the law courts any day!'
'Well, I think you were wonderful,' Kethry began. 'I couldn't have done it without you and Cat being so calm and clear. You had an answer for everything they could throw at you.'
'Enough!' Tarma growled, throwing apples at all of them. 'You were all brilliant. So now Wethes is poorer by a good sum; Cat has enough to set herself up as anything she chooses, we have enough to see us to the Plains, and the entire town knows Wethes isn't potent with anything over the age of twelve. He's been the butt of three dozen jokes that I've heard so far; there are gangs of little boys chanting rude things in front of his house at this moment.'
'I've heard three songs about him out on the street, too,' Cat interrupted with an evil grin.
'And last of all, Keth's so-called marriage has been declared null. What's left?'
'Kavin?' Justin hazarded. 'Are we likely to see any more trouble from him?'
'Well, I saw to it that he's been declared disinherited by the Council for selling his sister. Keth didn't want the name or the old hulk of a house that goes with it, so it's gone to a cadet branch of her family.'
'With my blessings; they're very religious, and I think they intend to set up a monastic school in it. As for my brother, when last seen, Kavin was fleeing for his life through the stews with the leader of the Greens in hot pursuit,' Kethry replied with a certain amount of satisfaction. 'I saw him waiting for Kavin outside the Council door, and I was kind enough to pinpoint my brother for him with a ball of mage-light. I believe his intention was to paint Kavin a bright emerald when he caught him.'
Justin burst into hearty guffaws -- and his chair promptly capsized.
The rest of them collapsed into helpless laughter at the sight of him, looking surprised and indignant, amid the ruins of his chair.
'Well!' he said, crossing his arms and snorting. 'There's gratitude for you! That's the last time I ever do any of you a fav -- '
Whatever else he was going to say ended in a splutter as Ikan dumped his mug over his head.
* * * 'Still set on getting back to the Plains?' Kethry asked into the darkness.
A sigh to her right told her that Tarma wasn't asleep yet. 'I have to,' came the reluctant answer. 'I can't help it. I have to. If you want to stay...'
Kethry heard the unspoken plea behind the words and answered it. 'I'm your she'enedra, am I not?'
'But do you really understand what that means?'
'Understand -- no. Beginning to understand, yes. You forget, I'm a mage; I'm used to taking internal inventory on a regular basis. I've never had a Talent for Empathy, but now I find myself knowing what you're feeling, even when you're trying to hide it. And you knew the instant I'd been taken, didn't you?'
'Yes.'
'And now you're being driven home by something you really don't understand.'
'Yes.'
'Does it have anything to do with that Goddess of yours, do you think?'
'It might; I don't know. We Sworn Ones move mostly to Her will, and it may be She has some reason to want me home. I know She wants Tale'sedrin back as a living Clan.'
'And She wants me as part of it.'
'She must, or She wouldn't have marked the oathtaking.'
Kethry stretched tired muscles, and put her hands under her head. 'How much time do you have before you have to be back?'
'Before Tale'sedrin is declared dead? Four years, maybe five. Kethry...'
'It's all right, I told you, I can feel some of what you're feeling now, I understand.'
'You're -- you're better. I'm -- I'm feeling some of what you're feeling, too.'
