of Ancar, if it made it possible for him to go and come at will to any place he cared.
Silence had returned, thin and travel-worn, but smiling and no longer silent. And now bearing the name 'Snowfire,' which told everyone that Silence had finally been healed of the emotional trauma that the shattering of the Heartstone and the deaths of so many of k'Sheyna had inflicted, years ago.
With that good omen, it was simply a matter of letting Snowfire rest, and then the Gate between the two Vales, old and new, could be built, and k'Sheyna would be a whole Clan once more. The Kaled'a'in had another trick up their ornamented sleeves as well; not one Adept, but two would build the Gate; Summerfawn from the new Vale and Snowfire from the old. They would build two Gates in parallel, and fuse them into one; halving the fatigue and doubling the strength.
Tomorrow. So many things would begin and end tomorrow - though there would be more endings for Darkwind than for Elspeth.
Now, with the culmination of many weeks of work at hand, Elspeth carefully packed away everything she would not need over the next two or three days. She had been a little dismayed at how much she had accumulated, but now that she had begun, she realized that most of it was clothing, and that packed down into an amazingly small volume. Probably because it was mostly silk, or something like silk....
Darkwind seemed unusually silent, although he was packing just as busily as Elspeth.
I wonder if Gwena made it plain to Mother that I'd been sharing quarters with one of my mage-teachers. Probably not. No point in giving her another thing to get hysterical about. It had seemed rather stupid to keep two ekeles when they really only needed one, especially after the arrival of the Kaled'a'in had made things suddenly rather cramped. She had moved in with him, since the ekele he had was nearer the entrance to the Vale and had more room than hers.
Perhaps they should have reversed it. Perhaps he would feel the loss less if he had already left his 'home.'
He tucked a folded garment into the top of a pack and laced the whole thing shut. 'I am very glad that I had already left the other ekele that I had built before all this happened,' he said into the silence. 'That was my home - for all that it leaked cold air all winter long. Built by my hands. But it seemed foolish to be living outside the Vale once the Heartstone was shielded, so - ' He shrugged. 'This place we have shared is dear only because we have shared it. It gives me no great wrench to leave it for another, especially after they have had a long journey.'
She stifled a sigh of relief. 'I saw how packing up affected Starblade, when he and Kethra had to abandon the place Falconsbane wrecked. It was very emotional for him, and I couldn't help think that leaving your home and your Vale both at once was going to give you some problems.'
He made a face and threw a shirt at her; she caught it and began folding it. 'Father's emotional condition is a bit less stable than mine, I dare to think.'
She nodded agreement. 'Well, I for one am truly glad that Kethra is going with your father. I was afraid she might do one of those typically Shin'a'in things and declare she couldn't leave the Plains!'
Darkwind grinned, and this time tossed a pillow at her. She ducked. 'You are being silly. How could she do anything like that with one of Hyllarr's feathers, beaded and braided into her hair for all to see? They are mated, silly Herald. She could no more leave him than Hyllarr can.'
'Silly Herald, yourself,' she retorted. 'How am I to know what all these headings and braidings mean? And how in Havens am I to know one feather from another?'
He shook his head sadly. 'Barbarian. Barbarian and ignorant. How could you not tell that the feather was from Hyllarr? From where else would such a great golden primary have come? There are no other birds the size of a crested hawk-eagle here!'
She cast her eyes up at the ceiling, as if praying for patience. 'Just wait,' she replied. 'Just wait until I get you home, and you complain about not being able to tell Companions apart! Revenge will be so-o-o-o sweet!'
He only grinned and went back to his packing, and she to hers and her thoughts. Thinking about the Shin'a'in Healer Kethra made her a great deal happier than worrying about Darkwind. There were going to be problems when she got home that she'd rather not think about right now....
She and Kethra had struck up an odd friendship over the winter, and a bond forged by their love for Darkwind and Darkwind's father Starblade, cemented by the new bondbird that Darkwind and Elspeth had found for the weakened Adept. From the very moment that charming Hyllarr had come into Starblade's life, his recovery from the terrible damage Falconsbane had done to him had been assured. For that alone, Elspeth suspected, Kethra would have been inclined to like her, although Hyllarr's discovery was still sheer good luck in Elspeth's mind. But they were surprisingly alike, and that helped; Kethra had been able to deliver authoritative conversations on caring and partnering that would have been a lecture coming from anyone else, but seemed no more than good advice from Kethra.
It was due to Kethra's suggestions that Darkwind, Skif, and Elspeth, together and separately, had urged Starblade and Wintermoon - Darkwind's half brother - to begin simply talking to one another. Wintermoon had long envied Darkwind's favored-son relationship with his father, and had withdrawn from Starblade when quite young. Kethra felt that the time was long past when they should have reversed that withdrawal.
Now - with Kethra, Darkwind, Elspeth, and Skif urging and encouraging, Starblade and Wintermoon had
