turned us out - but they did not know that he had investments in Taela. We are headed there to recover his monies."
The men considered what she told them. For a Traveler to marry or even lie with solsenti was expressly forbidden. It happened, but a very strict clan leader could punish the offender with banishment or death.
Only Kors looked taken aback, and Benroln tapped him on the shoulder before he could say anything.
Isfain merely said, in tones of apparent delight, "Ah, we take the same road. Our clan has business that lies along the road to Taela, and we have friends in the city who are willing to aid us. We'd be more than pleased to lend you escort until our roads part."
There was no way out of Isfain's generous offer without offense, so Seraph nodded. "Your escort would be most welcome."
Calahar glanced over at Skew and then moved toward him. "Nice horse," he said.
"My husband's warhorse," replied Seraph. "Careful. He's old now. But he was trained not to let strangers approach too closely."
"I've only seen a few horses with his coloration," he said. "Your husband get him as a war prize?"
"Yes."
"Too bad he's a gelding."
"Yes," replied Seraph. "But he serves us well as it is. Lehr, would you check to make sure we've gotten everything packed?"
Hennea waited until they were walking again and the fuss of adding new members had died down before approaching Seraph.
"You were less than forthcoming," Hennea said quietly. "And Skew's never objected to me."
"But they don't need to know that. I'd rather not have people ruffling through our packs. There's something off about this clan," Seraph replied. "Though it's been a long time since I walked with Travelers, so perhaps I'm misreading something."
"Perhaps you are right to be suspicious," agreed Hennea thoughtfully. "They certainly aren't going to be looking for Lehr and I to be Ordered, not when they know that two of us are Order-Bearers. Although if they have a Raven who looks at us, they'll know what you are up to."
"I've been looking," said Seraph. "The only Order-Bearer I've seen is Benroln himself."
"I suppose there will be no harm done," said Hennea.
"No harm to whom?" asked Benroln.
Seraph carefully maintained her smile. "To us. It's a relief to find a clan to journey with - but it bothers me that we might need your protection. This is a main road, there should be no danger for Travelers here - but I worry all the same."
"It's not just those hotheaded men either," said Benroln in grim tones. "There hasn't been a Gathering in a long time. The last one was disrupted by solsenti soldiers, and the clans felt that another Gathering might just be setting ourselves up for a solsenti sword. The illness that swept through our clans twenty years ago took out more than just your clan. If the solsenti have their way, in another twenty there will be no Travelers at all."
The clipped note in his voice when he said "solsenti" reminded her forcibly of the way some of the more frightened Rederni said "magic."
"Then it is their doom," said Hennea indifferently. "Travelers exist to keep the solsenti from paying the price of a failure that was not theirs."
"What failure?" said Benroln explosively, but Seraph saw calculation in his eyes. He was playing to his audience. "A story nattered at by the elderly? It is only a story - and it was old before the Shadow's Fall. It's a myth, and no more accurate than the twaddle the solsenti spout about the gods. There are no gods and there was no lost city. There is no evil Stalker. We have paid and paid for a crime committed in an Owl's tale. If we don't wise up we'll be nothing more than a solsenti minstrel's tale ourselves, something told to frighten small children."
"Wise up and do what?" asked Seraph.
"Survive," he said. "We need to keep food in our mouths and clothes on our backs. We need to teach the solsenti to leave us alone - as you did to that solsenti bastard who tried to injure Hennea." He paused, then said softly, "You taught that man and his sons to leave us be. If you had allowed your Eagle to teach them, the rest of the solsenti in that group would have taken the story to his village and they all would have trembled in fear."
"Maybe someone did," said Seraph coolly. "Maybe that's why, instead of welcoming us and looking to us to