"Where is she then, Master Willem?" asked Jamie over Will's protests.

"She's gone out to hunt, but she'll be back," he said. Turning to Varien, he added, "That reminds me. Why is she so fascinated by you, and how in the world do you know so much about dragons?" He turned to me next. "And you! What were those names you said, and what did you mean, they sent her greeting? I—"

Varien interrupted him. "Master Willem—"

"Just Will, if you please," he said.

"Will, the full truth is a very long story that must wait another time, but Rella, Lanen and I were on the Harvest ship that returned from the Dragon Isle last year. We have all spent time with the Greater Kindred—with the True Dragons that live there, and several we know by name. One in particular, Shikrar, has spent much of his life seeking to contact the Lesser Kindred."

"The Lesser Kindred are Salera's people?"

"Yes."

"Why do they want to contact them?"

Varien smiled. "I saw the love you share with her last night, like father to daughter. The Lesser Kindred were brought into being by one known only as the Demonlord. He sent an army of demons to rive their soulgems from them. The ones who were attacked were changed in other ways as well." Varien paused a moment. "Our history says that they became as beasts, but it is wrong. Salera is not a beast, not in that sense. She is of—of the same kindred as the True Dragons. So were all the Kantri who were changed by the Demonlord. They were made smaller in stature and bereft of their soulgems, but kindred none the less."

"What's a soulgem?" asked Aral. Interesting as all this was, she seemed particularly fascinated by my circlet. "And if you'll forgive me, what is that stone you wear?"

I looked long into her eyes before I answered her. There was something I trusted there, so I told her the truth.

"The answer to both of your questions is the same. A soulgem is the only physical remnant of the Kantri, the True Dragons, after they die." She gasped, her eyes wide, and put her hand to her chest. "This stone I wear is a soulgem, lady," I said slowly, not releasing her from my gaze, "though I think you knew that before."

"Not until this moment. Oh, Shia, it makes so much sense!" She drew forth a pouch from under her tunic, opened it, and gently took from it a soulgem red as ruby. It might have been Shikrar's.

I could not stop my body, though it was not acting on my command. The instant I saw it I sprang to my feet and grasped her by the throat. "Where did you steal this from? Where did you get it?"

"Varien, stop it! Stop it! Akor, let her go you idiot!" cried Lanen in my mind. I only gradually became aware that everyone was shouting. I released the Healer with great difficulty.

"Think, man! None have disappeared from the Place of Exile, have they?" demanded Lanen. "What, do you think this Healer has killed one of the Kantri from all this distance and brought the soulgem back to taunt you with?" "Put yourself through the Discipline of Calm, Akor, or something like it," she added in truespeech. "This woman helped heal me, she's not demon-touched. You're overreacting." I heard her mindvoice smile ever so slightly. "Bloody Dragons, they're all the same."

I tore my eyes away from the soulgem and with an effort managed to bow and say, "Your pardon, Mistress Aral. Forgive me, I pray you. I am ashamed. This is ill repayment for

your healing. I crave your pardon. Lady, Mage Vilkas. La-nen is right, I reacted without thought. Please understand, it is how you would feel if I revealed that I carried a human skull about with me as a trophy."

"There's no need to kill me for it. I didn't know," said Aral, massaging her throat. She called up her Healer's power and let it spread around her neck. After a moment she breathed a sigh of relief. "That's it fixed. Damn." She glowered at Varien. "You could have killed me. You don't know your own strength. That hurt like all the Hells."

"Aral, I beg your pardon. I'm sorry my husband reacted so violendy. Can I do anything to help?"

"No, I'm fine now," she said. "Damn good thing I'm a Healer." She turned to Varien. "It's not like I have this set as an ornament. I wear it next my heart. It is very precious to me.

"He was a Dragon, Aral," I said quickly, before Varien could respond. It seemed pointless to me to keep Will in the dark at this stage. "I know he told you last night, but it can take a while to sink in. For the purposes of argument he is still one of the Kantrishakrim, and you've just shown him that you wear the mortal remains of one of his kinfolk round your neck."

"Oh," said Aral. She was embarrassed. "I didn't realise— sorry, Varien," she murmured.

"The Kantri can talk to their Ancestors, did you know that?" I added, as lightly as I could. She didn't know, poor soul, and she had the grace to look appalled as I explained. "They use the soulgems to contact them. In his eyes, you have kept this particular Ancestor prisoner for—well, they left five thousand years ago. Prisoner for about that long. Do you wonder now that he's angry?"

Aral said something extremely rude that was, on the face of it, physically impossible. I was impressed. I'd been collecting oaths for a while now and it was a new one to me. I

made a mental note of it. "I'm truly sorry, Varien," she said. "I never meant—I didn't know, how could I?"

"How do you come to have such a thing?" I asked.

"That's what I wanted to know," said Will. "She used it yesterday—sweet Shia, was it only yesterday?—to fight off demons. It was amazing."

I put my hand out to restrain Varien, but to my surprise he nodded. "We are the life-enemies of the Rakshasa. Did the Ancestor grant you assistance?"

Aral nodded. "It—it always reacts violently when mere are demons around, and if I channel my healing power through it I can disperse them with a touch." She frowned down at the gem gleaming in her hand. "I had cut myself once, by chance, and my blood touched it—then the power was amazing."

"Astounding," said Varien. "Perhaps the life in the fresh blood quickens the memory of the Ancestor." He sat down again, obviously relieved. "If the Ancestor assists her, it means that he or she approves of the holder," said Varien to me privately. "Though I have never heard of one so willing before, or one who worked with the Gedri. J must ask Shikrar who this could be!"

"Whence came you by so precious a thing?" he asked Aral again.

"My mother carried it," she said, "and her mother, and hers, back to my great-great-grandmother. She—well, it's a long story, but they say she found it in the deepest chamber of a cavern in the mountains when she was in need of aid, and that aid came to her soon thereafter. She carried it always afterwards, in memory and in a kind of gratitude. When she knew she was dying, she passed it to her daughter, and so on until it came to me." Aral was staring into the gem's depths. "I am the first Healer in the family. It was pure chance that I learned it was proof against demons."

She looked up. "You are certain mis is a soulgem?"

"Absolutely certain," said Varien. "There can be no doubt—though if you must have proof I can supply it," he said. Taking off his circlet, he touched the gem in Aral's hand with his own for just a moment. They both began to glow gently from within, unmistakably the same in kind.

Varien replaced his circlet. The glow in the red gem faded swiftly to darkness.

"I hate to disturb you," said Vilkas, his voice unexpectedly harsh, his smile gone forever it seemed. "It is gratifying to know that the power that has been assisting us is glad to do so, but that does not alter the fact that we have wasted a good deal of time this morning. We are bound westward this day and we should be leaving," he said, glaring at Aral and Will. "We do not wish to stay too long in one place lest Berys should find us."