not wait for the sway to suggest it.”
“You don’t seem to realize that you’ve quite possibly provoked a war.”
“They were hunting us, ben Kor, trying to prevent us from reporting their presence. The provocation was all theirs—we acted in self-defense only. And now it’s up to us to inform the Canopy and let our diplomats try to find a solution before anything else burns.”
He seethed, knowing I was right and hating me for it. And now that we were out of immediate danger, he was ready to twist events to spite me. I don’t think he honestly disagreed with anything I said; he simply couldn’t stand the fact that I was correct and he was wrong; it was a poisonous mindset. And that is what happens to people who do not put the Canopy first.
“Come. Let’s report as agreed.” The roots of my silverbark lengthened and dipped into the soil of the forest, and seeing this, Pak Sey ben Kor had no choice but to join me. He dismounted and his own roots snaked into the ground, and we spoke through root and stem to all of Forn. By dawn, even the greensleeves in Keft would know what happened here, and they would spread the news to the Raelechs and Brynts and Kaurians. Gorin Mogen’s sneaky invasion would soon be simply an invasion, and the world would not let him get away with it.
—
Fintan waved to the crowd. “Tomorrow we will find out what happened to Abhinava and the bloodcats!”
When I returned home after the tale, Elynea was sitting up straight in a chair and obviously waiting for me.
“Good, you’re here,” she said. “Kids, go outside and wait for me. I’ll be out directly.”
As they filed past me to the door, Tamöd waved and said, “Bye, Dervan.” Pyrella said nothing but gave me a brief hug. And after the door closed behind them, I turned to Elynea with a question on my face, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Dervan, you’ve been so kind to let us live here, and we’re so grateful,” she said. “And I know it’s not your fault, but this isn’t the best place for my children anymore. We’re going to move in with my friend Garst du Wöllyr.”
“You mean your new employer?”
“Also my employer, yes. He has room for us, and since he’s in the furniture business, he has, well…furniture. Real beds for the kids instead of cots.”
I forced a smile onto my face. “Of course. I completely understand.”
She stood and clasped her hands together before her, finally looking up at me. “I wanted to tell you in person and not leave a note.”
“That was nice of you,” I said. “I might have worried. I wish you all good fortune and happiness, and of course please let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.”
“You’ve been a blessing to us as it is. Thank you.” She stepped forward until she was directly in front of me, her eyes downcast again. Then she placed her hands on top of my shoulders, stretched up on tiptoe, and quickly kissed my cheek. “Goodbye.”
I stood there dumb as she exited and the door clacked shut behind her. The house seemed especially empty now even with me inside of it. I was alone again, a prospect I had in the past weeks looked forward to with relish, but now that it had happened, I recalled the stark fact that it is truly horrifying to be so alone. I still missed Sarena, and now that Elynea and her kids were gone, now that I couldn’t lounge in the palace and chat away the time with mariners and longshoremen, now that I had nothing but bare walls to look at and four cots and four chairs for my use only, my home felt like the Mistmaiden Isles, a place no one ever visited, populated entirely by ghosts.
Shuffling to the kitchen, thinking that food might distract me, I opened the pantry without enthusiasm and saw no comfort there. There was none to be had. I closed it again and announced to the walls, “I’m going out.”
Locking the door, I strode briskly to the Randy Goat, the sagging and practically derelict inn where Fintan had spent the previous night. It was dark inside, the weak light shining in the oil lamps dirty somehow, and it smelled of urine and grease and bad decisions, but it was full of loud unwashed people ready to talk and share a joke, their tongues loosened by