18

Many Farewells

THE WHILE BEFORE bedtime was our time, it was in some ways a quiet time as we all sat on Madame Rupon’s porch, looking out at the town, and at the flickering lights in the castle above the town, and at the stars above.

All of us: the Eresthais, Large Egda, Fhilt, Sala, Evrem, Gray Khuzud, and even Felkoi.

A last time, for me. A time of little talk, if not as quiet as usual. The musicians were practicing loud and hard tonight; I could hear and feel the lead silverhorn player slip in and out of kazuh. We sat alone, under the flickering lanterns.

High above, the stars watched us, cold and uncaring.

Evrem was the first to leave; he gave a quick nod of goodbye, then headed off to have a few moments alone with his snakes before bedtime.

“There’s a last time for everything,” Sala said. “You’ll take care of yourself?” She stretched and yawned.

I nodded. Actually, I was expecting NaRee to do much of the taking care. A Dan’Shir clearly wasn’t a peasant; I was going to be at least a middle-class, most likely a bourgeois, possibly even a noble. Let Ezren Smith close his door to Lord Kami Dan’Shir. Once.

“Better go to bed, Sala,” I said. “You’ve got to be on the road tomorrow.”

She kissed me on the cheek, and then left.

Fhilt snickered. “I don’t know why we’re getting all soft and sniffy about it. We’ll see you next time the troupe is here, eh?” He gripped my hand for a moment, then turned to leave.

“I don’t understand,” Large Egda rumbled. “If you don’t know why, Fhilt,” he asked, as he rose to accompany Fhilt, “then why are tears running down your face?”

“Egda, you are an idiot,” Fhilt said, as the two of them walked away.

I clasped hands briefly with Eno and with Josei, then turned to Felkoi.

He opened his mouth, then closed it, then shrugged and turned away. I sympathized. We really didn’t have anything to say to each other.

Gray Khuzud and I were left alone. I thought that we’d talk, if it had turned out that way, but there was nothing to say.

Finally, I rose. “I’d better go, Father. There’s somebody I have to see.”

He was silent for a long time.

“Be well, my son,” Gray Khuzud said. My father was never much for wasted words.

Gray Khuzud gripped my shoulder for a moment, and then he was gone.