It was strange, Enfri thought, to ride on the back of a dragon and not be in the rider's position. Though she was certain that Kolbat would be more than happy to surrender her post if Enfri asked, it wouldn't feel right. Darva was as fine a man as a dragon could be in Enfri's opinion, but he wasn't Deebee. Being the rider felt... more intimate... than simply being the person with the best seat.

At least, that's how Enfri felt about it. She wasn't all that certain about many of the others with dragon bonds.

Enfri had little to do but sit back and wait out the flight. She'd busied herself for much of it by taking duty posts throughout the day, but she'd had to pull rank to get some of the Pearl aviators to let her do her job. They all seemed to recognize that Enfri knew her way around the harness as well as any of them, but all the same, they were reluctant to allow their empress to trouble herself with such supposedly menial tasks.

Lord Seifer the Nolaas must've had a point. A sovereign working alongside her people was rare, and Enfri was starting to think it wasn't the fault of any particular sovereign that they couldn't.

Bored, Enfri reclined against the sail running down Darva's back. She found herself admiring the color of it. The Corsair's scales were mostly brown with whorls of indigo markings, but his sail was a vibrant cerulean. Enfri had always liked cerulean, the royal color. Of all the shades of blue, she found that one to be the most beautiful.

It proved impossible to look at that shade of blue, one of the colors of House Algara, and not think of Jin. Particularly, that she wasn't present.

I can't take this anymore, she thought. Papa, are you there?

Always, Sunny. What's wrong? Feeling lonely?

A bit, she admitted. I really expected Jin to be here with me.

I could tell it was bothering her just as much. Your girl would rather've come along. You know that, right?

Enfri hugged her knees to her chin. There has to have been a way. I mean, sooner or later, the Aleesh will find out about her. Wouldn't it have been best if we got that out of the way?

Yora sighed. I wish I could agree with you, but with what you all know, Jin made the right decision.

Enfri furrowed her brow. That'd been an odd way to phrase it. What do you mean "with what we all know"?

She didn't receive an answer.

Papa? What aren't you telling me?

When the reply came, it had a definite sound of reluctance to it. Please, Sunny, don't press on this. It's important.

Why is it important?

There are rules. Important rules we can't break. It's not something we can choose to do or not do. It's like these laws have been woven into us. No matter how much we might wish to, we can't defy them, and if we try something clever to work around it, there's a price we must pay.

Even after death, the costs continued? Enfri didn't know which of the gods started this whole elder magic business by giving Inwé ether— she had asked and been told in clear terms that she wasn't allowed to know until she learned it herself— but whoever the blustering deity was, they had some explaining to do about how their "gift" became an everlasting curse on her bloodline.

If it's that important, I'll drop it. I promise, Papa. Just don't make anymore slips like that and get me wondering. You might've been watching when Deebee did something similar. I ended up learning all about the memory ward and how I was Aleesh because of that.

Yora chuckled. Yeah, there was no shortage of palms slapping foreheads here when that happened. As I recall, that was a rough day for all of us. You were just fourteen, and we saw you inside the reach of four royal assassins with nothing we could do about it. You could barely hear us back then, and only when our thoughts were close to your own.

Enfri felt a wistful smile coming on. One of those assassins was Jin. If you'd have told me then that I'd end up marrying her, I'd never have believed it. She about scared the stockings off me.

You were still hung up on Brandyn's oldest.

Winds, I should say so. You know, I still find men attractive more often than women. It's just that I've never met a man anything like Jin.

Mmm. Yup, she's something else. Hope you don't mind me saying, but I've never seen her equal. Strong, thoughtful, and a stone cold fox.

Enfri suppressed an unladylike snort. Papa! No pining for my betrothed.

Bah, pining. The girl's half my age, rather the age I would be. Just some honest admiration, is all.

Jin would've liked you, Enfri thought. I know it. So would Ban. She felt her smile start to fade.

Sunny?

She sighed. It's just... I'm happy you're with me like this. I really am, but is it greedy of me to think it's still not enough?

Not in the least, my sunrise.

Would it be alright with you all if I took that oneiromancy potion again and came there to visit? I... I think I need a papa hug.

Whenever you want, Sunny. Don't feel like you need to ask.

Even that felt like it wasn't enough. In that place, the dreamlike shadow of the Imperial City where the souls of her ancestors dwelt, she didn't belong. It was a realm of sand and ghosts, an in-between place intended for those who had died yet had not passed. Could not pass, not so long as the bloodline endured. Her father, even though he could talk and joke with her as if he were still alive, was dead. Using magic, she could cross into that place and join him. She could touch his hand and feel its warmth, she could see his face, but it wasn't real. A gift in many ways, but not enough. It could never feel like it was enough for one simple reason.

Yora was dead, and Enfri was still alive.

Enfri wondered if there would ever be a true reunion. Perhaps when she was dead and in that place, she could at last feel as if she were truly in her father's arms. Even then, perhaps only the Beyond offered hope of peace.

Yora didn't offer comment on the paths her thoughts were taking. Enfri still wasn't entirely clear on how much of her thoughts her ancestors were able to listen in on. She had a running theory that they could only hear the ones she put into words, rather than those left as nebulous impressions and emotions. So far, she'd received little indication the theory was wrong, and just as little that it was right. Enfri couldn't say why, but she was reluctant to pose the question to them.

In some ways, she supposed that she needed to have, at least, the illusion of privacy in her own mind.

Other things, however, were too pressing to leave unanswered. Papa, we can't put it off any longer.

Yora sighed. He didn't need to be told what she referred to.

If what Grandfather says is accurate, we don't have much time left together.

We're already feeling the ebb, Yora said. They're coming back, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.

Enfri hugged her knees tighter. She felt a sudden and cowardly need to ask more on that subject. Anything, to put off the talk she'd known she needed to have with Yora since he first appeared. How long do we have left?

Could be a week yet. It could be days. It could be hours.

Tears welled up in her eyes. She was afraid. When will I have you with me again?

I will always be with you, my sunrise. Even if you can't hear me, I will be there. He sighed again. As I've said before, there are more of... them... than there are of us. A lot more. That carries a great deal of weight here. We were able to tip the scales after Shoen tried and failed to take control of you, but his faction is still the strongest. When he returns, I'm afraid it will be a long time before you'll be able to hear me again.

Enfri didn't bother trying to keep her tears from falling. Weeks? Winds, will it be months?

Even with his voice only in her head, Enfri could hear the weight of sorrow in his reply.

Years, Sunny. Many years.

Enfri covered her mouth with both hands to stifle the sudden sob fighting to escape her. She'd known Shoen and the others like him would be with her longer than Inwé and Yora, but years... It was unfair. It was cruel. It was more than Enfri thought herself able to bear.

She'd suffered a month of knowing Shoen's darkness for what it was, and that alone had been nearly enough to destroy her. Years of it, his whispering, his hateful words, and knowing that her only respite would come from a fleeting time far in the future, it was enough to tempt Enfri to despair.

Papa, I can't do this.

I'm sorry, Enfri, he said. I wish there was something I could say to make it easier.

Enfri sniffled and wiped at her eyes, hoping that none of the aviators noticed their empress blubbering for no apparent reason. Why haven't you told me until now? she asked. If I knew, I'd... I wouldn't...

We thought it better this way, Yora said. No, I shouldn't make excuses. I thought it better this way. Grandfather warned me, but I thought I knew my own daughter. Knowing would hurt you, and I didn't want what little time we had together overshadowed.

I should've asked sooner, Enfri thought, more a reprimand to herself than anything.

Sunny, Yora whispered, if there are things unsaid... now is the time to say them.

Enfri stood. She reached up to her forehead and pulled the goggles down over her eyes and snapped the tinted lenses into place over them. No reason more than to hide the signs that would reveal her as an emotional wreck to Kolbat and her crew. Enfri didn't use the snap-locks as she walked down the harness. That elicited a few outcries from the crewmen, but Enfri had the utmost faith in her aerial sense of balance.

Distantly, she thought she was getting as bad as Moon in the way she gave everyone around her heart attacks.

She reached the tail lookout post and touched the shoulder of the crewman manning the station. The aviator, younger than Enfri was, knuckled his forehead before surrendering his spot on Darva's haunches.

Enfri bent to secure herself to the harness as she spoke to her father. Mother... was different after you died. Or so Deebee tells me.

Yora didn't say anything, but Enfri had the sense he was nodding sadly.

I'm scared, Papa. Jin wants to have a family, and I think I do, too. It's just, I don't know how to be a mother like the one I want to be.

When Yora at last spoke, his voice was hoarse. I shouldn't have left.

Enfri stared out at the open sky behind them. The forests and plains of Althandor had disappeared over the horizon. All she could see were vast moors, and jungle to the west. They'd been within Melcia for most of the day. Enfri wondered if she ought to have taken the port-side wing post, if only to maybe get a glimpse of their capital city of Adezu.

I needed you, Enfri thought, and nearly started crying again. Mother needed you, too.

I'm sorry.

Enfri nodded. She didn't mean to accuse him or make him feel like he'd abandoned his family. From the stories Deebee had told her, Enfri knew that Yora's only reason for leaving was because he thought doing so would keep them safe. He hadn't known what would come of it.

That didn't make what came of it hurt any less.

I was born with a crooked spine, Enfri thought, and for as long as I can remember, Mother made me feel like that meant I was worthless. I was a deformed, useless hunchback. A poor replacement for the person she had to lose to have me.

Sunny... It was hard to tell if he was trying to soothe her or try to stop her from speaking ill of Mierwyn Page.

Mother made me feel like I deserved to be disabled, Enfri continued, unwilling to let Yora stall her now that she'd started. It poured out of her and couldn't be bottled in any longer. Because I was stupid. Because I couldn't help in the garden for long before I couldn't move anymore from the pain. Because I couldn't walk into town on my own, and because she hated how the villagers looked at us. With pity, because now I know they must've thought we were vagabonds or something they'd never met before.

Because of her, I didn't even know about the memory ward until I was fourteen. I didn't have any relationships with anyone from the village. I didn't dare try to make friends even after Mother died and it was just me and Grandmother. Not even after Grandmother passed Beyond. I was so afraid of being treated by them the same way Mother treated me, because that was all I knew. She'd convinced me that I didn't deserve any better. Fourteen years of never speaking to anyone long enough to realize they had no blustering idea of who I even was half the time. Mother made me ashamed to be me. She made me afraid to be me.

Yora took in and let out a long, drawn out breath. Do you know much about the Lord of Bones, Sunny?

Enfri blinked. What does he have to do with this?

Hear me out. You know he's the god of death, Father Dusk, the Last Shepherd, and a bunch of other things, too. But I need you to know why I hate the bastard.

Enfri lowered herself to sit on her heels. I'm listening.

The Lord of Bones is a blustering prat, Yora said. It didn't have his usual bite of irreverence when he said it. He said it as a simple statement of fact. When your mother died, I was with you. I wanted to be able to hold you and tell you the sort of comforting things a father should tell his daughter when she loses her mother. I couldn't, but there was something I thought I could do. I held tight to Mierwyn's soul, and I followed her into the Ethereum.

Enfri's eyes widened.

The dead pass through the spirit world on our way Beyond, he continued. That much of the dogmas is true. My place here in the in-between is also part of the Ethereum, just like our dreams brush upon it. That allowed me to waylay her on her way Beyond. I paid for it from the costs levied against bond forgers, but for a few moments, I was able to be with your mother. When she saw me, I saw my jewel again. I'd grown so used to the woman she became, the one I saw through your eyes, that I almost failed to recognize my Mierwyn when her spirit brightened. And then she wept and said to me, "Yora, I'm sorry."

And that's when the Lord of Bones arrived. Gods are funny in the spirit world. You don't really see them so much as feel them unless they intend otherwise. And that one, you feel him like ice in your marrow. Like a vast... nothing... that's like flames if they could freeze. His arrival put a fear into your mother. I saw in her eyes that she knew... she knew... that she was going to be taken to Hell. And she knew she deserved it. I saw shame, self-loathing, and sorrow in the eyes of the woman I loved more than any other. You thought for most of your life that your mother hated you, but I saw in that moment that the only person Mierwyn ever truly hated was herself.

The Lord of Bones took her from me. He ushered her away and sent her through the veil into the Beyond. She wasn't taken to Hell— trust me when I say, Sunny, that the dogmas are in every way imaginable wrong about that place— but he let her think she would be. One final cruelty this world had for her before she left it. Some of our family over here think her treatment by the Lord of Bones was fitting and just, and winds take me maybe they're right, but I can't forgive it.

Enfri breathed in after realizing she'd been holding her breath. Despite her complicated history with her mother, she hadn't ever once wished damnation on her. She was relieved to learn that hadn't been Mother's fate. Why tell me this?

Your mother wasn't a good mother, Yora said, because she was weak. It's my fault she became weak, but even so, a mother can't be weak. She knew you deserved better than her, but she couldn't be the mother you deserved. She tried to drive Deebee away from you because she was jealous and feared you loving a dragon more than her. But there were times, weren't there, when you saw the mother Mierwyn wanted to be?

Enfri nodded. The old memories she'd felt resurface as she brushed Princess Manon's hair came back again. Memories of Mother singing. The times she could be kind, as if she'd been trying to make up for the pain she knew she'd caused.

You are not weak, Yora said. You are a woman who was given every reason in the world to become bitter and hard. By every right, you could have become a snappish, snotty, troublemaker, and no one who knew where you came from could say you weren't justified to become so. What shows your strength, Enfri, is that you have remained compassionate regardless. Through it all, you've stayed strong. The mother Mierwyn wanted to be is the mother you will be.

Enfri looked down at the scales underneath her. She smiled. It felt good to know her father had such faith in her.

And Roan is a good name, Yora said. But I'd be remiss if I didn't put 'Yora' on the table for discussion.

It proved difficult for Enfri to stop herself from snorting. Yora Yora? I'd never do that to my son.

Drat. Forgot you changed surnames. Never mind, then.

There was more Enfri wished to talk about with Yora, on this subject and on many others. Unfortunately, she felt Darva tilt slightly into a bank, which meant Odjualla Weaver must have told him and Kolbat to alter course. If they were flying over landmarks Odjualla recognized from her youth in the Reach, that could only mean they were getting close.

I should go up, Papa.

Go on, he replied. I'm not going anywhere just yet. Go be the empress we all know you are, and please, Sunny, be careful.

Enfri furrowed her brow as she signaled for another crewman to take her post at the tail lookout. The way Yora said that made her worry if he had something specific he wanted her to be careful of.

Heading up the harness, Enfri caught sight of what lay ahead. Seeing such things on maps and reading of the accounts of explorers had done little to prepare her. She'd thought she'd known what vastness really was when she first left Sandharbor to flee into the Espalla Dunes. Again she thought it when confronted with the empty horizon of the Southern Sea. Her view of the untamed north was altogether different, for instead of a vast emptiness, she saw a world without borders and boundaries. So much to be seen, and there could never be enough days in a single lifetime to see it all. Not emptiness, but a vast fullness. In short, Enfri looked out upon everything she'd never known.

The moors gave way swiftly to dense jungle with thick canopies of leaves concealing what lay beneath. Nkeoma had called it a rainforest, frequently drenched with heavy rainfall. Within its depths lived beasts Enfri had only been able to imagine. Hydras, scorch kraken, and apparently these monkeys and gorillas she was so curious about.

Somewhere, too, the jungles of the Reach hid an enclave of her people.

Enfri narrowed her eyes and peered still further ahead. Great plains of black stone. Ranges of mountains no one from the Five Kingdoms had names for, some with plumes of white smoke rising from the summits. Enfri had heard stories of isolated northern kingdoms still free of Althandor's rule, distant and barbaric tribes, and forgotten empires under sway of the dogmas of savage gods.

She thought, with no small amount of cynicism, that most of those stories were probably just foolishness thrown on foreign and different peoples to give folk back home an undeserved sense of superiority. But still, Enfri was curious why the race of humanity living on those black rock plains might be called the "molten men". Surely, that wasn't what they called themselves, was it?

If she hadn't had an empire to lead, Enfri was positive she'd gather her little, unconventional family and take them on an extended expedition to learn as much of what lay on the uncharted frontier of the Continent as she could. As it stood, that would likely have to be left to others, perhaps a good long ways in the future.

Enfri tore her eyes from the frontier and gave her attention to the dark-skinned Aleesh woman huddled beside Kolbat. Odjualla's short blonde hair was whipping about her face, having lost her shawl to the wind early on in the flight. Enfri couldn't help but be concerned, as Odjualla was now three months pregnant with her fourth child.

Of all of Landon's pilgrims, only Odjualla had clear memories of the Reach Enclave. The others had been much younger when they left it, or had no memory of it at all. Every one of them who hailed from the enclave left it as or were descended from ndopu uche, as they named it; Enfri had since learned that meant "distraction" in the Old Melcian dialect most prominent in the east of the kingdom.

Enfri crouched down and beckoned Odjualla to sit with her by Darva's sail. "Are we getting closer?"

The goodwife held a hand next to her face to shield her eyes from the wind as she settled in. "Aye, Majesty. We near the cliffs before entering the Reach herself. Chaya Duman is far into the jungle, but she is nay long away by the pace we're going."

Enfri cocked her head to the side. "Chaya Duman? Is that the name of the enclave?"

"We nay think of her as an enclave, Majesty," Odjualla said with a smile. "She is home."

"How long ago did you leave?"

Odjualla sighed. A nostalgic one, Enfri thought. "I was in mine eighth year. Once every five years, a family is chosen to become ndopu uche. The family is honored, their names recorded beside those of the Founders, but a month after their name is drawn, they must leave and nay ever return to Chaya Duman again."

Enfri nodded sadly. "It's because of the assassins, isn't it? The reason you send families out into the world."

"Aye. For if the black hounds can nay find Aleesh in their Five Kingdoms, mayhaps they will search beyond it." She held her hands protectively over her belly. "This is our duty to our home, Majesty. With our lives, we protect her. We nay make it easy for the black hounds to find us, but mine father left our home in Vayl to make himself known to them. To set their eyes on where we nay are." She swallowed. "Your betrothed was kind to tell me of what became of mine father. Slain, by the man called Prince Gain, after Father returned to Melcia to draw their gaze. The royal assassins remember mine father as the justiciar, as he was a magistrate of law."

The assassins' way of... dehumanizing... the targets of their Aleesh contracts by stripping them of their names had never sat well with Enfri. "They called my father the spearman."

"We have both lost much to them," Odjualla said. "Yet it was a price mine father was willing to pay, for it kept his family safe. It kept our home safe. That is was it means to be ndopu uche."

"I'm starting to understand," Enfri said. She settled onto her knees beside Odjualla and folded her hands in her lap. "That explains why you were so tight-lipped about where you came from before."

"Even now, I fear I will nay be welcomed. My name has been recorded beside the Founders. I was to nay come back at all, let alone with outsiders. Even Aleesh outsiders."

Enfri shrugged with one shoulder. "Even Imperial Aleesh outsiders?"

Odjualla laughed anxiously. "I hope it be so, Majesty. I would very much like to see mine grandmother and grandfather again." She turned towards where Landon was conversing with Kolbat. "Goodman Marchand is hopeful as well. He has nay seen more of our people than those of us he gathered to seek you out. I nay think he is able to even imagine the numbers I've told him of."

Enfri let out an anxious laugh of her own. "Fifty thousand seems a lot. A small city's worth, and more than I ever hoped might have survived the last six hundred years. I know you were young, but do you think many of them would even want to come to Shan Alee?"

"Aye," Odjualla said with a nod. "Life in the Reach is hard, Majesty. We live in fear not only of Althandor, but of the Reach herself. We learned to master the beasts, but the soil is a bit more stubborn. And the lakeside has its own dangers, even as we rely upon the bounty in the waters."

"Mastered the beasts," Enfri said thoughtfully. "Just how many of the people in Chaya Duman are shifters? Are all your shifters weres?"

"Nay all," Odjualla said. "Nay even a tenth of us are shifters, I believe. The wereblood is most common, though all seven of the proteurim races live among us."

Enfri raised her eyebrows. "Even skindancers?"

"Even skindancers. Three of them, with one of them ancient and older than Chaya Duman herself. Old Mogga saw the fall of Shan Alee with his own eyes. Our last living Founder, and his children are near as old as he."

Enfri wondered if she ought to have brought Lidya along. Even if Lidya couldn't provide much insight into her own people, Enfri imagined she'd appreciate the chance to meet other— and hopefully just as kindly— skindancers.

"Your eyes, Goodwife," Kolbat called from the saddle. "I need yours to tell me what mine are seeing."

Odjualla was a bit unsteady as she moved hand over hand back across the harness. Enfri held back from just striding up. Once at Kolbat's shoulder, Odjualla peered out. "The cliffs, mine lady," she reported. "That sharp drop is where Melcia ends and the Reach begins. The Melcians nay settle any closer to the Reach than we've already gone."

Enfri leaned out over Darva's shoulder to see what they spoke of. She understood at once why Kolbat couldn't process what her eyes were telling her. It was as if the land ahead reached a certain point, then one step to the next, it became so much further away.

Going by Odjualla's explanation, the reason became clear. The boundary between civilized Melcia and the Reach was a single, unfathomably long cliff face stretching from the western horizon to the east. North of the cliffs, the land dropped down into the swampy moors of the lowlands. The wild and untamed frontier.

Darva rumbled beneath their feet. "I listened to Fash the Bulwark speak of her travels in the north," he said. "Enough lies out beyond what the Highest King has mapped that it could take a dragon's lifetime to catalogue it all."

Kolbat wrinkled her nose. "It true this land's full of hydras?"

"I would nay say 'full'," Odjualla said. "The huntsmen do what they can to keep the nearby wild hydras manageable. They keep the more docile fleets from coming too close and drive off or hunt down any rogue newcomers."

"Fleets..." Kolbat mumbled under her breath.

"What you call a group of hydras. You nay need fear them where we're going. Any you see will likely be domesticated."

Enfri snapped upright with surprise. "Domesticated hydras? Winds, that's possible?"

Odjualla shrugged. "They nay attack on sight, at least."

Enfri didn't find that as reassuring as Odjualla meant it to be.

Odjualla leaned over Kolbat and pointed towards a lake appearing through the rainforest canopy ahead. "There! Chaya Domun sits on the northern shore."

Enfri pulled out her spyglass inside the next heartbeat. She focused where Odjualla indicated. "I don't see anything."

"The city is hidden past the tree line," Odjualla said. "We should nay approach so openly. May we land..." She sought out a wide clearing and pointed it out to Kolbat. "There. That's inside where the huntsmen keep watch, but not so close that it'd cause alarm."

Kolbat looked to Enfri, who returned her a nod. "You see the landing, my Corsair?" she asked.

"Aye, love."

Kolbat raised her voice so to be heard by the entire crew. "Prepare for landfall! I want packs on everyone's backs before we touch dirt. My Corsair won't be able to take the supplies through the polymorphy, and he can't stay in truest form if we're about to trudge through the jungle."

The Pearl aviators shouted their acknowledgements. They addressed Kolbat as "captain" despite the fact she didn't hold a knights' rank. It seemed to Enfri to be a nautical thing, as the Pearl Knights' charter was to include the safeguarding of Aleesh maritime interests.

Enfri let Odjualla cling to her for balance as Darva broke through the canopy to settle on the ground. At once, the scents of the jungle swelled in Enfri's nostrils. Foreign smells unlike anything she'd ever sensed before. Enfri decided she was glad to have packed away a fair amount of her alchemy tools for the trip. She'd probably be stepping over a host of new and exciting reagents with every footfall.

The second thing she took notice of was the muggy heat. Kolbat stood from the saddle and removed her jacket. Many of the crew followed suit. Enfri, fully armored, was obliged to swelter, but she was surprised to find how not uncomfortable it was. Part of her wondered if she'd at last found her natural habitat. She enjoyed the heavy air and humidity. After months in the frozen south, the north felt like paradise, as if a chill in her bones she'd learned to live with was finally being soothed away.

Ban's going to hate this weather, she thought with a tiny measure of amusement.

Disembarking was quick and efficient. As soon as the supplies were unloaded and on the backs of the crew, Darva assumed his human form. With his brown coloring, Enfri thought he looked rather like an Aleesh himself, albeit one with dark blue eyes and indigo tattoos over his body. Unaffected by the weather, he wore his armsman's uniform with the House Yora sigil and colors.

Enfri carried her own pack, no matter how many crewmen tried to take it off her. She also carried her spear, the head wrapped and tied in thick leather, and used it as a walking staff. Enfri needed to be mindful of the spearhead. It was one of the two white blades she'd transmuted halfway by mistake, and if she was careless, the spear was liable to slice its way through the bindings and start sparking lightning everywhere. It'd already happened twice, but she thought she'd now gotten the hang of keeping it under wraps.

With everyone disembarked and making final preparations for setting out for the Aleesh enclave, Enfri tried not to stare as Kolbat went to Darva and enfolded him in an embrace. Knight and dragon kissed each other thoroughly as their crew jeered and made sport.

"About face, you louts," Kolbat snapped without looking at them. "Husband and wife need a moment."

Enfri didn't think she'd been included in Kolbat's order, but she turned around all the same. A quick glance revealed Odjualla had turned also, and her blushing was a match for Enfri's. She cleared her throat before whispering to the goodwife. "Some knights are closer to their partners than others."

"Nay expected, Majesty."

"Came as a shock to me, too, but I guess they knew each other for a long time before coming to me."

That seemed to set Odjualla's blushing off even more and brought a dopey grin along with it to boot. From this and their previous conversations, Enfri decided that Odjualla was most definitely a hopeless romantic.

Kolbat and Darva had been given enough time for smooching as Enfri saw things. She took Odjualla by the arm and approached Goodman Marchand. "Goodman, any thoughts?"

His eyes were turned to the tall jungle trees around them. "Oui, Majesty. Many, but I have a fear that I am unequal to conveying them properly."

Enfri felt strangely comforted by Landon's thick Gaulatian accent. It made her feel like Reyn wasn't so far away. "I think I understand what you mean. Are you ready?"

"To meet our people at long last, Majesty? To risk cliché, I was born ready for this."

Darva led the way. Kolbat's first and second officers, both Altieri hand knights in full plate armor, followed immediately behind him. Kolbat herself remained in the center of the procession, near to Enfri and Odjualla.

A maelstrom of anxiety and excitement battled each other in Enfri's stomach, neither able to fully gain the upper hand. She could only press on as Darva blazed a trail through the dense undergrowth. Enfri tried not to delay them too often when she bent to examine new plants. Her attention was fixed on the jungle floor, her ears turned towards the strange bird calls in the air.

Perhaps that was why she didn't notice that they were being shadowed until they were already surrounded.