In her brief time on the Tarman, Alise felt her adventure had approached what she had imagined it would be. The big scow sat so low in the water that it seemed but a breath above the river; it made the trees tower all the higher above them. The birds and the strange river creatures, both dangerous and mild, were closer to her here. From the barge's deck, she'd had glimpses of what Leftrin called marsh elk and riverpig. One large, toothy gallator had slid from his sunbathing on the mudbank to come and keep pace with the barge for a time until Skelly had given him a good rap with her pole that sent him slashing back to shore. She had seen several varieties of very large water birds; Leftrin had caught her sketching them into her journal and been completely amazed at her great artistic talent. He'd persuaded her to leaf back through her days on the river so that he could exclaim over some of her other efforts. She had blushed with pleasure when he'd recognized Captain Trell from one of her sketches, and when he'd told her the Rain Wilds names for some of the exotic plants she'd drawn, she'd pleased him immensely by lettering their names in under her sketches. 'So pleased to have been of service to such a scholar, ma'am!' he had told her, with such sincerity that she had blushed.

One insight he had given her had dismayed her. He'd sought her out as she sat in her chair on top of the deckhouse, bundled against the evening chill, with the netting of her hat pinned down against the insects. 'Would you mind if I joined you briefly?' His careful formality was at odds with his rough demeanour. 'It comes to me that I've a bit of information that you might want to know.'

'Of course you may join me! This is your ship, isn't it?' she replied, at once intrigued by his conspiratorial tone.

Without more ado, he had taken a seat on the deck next to her chair, folding up with an ease that surprised her. 'Well, it's like this,' he began immediately. 'The Council at Cassarick has made a plan about the dragons. The dragons have agreed to it, but for a number of reasons, the word hasn't been spread about much. But seeing as how it's important to you that the dragons be there for you to talk to, I've decided to take you in, confidential-like. The fact is, the Council is getting ready to move the dragons out of there. And the word I've received is that it's to happen soon. Within the month for certain.'

'Move them? But how? And to where? Why would they do this?' She was shocked.

'Well, as to how, the only way they can go is under their own power. By foot. And to where? That's something I haven't been fully told yet. Only that it's upriver a way. The why is pretty easy; everyone in the Rain Wilds knows that the dragons have become more than nuisances at Cassarick. They're a real danger to the workers in the buried city, and to the inhabitants. Hungry, bad-tempered, and some of them aren't too bright. Not bright enough to know they shouldn't bite off the hand that feeds them, if you take my meaning. I don't know how they've persuaded the dragons to leave, but they have.

If they can get a crew together to sort of herd them along, they'll move them out of there as soon as they can.'

She'd felt faint. What if she arrived only to find that the dragons had already been sent away? What then? She'd found the voice to put her fear into words. To her surprise, the captain had grinned up at her recklessly. 'Well, ma'am, that's what I come to tell you. See, I'm part of that crew they're trying to put together. And near as I can tell, if I say no, well then it's not going to happen. That Council may not know it, but there's no other barge on the river that can go as shallow as my old Tarman. No other barge will take on that contract. Now, up to now, I've just been talking to myself, figuring out how much money to hold out for. But if it comes down to it, I may put another condition on it, and that's that you'll have a chance to talk to the dragons before they depart. So. What do you think of that?'

She was dumbfounded. 'I'm surprised that you'd trust me with such a confidential matter. And I'm even more astonished that you'd do such a thing for a relative stranger.' She leaned on the arm of her chair and lifted the netting from her face to look down into his. 'Why?' she asked, genuinely puzzled.

He shrugged and his grin became bashful. He looked away from her. 'Guess I just like you, ma'am. And I'd like to see you get what you come so far to get. What can it hurt to make them wait a day or three?'

'I don't think it could hurt them at all,' she said. Gratitude and relief welled up in her. 'Captain Leftrin, I'd be pleased if you'd call me Alise.'

He glanced back at her then, a boyish flush of pleasure on his weathered face. 'Well, I'd be more than pleased to do that!' Then he'd looked away from her and almost visibly shifted the topic. 'Fine night, isn't it?' he'd observed.

She'd let the insect netting fall to shield her own blush. 'The finest night I've experienced in a long time,' she replied.

When he'd excused himself and left the deckhouse roof she'd found herself giddy as a girl. He liked her. Liked her so much that he'd put a major contract at risk. She tried to think when any other man had actually said to her, 'I like you.' She couldn't recall any instances. Had Hest ever said that in his early 'courtship' of her? She couldn't recall that he had. And even if he had, from him it would only have meant that she suited his purposes. When Leftrin said it, it meant that, for no other reason, he'd put himself at risk for her. Astonishing.

And when he returned, but a few moments later, with thick sweetened coffee in heavy earthenware mugs, she had thought it the most delicious brew she'd ever shared with anyone.

The rustic conditions of life on the barge had not lost their charm for her. It seemed exotic and a bit dangerous to sleep in the captain's bed with its thick wool blankets and gaily pieced patchwork cover. The room smelled of his tobacco and was littered with the implements of his profession. She woke to sunlight on the cunning fish chimes that hung at his window. And it secretly thrilled her that, at any hour, he might tap on the door and ask permission to enter to retrieve his pipe or a notebook or a fresh shirt.

The barge moved slowly but steadily against the current. It stayed to the shallows at the edge of the river where the flow was less strong. Sometimes the crew manned sweeps and sometimes they used long poles to push it along. It seemed like magic to her as the wide heavy ship prevailed against the river's steady push. On the first morning, the captain had placed a chair on the roof of the deckhouse for her so that she could take in all the sights and sounds of their journey. Sometimes Sedric joined her there, and she took keen pleasure in his company when he did, but Captain Leftrin had actually been more constantly at her side than he was.

Captain Leftrin was full of tales of the river and the ships that traded on it. Rain Wilds history had changed in his telling of it, and she fancied that she now better understood how the Rain Wild Traders thought of themselves. She had come to enjoy the picturesque members of the crew, right down to the affectionate Grigsby. She'd never had a cat as a pet, but was rapidly becoming fond of the beast. She'd wondered what Hest might say to such a request, then suddenly resolved not to make it. She'd simply get herself a cat. That was all. It was strange, she thought, how a little rough living made her feel so much more in control of her life. So capable of making her own decisions.

So Leftrin's suggestion of one more night aboard the Tartnan pleased her. Sedric had sighed and rolled his eyes. She'd laughed aloud at his doleful expression. 'Let me have my adventure while I can, Sedric. Soon enough, too soon for me, it will all be over. We'll both be back in Bingtown, and I don't doubt that I'll have a soft bed, hot meals and warm baths the rest of my life. And little else in the way of excitement.'