Owlknight

:Hah. I would have difficulty holding them back. This will be a high-status expedition for our eager young stags. The young does will be greatly impressed.: Tyrsell’s dry amusement at the expense of his younger counterparts had them all chuckling.

But Tyrsell hasn’t had to exert himself to impress does in a very long time, Darian reminded himself, with rising sympathy for those “eager young stags.” The only way a young stag became a father and potential harem leader was to do something impressive.

“Do you have to ask?” Wintersky said. “I’m going, of course. It’s too dull around here. If I spend another summer shooing those Northern pilgrims onto the right trail, I’ll go mad. I swear I will.”

Starfall laughed at him. “All right, all right. I think you can be spared! That’s Darian, Keisha, Kel, Hashi, Wintersky, and a herd. Who else should we ask to volunteer?”

“No hertasi,” Ayshen said reluctantly. “It is very cold in the north, even in the summer.”

“Not that cold!” the Shaman protested. “You speak as if there is snow upon the ground everywhere at midsummer!”

But Starfall shook his head. “No, I agree. This is not like our foray into Valdemar, where the hertasi were protected and we were in no great hurry to cover ground. This expedition will move too quickly, and have too many risks for any hertasi to go along safely. Ayshen, your people are fine fighters, but only in large numbers, and what’s the point of asking for fifty hertasi to go and be chilled solid up North, when they’re needed more in the warm Vale?”

“No argument here,” Darian agreed, nodding. “Ayshen, I agree with you completely, even if it does mean I have to eat my own cooking.”

That brought a laugh as he had hoped, and the talk turned to provisioning for a little while, until Shandi cleared her throat. That brought silence, and all eyes turned toward her.

She flushed a little but said into the quiet, “Karles and I want to go along. Actually, Karles and I think we need to go along.”

Now that was a surprise! Of all of them, only Steelmind nodded, as if he had guessed as much.

“Anda and I talked this over very seriously before Darian went to the village, and spoke to the Snow Fox people,” she continued. “Anda would like us to see what conditions are like up there. It is not intended as a slight to any of you, of any species, but depending upon what was encountered it could be very advantageous to have an official Valdemaran presence there. No offense meant, Shaman Celin, but we need to know if there are any more - ” She paused to pick out the least offensive words. “Any more aggressive peoples, like the Blood Bear tribe.”

“You need to know? You are not the only ones!” the Shaman replied. “We stand between you and any armies, recollect! And we have pledged to guard this place, have we not?”

“Well, there you have it.” Shandi shrugged. “Karles and I put our necks into this, too, then.”

Anda traded a look with her, then spoke to the rest. “This is something that is very important to us. I would have hesitated to send her and Karles alone, but this is going to be a group that is large enough - not to protect her, but that she can work with.”

This was not the first time that Darian had gotten the feeling there was a great deal going on between the two Heralds that was not spoken aloud. There was an entire conversation taking place - probably in personal Mindspeech - that no one else was privy to.

“My Gift of Empathy can be pretty useful in figuring out if someone is telling the truth without having to use a vrondi-based Truth Spell, you know,” Shandi pointed out. “And I probably know as much about rough camping as any of you. And I can do one thing that none of you can. Through Karles, I can keep in touch with Anda and the Vale.”

Darian raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing; he could read between the lines easily enough. Valdemar and the Hawkbrothers were friends and allies, but . . . it was always better to have a pair of your own eyes along.

He couldn’t find it in his heart to feel resentful either; he’d have felt the same if the shoe had been on the other foot.

In fact, I don’t think any of us here at the Vale would want a set of Heraldic spies going up there without one of us along. After all, we’re the ones who’d be getting the arrows and spears in our teeth first.

But the greatest surprise of all was that Steelmind then said, “And I would go, too, if you will have me.”

From the startled look that Shandi threw at him, this was a complete surprise to her as well as everybody else - except possibly Silverfox. “Why?” was the question on the tip of everyone’s tongue, Darian suspected, but no