where is it that you've been wandering?"
Brynn smiled as she considered the depth of her forthcoming answer. She wanted this discussion to go completely the other way around, with her asking the questions about To-gai, and not the To-gai-ru interrogating her. She had found no trouble in getting lodgings; several To-gai-ru families had offered to take her in at the cost of a few tales, and she had accepted the in-vitation of this very couple. One Behrenese man had offered, as well, and Brynn had almost accepted, thinking that she might garner much informa-tion about her enemies by becoming a confidant of one of them. But then she had looked into the man's eyes and had seen the truth of his intent, though his wife would be in the same house.
"Along the mountains, mostly," Brynn answered slowly, very conscious of the fact that a pair of Behrenese men were sitting at a table not too far away and were listening somewhat more than casually. She knew that she was being watched wherever she went, as the leaders of the town tried to learn as much as they could about this strange woman and her unusual equipment. Brynn looked at the two men out of the corner of her eye, and added, loudly enough for them to hear, ?And under the mountains."
The old couple looked to each other in surprise, and others about the im-mediate area of the large room shared that expression. The whispers began almost immediately, and within a few moments, Brynn found herself sur-rounded by folk, To-gai-ru mostly, but even with a few Behrenese, all wait-ing to hear her tales.
And so she told them - the part under the mountains, at least, though she kept out any mention of Juraviel and Cazzira. Every face screwed up with confusion as she told of the dwarf city, for the To-gai-ru and Behrenese alike had little knowledge of powries, and every eye went wide indeed when Brynn told her tale of the great dragon and its hoard of treasure.
She played it to maximum effect, dramatizing her words by standing and even mimicking some of the battle actions as she described the fight. At one point, she cried out, ?So I thrust my new sword against the great beast's leg!" and spun to the side as she did, stabbing out with her bare hand, and taking delight, along with all of the others, in the way several of the audi-ence leaped back, one even giving a shriek.
All the while, though, Brynn subtly glanced at the two Behrenese, who were still sitting at their table, still pretending, unsuccessfully, to be ambiva-lent about the newcomer or her tale. They were hearing her words, she knew, and marking them well, and likely, they'd be speaking with Yatol Daek Gin Gin Yan before Brynn's scheduled meeting with him the next morning.
"They say you are of Kayleen Kek," one man to the side remarked.
"Long ago," Brynn replied, and simply hearing the tribal name evoked memories of her carefree childhood days.
"A fine tribe!" another man offered, and many about nodded and sounded their accord, and at that moment, Brynn knew that she had come home. The tribes of To-gai were not often friendly with each other, and were of-tentimes at war. But there was a mutual respect among them, and an under-standing, in the greater scheme of the world, that they were all one people, the proud To-gai-ru.
The one disconcerting expression that Brynn saw came to her from Bara-chuk, who seemed a bit confused, even suspicious.
She wasn't overly surprised, then, when, after many more tales, including many that Brynn at last coaxed out of the others, old Barachuk turned to her on the way back to the house, and said, ?I knew Kayleen Kek. I once traded with them and hunted beside them. I know of no family Dharielle."
Brynn noticed the gentle, but firm, way Tsolona put her hand on Bara-chuk's forearm, as if reminding him that Brynn was one of them.
Still, Brynn certainly understood Barachuk's concern. Kayleen Kek had not been a large tribe, numbering no more than three hundred, and with only twenty distinctive families. And in this day, under the harsh rule of Behren, there was reason for suspicion.
Brynn stopped walking, as did her two companions. She stared into Barachuk's sharp eyes. ?Do you know the family Tsochuk?"
The man assumed a pensive pose for a moment, then his eyes widened. ?Keregu and Dhalana," he started to say, hesitantly.
"And their daughter, Dharielle, who was spared on