Vania sighed and rapped quickly on the door. "T'kanna?"

The door swung open. "Vania!" T'kanna greeted. She stepped back and gestured into the room. "Come in." As she closed the door behind the enforcer, she asked, "How are you feeling? I know you kept to your room yesterday."

"You mean you know that the ward you placed on my door kept her contained yesterday," Vania corrected. She sat in a chair near T'kanna's, eyes looking out the rain-spattered window. The garden below was dark, the plants drooping from too much water and lack of sunlight. Even the middle of the day was dark now, with storms constantly overhead.

"So, what can I do for you, Vania?"

"Can you get me to Karn quickly?"

T'kanna looked at her carefully. "Why do you want to go to Karn? We've already been told by the temples there that they can't help you. Won't even try."

"Eddin leaves the day after tomorrow. If your mother isn't going to be back before then, I need to go to her. There's something I need to talk to her about."

"Truly?" T'kanna asked. She reached out and took one of Vania's hands in both of her own.

Vania looked at their hands together on her knee. "Yes. Truly."

"There's the route Mother takes to get from here to there quickly... It's a... condensed road. Like using a dimensional hallway to connect one end of the house to the other, but on a much larger scale."

"I don't know what that means," Vania admitted, "but if it can get me to Karn and back before the day after tomorrow, please help me use it."

"If you leave right now, you'd be back just before dawn, the day after tomorrow. Assuming you don't take more than an hour to talk to her."

Vania stood, taking deep breath. "I don't intend for this to be a social visit. Can I go now? Or do you need time to prepare?"

T'kanna smiled as she also stood. "It's been a few days since Mother used it, so the spell should be restabilized. I can show you the doorway."

"Thank you."

Vania follow T'kanna out of the room and down the hallway.

Vania hurried to the make-shift port, spurring her horse dangerously fast around the tight corners down the cliff trail. Please, let me be on time, she thought desperately. The trail ended at the temporary port, a few hastily-constructed docks jutting out from the rocky shoreline. The curses of many dockhands followed her as she kneed her horse faster, barely missing crates and bundled loads, the hooves of her horse nearly stomping on toes.

The hoofbeats ringing out on the wood of the pier drew the eyes of many sailors as she passed them, eyes riveted on a ship at the end of the dock, ropes flying as the ship was unmoored.

"Stop!" she shouted at the sailors as they bent to lift the ramp. Yanking on the reins hard to force the horse to stop before it ran off the edge of the pier, she jumped to the boards, cringing at the tingling in her feet and planted her booted feet heavily on the edge of the ramp.

The sailors looked at her, eyeing her uniform, then hurried onto the ship.

"What is the meaning of this?" A woman in military dress demanded as she stalked down the ramp. "We are on a tight schedule; we're needed back at the front!" The tydring woman's scowl softened as she recognized Vania. "Ah. One of D'merdon's enforcer friends. Where's the fire?"

"I need to speak with D'merdon Buccareth," Vania replied.

"What about?"

"His career."

"He's an Animal Wrangler in the army." The woman crossed her arms. "He's not an enforcer anymore. Even your black uniform has no authority on this ship. Everyone on this ship is heading to Hursa. We're needed at the front."

"It's... Talya, right?" Vania asked. "Just let me talk to him, please. It won't take long."

"Five minutes," Talya said, turning on her heel and returning to the deck. "D'merdon! You have a visitor!"

"Vania?" Eddin asked as he walked down the ramp. "What are you doing here?" He stopped beside her, the nearby lamps throwing his face into shadow when he looked down at her. "Did you come to see me off?"

"Yes. Off this ship," Vania replied.

"Off the... I received orders, Vania. I can't just defy them."

"I know that."

"Then what do you mean when you—"

Vania held up a hand, cutting him off. "Shut up and let me do this properly."

"Properly? What are you—"

"Shut up. We're starting this conversation all wrong."

"Vania, I—"

"Just shut up for a moment," Vania demanded. After he closed his mouth and looked at her in silence, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Looking up at his face, she said, "D'merdon Buccareth, will you marry me?"

His mouth dropped and he looked at her a moment. "I— Vania, I—" He stopped, sent a glance down the pier to shore, then asked quietly, "Did sis put you up to this?"

"No. She... informed me of this... option," Vania said slowly. "But she didn't force me to ask." She threw a look up at him. "I'm too stubborn for people to force me into things easily!"

He chuckled as he replied, "Good. That's... good. I don't... want you to feel... like..."

"Eddin." She placed one of her long fingered hands on his shoulder. After he fell silent, she teased quietly, "You still haven't answered the question."

"The question," he repeated.

"Oh, my god, are you going to make me ask again?"

"No," he replied slowly. "The real question is... is this really what you want? Or are you doing this out of some hero complex?" His voice dropped so only she could hear him, "Since you know, if I go over there again, I probably won't make it back?"

"I wouldn't've asked if I didn't mean it, Eddin," Vania replied.

"For real?"

She nodded.

He smiled and reached for her hand. "Yes, Vania Nahalora, I would be honored."

She smiled back at him. "Good. Now—"

"Vania," Eddin interrupted her. He paused, lips pressed into a thin line. He reached out and cupped her cheek. "Can I give you a kiss?"

She smiled slightly as she blushed, biting her lip. Her eyes travelled to the ship, where the crew and soldiers were massed at the railing, watching the exchange. "I think they'd like that."

"I don't care about them. I was asking you."

"Yes."

Everyone on the ship cheered and hooted at the couple as Eddin leaned down to give Vania a kiss.

As Eddin's hand slid away from her fingers and around her back, drawing her closer, Vania opened her wings and flexed them forward, blocking the crowd on the ship's view, and wrapping Eddin in a little private bubble with her.

The cheering and whistling continued unabated, even as they both stepped back and Vania furled her wings once more at her back.

Eddin looked at her, then grinned. "You have your own privacy screens wherever you go. Pretty nice."

"Oh, shut up," Vania replied, punching his arm. "Now go get your stuff off that ship. You're coming with me."

"Yes, ma'am," Eddin replied with a grin. He walked quickly up the ramp to the ship, disappearing from view among the throng of sailors and soldiers.

As he reappeared, rucksack over his shoulder, Talya quickly followed him back down the ramp to Vania.

"I'm happy for you, and I hate to do this, but you can't just leave," Talya said, looking at Eddin. "You're on the conscription list. You need proof of the order being waived..."

"Oh. You mean this?" Vania asked, pulling a folded parchment from her pocket and holding it out.

Eddin spied the seal on the paper as Talya broke it open and began reading. "You just happen to have a letter from the Grand Master in your pocket?"

Vania grinned. "Well. You are a'marlon. I did have to ask your mother for permission first before I asked you."

Talya nodded and pocketed the letter. "Very well. Congratulations, D'merdon. I wish you well." She gestured to a few of the sailors standing nearby. "If there's no Animal Wrangler on board, we need to unload the animals, as well."

"Just open the cages," Eddin said easily. "They'll unload themselves." He whistled. Prant poked his head out from Eddin's cloak pocket, then scurried, chittering, up the ramp. "Prant'll help escort them. You may as well keep the supplies, though. There are still animals on the lines at Hursa; they need to eat, too."

"Very well," Talya replied, nodding again. "Once your animals are off, we'll be sailing. We've already missed the tide." She turned, then paused to clap him on the shoulder. "I'm happy for you, D'merdon. Take care. Enjoy your year—don't squander it." She hurried up the ramp as a roar preceded Earl bounding down the ramp, followed closely by Prant, Tarva, and a few other animals.

Vania looked at Eddin's animal squad, then looked up at him, eyebrow cocked. "What, no Ducard?"

Eddin chuckled as he grabbed Tarva's reins and began walking toward shore. "No. He's mother's. I only bring my own animals when I go."

 Vania eyed the procession of animals following Eddin, then chuckled and grabbed the reins of Ama and followed.