"Hells take it, Rella!" I breathed. "That's it, or near it as damn it. What in all the world?"

Rella shivered and looked away. "Goddess, Jamie. That's—I thought only Her Servants ever did that."

She fell silent until I prodded, "Did what? Rella, what did she do?"

Still staring at nothing, she replied, "Servants of the Lady for years and years, dear to Her, deep in Her Service, are sometimes known to overcome some dreadful peril through the gift of the Voice of the Goddess."

"Which is?"

"It's what it says it is, Jamie," she said, finally looking into my eyes. "Mother Shia blesses those individuals, just for a moment, an instant, and says those words through them. Nobody knows what they mean, but nothing can stand against them."

"That I can well believe," I said, frowning. "Berys was thrown and no mistake."

Rella shook her head. "It's not that easy, Jamie," she sighed. "The balance, remember? The great Powers always find balance."

"And what form does that balance take?" I asked solemnly.

"Death, usually. Oh, not the Servant, unless they are very old," she said quickly, "but—Jamie, every single time someone has been granted the Voice of the Lady, someone close to the Servant, someone they value dearly, has died within a se'ennight."

Her eyes brimmed with tears—she, my rock, who was strong and held herself distant from such displays, had tears in her eyes.

I took her by both shoulders and gazed into her eyes. "Rella, what will happen will happen. She is safe. Lanen my daughter is safe. I'm not worried about what happens to me now."

"Damn you," she snarled, shaking my hands off and dashing the tears from her eyes, "I am! Don't you dare die on me now, Jamefh of Arinoc, I'll never forgive you!"

I reached out again and drew her to me, held her so close I could feel her heart beating against mine. We stood there, comforting one another in silence, until false dawn gave way at last to true and a shaft of brilliant sunlight suddenly blazed across us both. I shivered.

She drew away from me gently and shook her head. "Besides, that girl seems to break all the rules. Maybe she'll break this one as well," she said quietly, blinking in the brightness of dawn. "And you've never asked what happened while you were being a hero here in Verfaren. You missed a lot by leaving the rest of us early."

"I saw them land," I said, smiling.

"More than that, Jamie. Beyond belief more than that."

I waited.

"The Lost have been restored," she said quietly. "It was amazing, remind me to tell you all about it when I'm awake. That's why we took so long to get here. There were nearly two hundred of them. It was Shikrar who did it, and Varien, and"—her voice fell to almost nothing—"and Maran."

"What!" I cried.

"Yes, she's here," she said, her voice still calm and soft. "And with her, by chance or Fate or the Goddess Herself, has come our best hope of finding Berys again, if you're still determined to do so now Lanen is safe. There's a good chance we can learn where he is this very day."

Oh. Of course. "Maran's brought that Hells-be-damned Farseer, hasn't she?" I growled.

Rella sighed. "Yes. Still, I'm not disposed to object too strongly. Demon-made as it is, we can make it serve us. In fact it already has, that's how the Lost were restored. All three of them touching the Farseer." She turned her head away for a moment. "It wasn't like the little ones, the Lesser Kindred. There was precious little joy in any of them, and—Goddess—some of them had been aware the whole time. Five thousand years." She shuddered and looked back to me. "Those were the ones that killed themselves."

"Hells," I muttered. "What of the rest?"

"They seem to be doing well enough, for now. I don't think we'll really know how they are until they've all had food and sleep. They all went away to a quiet place a friend of Will's is providing. For a consideration," she said, managing a smile. "Salera's with them for now as well, though I don't think she'll stay away from Will for long. Or leave Varien and Lanen unattended. She and all her people practically think those two are gods, after all." She snorted. "The Lo—oh, no, they want to be called the Restored—they could barely stand to look at either Varien or Maran, despite what they'd done, and they studiously ignored the rest of us." Rella sighed. "I think that was the best they could do. Then-hatred of humans runs awfully deep."

"Maran," I said, shaking my head, which was now filled with the most amazing visions, and smiling despite myself. "Helping dragons restore the Lost. And before today I'd wager my life she'd never seen one before. Took them in her stride, did she?"

Rella nodded, her own smile more strained now.

"How in all the Hells did she end up here, anyway?" I asked. "Unless she was—ah." I faded to a halt. "She came looking for Lanen, didn't she?"

Rella nodded.

I turned away, a mad mixture of relief, delight, anger, and hope fighting for first place in my heart. "Why now, after all this time?" I muttered, mostly to myself, but Rella's hearing is excellent.

"Seems she saw what was happening to us all and decided she had to—I don't know—make her peace. Help her daughter. Do something." Rella's tone of voice was decidedly dry. "Just don't ask me why she didn't damn weD do this years ago. I've tried to persuade her to it since I met her."

"She's not an easy one to persuade into doing anything, as I'm sure you've discovered," I said wryly, evoking a muffled "ha!" of agreement. I turned back to face Rella. The sunrise had brought a flush of youth to her face, mantling her cheeks for that brief moment with the gentle rose of dawn—but the marks of old pain and a hard life were etched in her skin. They gave her a singular character, showed a deep inner strength that simple youth could never hold a candle to. "You look well in the light, you know," I said, reaching out to stroke her cheek.

She moved away from my touch. "You know that Maran has loved no one but you all her life," she said, locking her gaze on me. "It's very powerful, that kind of thing." She lifted her chin. "Seductive." When I didn't rise to the bait, she sighed and just looked at me. "What are you going to tell her, Jamie?"

"What is it you fear, my heart?" I asked, quietly. "That I will race back into her arms and forget all about you?" I frowned. This wasn't simple jealousy, which I might have expected. I should have known, nothing about Rella has ever been simple. It had the same tang to it, indeed, but it was something else.

Rella held her head high. "Lanen's the very image of her, Jamie. The years have been kind. She's tall and strong yet, she hardly looks her age—"

"Rella, what is this?" I interrupted.

She ignored me. "And her back is straight, and she's a good soul, and I have never seen anything but sheer adoration in her eyes when she speaks of you."

Rella, you wonderful idiot, I've got you now, I thought, for I realised now exactly what was troubling her. Goddess, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. "And she doesn't have your sharp edges, and really any man with eyes could only make one choice, is that it?" I said sharply, challenging her. Rella, risen to prominence in the demanding ranks of the Silent Service, a warrior with a brilliant mind and enough character for any three people, had no confidence at all in herself as a woman.

"That's it," she said stiffly.

I stared at her for a moment. "The dawn light really is lovely on your skin, you know," I said, touching her cheek gently. She sobbed and made to turn away, but I drew her to me and held her close with all my strength. "Do you think I'd let you go now I've found you?" I muttered into her hair. "And here I thought you J were meant to be bright."

"Bright enough to know when trouble's coming," she said softly.