arched as she said something to the commander, who chuckled in his turn.

Her hair was dark and shot with individual strands of white that she had

had since birth.

He saw the change in Kiyan's stance when she noticed him-a release and

relaxation. She walked away from the two men and toward the open window.

Otah's heart beat fast as if he'd been running. She stopped and put out

her hands, palms up and open. It wasn't a formal pose, and seemed to

mean here I am and here you are and who would have guessed this all at once.

"She came to me not long after you left," Amiit said from where he sat.

"I'm half-partner in her wayhouse down in Udun. We've been keeping it a

quiet arrangement, though. There's something to be said for having a

whole wayhouse of one's own without the couriers of other houses knowing

it's yours."

Otah wanted to look hack at the man, but his gaze seemed fastened on

Kiyan. He thought he caught a faint blush rising in her cheeks. She

shook her head as if clearing away some unwanted thought and walked in

toward the house and out of his view. She was smiling, though. Sinja had

also caught sight of Otah in the window and took a pose of congratulation.

"She's changed her mind, then. About me?"

"Apparently."

Otah turned back and leaned against the wall. Its coolness surprised

him. After so many days in the cell at the tower's height, he'd come to

think of stone as warm. Amiit poured himself another cup of wine. Otah

swallowed to loosen his throat. The question didn't want to be asked.

"Why? What changed it?"

"I have known Kiyan-cha well for almost a quarter of this year. Not even

that. You've been her lover for what? Three summers? And you want me to

explain her mind to you? You've become an optimist."

Otah sat because his knees felt too weak to hold him. Amiit chuckled

again and rose.

"You'll need rest for a few days. And some food and space enough to move

again. We'll have you strong enough to do whatever it is needs doing, I

hope. This place is better watched than it looks. We'll have warning if

anyone comes near. Don't let any of this trouble you for now; you can

trust us to watch over things."

"I want to see her," Otah said.

"I know," Amiit said, clapping him on the shoulder. "And she wants to

see you. It's why I'm leaving. Just remember you haven't eaten to speak

of in days, you're weak from the cell, you've hardly slept, and you were

abducted last night. Don't expect too much from yourself. There really

is no hurry."

Otah blushed now, and Amiit grabbed one last apple and made for the

door. Kiyan reached it just as he did, and he stepped back to let her

through. He closed the door gently behind him. Otah rose to his feet,

suddenly tongue-tied. Kiyan also didn't speak, but her gaze traveled

over him. He could see the distress in it even though she tried to keep

it hidden.

"'Tani," she said, "you ... you look terrible."

"It's the beard," Otah said. "I'll shave it."

She didn't take up the humor, only walked across the room and folded him

into her arms. The scent of her skin flooded him with a hundred jumbled

memories of her. He put his arm around her, embarrassed to notice that

his hand was unsteady.

"I didn't think I'd be seeing you again," he murmured. "I never meant to

put you at risk."

"What did they do to you? Gods, what have they done?"

"Not so much. They only didn't feed me well fora time and locked me

away. It wasn't so had."

She kissed his check and pulled back from him until each could see the

other's face. 't'here were tears in her eyes, but she was angry.

"They were going to kill you," she said.

"Well, yes. I mean, I thought that was assumed."

"I'll kill them all with my bare hands if you'd like," she said with a

smile that meant she was only half joking.

"That might be more than the situation calls for. But ... why are you

here? I thought ... I thought I was too much a risk to you."

"That didn't change. Other things ... other things did. Come. Sit with me."

Kiyan took a bite of the cheese and poured herself water. Her hands were

thin and strong and as lovely as a sculpture. Otah rubbed his temples

with the palms of his hands, hoping that this was all as real as it

seemed, that he wouldn't wake again in the cell above the city.

"Sinja-cha told me you wanted to turn hack. He said it was because of

me. That your being there kept them from searching me out."

"Knowing me shouldn't have that kind of price on it," Otah said. "It was

... it was what I could do. That's all."

"Thank you," she said, her voice solemn.

Kiyan looked out the window. There was a dread in the lines of her

mouth, a fear that confused him. He reached out, thinking to take her

hand in his own, but the movement brought her back and a smile flitted

over her and was gone.

"I don't know if you want to hear this. But I've been waiting to say it

for longer than I can stand, and so I'm going to be selfish. And I don't

know how to. Not well."

"Is it something I'll want to hear?"

"I don't know. I hope ... I ... Gods. Here. When you left, I missed you

worse than I'd expected. I was sick with it. Physically ill. I thought I

should be patient. I thought it would pass. And then I noticed that I

seemed to miss you most in the early mornings. You understand?"

She looked Otah deep in the eye, and he frowned, trying to find some

deeper significance in the words. And then he did, and he felt the world

drop away from tinder him. He took a pose of query, and she replied with

a confirmation.

"Ah," he said and then sat, utterly at a loss. After ten or twenty

breaths, Kiyan spoke again.

"The midwife thinks sometime around Candles Night. Maybe a lit tle

after. So you see, I knew there was no avoiding the issue, not as long

as I was carrying a baby with your blood in it. I went to Amiit-cha and

we ... he, really ... put things in motion."

"There are blood teas," Otah said.

"I know. The midwife offered them to me. Would you ... I mean, is that

what you would have wanted?"

"No! Only I ... I'd thought you wouldn't give up what you had. Your

father's wayhouse. I don't know that I have much of a life to give you.