CHAPTER THIRTY

Enfri chewed on the vex sprouts Deebee brought in from the garden. They were a marginal help, but she still felt groggy and weak as a kitten. Having been more or less dead for several hours was funny like that. Enfri resolved to keep an eye on herself for some time yet. There was no way that could have been healthy.

She was wearing clean clothes again. Deebee had helped her to the stream, and Enfri had a wonderfully long bath. Enough dust and grime had been scrubbed from her body that she could have filled a flower pot with it.

In truth, she was shocked that she was recovering as well as she was. When Enfri drank the anesthetic, she had been convinced that the best case scenario would involve spending weeks in recovery. Dragon bonds weren't to be underestimated, it seemed. Even the cut on her hand was gone. Perhaps Jin had a point when she said that these bonds were powerful enough to be dangerous.

It took most of Enfri's willpower to keep herself from sighing. Thinking of Jin wasn't helping. She was out there somewhere, likely still in the desert. Maya, Gain, and the rest were probably taking her back to the capital. She wouldn't be fully recovered yet. Unlike Enfri, she would have a long and hard road ahead of her before she was well.

Enfri missed her. She owed Jin a great deal, for her use of osteomancy and for her tender words. Enfri couldn't stop thinking about her. She held her hands in her lap and did her best not to cry over it. Enfri may never see Jin again, but she'd think fondly of her for the rest of her days and dream of what they might have had were things different.

I can hardly believe it, Enfri thought in wonder. Of all the ways I thought things might go, I never considered that I would feel like this for Jin. If only I could have had more time to tell her.

Jin had felt the same, Enfri was certain. The painfully brief moment in which they kissed told her that. Enfri felt herself blushing.

I kissed her. Winds, she kissed me back. Deebee, I could throttle you for interrupting when you did.

Oblivious to Enfri's ire, Deebee continued on with her one-sided conversation. She had moved off of the Ethereum and was now explaining just what an imprint was exactly. Something about the presence a thing had in the Weave of magic.

Enfri should have been paying more attention, but focus was difficult to come by. She'd have asked Deebee to hold off on the instruction, but the dragon appeared to need this to take her mind off of what had happened. Enfri regretted putting such a scare into her, but it wasn't as if there had been much of a choice.

"Any questions, love?" Deebee asked.

Enfri blinked as she came back into the moment. "No, I think I understand. Magic comes from the Ethereum, where spirits dwell. The Weave is composed of magic interspersed throughout the physical world, and imprints are where physical things press against the Weave."

Deebee was beaming as she busied about the house making tea. "Quite so. I'm giving you an oversimplified version, but that's the basic idea."

"I'm not quite so clear on the Law of Five. Isn't it just that a person can be a scrivener or a wizard, and not both?"

"That's part of it. Whether by design or quirk of nature, the number five manifests in all things related to magic. Why, I could go on for hours about..."

Enfri did her best to be attentive while Deebee handed her some tea. The lecture went on, and Deebee straightened up the house as she spoke.

"One other thing," Enfri interjected before Deebee could get into full swing. "My... bloodline. Being descended from the Dragon Emperors and all that. How was it that the arcanist knights were also bonded to dragons? Is that part of the elder magic?"

"Well," Deebee said, "I never saw it done, obviously, but I was told there was a ceremony involved. Dragon and knight knelt before the emperor, and he placed the bond between them."

"Connecting their imprints?" Enfri guessed.

Deebee smiled. "As you say. Now, using elder magic is quite different than the five main pathways. Its similar to a sorcerer's spellcasting, but wholly outside the..."

Enfri suppressed a giggle as Deebee took that tangent and ran with it. There was much to learn, and Deebee seemed as if she wanted to tell it all at once. Perhaps Enfri should make a trip into Sandharbor and buy a few blank journals. It would soon become necessary to take notes.

Once more, Enfri found herself looking up at the thatching of the roof. It had been mended— quite skillfully at that— but Enfri hadn't the slightest idea of when it might have been done or by whom. For that matter, who was keeping the animals fed and watered? More mysteries, and Enfri about had her fill of those.

Deebee was in the middle of something interesting about how alchemists used ether. Investiture, she called it, using ether to alter or expand existing imprints. Her lecture came to a stop in mid-sentence, and Deebee looked towards the door with a worried expression.

Enfri stood up from the rocking chair. "What is it? Soldiers? Assassins?"

Deebee narrowed her eyes in confusion. "No," she murmured. "Winds take me. I should have realized sooner."

"Care to explain?"

Deebee dropped her human form and became a cat. It had been some time since Enfri last saw her as a feline. "Get presentable, girl. You have visitors."

"Visitors?" Enfri did as Deebee suggested and put up her damp hair before wrapping her head in a shawl. She cracked open her door and peered outside.

A single-axle cart was ambling up the road from Sandharbor, pulled by a gray mare. Two young women were riding inside the cart, and five solid-looking men walked alongside. Enfri gasped as she recognized them.

Kiffa Smith and Goodwife Cobbler. Haythe and his father and father-in-law, Goodman Cooper. Nchika the forester's apprentice and young Dilly Tanner. What in the Five Kingdoms were they doing here?

Enfri opened her door wider and stepped outside. She hesitantly raised a palm in greeting while Deebee rubbed against her ankles.

Kiffa was the first to see her. She went wide-eyed and jumped off the cart. As she ran up the road, she called out Enfri's name. The rest of the group picked up the pace, all but sprinting up the road.

"Enfri! Winds and storms, Enfri. Are you alright?" Kiffa barreled into Enfri, nearly knocking her down. The younger girl hugged her around the waist and looked on the verge of tears.

"Gave us a fright, girl," Goodman Smith said as he came up. His big hand landed on Enfri's shoulder, and he looked down on her with a grin behind his bushy beard. "We've been beside ourselves. The wife's hardly had a full night's sleep since we realized you went missing."

Nchika and Dilly doffed their hats and added greetings of their own. Nchika's rich, northern accent harmonized oddly well with Dilly's nasally voice. Goodman Cooper looked as relieved as a bear finding its cubs, and Haythe was staring open-mouthed as he hitched the mare to Enfri's post.

"Don't overwhelm the sky woman," Goodwife Cobbler scolded the men. "Just look at her. She's clearly had a hard few days, and she can just take her time to... I say, Enfri, have you gotten taller?"

Enfri must have looked a fool. Her eyes went from one of them to the next as she struggled to comprehend what was happening. Hearing them say her name, greet her on sight...

Winds, it was as glorious as she always thought it would be.

"Enfri, is something wrong?" Kiffa asked in concern. "You're crying."

"No, nothing," Enfri sniffed as she wiped at her eyes. She gave them as wide a smile as she was able. "It's just... I'm so happy to be home again."

The memory ward was no more. Every moment she spent with them in the past had been returned to them. The only thing forgotten was that she had ever been forgotten.

"That brace I made you doing the trick?" Haythe asked as he approached. He scratched at the back of his head and was having difficulty looking Enfri in the eye.

"Yes," Enfri replied. "I don't think I even need it anymore. Thank you, Haythe."

He blushed and averted his eyes. Goodman Cooper noticed his son-in-law's manner and crossed his arms.

Kiffa crouched at Enfri's feet and was giving Deebee a thorough scratching behind the ears. The dragon was enjoying the attention. "We've been coming by morning and evening to look after your place. I don't think your... dog... likes us being here."

"Dog?" Enfri asked. She heard the honking of geese and saw the hooligans returning from the duck pond. Leading them home was a big, black wolf with a nasty looking burn along his hindquarters. The wolf's tongue lolled out of his mouth, and he walked with the oddest, waddling gait Enfri had ever seen.

Deebee arched her back and hissed at the sight of Bellamy. The goose-turned-wolf ran towards her, and Deebee scurried yowling away. Bellamy gave chase, and the two disappeared behind the house. A moment later, a distressed gander came honking around the other side with a triumphant cat swatting at his tail feathers.

An ounce more discretion, love, Enfri thought in exasperation. Folk won't forget about the weirdness that goes on around here anymore.

Enfri was quick to change the subject and distract from Deebee's antics. She tried to apologize profusely to Goodman Smith for the manner in which she had taken his horse, but he rebuffed every attempt.

"Think not a whit on it, girl," he assured her. "You left three times what that old nag was worth. Though... old Dimmer's well, yes?"

Dimmer? Was that the Gaulatian's name? Winds, how dreadful. "I'm sorry, Goodman, but the king's men took him right out from under me. Literally, come to think of it."

Nchika grunted. "They got some nerve, don't they? A legion rolls into town, scares goodfolk half to death, and chases away our sky woman."

"They're not still here, are they?" Enfri asked timidly. "The Merovech?"

"It wasn't as bad as all that," Goodman Smith said. "The Merovech's a reasonable sort of lord. Kept his men in line, and nary a cross word before they up and packed off yesterday." He glanced to the others before dropping his voice an octave. "They were asking us all sorts of questions for the last few days, girl. About you. When we saw the damage to your house... You're not in any sort of trouble, are you?"

Enfri held her hands over her chest and nodded. "It's about my father."

Goodman Smith's eyes went wide. He had been with Yora in Teularon and knew who his murderers were. "Say no more, Enfri," he said firmly. "So long as you're in Sandharbor, you're safe. If any of that type ever shows their faces around here, you can trust all of us to make sure they don't get a lick of help from anyone."

Dilly Tanner was shaking with enthusiasm. "Any of these lords, the crown prince, or even Cathis himself can ride up for all we care. No one's taking our sky woman from us."

Every one of them nodded in agreement. There was a stab of worry in Enfri's stomach. She imagined Dilly standing firm in front of Dashar and refusing to budge. She believed he'd do just that.

The ward didn't protect me in the end, Enfri realized, but it protected them. Winds take me, I can't stay.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If they wished to protect her, and she believed them when they said they did, the goodfolk of Sandharbor deserved to know the truth. All of it, the bad as well as the good.

Only, later. Tomorrow perhaps. For now, she had a moment of peace. There was no telling when she would have another quite so wonderful.

"Winds and storms, my manners," Enfri reprimanded herself. "Come in. All of you, come in. It might get a bit snug, but let me get you some tea. It's the least I can do since you fixed the hole my cat made in the roof."

***

Enfri recalled a time when six months could seem like an eternity. The weeks raced by in what felt like an eye blink. The winter had been a blissfully mild one, and a new spring was fast approaching.

For the last half a year she spent in Sandharbor, Enfri had never been happier. Two festivals came and went in that time, and Enfri was finally able to dance as a part of the village.

She could hardly walk to market to buy buttons without being called out to. The road to her home became more and more frequently traveled as the villagers came for remedies and advice, or sometimes just to talk. She had more coin than she could carry, and her name was toasted to in the inn each time Kiffa dragged her into Sandharbor for a night out.

The youngest Smith daughter had become Enfri's constant companion as of late. Enfri and Kiffa were rarely separated. Necessary, really. A sky woman needed an apprentice, and Enfri knew that her time in Sandharbor wouldn't last forever. Once she left, the village would still have need of a sky woman.

"It's just not enough blustering time," Kiffa complained one late afternoon, just after they shared dinner. She sat cross-legged in front of Enfri's hearth with one of Grandmother's notebooks in her lap. "Apprentices should study beneath a master for years."

"I know," Enfri agreed sadly as she bent over her latest project on the counter, "and I'm hardly a master."

Kiffa snorted to show her opinion of that.

"I mean it. Half of those Aleesh books are still gibberish to me. But you'll manage. You have a steady hand and a quick mind. You can break a fever with the best of them, and Dilly's stitches were perfect. Keep up with your studies and you'll be twice the sky woman I ever was."

"Teela and Nchika will need a midwife by summer's end," Kiffa pointed out.

"Commit Volume Three to memory," Enfri advised, "and keep some oldwives on hand for your first few birthings. Oldwife Wainwright knows just as much about delivering babies as my grandmother did. I'm certain of it."

Enfri worked at her counter, and she put the final touches on her latest investiture. It was mostly sunwillow encased in a clay shell and infused with a measure of ether. Should she come across trouble on the road, Enfri hoped that this would help get her through it. When she first explained this idea to Kiffa, her apprentice had called the alchemical spell a "dizzyball". It rankled a little that the name stuck.

"I've made copies of everything," Enfri repeated for perhaps the tenth time. "Janwyn's notebooks, the translated Aleesh texts, and my own alchemical journals. Every scrap of knowledge the sky women of Sandharbor ever possessed is in those books, so use them."

"Winds," Kiffa muttered.

"What is it?"

"This page is about iron fever. What's this notation written in your hand?"

Enfri pursed her lips. "Directing you to one of my journals. It's my research into the oren the king's assassins use."

Kiffa wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Why would you be looking into that?"

"I've no idea," Enfri said in a hushed tone. "A foolish hope, perhaps."

"Ooh, well that is interesting."

"What is, Kiffa?"

"What?" Kiffa asked in confusion. "I didn't say anything."

Enfri furrowed her brow, and the two girls stared at each other in bewilderment for a few moments. If Kiffa hadn't said anything, then who had?

"Winds take me." Enfri rolled her eyes. "Deebee. Where are you, love?"

The tiny dragon hopped down from the rafters onto the counter. She looked upset.

"Oh," Kiffa exclaimed. "Evening, Deebee."

"To you as well," Deebee replied kindly. "What's the subject tonight?"

"Deadly illnesses," Kiffa groused.

Even now, very few in Sandharbor were aware of Deebee. Once Kiffa knew, it was a given that the rest of the Smith family would as well. Nchika discovered Deebee on his own. The incident with Bellamy aroused his suspicions, as did the massive footprints just outside Enfri's door. Enfri no longer hid her Aleesh heritage from her neighbors, but she thought it best not to go around flaunting it. Her closest friends knew just about everything there was to know about her. Everything, except for the elder bloodline she held.

As Deebee said, that was a deadly secret. If the time came, it would be best for Enfri's neighbors if they could honestly say they didn't know anything about it.

Her pleasantries with Kiffa exchanged, Deebee turned her attention upon Enfri. "You were supposed to try to find me, girl," she scolded. "I don't care how busy you are, there's always time for tradition."

Enfri bowed her head. "I'm sorry. Truly. It's just that I'm starting to feel the days slipping by too fast. I can't stay in Sandharbor for much longer, and I have to be ready to drop everything and go at a moment's notice if need be."

Deebee sighed. "It's unfair that you feel the need to leave. You've been happier these last few months than I've ever seen you."

"And if Maya or Gain ever decide to drop by just in case they've been fooled again?"

"I never said you were wrong," Deebee said. "Only that it's unfair. Speaking of, I hope you've been keeping up with that potion of yours."

Enfri tapped a ceramic jug with a fingertip. "Every night."

It was the first investiture Enfri learned to make. She and Deebee agreed it was the highest priority. The potion mimicked the effects of a dream ward. Without it, Deebee would be unable to leave Enfri for even a single night for fear of oneiromancers.

There had been many nights when Enfri considered holding off on taking the potion. She imagined drifting to sleep and finding a beautiful princess in her dreams, one with strong arms and a dark green gown.

Unfortunately, Jin wasn't the only dreamer among the royal assassins. Tarlus was a stronger oneiromancer than even Jin, so the risk was too great. There was also another risk that pained Enfri to consider.

After being left alone in Marwin to believe Enfri dead, Jin might not be so pleased to learn she was still alive. Enfri tried to imagine how she might feel if she found out. Betrayed, possibly. Hurt, most probably. It was difficult to predict how Jin would react to such news. If Enfri was being honest, they had only known each other for a brief span of time. Who was to say that what they came to feel for each other had even been real?

It was, Enfri knew. I can try to talk myself out of it, but I'll always know the truth.

If only the knowing didn't have to be so painful.

"But you've returned," Enfri said to Deebee while stroking her wings. "What brought you back? I didn't expect you for another week."

"It wasn't my dreams this time," Deebee said. "I've been thinking."

"About what?"

Deebee didn't answer right away. Reading the dragon's mood, Kiffa stood and closed the notebook in her lap.

"It's starting to get dark," she said. "I should head for home."

"One last thing, Kiffa," Enfri said to stop her. She went to the table and retrieved a large sheet of parchment. "Take this to your father for me. I've already had the headman notarize it."

Kiffa gave the parchment a suspicious look. "What is it?"

"The deed to my father's land. I want your family to have it once I'm gone. I'll have no more need of it. Truthfully, I never did."

Kiffa was overwhelmed. "Enfri, this is too much. What will you do when you come back?"

The note of hopefulness in her question pulled at Enfri's heart. Enfri knew she would likely never return to Sandharbor. It became difficult to keep her eyes from watering. "Between the land and Teela's herds, you ought to have enough collateral to claim a title. Maybe I'll come back to find your father calling himself the Brandyn."

Kiffa made a face. "Lady Kiffa of House Brandyn. Winds. Doesn't quite roll off the tongue, does it?"

Enfri gave her a hug before Kiffa left, then waited in the doorway until she was well down the road. "You said you were thinking about something," Enfri said as she came back inside. "Is it serious?"

"Yes, I believe so," Deebee replied. There was a hesitance in her words, like she was unwilling to speak them. "Ever since we returned from Shan Alee, I've been watching you with the other mortals. It's led me to realize the magnitude of my mistake."

Enfri shook her head. "I've told you, love. I want you to stop blaming yourself for the memory ward. It's been settled."

"You're right, of course," Deebee agreed. "All's well that ends well, as humans say. That's not what's been concerning me."

"Then what is?"

Deebee took a bracing breath and the set of her jaw became firm. "I never want to keep you from being happy again. I should like to help you find it if I can. Everything that's happened this last year has made it clear to me. When it comes to making you happy, I'm not enough."

"Come off it," Enfri said. "I won't hear such things coming out of you."

Deebee made a frustrated sound and scratched at her scales. "No, you misunderstand me. Flames take me. I just can't articulate well enough what I mean. I'm not very good at this, you know."

Enfri disagreed with that statement, but decided not to push the argument. "What do you mean, then?"

A noise came from outside. Enfri glanced towards the window, but only saw the light of sunset.

"You said something to me years ago," Deebee continued. "Humans need other humans. When we leave, it won't do for it to be just you and me on our own forever."

"I agree. The plan is to keep on the move, town by town, until we're out of Althandor. Maybe we'll someday make another go of reaching the Espallans."

Deebee was getting visibly frustrated now. Enfri couldn't imagine what her issue was.

That noise came from outside again. Closer, she thought. Was someone coming by this late? Enfri hoped no one was hurt.

"Flames, this shouldn't be this hard," Deebee growled to herself. "That's still not enough, girl. What you long for is someone to drive and inspire you, and they can be driven and inspired by you in turn. That's what I want for you."

Enfri heard it for certain this time. Hooves. A rider just dismounted next to Enfri's hitching post. Suddenly anxious, Enfri stepped closer to the door.

Deebee leapt to the back of the rocking chair. "As I said, I'm not enough for your happiness."

Enfri held her breath as she watched the door. She covered her mouth to keep herself from sobbing. Was Deebee truly saying what Enfri thought she was? Her knees began to feel weak.

"Not alone, that is."

The door was pulled open, and Jin stepped through. She was as tall, strong, and beautiful as Enfri remembered her. The studded leather armor she wore was travel-stained and dusty. She must have ridden hard to get here.

Jin's eyes fell on Enfri, and for a moment, she looked like someone who had just woken up to learn that their nightmare was over.

Tears fell from Enfri's eyes. She threw herself forward and seized Jin in a fierce embrace. Enfri couldn't speak. She could only wrap her arms around Jin's neck and hold her tight.

Jin twined her fingers through Enfri's golden hair while the other hand held her by the waist and pressed her close. "It's true," she whispered into Enfri's neck. "You're alive."

Enfri refused to be denied a moment longer. She took Jin's face in her hands then pressed her lips over hers. Their first kiss had been timid and unsure. The second, passionate and fearless.

It wasn't clear how long it lasted. A moment. An eternity. Enfri didn't care, so long as they held each other in their arms. Her lungs soon began to ache, and Enfri remembered that she needed air.

"I missed you," Enfri said breathlessly after the kiss ended. Stupid thing to say. True, though.

"And I missed... Enfri? Winds, what are you doing?"

Enfri blinked and realized that she had been peering closely at Jin's chest and tracing a finger along a scabbed cut that ran the length of her collarbone. "Have you been hurt?" she asked.

Jin blushed as she replied. "It is minor."

"You have! You're limping, too. Hasn't your hamstring healed yet?"

"No," Jin answered. "I mean to say, yes. It... is new."

"It's been injured again?" Enfri gasped. "Winds and storms, you've been fighting!"

Jin maintained a stony expression. "Perhaps."

Deebee cleared her throat to get their attention. "I didn't wish to interrupt again, but Enfri should know that there was a small complication when I collected you from the capital."

Jin grimaced. "Small complication? Collected? Is that what we're calling it?"

Enfri looked aghast between the two of them. "What's going on?"

"Something happened a month ago," Jin explained. "I am unsure what, but there is talk of a new war. My father went south to the hydromancers of Altier Nashal to seek an oracle."

"Hydromancers?" Enfri asked. "Is that some kind of water magic?"

"It's an elder magic, love," Deebee said. "The Altieri bloodline has the power of prophecy. They look into the sea and learn what the future will bring."

Jin nodded. "She is correct. My father hasn't told me or any others in my family what the oracle he was given said, but it is like he has gone mad. He commands the assassins to revisit every Aleesh contract we've taken in the last hundred years. That includes the one for you."

"Even though the king believes you were killed," Deebee said, "they'll still come looking."

"My father wishes us to seek out every possible lead. Whatever the oracle said, the assassins are now scouring the Five Kingdoms for Aleesh."

"Which is why I brought Jin here," Deebee said. "So she can protect you."

"But how was she hurt?" Enfri asked while pointing at Jin's leg.

Jin sighed with discontent. "I was told to stay in the capital and follow up on an Aleesh criminal thought to be operating in Eastrun. A lax duty. My father believed I needed more time to recover from the Espalla Dunes. I disagreed. There were... raised voices over the matter."

Deebee sniggered. "I found the princess locked in a tower."

"As she says."

"I busted her out," Deebee said happily. "You should have seen her face when I appeared in her chambers."

Jin scowled. "She was nude. That tends to come as a surprise."

Enfri snorted. "You get used to her."

Deebee muttered something about how she was always nude, and humans only seemed to care when she held their form.

Jin looked skeptical but didn't argue. "Regardless, the city guard was sent after me. I eluded them and reached the royal stables, but not before I took a few wounds."

Enfri was scandalized. "They attacked their princess?"

"I gave them little choice," Jin said with a shrug. "They were only doing their sworn duty. Not being able to kill them made escaping more difficult."

Not killing is more difficult? Enfri thought in horror. I suppose there's going to be a period of getting a little more used to each other, isn't there?

Jin took Enfri's hands in hers. "I would cherish another moment with you, Enfri, but we must leave Sandharbor as soon as possible. The dragon tells me that you have been making preparations."

Deebee turned up her snout. "The dragon did indeed."

"I have," Enfri said, "but I don't think I'm quite ready."

"There is no time," Jin insisted. "My father is sending Dashar to Sandharbor."

Enfri felt a chill. "I can leave right now."

While she gathered up provisions and supplies, Enfri asked Deebee to fly to the Smiths' forge. She was grieved that she wouldn't have a chance to say goodbye in person, but Enfri told Deebee to be sure to give everyone a proper farewell on her behalf. The dragon flew off after promising to catch up later.

"She says that as if she knows where we're going," Enfri mused as she carefully placed her dizzyballs into a belt pouch.

"She does," Jin replied. She was assisting by folding two spare riding dresses into Enfri's pack. "We discussed plans on the journey here."

"Oh? And where is it we're going?"

"Altier Nashal. The dragon believes the best way to keep you safe is to learn what my father's oracle said to trigger this scouring for Aleesh. To do that, we must go directly to the source. I agreed with her."

Enfri shivered, and not just for Deebee and Jin agreeing on something. She had never fared well in the cold. "Riding south in the winter. Lovely."

A ghost of a smile touched Jin's lips. "It'll be spring when we arrive."

"I'm told that's not much better."

Jin chuckled to herself. "It really isn't."

Enfri finished with her travel packs and looked at the bookshelves. She was leaving suddenly without her books again, but this time wasn't nearly as painful. These ones were merely the copies she was leaving behind for Kiffa. The originals were tucked away inside Deebee's strange holding spell; Enfri would have given a lot if an alchemist could do something as useful as that.

"I'm sorry," Jin said suddenly. "This is the second time I've forced you away from here."

Enfri reached out and found Jin's hand. "So long as you're with me."

Jin stood in front of her and caressed her cheek. "I'm with you."

They left Enfri's home on the desert's edge for the last time. It came as a pleasant surprise to find a Gaulatian horse tied to the hitching post outside the door. Enfri ran up to him and stroked his nose.

"So, I hear your name is Dimmer," Enfri murmured to him as Jin mounted. "Sorry I didn't learn it earlier."

"Dimmer?" Jin asked. "We've been calling him Spider. Dashar said it suited him."

Dashar... said?

"Which do you prefer?" Enfri asked the horse. When no answer was forthcoming, she shrugged. "Well, if a crown prince declares it, I suppose his name is Spider. Who am I to argue?"

Jin held out a hand and helped Enfri mount up behind her. "Who indeed?"

Enfri about fell right back out of the saddle. Jin's tone when she said that had a knowing sound to it. She couldn't possibly know about Enfri carrying the elder bloodline of Shan Alee, could she? Had Deebee told her? Doubtful, to say the least.

The thought was pushed from her mind. Jin gave Spider her heels, and they started heading west towards the desert.

"We're avoiding the road through Nadia," Jin explained. "Don't worry. We won't go more than a mile or two into the desert. They're saying the goblins in Nadia are getting stingy with their tolls."

Enfri made a wry face. Goblins. The very idea. Who did Jin think she was talking to? Only children believed in little men with antlers.

Jin's expression never cracked.

Winds, she's serious!

She held on to Jin a little tighter. It seemed there was plenty more for Enfri to learn. She had seen some of the world now— vast deserts, lost histories, and fallen empires— but it appeared that what came before paled before what lay in her future.

Deebee returned from Sandharbor and soared high overhead. Perhaps she was giving the new lovers some privacy. How unexpectedly tactful of her. Enfri sent a measure of strength through the bond and received some ether in return. A brief exchange of affection between family.

There would be dangers. Oracles and goblins ahead, the crown prince of Althandor behind. None of it seemed to matter in that perfect moment, because Enfri had found the secret to defeating the greatest enemy a sky woman could face. She'd discovered it in the most unexpected of places, in a wellspring cave deep in the desert and in the arms of a royal assassin.

Enfri wasn't afraid.

END OF ACT THREE