"Thank you for the chances you've taken, harboring us here," Seregil said, pressing a hand to his heart. "And for the care and friendship you've extended to my talimenios. If ever you need our help, we'll be here like the wind."

"If you can manage not to get yourselves killed in the meantime," Riagil said.

Holding a closely bundled Sebrahn by the hand, Alec managed a grin. "We have so far." The khirnari seemed happier today; Alec suspected Riagil was glad to see the back of them. "And thank you again for this," he added with genuine gratitude. Riagil had given him a bow and quiver when he learned that Alec's famous Black Radly had been lost to the slavers. It was a flat bow made of lemonwood from southern Aurenen and backed with vellum. It was as fine a one as he'd ever handled, well balanced and as light as it was strong. The limbs pulled evenly and true, with nearly the same weight as the Radly.

With the last of the farewells said and gifts given, they boarded the ship and soon got under way. The salt-laden breeze caressed Alec's face and pulled little tendrils from his braid as he stood at the prow with Seregil, Sebrahn between them, savoring the familiar tug of excitement as the clustered white houses and then the harbor slid away into the mist behind them. The start of any journey filled him with anticipation, and this time he was going to Bokthersa.

Seregil covered Alec's gloved hand with his own and leaned close. "Deep thoughts for deep water?"

"Not really. I'm just excited to finally be--"

"Don't say it!" Seregil exclaimed, grey eyes going comically wide. "You'll jinx us."

Alec grinned. "Well, I hope Astellus will smile on this voyage. How's that?"

"I wouldn't tempt fate."

"You don't believe in fate."

Seregil stared out at the flock of red-winged terns winging along beside them. "Maybe I'm changing my mind about that. I've been thinking a lot about what happened in Plenimar."

"It's over, tali," Alec murmured, raising Seregil's hand and kissing the back of it--a bold move for the reticent northerner, here on deck where anyone could see.

"Not the enslavement and humiliation, Alec; how we got there in the first place. A man I knew nearly five decades ago, the man who changed the entire course of my life--and there Ilar was in Yhakobin's house, at the center of the web that caught us!" He plucked one of Sebrahn's long hairs from Alec's shoulder. "And the bastard has changed my life again, hasn't he?" He let the wind take the strand. "And yours."

"I've been thinking about Ilar a lot, too. The first time you ever told me about him, you swore you'd kill him on sight, but in the end you took pity on him instead."

Seregil rested his elbows on the rail and heaved a weary sigh. "Are you still jealous? Do you think I was weak for saving him?"

"Weak? No, you were merciful. I know I was angry at the time, tali, but looking back, I'm glad."

Seregil raised a skeptical brow. "So you're not jealous anymore?"

It was Alec's turn to stare out across the waves. "That pathetic eunuch? What is there to be jealous of?"

"As I recall, you weren't so philosophical at the time."

"Not when I caught him trying to kiss you down there by that stream. And he betrayed me, too, just like he did you, after making me trust him all that time in Yhakobin's house."

"But before you knew the truth? What did you think of him when you still thought he was 'Khenir'?"

Alec looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. If he was honest with himself, he had to admit that he had liked the man. But only because Ilar had been kind to him--a seeming friend in a friendless place. "He was still lying," he said, stubbornly shaking off the thought. "So what do you think? Is he alive?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe he died with Yhakobin and the others when Sebrahn sang. He couldn't have gotten that far away."

Seregil looked down at Sebrahn thoughtfully. "Maybe. We still don't know what Sebrahn's range is. Either way, I doubt we'll be seeing Ilar again. Let it go, tali."

Alec turned and looked landward. The mist was thinning, and he could make out a line of jagged, snowcapped peaks. The Ashek range followed the northern curve of Aurenen, embracing the deep blue Osiat like a giant's necklace. Bokthersa lay deep in the mountains to the west, a fai'thast of green valleys and sweet water. The sen'gais Adzriel and Mydri wore were that same green, the long tails of them fluttering in the wind.

"How many tries does this make?" Micum asked as he joined them at the rail.

"This makes three," said Alec.

Micum grinned. "Three's a lucky number. Still, it wouldn't hurt to make an offering. A coin over the right shoulder for Astellus should do the trick."

Alec fished a sester coin from his purse and held it a moment on his open palm, letting the sunlight catch the finely stamped design. A crescent moon with five rays cradled a flame: moon and fire; Ilior and Sakor, the patrons of Skala and the royal family. The first time he'd seen one of these was soon after he and Seregil had met, and Seregil had taught him some sleight of hand. He smiled to himself as he rolled it expertly across the backs of his fingers, then palmed it and shot it up his sleeve.

Micum chuckled. "No wonder you are such a terror at the gaming tables."

Alec cast the coin over his shoulder into the water.

Seregil produced a small owl feather from his purse and let the wind take it. "Luck in the shadows."

"And in the Light," Alec murmured.

In the quiet of their cabin another night, Seregil's thoughts turned to home and he spoke of old friends there, including his childhood friend, Kheeta i Branin.

Alec had met Kheeta in Sarikali and liked him well enough, once he got past wondering if Seregil and he had been more than friends. Seregil referred to Kheeta as "cousin," but that was common within a clan, especially among social equals; it seemed everyone was addressed as "cousin," "aunt," "uncle," "brother," or "sister." It was hard sometimes to figure out if it was to be taken literally or not.

Seregil chuckled warmly. "I wonder what my uncle Akaien will make of you?"

"I hope he approves." Alec was only half joking. Akaien was one of the few family members Seregil had ever mentioned in their early days together. This uncle, a swordsmith by trade, had also been a smuggler. Under Aurenen's Edict of Separation, Viresse had been the only legal port for trade with the Three Lands. However, that hadn't stopped clandestine trade, and Akaien had brought his young nephew along. Seregil had told him stories of sailing out under a dark traitor's moon to meet and trade with Skalan ships. The fondness in his voice made Alec think that this Akaien i Solun must be a very different sort than his brother, Seregil's father.

It was then that Seregil had first met Tirfaie foreigners and learned something of the wider world. Seregil also joked that it was this early criminal behavior that had shaped his character.

"He will approve, tali. Of that I have no doubt," Seregil assured him. "But my other sisters? Well, I'll make you no promises there."

"If you're so scared of Sebrahn, why are you letting him come to Bokthersa?" he asked at last.

Adzriel said nothing for a moment. Alec had always marveled at how much she resembled her brother, both in looks and in being tight-lipped as blue mussels when the mood took her. When she spoke at last, her voice was devoid of its usual warmth. "As I said in Gedre, he is our clan's responsibility. And if you cannot destroy a dangerous beast, then it is best to know where it is."

"A beast." The word hurt.

"A dragon, but not a dragon. His outward appearance is so deceiving. You know better than I how dangerous he really is."

"So you're going to lock him up somewhere forever? You'll have to lock me in with him."

"No, of course not." She took his hand between hers. "Little brother, I would not harm you for all the world, or any that you love. It's my hope to find a way for your little one to somehow find a safe life, harming none and free from harm. Or as free as he can ever be." She turned Alec's palm up and looked at the stippling of pinpricks across his fingertips. "Can you spend the rest of your life like this? What sort of nightrunner carries a child about on his back?"

"I don't like to think about that, but--"

"But you and my brother must have your lives back," she finished for him with a kind smile. "I promise you, I will use all my power and influence to seek out some solution to this. Are you certain he cannot drink the blood of another 'faie? It's such a tiny little bit that he needs."

"Seregil tried, but Sebrahn just spit it out."

"Well, then we must discover something else."

"Yes," Seregil murmured. "Just like the old days, except it's daylight."

Gazing at the green mountains, the words of Seregil's haunting song of exile came back to Alec once again, and he began to hum the tune. Seregil gave him a sidelong smile, and then sang it aloud. This time it was a love song, filled with warmth and joy.