Enfri was the last to climb down from Deebee's harness. As soon as she was on the ground, Deebee shrank down to her tiny form and collapsed. Her battle regalia vanished into her holding spell.

"Thank you, love," Enfri said. "You got us the rest of the way. I shouldn't have asked so much of you."

With a grunt of exertion and groans of sore muscles, Deebee flapped her wings to land on Enfri's shoulder. "Nonsense. I'm perfectly alright."

"You can take a breather for a bit," Enfri said while stroking her back. "Let me carry you for a change."

Deebee curled around Enfri's neck and went limp. "A fine idea. I think I will if you don't mind."

Enfri looked to Dahvid. He stood nearby with Josy carried in his arms. She still hadn't regained consciousness, and that worried Enfri. Fortunately, Deebee had managed to bring them the final few leagues to where they knew to find some healing supplies and a sky woman to use them. Enfri took in a breath to steady herself and approached the little cottage that stood at the end of the road west of Sandharbor.

The large garden with tilled, black soil had dozens of different plants growing in orderly rows. Animal pens sat nearby, a milk cow, two alpacas, and a coop full of chickens in residence. As Enfri passed the animals, she nearly jumped when something honked at her. She turned her head to see a gaggle of geese coming from the direction of the nearby duck pond. The big brute of a bird leading the way home eyed all the men and women in his yard as if they were an invading army.

"Blaggard," Deebee muttered from Enfri's shoulder.

Enfri couldn't stop herself from kneeling down as Bellamy waddled up to her. She felt tears in her eyes as she petted his back. The hooligan flapped his wings twice as if to say he was displeased with her for being gone so long, then he honked again to demand his supper.

"I missed you, too," Enfri said under her breath.

Bellamy waddled around her to lead the flock to their feed. A few of the other geese pecked at Enfri's fingers as they passed, as interested in finding bits of bread as they were in getting petted. Hooligans, the lot of them. A pack of feckless, amoral miscreants. Enfri was glad to see they were well.

She stood up and looked at the house again. It was exactly as she remembered it. Her old home, a single-room cottage on the desert's edge, hadn't changed in any way since she left it.

Little reason it should have, she supposed. It'd only been, what, two months? Why did it feel like so much longer? Enfri's world had changed drastically since she and Jin rode away from Sandharbor. Her world had grown larger and more terrifying than what she'd known when she lived here. She'd left her home as a sky woman, and now she returned as something else.

This wasn't her home anymore, and realizing that broke Enfri's heart.

She approached the door and rapped her knuckles against the frame.

"Oh, winds!" exclaimed a girl's voice from inside. "Coming! So sorry, I'm coming."

Enfri had to bite her lip to stop herself from bursting into immediate tears at the sound of Kiffa Smith's voice.

The door slid aside, and an Althandi girl wearing a floral shawl bobbed her head as she spoke out of habit. "Have you come seeking a... a sky..." Her eyes went wide, and she took in a sharp gasp. "Enfri?"

I half-expected to be called an oldwife. Wouldn't that have just been the thing? Enfri wiped at her eyes and smiled. "I'm back."

Kiffa threw herself into Enfri and hugged her tight. "Winds and storms. I never thought I'd see you again. Where've you been? What've you been doing? Who's all this? What in the king's name are you wearing?"

Enfri hugged her back. "The south, too much to remember it all, my crew, and flight armor."

"Flight armor?"

Deebee cleared her throat. "For when she's riding on me."

"Winds, Deebee. I almost didn't see you. Are you well?"

"In need of some vex sprouts," Deebee chuckled. "Otherwise, well enough. It's the one the tall one's carrying who needs your attention."

Dahvid came forward holding Josy. Kiffa let go of Enfri and scurried over to her at once.

"She's got a broken arm," Enfri said. "Multiple fractures in her right radius and ulna. Ethershock compounded by exhaustion. She lost consciousness about twenty minutes ago and hasn't roused since. I didn't have the supplies I needed to treat her."

Kiffa nodded as she inspected Josy's arm. "Looks like you set and splinted it just fine. Winds, is this silk you bound it with?"

"From the harness," Dahvid said.

Kiffa hummed an acknowledgment. She glanced up at Dahvid's face and turned a bright shade of red before returning her attention to the patient. Kiffa lifted one of Josy's eyelids and gasped. "She's..."

"Duchess Josenthorne," Kora said, coming up alongside Dahvid. "A royal assassin."

"Assassin," Kiffa breathed. She looked back towards Enfri. "Weren't you... I mean..."

"Long story," Enfri said. "Josy has specific medical needs. You can't give her essenroot anesthetic."

"No? What about nightshade paste? After you left, I figured out how to stop the investiture from causing blisters."

"Rattlewood sap?" Enfri asked.

"Drat. Thought I maybe learned something you didn't know."

Enfri smiled. "Most anything that causes numbness is risky, especially while she's unconscious. But, if she wakes up and has some ether, she'll be able to fix up the bones herself."

"Right, that bone magic of theirs. Assassins can handle willow bark, though, can't they?"

"Not a problem at all."

"Good, good," Kiffa murmured while continuing examining Josy for injuries. She glanced up at Dahvid again. "Bring her in and put her on the bed, please."

"Aye, Sky Woman. Right away."

Kiffa held her arm out to usher him into the house. Once he was through the door, Kiffa grabbed Enfri's arm and whispered into her ear. "Who's that?"

"Dahvid? He's Lord Dahvid Corwyn of House Corwyn. From Temradel."

"A blustering..." Kiffa looked around and moderated her tone from the squawk it had almost become. "A blustering lord? Here?"

Enfri stifled her amusement as best she could. "And the woman in green plate armor is Lady Kora Mensc, younger sister to Knight-General Talia Mensc."

"Winds and storms, Enfri. Why in the king's name are you with nobles? Are those two courting? Did they hire you to be their midwife?"

Kora was a good ten paces away, but Enfri saw how her back went rigid as a tentpole when Kiffa suggested she and Dahvid were courting. They certainly got on well, but there wasn't anything romantic going on between them as far as Enfri knew. A few of the crewmen started casting amused glances in Enfri's direction.

"Well... err... the thing is," Enfri mumbled. "They work for me."

Kiffa wasn't blinking. Winds, but she might not have been breathing.

Dahvid returned from out of the house. "I have the duchess settled, Sky Woman," he said. "Your Majesty, I suggest placing lookouts about the homestead. No telling if other renegades could be in the area."

Enfri nodded to him. "Good idea. See it done."

"At once, Majesty."

While Dahvid grabbed a dozen crewmen to follow him, Enfri became painfully aware of the flabbergasted look Kiffa was giving her.

"Yes?" Enfri asked sheepishly.

"Majesty?"

Enfri clucked her tongue. "I really should've nipped that in the bud as soon as they started saying it. I took too long to set down forms of address, and everyone decided it for me."

"Enfri, what in Hell is going on? Nobles? Armsmen? Duchesses? Did you run off to marry some king or another?"

"No, but I did get betrothed to a princess."

"So you do like girls. Haythe owes me five shiffs, but don't go changing the subject. Out with it."

Deebee covered her mouth to stifle her laughter. "Just tell her, love, or should I?"

Kiffa planted her fists on her hips. "Tell me what?"

Deebee stood on Enfri's shoulder and cleared her throat in an imperious manner. "Allow me to present Her Imperial Majesty, Enfri the Yora, Lady of Opals, the Dragon Empress of Shan Alee."

Enfri waved shyly. "Hello."

Kiffa looked as blindsided as one girl could get. She gave her head a single shake and took Enfri by the hand to lead her inside. "Well, whatever you are, I'd put gold against copper you still know more about healing than I do, and I've never treated a duchess before. Mind lending a hand?"

"Of course, Kiffa." Enfri put her hand over hers and let herself be pulled along.

"Good. Now I can tell everyone in the village I'm royally trained, and I expect the whole story of what you've been getting up to since you left."

oOo

It took roughly half an hour before Enfri and Kiffa were satisfied with Josy's recovery. At Enfri's suggestion, they sedated the duchess rather than try to rouse her. With her unconscious, they were able to be more forceful with the broken bones than they'd otherwise dare without painkillers. The fractures were set with more care and mending them would take minimal effort on Josy's part. It would be kinder to Josy to let her sleep a while and wake up with enough ether to mend the bones with osteomancy. If they woke her right away, she'd be forced to languish in the pain and discomfort while awaiting enough ether to return to her blood.

In that time, Kimpo caught up with them. After reassuring herself that both Enfri and Deebee were well and whole— and after being gaped at as Kiffa met her second dragon ever— she promised to head back to the legion to tell Ban what was going on. She and Darva headed back to the legion while Grimdar the Gladiator remained behind to guard over Enfri's weary crew.

Kora and Dahvid organized the crewmen, Grimdar stood watch outside with Deebee, and Josy continued to sleep off her sedatives in the bed. That left Enfri with the opportunity to catch up with her former apprentice.

Inside the cottage, things were more different than the exterior. Most of the furniture was the same, but the racks of drying herbs had been moved behind the house. A bed, dinner table, desk, workbenches, and Grandmother's rocking chair remained. The bookshelf was new— the one Enfri left behind had seen better days anyway— though it still held the copies of Enfri's books. It even looked like there were some new ones Enfri didn't recognize.

"What are these?" Enfri asked while looking the new notebooks over.

Kiffa lowered herself into a chair at the dining table. "An idea I had. A few weeks ago, Nchika came down with the golden flu..."

"Winds, is he alright?"

Kiffa waved her concerns away. "Sugar water, starling grass tonic, and bed rest. Cleared up before the sores appeared, even. Anyway, I remembered the epidemic we had a few years ago, and I thought it'd be a good idea to know who's all had the flu already so I know who's built up the resistance to it. Make it so I don't waste as much time visiting everyone if another epidemic comes."

Enfri thumbed through the pages. "There's a lot more than the golden flu written in here."

"I might've gone a little further than I planned," Kiffa said with a shrug. "I asked everyone to tell me about every time they've been hurt or gotten sick. Like you told me a few times, having one illness last year can complicate how you treat a different one this year. I figured it would be better for everyone if I had their healer's history written down, seeing as I'm not quite up to your level of keeping it all in my head."

Enfri was amazed. It sounded like a grand idea. Borderline genius. "And these are the records for everyone in Sandharbor?"

"All but Goodman Wainwright. Old coot is being stubborn." Kiffa affected a crotchety mode of speech. "Mind yer own affairs, girl. If I wanted to reminisce about being under the weather, I'd chat up my oldwife."

Enfri wrinkled her nose as she placed the records back on the bookshelf. "His oldwife has the patience of a saint." She remembered something and excitedly rounded on Kiffa. "How's Teela? She must be gigantic by now."

"Seven months pregnant and looks to be seventy. I'm telling you, Enfri, her baby's going to be coming out with facial hair and gainful employment."

Enfri laughed. "I'm having something of the opposite problem. My First Knight's... wife, you could say... is about two months along, but she's barely showing at all. It's a little hard for me to gauge by sight because goblins are smaller than humans, but..."

"Goblin?" Kiffa scoffed. "Come off it. I've swallowed all this empress business, but..." Her eyes widened. "Winds, you're serious!"

"I am at that."

"Goblins are real?"

"And fascinating. Did you know they have herbs and magic to actually change their sex?"

"You're joking!"

"Not at all. Moon— that's the pregnant goblin I mentioned— was born with a male body, decided she was meant to be female, and went through the transition."

Kiffa was dumbfounded. "I've heard of women acting and dressing to pass as men and vice versa, but physically changing? Do you think that's something we could do for humans who want it?"

"I've got two full notebooks on the subject," Enfri said. She sat down at the table across from Kiffa. "I think I've learned more in the last two months than I have the past two years. I was sure to write it all down, so if you want to look over it all, you're by all means welcome."

"I'll hold you to it."

"And the rest of your family? How's Haythe?"

Kiffa groaned. "Blustering dough-brain is trying to convince me to marry Alstai Thatcher."

"I thought you fancied Alstai."

Kiffa scoffed. "When I was sixteen. Oh, he's pretty enough, but ever since the Thatchers found copper veins on their homestead, he's been insufferable. Likes to boast how his pa's going to claim a title, but he only does it when no other Thatchers are there to tell him he's off his nut."

Enfri leaned forward, grinning. "Do you maybe have some other man you'd rather court?"

Kiffa grunted to show her opinion of the question.

"Some lady?"

"Oh, don't you start, too. I had it from dawn to dusk from ma asking if my courting preference was girls. I think she just wanted that so she could marry me off to you."

"To me?" Enfri gasped.

"Oh, aye. Ma wanted you to marry into the family something awful. She's still upset about the whole memory ward thing stopping you and Haythe from getting betrothed. Vandyn was already married to Heather Weaver, then Haythe married Valys Cooper, Teela married Nchika Forester, and that left me to carry her hopes of getting green-eyed grandchildren."

Enfri nodded absently before giving her head a vigorous shake. "Kiffa, do we have to review human reproduction?"

"Enfri, do I have to remind you how your grandmother's notebooks are fifty years out of date?"

"Eh? How does that change basic biology?"

"Winds, sometimes I forget you hardly ever came into the village growing up. This was the talk of the town about five or six years ago. Word came in over the rail lines of how same-sex couples could conceive. Well, men still need a surrogate, but a little alchemy is all that's needed for women. You're really only altering an ovum using structure essence to mimic the function of a sperm cell. I wrote to the magocracy requesting the formula soon after you left because I saw it wasn't in any of your books."

Enfri felt her jaw hanging open and didn't bother shutting it. "You're saying two women can have children together? And no one ever told me that?"

Kiffa had a sly grin. "Personally, I think our babies would've been gorgeous."

"Winds and storms. Jin knows about this. She'd have to. No wonder she was going on about motherhood like it wouldn't be an issue for us."

"I really hope I didn't just flip your world upside down," Kiffa said with a wince.

Enfri rubbed at her forehead. "Maybe a little sideways. There's a conversation I've been putting off having with Jin. A 'what's our future' sort of talk."

"Deciding which of you will carry the baby?"

Enfri lowered her eyes. "Or if we have one at all. The truth is, I'm terrified of being a mother." She saw Kiffa was about to respond and so continued over her. "I know most every woman is at some point, but this is different. Any child of mine will be an Aleesh with elder blood. It'll be hunted by assassins and worse from the minute it's born."

Kiffa narrowed her eyes. "I know excuses when I hear one, Enfri. That's not the real reason at all, is it?"

Enfri drew her mouth into a line, then shook her head. Her voice became a hoarse whisper. "Everyone says my mother was so kind and gentle. They called her the jewel of Sandharbor. I never knew that person. I don't want to be a mother like mine was."

Taking her hand, Kiffa tried to be comforting. "You could never be."

"Couldn't I? I'm sure everyone thought the same of Mierwyn, and the same monster could be in me." She looked away and gave a rueful laugh. "That one and a host of others."

"You're afraid you'll be as awful to your child as Mierwyn was to you?" Kiffa chewed her lip before responding. "I won't tell you you're being silly, because you're not. Abuse is a learned behavior, but it also means you know better than most how to avoid doing the same thing."

Enfri felt her lips curl wryly. "Deebee told me that once. Now two of the smartest people I know are telling me the same thing, so there must be something to it."

Kiffa looked down at the table and smiled. "Listening to you, someone might think you were talking to a colleague instead of your apprentice."

"Come off it. You're doing wonderfully on your own. You're every bit as much a sky woman as I ever was."

Kiffa's smile turned wan. "I'm always in over my head. I keep waiting for the day someone comes out and says it direct I don't belong in this cottage. I'm sure the headman is sending out letters to get a real sky woman out here again."

"Bite your tongue," Enfri scolded. "You are a real sky woman. I saw to that personally, thank you very much. You..." Enfri halted as she recalled a spear in her hands, stained with a dragon's blood. Her voice dropped to a low register. "You're more a sky woman than I am."

Kiffa opened her mouth to protest. Before she could say anything, the lookouts began blowing their whistles. Friendly dragons inbound.

"I'm really sorry about all this," Enfri sighed. "Sounds like two or three dragons are on their way to check up on me. It seems I cause a fuss wherever I go anymore."

"Don't talk nonsense," Kiffa said. "Winds know, Sandharbor needs a little excitement now and then."

Kiffa kept up a brave face, but Enfri saw how she startled when the ground shook from dragons touching down nearby. The new arrivals couldn't have been on the ground for longer than ten seconds before there was a knock on the door.

Enfri rose to her feet to answer it out of habit. She blushed and sat back down while mumbling an apology.

Kiffa smiled. "It's your house, Enfri. I'm just sleeping here."

Enfri wrung her hands. Kiffa reached out and gave them a pat before going to the door. She slid the door open and took a step back out of surprise. "It's you," she gasped. "I remember you."

Enfri looked around Kiffa to see who it was. It came as no surprise to her. Enfri had expected this one to show up sooner rather than later.

"Yes, the daughter of Goodman Brandyn Smith," Jin said. "I was told you became Enfri's apprentice. You have been well, I hope."

"Y-yes. Quite. Thank you. Kiffa Smith, at your service."

"Jin Algara, at yours. Is Enfri here? Is she..."

Enfri stood back up again and drew Jin's eye to her. "I'm well, my light."

"Algara," Kiffa murmured, then her eyes shot wide open. She bobbed a deep curtsy and stepped aside from the doorway. "Your Highness. Please, come in."

Jin nodded to her graciously before entering. Her adherence to tradition and showing utmost respect to everyone she met was one of Jin's most endearing traits in Enfri's opinion. After pausing to remove her sword and lean it against the door frame, Jin stopped holding herself back and rushed to take Enfri into her arms.

"I'm so sorry, my heart," she said.

"Come off it," Enfri said. "I won't listen to one word of you blaming yourself."

Jin's brow furrowed as if what Enfri said pained her. "It was my fault. I should never have..."

"I mean it, Jin," Enfri said firmly. "I'm betting you came after me as soon as you could. Did you find out what happened?"

Jin shook her head. "Not yet. Tormaka is giving a sending to Ban now. We'll know everything there is to know soon enough." She looked to the bed. "In the meantime, what's Josy doing here? How did she come to be hurt?"

Enfri blew out her lips. "Where to start. We picked her up off of Scorpion while the Dreamer was chasing us. She pitched in to fight him off, then it came down to her taking a plummet off Deebee and socking the Dreamer in the face." She touched Jin on the arm. "Josy saved our lives. No doubt about it, the Dreamer would've killed me and everyone else if not for her."

Jin had walked to Josy's bedside as she listened. She knelt beside the bed and took Josy's uninjured hand to kiss it. "Thank you, Cousin. I owe you more than I can ever repay."

Josy stirred. "Hope that means I won't catch Hell for taking your horse."

Jin chuckled. "He'd already run back to the legion by the time I left. Consider it forgiven."

"I wanted to prove you could trust me," Josy said, her voice wavering. "I wanted to have your respect again."

Jin touched Josy's cheek and guided her eyes to meet hers. "You've earned my trust a hundred times over, but you never lost my respect. Or my love."

Kiffa came to the bedside with a basket of tonics. She crouched beside Jin and offered Josy a small vial. "Here, a vex tincture. It should replenish your ether a little."

That got Enfri's attention. While Josy downed the tincture with a grimace, Enfri plied Kiffa for an explanation. "You distilled vex sprouts? How'd you manage it?"

"Hmm? Oh, I just used alum to catalyze the reagent, but I think any astringent would work. After that, a little salt before boiling to pull out the desired compounds, and what condensed back was like bottled ether. It invests easier than anything, too."

Enfri felt her jaw drop. "Kiffa, you marvel. Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to make an ether regeneration spell? I was ready to write it off as impossible, like picking yourself up off the ground. And you just... did it?"

"Just nothing," Kiffa protested. "Took me a month and a half, thank you."

Jin shook her head in amazement. "Sandharbor alchemists are not to be underestimated, it appears. You should be aware, Sky Woman, that anyone who presented spell like this to the magocracy would earn a hierarch's title without question."

Kiffa hummed noncommittally. "I only worked off of Enfri's notes. Standing on the shoulders of giants and all that. But it really isn't all that amazing. More like storing up ether now to use later, plus the added benefit of being able to give it to someone else. Of course, the vex brings along an increased rate of ether replenishment, but that's more from the base reagent than any aspect of the spellcraft."

"I hope you wrote the formula down," Enfri said. "Something like that could save dozens of lives. Our arcanists deal with ethershock on a regular basis."

"Certainly," Kiffa said with a nod. "I'll copy it out of my journals for you."

Outside the cottage, Enfri heard something of a commotion. A high and reedy voice was making demands of the crewmen standing outside. Recognizing the voice at once, Enfri wanted nothing more than to jump under the bed to hide. "Jin, you didn't."

Jin had the decency to look contrite. "I had no part in this. I rode on the Wanderer. She came on the Observer. I was not aware she came along until after we arrived."

Kiffa blinked. "Winds and storms, who is it?"

"Mistress Hana," Enfri and Jin answered in unison.

Kiffa frowned. "Well, we'll just see about this. Your Highness, if you would be so kind as to see to the duchess' arm, I'll handle your stowaway." Her voice dropped to a discontented mutter. "Imagine, yammering on like that outside a healer's door. The nerve of some people."

Enfri crouched behind her grandmother's old rocking chair and peered around it to watch. She'd never thought of Kiffa as the confrontational type, nor of Hana as the easily confronted type.

Kiffa threw aside the door, ready to dole out a vicious tongue lashing. Rather than Mistress Hana, she found a tall and well-muscled man with dark skin standing on the threshold. Hana was still arguing with the crewmen, but Hagen of the Amak'talan must've used her as a distraction to come up to the door unnoticed. The Espallan hallah'ha blinked in surprise when he was confronted by a diminutive sky woman with fire and fury in her expression.

"And who's this blustering lump?" Kiffa demanded.

The crewmen outside looked away from Hana to see Hagen materialized on the doorstep. They gave wordless yells of surprise before pulling their short swords from their scabbards.

Enfri stepped out from behind the rocking chair. "Hagen? What are you doing here?"

Jin stood alongside Enfri. She picked up her scabbard form the doorframe and held it with her hand gripping the hilt of her sword. "I might miss a steward, but I think I would have noticed if an Espallan warrior had come along with me and the Quartz Knights."

Hagen raised a palm. "Forgive, please," he said in heavily accented Althandi. "Harm mean not, amah'e."

Jin didn't loosen her grip on her sword, though it stayed in its scabbard for the moment. "Perhaps not, but we would like an explanation nonetheless."

Hana shoved her way past the crewmen and stood alongside Hagen. "As I was trying to tell your guardsmen, Your Majesty, the first warrior is here at my request."

"Yours, Hana?" Jin asked.

Hana turned to look up at Hagen and spoke a few words in Espalleese. Hagen nodded to her in return.

"Winds, you know his language?" Enfri gasped.

"Indeed I do, Majesty," Hana said. "I was not always a steward, nor did I live all my life in Altier Nashal. Hagen is my sortha-son, the child of my co-wife and her third husband."

There was a lot in that Enfri felt she should comment on. Perhaps foolishly so, but she asked the thing that was foremost on her mind at the moment. "You were in an Espallan sortha? But your husband's my groundskeeper."

Hana's mischievous grin was entirely out of character. "One of my husbands, Majesty. I had four before three of them passed Beyond into the Celestial Maiden's embrace."

Kiffa cocked an eyebrow. "Four husbands? At the same time?"

"Indeed, Sky Woman."

"Winds," Kiffa muttered. "Don't know if that makes you lucky or unlucky. But that doesn't make it alright to come barging in while there's healing going on. I'm afraid you two will have to wait or take this elsewhere."

Josy sat up and swung her legs off the bed. She flexed her right arm to test it out. "The bones are better than new, Sky Woman," she said.

Kiffa shot her a quick look. "I'll still need to look it over to make sure."

Enfri approached the door. "Hana, if you knew Hagen, why didn't you say anything sooner?"

The steward folded her hands in front of her and shifted her feet anxiously. "The truth is, Your Majesty, I didn't intend to let my familial ties to Espalla be known. As tolerant of other ways of life as you've been, I err on the side of discretion concerning my sortha. Many view such practices as immoral at best."

"I understand that," Enfri said, "but I think you should've told me you're related to a visiting delegate."

Jin's hand had yet to leave her sword handle. "There is a conflict of interest," she said, "and concerns for security. Need I ask how the Espallans located our legion on the march?"

"There is much we have to talk about, Your Highness," Hana said. "About my informing the Espallans of the empress' movements and actions, about my serving as Hagen's eyes and ears within Shan Alee, and most importantly, about the future of two empires."