occasional rumble of a quake and the wind hissing through the stalks of grain, there was little sound. The few animals they saw fled quietly on sight. As they progressed, the ground grew ever steeper, and Timha's complaints increased in frequency and volume.
Night fell, and Silverdun and Ironfoot helped Je Wen gather wood for a fire while the others rested. Sela and Ironfoot had both been lost in thought for most of the day. Sela, particularly, was more withdrawn than Ironfoot had ever seen her.
When the fire was lit, and the rations passed around, a torpor settled around the camp. Je Wen stared into the fire, singing softly to himself in the Arami tongue. Ironfoot sat with Timha's satchel, poring through one of the books that Timha had packed. Timha passed out as soon as he'd finished eating.
'Would you like to go for a walk?' Silverdun asked Sela.
She looked up at him and smiled weakly. 'Only if it's a very brief one,' she said.
They walked slowly from the camp up to a ridge that overlooked a wide plain and the mountains beyond. The mountains were black in the moonlight.
Silverdun's feelings for Sela were as complicated as they'd ever been. His attraction to her had only grown over time as he'd gotten to know her. She was thoughtful, insightful, and she was strong in a way that he'd never expe rienced. But there was that deep darkness in her that lingered behind her eyes. The night they'd met, she'd looked into him with Empathy, and he'd pushed her out again. There had been something desperate in the connection and it had, frankly, frightened him.
'You seem strange tonight,' Silverdun said softly.
'It's been a strange couple of days,' she sighed.
'Agreed.'
Silence.
'You spent a while alone with that Lin Vo woman,' he finally said. 'What did she tell you that's got you so pensive?'
'I'm not sure how to explain it,' she said after a moment. 'I could tell you the words, but I'm not sure it would make any sense to you. The words were the least of it. And some of what she said-well, I'm not sure I'd want you to know. She was very wise, Silverdun.'
'She's a Premonitive,' said Silverdun. 'They always seem wise, but rarely does anything they say actually help anyone.'
'No,' said Sela. 'She knew things. And she spoke to me in a way that no one has ever done. In a way that I believed only I knew how to speak.'
There it was. The darkness. Whatever it was that had happened in Sela's childhood, which she never discussed, whatever it was that had landed her in Copperine House, it was there in her eyes.
'Who are you?' said Silverdun.
Sela leaned over and kissed his lips. She closed her eyes. Silverdun stiffened at first, then relaxed into her, kissing back. She opened her mouth, her lips going soft. But there was something hesitant in her kiss, something confused.
'Open yourself up to me, Perrin Alt,' she said. 'Let me feel you.'
Silverdun felt uneasy and strangely guilty. But she was so close and felt so good. He relaxed the binding that protected him from her Gift of Empathy, and felt himself flowing into her and her into him. There was lust, and love, and a desperate longing. But whose emotions were whose very quickly became inseparable. She pressed against him and he held her tightly. She moaned quietly, drew her fingernails across his back as if trying to pull him into her.
He ran his fingers down her arm and touched the filigreed silver band around her arm. It was hot to the touch.
'Why do you still wear that thing?' he whispered. 'I thought it was only for the guests at places like Copperine House.'
'Shh,' she said, moving his hand to her breast.
They sank to the ground, falling into one another. It felt so very good.
He reached to unlace her gown and she put up her hands to stop him.
'No,' she said, pulling away. 'I can't.'
'It's easy,' he said. 'People do it every day.'
'Not me,' she whispered. 'I've never kissed a man. I've never been touched like this.'
The Empathy wavered between them and Silverdun put his arms around her, kissing her neck, trying to restore it. But it was too late.
'I can never be that way with you,' she said.
'Why not?' asked Silverdun, his insides constricting.
