It was just as well that Varien had gone apart with Rella, for I had to protect the Gedri with my body from those who sought to harm her and I could not have protected him as well. I had barely glimpsed the creature before I had to save its life.

"It reeks of the Rakshasa!"

"Move away, Idai. It is evil!"

Great flutterings of wings, great agitation, exhaustion, frustration, and very little thought. Shikrar and I had long feared this moment and spoken of what we should do. I was learning, yet again, that plans are never complete enough to deal with life. I could smell the demon-trace around this woman as well as any, but Shikrar and I had made oath to each other that we would not harm nor allow harm to come to any who came to us in peace no matter what they reeked of. It would take a great deal to make me trust this Gedri, but first I must keep her alive.

"This is not yet our home!" I shouted, trying by sheer volume to break through the anger of my people. "On the Island of Exile we were alone and accountable only to ourselves. Here we must learn to bear with the Gedri; we must learn to live among them whatever they may reek of. They were given Choice by the great Powers!" I summoned calm and let as much concern as I could find show in my voice. "That gift of Choice is with them until they die. Would you steal this soul from the Win—from the Lady of the Gedri, before it has a chance to repent?"

This won at least a moment of silence. The Kantri are fire-hearted, and the reek of the Rakshasa fans the flame terribly, but we are not stupid.

A muffled voice came from the region of my chest. "For goodness' sake, my soul to the Lady, I am in Her service! It's not me they're reacting to, it's this thrice-damned Farseer. If you'd just give me a moment to speak..."

I opened my talons, looked down, and there found that which would in all likelihood make me trust her, for looking up at me was the very image of Lanen, if you added enough years and lines and turned half her hair to grey. "My thanks," she said, nodding to me. She bore a large pack on her back and I still held her close. "I suspect I owe you my life. May I ask your name?"

"I am called Idai. You are the mother of Lanen," I said. It was not a question. I bespoke Shikrar and Varien as I gazed down at her. "My friends, there is someone here whom you must meet. Come quickly. I feel the need of your counsel."

The Gedri's eyes, clear and relieved before, clouded. "Yes. I am Maran of Beskin." She stood straighter—for courage, I thought— and something of desperation came into her gaze. "Have you found her?'

"No," I said quietly. "Have you?"

"I think so," she replied, never glancing away.

I hurried to answer Idai's summons, still weary from the curious aftereffects of my healing and leaving Vilkas and Aral where they stood. I found Idai surrounded by many of our folk, nearly all of whom stood in the Attitudes of Anger or Frustration. More worrying, I felt also an undercurrent of Fire, that flame that arises in us in the presence of our life-enemies the Rakshasa. Varien arrived about the same time I did.

Before I could speak, though, Rinshir cried out, "The Gedri that Idai defends reeks of the Rakshasa, Eldest!" He too stood in Anger, but his was moving swiftly towards something stronger. "Are we come to this, that we should protect the Raksha-touched?"

"We are new-come here, Rinshir. Would you then destroy this child of the Gedri, in its own land, with no thought of its life or its laws, without even troubling to ask why it has come among us?" I resisted my own anger and the temptation to shame Rinshir further. "You are weary, my friend, weary and hungry and unsure of what lies ahead, as are we all. Let us not begin our lives here in our ancient home by murdering an innocent."

"Hardly innocent, Master," interrupted the Gedri from Idai's shelter. I could have cheerfully swatted it myself. Stupid creature! Just like Lanen, I thought, no sense of when to hold its peace. Are all the Gedri so foolish, I wonder?

"Shall we let all the demon-touched pass unharmed, then, that they may murder us at their ease?" snarled Rinshir. "I do not like your reasoning, Hadreshikrar."

"I do not appeal to reason, Rinshir," I replied as calmly as I could, "but to mercy, and to patience. Remember, Raksha-trace can linger where the soul has been attacked as well as when it has had traffic with the creatures themselves."

"If you would just bloody well listen to me, I could explain!" cried the Gedri, its voice muffled by the protective cage of Idai's hands. "I am not a demon-caller! Name of the Lady, I've spent half my life fighting the damned things. It's the Farseer you feel, I swear it on my life!"

And finally, I heard the voice that uttered those words, even though I could not see her face, and my resolve sharpened. "I will have your word, Rinshir, that you will not harm this daughter of the Gedri, that you will keep silence and let her speak in safety," I said quietly. "I will take it upon my own soul to vow that she will not call the Rakshasa down upon us."

Varien had reached us then, and came to stand near Idai. He glanced at the Gedri in her hands and drew in his breath in surprise.

Rinshir moved away slightly, his Attitude of Concern warring with that of Anger. "Shikrar, don't be absurd. Your souls pledge for a demon-tainted Gedri? What could make you do such a th ..." He drew back, standing in Amazement, but only for a moment. Then his eyes widened in realisation, and he moved in the instant from Amazement to Fury. "Surely she bends your will even now, Eldest!" he cried, and faster than thought he drew in a breath to flame the evil where it stood.

I could do no more than stare at Rinshir, astounded at such hatred, entirely unprepared. Idai, blessedly, was ready for him. When he arched his neck and aimed at the creature Idai was protecting, she knocked his head back with her own, so that his flame scorched only air. I was most impressed; I had never seen Idai move so swiftly. While he was recovering from that blow, she knocked his wings aside with her own, loosed the Gedri woman, and wrapped her right hand around his throat, just under the jaw where we are most vulnerable.

I kept well out of it. If anything, I'd have assisted Idai.

"You fool, Rinshir," she hissed, her talons poised at the great vein in his throat. "How do you dare to attack that which I guard?"

"It is demon-stained, Idai!" he yelped in his own defence. His voice was none too clear.

"Thrice fool and blind," she snapped, her teeth worryingly close to his throat. I began to fear a little for Rinshir's life, but there, defying Idai was the act of one who cared little for life in any case. "And did you not see this other Gedri standing here, who would also have died in your flame?"

Rinshir looked down, but he did not recognise what he saw.

"Good morrow, Rinshir," said Varien quietly. "I had hoped that your travels might have stretched your mind as well as your wings, but alas, I see no evidence of it."

Rinshir flinched at that voice, distorted as it was through Gedri throat and tongue. Varien, for all the changes that had beset him, was still our King and held our fealty.

"I have lived eight hundred winters longer than you, fool of a dhraisek," hissed Idai. "Are you then grown so very wise in so very short a time that you can see that which is hidden from me, while it lies yet between my talons?" Her eyes glittered and her wings rattled with her anger. I was glad to see that Rinshir had yet some sense left, for he finally tried to move away from her. He did not get far, as she did not loosen her grip on his throat.

"Do not think to challenge me, Rinshir," she hissed, keeping her body between Rinshir and Varien. "There is a very old and very simple reason why we of the Kantrishakrim respect our elders. I am twice your size, and by all the Winds that ever blew, I will fight you if you do not heed me." Without apparent effort she overbalanced him and bore him to the ground, her talons still around his throat and her face a blink away from him. "And know this, fool," she snarled in his ear. "If ever you bring even the least harm to Lord Akhor, to Varien, by my name I swear I will have it out of your hide."