light went out, the scene vanishing with it. His voice drifted out of the darkness, wrapping around her. You see, Faylanna? I understand loss. I can grasp the pain you feel over the death of someone you loved. I know what it is to be pursued, to fear discovery by others. Can he ever understand you as I do, my sweet? Be mine, wait for me. It will be time soon enough, then I will show you how we were meant to be together.

Fay woke up with a start, confusion at his final words warring with horror from the scene he had shown her. How does he shape the dream like that, she wondered, trying to calm her racing heart. She was just starting to get herself back under control when a hand was laid lightly on her upper arm and she strangled a scream, flinching away from the hand and thinking of cloaked figures and golden frames. The movement brought her around to face Eliar, who looked shocked and contrite, his hand frozen in place. She let her breath out slowly as her heart again began to calm down.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to startle you," he whispered.

She nodded and they both relaxed a little. He pulled his hand back, but remained crouched by the side of the alcove where the little bed sat. Fay looked and was grateful to see Tavis, who was sprawled out in his corner of the room, still asleep. She drew her knees up under her chin and wrapped her arms around them. She knew that sleep would be a long time returning this night, if it came at all.

"Do you often have nightmares like that?" Eliar asked her, his eyes still intent on her.

She shook her head and then felt a bit guilty. She clarified, "Never like that one, no. It was..."

She shuddered as she trailed off and he put his hand back on her upper arm. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She stared at him and after a moment he dropped his hand. "Can I ask you a question first? You hate my father." She waited for him to nod before going on. "Why? What's he done that's so awful? Ganson said in his message that my father was involved in some plan, but he didn't say what. In fact, that night in the study, he- He was going to tell me something, but didn't get a chance to. I want to understand what's going on, since it clearly affects me."

Eliar frowned. "There has been bad blood between your father and I, but I shouldn't have been so harsh with you. Calder isn't your fault. I know enough of you to be sure that you aren't like him."

"You don't know me at all."

He smiled faintly. "But I do. Samell and I kept up a correspondence over the years since I was his mentor, as best we could at least. He has written of you in his letters to me several times since you went to Voleno." Eliar sighed. "He thought quite highly of you, and I imagine he would be... well, more than disappointed with the reception I gave you."

Fay suddenly remembered the bundle of letters she had been given. She slipped out of the bed and dug them out of her bag, handing them to Eliar before getting back under the covers. He looked at her, frowning again. "He left me a caeldar, that was how I knew to come to you. He said you could help me, but he also left these for me, he said 'in case age and bitterness overcome his good sense.' I- I'm not trying to make you feel bad," she said quickly as his face fell while he looked down at the stack of folded parchment. "But I'm guessing they're your letters to him, and I think you should have them. In any case, I guess I thought that if I just got here- I didn't expect that creature- None of this is how I thought my life would go after I graduated."

She heard the frustration in her own voice and pulled her knees tighter to her chest, pressing her face into them. His voice, more gentle than she had heard him yet, said, "I will help if I can. If you'll let me. I am truly sorry, Faylanna, to have ignored everything Ganson said about your relationship with your father. If I had listened to him more carefully... Ah well, regrets are part of living to this great an age."

Lifting her head, she stared into his eyes. There was very little light in the room with only a single candle burning, and his face was shadowed, light gracing only the edges, but she could still see real remorse there. She told him about the blond man being there, about the vision of him with the dead woman, but not what he had said to her both before and after the vision. A part of her thought she should explain that as well, but those parts, like the other dreams, had seemed private, somehow just between herself and the blond man, so she kept them to herself. She also didn't mention the image of Tavis, too confused by that to know how to explain it or the feelings it had caused. She wasn't sure that his own great-grandfather was the right person to talk to about him either.

When she was done, Eliar sat down on the floor near her, his back leaning against a nearby chair from the table. By this time, she was sitting on the edge of the bed with one leg folded under her and the other trailing over the edge. He was quiet for several minutes. "Let me tell you a story in return, because this nightmare of yours sounds very much like it. A long time ago, when Ganson was a young man just graduated and I was still working on my first century, a terrible crime happened in Rianza. A young woman was killed, and her partner was accused of the murder, and something worse. The facts of the case were uncertain, as there were no witnesses and the accused was p.r.o.nounced unfit after her death, but he was found alone with her body, in a scene described almost exactly as you saw it in your dream." He paused. "I find it odd that you could describe it so accurately. I saw only the aftermath, what was left after they took him away, though they did not imprison him in one of the Mirrors of Bershan immediately as your dream suggests."

"What's a Mirror of Bershan?"

"It's a special type of prison, really, or at least that's what we've been using them for. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of them. It's a very esoteric subject, especially now that all of them are in use. And I guess that your question answers mine as to whether you had ever studied the case. If you had, you'd already know about the Mirrors. There are nine of them, and they were found, as you might surmise, very near Bershan. You can lock a person in them and they aren't able to free themselves. Magic doesn't seem to work in them, though I never discovered why that is. I studied the last empty one for a time in my youth, before they used it to imprison Marcius."

"The man my dream reminded you of?"

Eliar fixed her with a steady gaze for a moment before nodding. "They did hold a trial, but I thought it was mostly for show. There was no one else to accuse and they couldn't let such things go unpunished. Landra, his partner, was loved by many. She was a delightful girl."

Fay stared at him for a while. "You weren't convinced he did it."

It wasn't a question and he didn't bother to treat it as one. "It didn't matter. He was definitely damaged by her death, and maybe that accounts for what he did afterward. He was dangerous, needed to be restrained. But no, I thought her death was far too conveniently timed to be an act of pa.s.sion as they tried to present it at the trial."

"I don't understand."

"Landra was an Investigator, just as Dal Brinds was. She was a friend of my own partner, and told Evala that she was on the verge of something important, vital to the safety of the Empire. It was in a letter that came to Evala just days after Landra's death, but she didn't tell us what she was investigating, and none of it was mentioned at Marcius' trial. We couldn't mention it, because we had nothing concrete to point to. She never even suggested what she suspected."

Fay was thinking aloud more than speaking as she said, "So Marcius might be innocent..."

"Of the murder of his partner? Possibly, but Faylanna, he was not sane afterward, and a Magicia of questionable sanity cannot be allowed to roam free. Beyond that. what he did afterward, just before they found him, well, that only made him more dangerous."

"I don't understand," she repeated.

"Don't ask. I won't tell you. Some things should be allowed to lie buried." His tone was too final for her to argue. Neither of them said anything for a while, until Eliar asked, "Faylanna, tell me, why have you never chosen a partner? You must have had offers. Samell was certain that there had been, though he said you never talked about it. He said that you were refusing to choose. He never wanted to press you about it, but I have to ask. Why?"

She played with the sleeve of her tunic for a little while before answering, still not looking up at him. She thought about how much she wanted to share with him of her final conversation with her mentor and settled on only part of it. "He was right. There were offers. More than a few, actually, both in Rianza and Voleno. I- I turned them down, kindly I think, but I couldn't accept. I guess I'm not surprised that Professor Ganson knew about it long before I ever mentioned it to him."

"Why turn it down though? Almost every student I ever knew at any academy jumped at a chance to bond with a partner. I can think of very few who refused an offer and not one single person who did so more than once. I think the fear of being left behind dogged those who had done it once. So why have you, by your own admission, refused to accept any offer, courting that very fate?"

Again, she took a while to answer, trying to find words to express the thoughts she wanted to share without exposing those she didn't yet trust this man with. "You can't stand my father, I understand that and I'm sure you have your own reasons, but you don't know what it's like being his daughter. You've never heard him rail about needing a partner. I am and I have. And I hated every minute of it. From almost the beginning of my schooling in magic, he would tell me to find the strongest partner I could, not to settle for anyone weak, but that I needed a partner. I got so sick of hearing it. It was a relief, really, when the Council chose to transfer me to Voleno. I didn't have to see him so often and even his letters were less frequent." She paused to get her rising anger under control. "I'm not sure if he'd be furious or thrilled at my refusal of the offers I've had. He always says I have to have a partner , but that they must be as strong as I am, and all of the offers were from others whose talents were not- well, not as strong." She found her eyes drawn to Tavis' sleeping shadow in the near-darkness. "I guess I want to prove my father wrong. I want to prove them all wrong, show them that I'm strong enough on my own. Because they all feel like my father does, everyone. No one talks about it as bluntly as he does, but they all think that a Magicia needs a partner to be capable. Even you."

Fay looked up at him as she said this, and he turned away from her calm, steady gaze. She felt a small thrill of victory when he did. "I'll admit, it would probably be easier to take a partner. It would certainly make everyone else more comfortable around me, but if I do that without accomplishing something myself, I think I'll always wonder if I could have. I might always regret not proving myself." She paused for a minute and found her eyes again strangely drawn to Tavis as she added, "Besides, I can't say that I've ever found anyone I would seriously consider as a partner until now."

Eliar had also been looking at Tavis when she said that, but then he turned back to her, an eyebrow raised. "Until now?" She blushed but didn't know how to reply regarding something she hadn't really been aware of herself. She wondered if she could really be contemplating that with Tavis, who she barely knew. After a moment, Eliar nodded thoughtfully and patted her arm. "Go back to sleep. I'll be doing the same."

He stood slowly, joints creaking and went to the door. She saw him seal it and then cast a ward that wove into the very walls of the house. She lay down on the bed, thinking sleep would never come but then he started to hum again and she did sleep, dreamlessly this time.

When her eyes opened again, early morning light was streaming through the windows of the cottage. As she climbed out of the bed and stretched, she realized that she was alone in the house. A quick check showed Tavis' bags still in the corner with hers. She ran her fingers through her hair, working out the night's tangles as she considered where the two men might have gone. Before she could think of anything though, the door opened and Eliar came in with a bucket of water in one hand.

"Oh good, you're awake finally. Want a cup of tea?"

"Sure. Is Tavis out there?"

"No, I sent him off to Harkol when we got up. He's got a note for the innkeeper, and I told him not to take no for an answer." Seeing her confusion, he said, "I'm going to borrow the cart that some idiot left behind when he couldn't pay his bill at the inn, and a horse too. I'm getting a bit old for riding all the way to Rianza."

She smiled at this and watched him make tea for both of them, then put out a loaf of bread and a jar of preserves. As she helped herself to both, Eliar asked her, "When you told me yesterday what happened in Voleno, you mentioned that Brinds was yelling something but you didn't say what. I didn't get a chance to ask you about that. Do you remember any of what he said?"

She chewed on her breakfast as she considered this. "It didn't make any sense." She closed her eyes and concentrated. The words came back to her and her eyes popped open. "He started out talking about some man making a move and said he knew my father would make trouble. He asked Professor Ganson about a plan to get 'her' away if they needed to. He was talking about me, I think."

Eliar's face was a little pale as he listened to her. After a short silence he said, "Yes, he was. I think I mentioned to you that Brinds was an Investigator. His purpose in Voleno, aside from the necessity of being near his partner, was to keep an eye out for anyone or anything that might be trying to get to you. Your father has had plans for you that are possibly dangerous, if what little we know is true, and I don't think that anything has ever dissuaded him from them. To be honest, I believe it's a risk just taking you back into Rianza, but I can't see any better option, and there's someone I think you need to meet."

"Is my father really that dangerous?" she asked, surprised.

"I'm not sure," Eliar said with a sigh. "But you shouldn't trust him at all until we know what's going on. There's too much that I'm uncertain about right now for me to say anything more."

As they were clearing up from breakfast, Fay asked, "Last night, you mentioned your own partner. I-" She stood at the table with her back to him, hesitating. She knew that she was about to breach etiquette badly, but needed to ask her question of someone. "I guess that she's pa.s.sed now, but I was hoping you could tell me what it's like, being bound to another Magicia."

He was silent for so long that she started berating herself for opening up what was very likely a painful subject for him. When she turned to face him though, his expression was a mix of sadness and surprise. "Has no one ever told you about it before? Your father, or mother? Samell?"

She looked down, surprised at the awkwardness of his question for her. "My mother died when I was very young, and my father has refused to speak of her since in any way. At the Voleno Academy, they didn't teach me about bound magic, since I didn't have a partner to learn it with. And I didn't think- I had never really thought about Professor Ganson having a partner until that last night. He never talked about Brinds at all, and I certainly hadn't seen them together before then, so it seemed like he didn't have one sometimes, even though I guess I knew better, given the professor's age."

By the time she finished, her voice was very faint. Eliar came over and put an arm around her shoulders, but she remained very still, struggling not to cry anymore. She was tired of crying. Finally, he started speaking. "The moment the bond forms is a very emotionally charged experience. I don't think you're ever closer to your partner than during that moment, perhaps because it's when you have chosen them over all others. The bond links you in such a deep way that you're totally open to each other. When I bonded with Evala, I could hear her thoughts, feel her feelings as if they were my own for the first few minutes. It was a bit disconcerting, to tell you the truth. I learned that men and women think a little differently." He chuckled. "After that, it fades a little, but you're always aware of them, where they are mostly. A bit like having an extra limb. You know without needing to look or see. You're also aware of their emotions, though the degree varies with the strength of the bond you form, something that I will warn you has nothing to do with magical ability.

"When you actually do magic together, weave a spellwork that requires both of you working in concert, things change, your mind changes. You have to function as a single mind, and you do. I can't really describe that. Words have never, to my mind, captured the full depth and texture of that experience. But it is a wonderful experience, if a very intimate one. I believe that may be why the bond so often results in a romantic relationship later, if it wasn't there before the bond. It's hard to resist that level of intimacy, or to love someone that you don't share it with, once you've experienced it. You won't know anyone else in your life as well as you know your partner, if you ever choose one, Faylanna."

They walked out into the morning sun, which turned the river into a strip of gold across the meadow, and they were each quietly caught up in their own thoughts. After a while, Eliar said, "I have to say, I admire your courage. Going against every expectation in our society, going after what you want and waiting. That takes real fort.i.tude, my dear."

She smiled, despite her guilty feeling at all she hadn't told him. "Professor Ganson said something a lot like that on the rare occasions when the subject came up."

"Well he would. I think he regretted choosing Dal. They were very different men, which always makes it harder to work together the way you have to as partners."

Fay shrugged but thought of the bitterness she'd heard in Ganson's voice that last night as he'd condemned the pressure on students to choose early. As she was considering this, she heard hoof beats and turned. Tavis was driving a cart up the road they had followed only the day before, Swift in the traces. He pulled the cart to a stop near them, and smiled at Fay before turning to Eliar. "I got the cart, but Drin wouldn't let me borrow a horse. He said I didn't need another one."

Eliar grunted at that and went back toward the cottage. Tavis swung down from the driver's bench on the cart and turned to Fay. His eyes caught hers, and the smile still on his face broadened into the one she was coming to like so much. He started to speak, then stopped and just went on smiling at her as if seeing her was enough. The thought made her face heat up. Confused, she turned back to the cottage and saw Eliar, standing by the door, watching them. His expression was thoughtful before he opened the door and ducked inside. She turned to follow him, but Tavis called after her, "Wait, Fay, could I talk to you for a minute?"

She turned back and waited. Tavis stopped a few paces away and she realized he wasn't smiling anymore. His face was serious again, the slight frown back, drawing his brows together as he looked at the ground. He didn't speak for several moments, and she sensed that he was trying to find the right words. "I want to apologize for my behavior last night. I've already apologized to Eliar, a little. I'm not sure I feel all that bad for getting mad at him, but I- I've struggled with my temper for years, something I figure I inherited from my father, and I shouldn't have lost it like that yesterday. I'm sorry."

She was surprised by his words. "You don't have anything to apologize for. You've been nothing but nice to me."

His smile crept back at that, then he looked up and into her eyes, his own wide, and asked, "Did you mean what you said about helping me get into the academy? Will they even take me at my age?"

She was almost distracted by his eyes, but his words made her laugh. "Why do you think I wanted to know where you would be staying in Rianza? And if we can get them to test you, to see how strong you are, they'll want you there. Believe me, they will."

His expression turned skeptical. "I can't be that strong, Fay. I don't know anything but what you taught me, and a bit about slinging rocks. And giant cats now, I guess."

"I know what I'm talking about, Tavis. Trust me. I felt it when I was teaching you. No one else I've met comes close." She looked over her shoulder at the open door. "Come on. We have to get ready. Eliar will probably want to leave any time now."

They went into the cottage and found Eliar packing furiously, but Fay noticed that the bag he was putting it all in had been nearly empty when they entered. She wondered if he had been eavesdropping on their conversation. She took her own two bags and went out to Rain. While she saddled him and tied her bags securely to the saddle, Tavis brought his and Eliar's packs out and put them in the back of the cart beside the saddle for Swift, making sure it was all secure. She saw in his quick, sure movements that he really had been a farmer before. Even Swift, the dainty mare, stood in the cart's harness without showing any sign that this was unusual to her.

Eliar came out of the cottage, closed the door and sealed it, casting a ward around the house as he had done the previous night after their talk. Tavis had already climbed onto the driver's bench, but Eliar walked to the cart and waved his hands for Tavis to move over. He frowned but slid over, still holding the reins. Once Eliar had settled himself, he s.n.a.t.c.hed them from Tavis and flicked them with a light motion, causing Swift to start forward. As Eliar guided her around to the road that led back to the highway, Fay saw him speaking to Tavis, whose frown deepened with every word. She was too far away to hear what was being said without using magic, and she couldn't bring herself to commit such an enormous breach in the normal etiquette between Magicia. She mounted quickly and began to follow the cart. Her eyes kept darting around the road, watching in case the vygazza came back, but even the sense of strangeness that had alerted her to its presence before seemed to be fading. Still, she breathed a small sigh of relief when they made it to the highway by mid-morning.

Chapter 8.

It was a long day for Fay, longer than any since meeting Tavis. The two men sat together in the cart, speaking in low voices as she let Rain follow them on his own. Eliar seemed to do most of the talking, and whatever he was saying, it clearly startled Tavis on more than one occasion. She was sure they talked about her for a while, because Tavis looked over his shoulder at her once with wide eyes before Eliar elbowed him sharply in the ribs, eliciting a glare from Tavis. She was so used to being left out and whispered about that it didn't bother her, but she felt a nagging worry. What was Eliar telling Tavis that shocked him so much? The thought of him explaining to Tavis about her father and all those things that had been hinted to her about her father's plans made her nervous. What if Tavis decided she was like her father, she wondered, surprised by how much the idea bothered her. By the time they stopped for the evening, she was tired, irritable and a little lonely.

She let her thoughts wander through dinner as the two men continued catching up. It sounded as if they hadn't gotten much into the past during the day's ride and it made her wonder again what they had been talking about. After a while, Eliar began teaching Tavis more of magic, elementary skills she had mastered as a child. Watching them caused a small twinge in her heart that she refused to name jealousy. She told herself that it was only right for Eliar to teach Tavis, since they were family. So why did she find herself wishing it was just the two of them, with her sitting at Tavis' side, she wondered. After a while, they both sat back and Fay a.s.sumed the lesson was finished. She wasn't really paying attention when Eliar asked Tavis a question, but his answer penetrated her drifting thoughts.

"Growing up with my mother? It was, I don't know. We didn't see many other people at our farm. No one around Shev really liked my father, so they stayed away. I didn't get to play with the other children. It was really just the three of us at the farm, so I don't have much to compare it with. I remember him smelling funny a lot of the time when I was little, but I didn't understand at the time that it was the drinking. I think Mother tried to shield me from it as much as she could, but I know it's why we were so poor. He spent all of our money on whiskey, beer, anything he could get his hands on." Fay turned to watch Tavis' face as he told of his childhood. He looked sad, but then his face lit up as he went on. "My favorite part of every day was after nightfall, when Father had either fallen asleep or pa.s.sed out. Mother would sneak us into the main room of the little house and show me magic. It was usually something pretty, and she never taught me how to do it, but it was like she wanted it to be part of my life. Later, she started teaching me how to read. She made me swear not to say anything to Father, told me it was our secret. It wasn't until she left that I understood why we were doing it at night, why Father could never know.

"In the day, she would do things around the farm or the house. She always did them by hand, though I was sure even then that she could have done them so much easier by magic. I didn't realize until after she left how much my father hated magic, but I think now that it's why she never used any when he might see." He paused, glancing up from their fire at Eliar, took a deep breath, and went on. "I think that she and my father had a fight the day she left. I know they had been fighting a lot that last year or so. She wouldn't argue with him when I was around, so I don't know for sure what was going on, but I got the sense that she wanted something and he kept refusing her. It must have been important to her, because it was obvious that she kept asking about it. I- I've never been sure, but I think it had to do with me.

"I was nine when she left, and he had started sending me to work in our two fields by then. He kept saying that it was time for me to earn my keep, not spend time learning useless skills I'd never need. He'd always say it when Mother was around, I remember that. The day she left... That day, I went to plant the east field in the morning, and when I got back, Father was more drunk than I'd ever seen him. When I came in, he started yelling at me, saying terrible things, about me and about Mother. I don't remember his exact words, just that he blamed us both for everything that had gone wrong in his life. I remember being afraid of him, thinking that he was going to hit me again. Then he told me my mother had run away. He yelled for a while about that, saying she thought she was too good for him, that it was my fault she left. He had a jug in his hand the whole time, drinking out of it, and when it was empty, he threw it at me. He was too drunk to aim, so it missed me by a long way, but... I think that was when I realized he hated me, and I've never understood why. He's dead now, so I guess I never will."

Fay didn't speak, but she guessed that Lydia had been trying to send Tavis to an academy. She doubted Lydia would have missed her son's potential and the timing of the request was right, but she didn't understand why his mother hadn't just taken him with her when she left. She pushed these thoughts aside though, realizing that Tavis was on the verge of tears. She glanced over at Eliar, who looked sad, yet interested. When she saw him open his mouth, probably to ask Tavis a question, she quickly asked one of her own, trying to buy Tavis enough time to collect himself.

"Eliar, do you ever regret how things fell out between you and Lydia? Or wish you had handled things differently with her?" She saw Tavis look up at her in surprise but kept her eyes fixed on Eliar. She was surprised by his reaction to her question, a mix of old pain and new hope. It went oddly with the words he spoke.

"Regret is perhaps the most pointless emotion of all, Faylanna. You can't change the past, no matter what you do. I can't live in the past, wishing I had done things differently, and I'm old enough to know better than to try. Certainly regrets happen, but I try not to get caught up in them. It's the future that we must always look to, in the hope that next time we will make the better choice."

No one said anything after that. They all turned in for the night after Eliar cast a ward around them that would wake him if anything larger than a rabbit got close. When Fay woke up in the morning, Eliar was awake already, and she was beginning to wonder if he ever really slept. Tavis was already packing up his bedroll. As they were eating breakfast, the two men exchanged a glance, and then Eliar turned to Fay.

"I think Tavis is going to have to ride Rain today, and you're going to be in the bed of the cart. Do you think Rain will let him?"

She was nonplused by this statement. "Why wouldn't I be riding my horse?"

"You have to understand, your father's been gaining power in Rianza since you went to Voleno. I'd prefer to keep you away from him, if at all possible, at least until we have a better idea of what Brinds discovered. What you heard doesn't give me much to go on, but it's enough to worry me."

She didn't like the idea of sneaking into Rianza, but couldn't argue with Eliar's logic. "I think I'd prefer to avoid him too. He has no right to take me by force, but I don't think that'll stop him. As it is, I think my escape last time was partly due to luck. But-"

"What do you mean, 'escape'?" Eliar asked sharply, cutting her off. She explained about the near-miss with Neoro and the guards as she was leaving the Voleno Academy, which only increased Eliar's frown. When he spoke, it was softly, more to himself than her. "Yes, all the more reason to hide you. The timing though, too close for coincidence. Have to think about that."

She tried again. "But how will me riding in the back of the cart help? The guards will still see me, after all."

It was Tavis who answered. "Not if we wrap you in a blanket or something and tell them you're sick. They won't want to get close enough to have a chance at identifying you. You'll have to huddle up and maybe moan a bit as we get close, but I think it could work."

"Of course it will work," Eliar said, coming back to the conversation.

And so she found herself sweating heavily under two layers of blankets on day that was already warm, letting out the occasional moan and sounding miserable as they got closer to the gate. She had no trouble simulating misery as it was how she really felt. They hadn't made her put the blankets on right away, but the day really was too warm for any covering, and they made her skin itch around her neck and face, where they were pulled up. What amazed her almost to silence, except for her required moaning, was that the ploy worked. They had barely stopped at the gate when they were waved through. Tavis had been right. Though she hadn't been able to make out much of the conversation, it had been clear to her from the tone of the two guards Eliar had talked with that they hadn't wanted her around any longer than necessary.

They rolled through the city for a while after pa.s.sing through the gate. Fay had expected that they would head for the quarter around the academy, but they seemed to be moving into the wealthiest quarter, where most of the n.o.bles in the city lived, and a few merchant princes prosperous enough to bribe their way into such a gated sanctum. This quarter had it's own inner wall and guards at the gate, the Imperial Palace standing at its center. Eliar whispered back to her not to make a sound this time and then they were at the gate. Fay had only rarely been into this quarter of city, as her father was not wealthy enough to have a home here. It took a great deal of self-control once they had been pa.s.sed through to keep from throwing off the blankets and looking around. All she saw were the richly dressed fronts of what seemed like small palaces and manors, and broad slate slabs covering the road that stretched out behind them. After a while, they turned into a short boulevard and the cart stopped.

She heard Tavis drop to the ground and someone leading Rain away after a moment, and then he was in front of her, dropping the gate at the back of the cart. He glanced over his shoulder and then turned back to her. "It's okay now. You can get out from under those. We're going right inside, according to Eliar."

Tavis held out a hand and helped her down after she dumped the blankets off. She caught a brief glimpse of a tasteful three-storey manor, slightly understated for this part of the city, as she was ushered quickly inside by the two men. The door closed behind them as soon as they were through. Two servants stepped forward. One relieved Tavis of their packs with only a single raised eyebrow for the tunic and trousers he wore. The other guided them to a sitting room. Fay tried to comb her hair with her fingers and, feeling the sweat drying on her skin, wished she could bathe instead. She was certain that this home must have a communal bathing room at the very least.

Fay sat down as Tavis slowly walked around the room, examining everything. Eliar remained in the door with the servant, quietly giving him some instructions. When the man departed, Eliar came further into the room, but remained standing, facing the doorway, clearly waiting for something.

"Is this your house, Eliar?" Fay asked, curious.

"Oh, no. They'd never have let me live in the Quarter of Gold. It belongs to a good friend. We're just waiting for him to arrive. It shouldn't take too long."

Fay laughed at the nickname for this quarter among the poorer residents of the city. The real name was the Quarter of Airs, a reference to the gates of the hereafter, the Veil of Airs, but most people barred from entering the quarter used the other name. She let her gaze wander the room, which was richly furnished and decorated, but could find no sign of who the owner of the house might be. She was curious if it was someone she might have known when she lived in this city. It suddenly occurred to her that, when this was all sorted out, she could choose to live in Rianza again. She couldn't decide if she liked the idea or not, though she missed the city from her days at this academy.

They had been waiting half the hour's turn in the intricate clock mounted on one wall, quite a luxury to own, when she heard boots on the marble corridor from the foyer of the house. She turned to look as two people entered the doorway, a man and a woman. Fay was hard-pressed to decide which was a more unexpected sight. The man was as tall as Tavis and seemed entirely out of place in a long loose-fitting tunic, belted at the waist, and breeches. His head was covered by a wound scarf that was drawn across his face in such a way that only his hazel eyes were visible. The rest of his face was completely obscured by the dark cloth. Over his clothes, a loose cream robe hung open. Behind him, the woman looked normal enough, dressed as a lower-ranking member of the court, but there was something about her that seemed very familiar. Her dark hair was drawn up into a careful knot, leaving her neck bare except for escaped tendrils that lay curled against her skin. Though that hair was threaded with the occasional silver strand, it did not make her seem old or diminish the mature beauty she possessed.

The man nodded to Eliar as his eyes found him. There was a formality to the gesture that again seemed out of place and went oddly with his clothes. "Eliar, it's good to see you back in Rianza, though I doubt the Council will share the sentiments."

Eliar's reply was gruff. "As if I care what they think at this point. What more can they possibly do to me, Ki?"

The man laughed, and the sound tugged at her memory, though she didn't understand why. The woman, who had been smiling when they entered the room, stepped past him with a scowl growing on her face and stopped in front of Eliar with her hands on her hips. When she spoke, her voice was edged with acid. "They wouldn't be the only ones unhappy to see this old man in the city. What are you doing here, Grandfather?"

Fay felt her mouth drop open as she understood suddenly why the woman had seemed so familiar. She looked closer at Lydia and saw the resemblance more clearly now that she knew what to look for. His shoulders were broader, his jaw square where her entire face was more heart-shaped, and Tavis was taller than his mother, but Fay finally understood how Eliar had known Tavis so quickly. She looked over at Tavis, who had frozen in place by a bookshelf nearly as far from the door as the room would allow, looking distressed. His eyes were fixed on his mother, and there was something defenseless about them, possibly from the shock of seeing her unprepared. She almost went over to put her arm around him, but then Eliar distracted her.

"Now, Lydia," he said, his hands raised to placate her. "I think it's time we let the past be past and put those old grievances behind us. Besides, it looks like you got what you wanted in the end anyway. So you won. Are you happy, now that I've said it? Beyond that, we have something more important to discuss than our old differences."