quick to dampen the brightened look that arne over the woman. ?Do not be deceived. The mountains of that range are more huge than anything you can imagine."
"I came through them once," Brynn reminded. ?And I walked their southern slopes."
"When you were a child, so many years ago that you hardly remember the truth of their scope."
"I saw them every day when I was a child, and from much closer than this vantage point!"
"Indeed," Juraviel replied. ?Much, much closer. We can see them, and each day they will seem a little taller.
But just a little, and by the time we ac-tually reach them, they will tower so high above us that they will block out the sun itself. Our road is far from finished."
Brynn looked down at the elf, who stood staring to the south. To her sur-prise, her irritation at JuravieFs words could not take hold. No, Brynn ap-preciated Juraviel at that moment, more so perhaps than she had since their departure from Andur'Blough Inninness. Only then and there, standing with their goal somewhat in sight and yet still so far away, did Brynn truly understand the sacrifice that her mentor, her friend, was making for her. He was giving up months and months, years even, away from his home and kin, and for what? For no personal gain that Brynn could see, however much Lady Dasslerond preferred the To-gai-ru over the Behrenese. When Ju-raviel returned home to Andur'Blough Inninness, if he managed to stay alive throughout the war and return home, the daily routines, the daily joys and sorrows of his existence would not be dependent upon whether or not Brynn had prevailed in To-gai. What did it truly matter to Juraviel and the Touel'alfar whether the To-gai-ru or the Behrenese ruled the windy steppes of that far-distant land?
And yet, here he was, uncomplaining, traveling beside her, leading her to her destiny.
Brynn stooped a bit and draped her arm across Juraviel's small shoulders. He turned a curious expression toward her, and she smiled in response and kissed him on the cheek, and then, when he returned her smile, she nod-ded, silently conveying her appreciation, silently explaining to him - and she knew that he understood - that she at last understood and appreciated that she could not possibly make this journey without him.
That was the truth that Brynn Dharielle realized, standing there on that varm afternoon, the southern breezes blowing through her dark, silken lair. And as she had grown on that day of her dark epiphany, when she had learned what it was to kill, so she believed that she had grown even more ris day, the day of her second epiphany, the next stage of her maturation along the road to her destiny.
A good leader understood her enemies.
A better leader understood, and appreciated, her allies.
The days blended together, but with each dawn Brynn noted that the mountains did indeed seem taller, if only just a bit. She tried to put it out of her mind, for she was becoming as anxious as if those mountains were not just the landmark that would lead into her land, but marked the very steppes of To-gai itself.
One day on the road, with Brynn leaning forward eagerly, her body lan-guage speaking clearly to the fact that she believed her final goal was al-ready in sight, and almost in hand, Belli'mar Juraviel threw a bit of cold water over her.
"It is good that we make the foothills of the Belt-and-Buckle before mid-summer," he said casually. ?For then we have a chance, at least, of finding our way through the divide before the winter snows begin."
Brynn's expression as she turned to regard him was one of curiosity and confusion.
"For winter will come early up in those high passes," Juraviel explained. ?Oh, down here, amidst the trees and this far south, I doubt the snows ever pile very deep, or indeed, if it ever snows at all. But note that the caps of the mountains are still encased in snow, though summer nears its midpoint. I suspect that we will not have to climb very high, and not very late into the winter season, before we find the passes fully blocked.
"Of course, that is assuming that we even find a pass," he finished grimly.
That last sentence had Brynn's eyes widening tellingly. ?You do not know the way through?" she asked, almost with a gasp. ?But you were there - or your people were - barely a decade ago! When you rescued me from