"You know, I've been thinking about something," Keritanima said as Tarrin sat down near the fountain with Jesmind. "The Keeper told me once that the Book of Ages wasn't written in Sha'Kar. She said that it was written by the priests of Denthar. She also said that it didn't have anything in it after the Breaking. But Dolanna did know the truth about it. I wonder how long she's been holding out on the katzh-dashi ."

"Maybe nobody asked her," Tarrin shrugged. "Maybe the Keeper had it wrong, and never bothered to ask. And remember, she's a katzh-dashi from the Tower in Abrodar. They probably know things the Sorcerers here don't, and the other way around."

"Maybe, but that seems like a pretty big hole."

"I learned what I know of the Book of Ages from Phandebrass," Dolanna told them as she glided up to them. "He may seem erratic, but Phandebrass is the most learned man of ancient artifacts I have ever met. I am surprised he has not camped himself at your door to look at it, Tarrin."

"So am I," he agreed. "Kimmie wanted to talk to him, to be his apprentice. Maybe she's distracting him."

"Possible. We have not had much time to see the others since we began this. I feel like it has been a year since I last spoke with Camara Tal or Phandebrass."

"Me too. It must be a side effect of that spell," Tarrin agreed. "My sense of time has been all screwed up. My mind tells me it should be the middle of winter, when it's just into summer. We were in that thing for months, but only days passed out here."

"Speaking of time, let's get cracking," Keritanima said, sitting on the bench before the fountain beside Allia and opening the book in her hands.

"Months? Explain this one to me," Jesmind said as Bandit tore across the courtyard, with Jasana chasing after him.

Tarrin explained the dome of altered time to Jesmind, describing how they had spent months inside to learn Sha'Kar when only days passed on the outside, and then he described the physical effects it had had on him. Then he quieted her with another conjured book and bent to his task.

They stayed there through the morning, ate the lunch Jesmind packed for them, and continued. At least until Dar suddenly flew out of the tent, waving a book in his hand. "I think I found it!" he screamed excitedly, rushing out in the courtyard and literally jumping up and down. "I think I found it! I think I found it!"

Tarrin's heart raced a little, but it was Dolanna that restored order as they all gathered around the Arkisian. "Calmly, Dar," she told him in a soothing voice. "Show us."

Dar dropped to the ground and opened the book to a place he'd held with his finger. "Here!" he said, so shrilly that it sounded like a whistle, as they all knelt down in a circle around the book. "Right here!"

"Calm down, boy, and either read it to us or hand me the book!" Keritanima snapped anxiously at him.

Miranda took the book from him with an apologetic smile, then picked it up and scanned the page with her eyes. "It's definitely about the Firestaff," she agreed, finding a place to start reading. "Here we go. 'After the Blood War, the Gods decided that the Firestaff was too dangerous to leave out, even though it no longer held any power, for it would always be a representation of the horrors of the Blood War and the temptation of power. They charged the katzh-dashi to locate and secure a place to leave it where it would disappear from the memory of the peoples of the world, so as not to cause more chaos and strife. The katzh-dashi created a suitable hiding place for the notorious item, taking the object out past the Stormhavens, even past the Dark Continent which was rumored to have become the refuge of those Sha'Kar who had fled from the horror of the Blood War, deep out into the trackless expanses of the empty, endless sea, and hiding it behind the wind. To this day, some three thousand years since the Blood War, the location of the Firestaff remains a secret, known only to those who hid it away.' " She looked up at them. "Well, it's not an exact location, but we do know now that it was hidden somewhere overseas."

"What's west of Wikuna, Kerri?" Tarrin asked immediately. "The Dark Continent has to be Wikuna."

"There's nothing but about four thousand leagues of empty ocean, brother," she replied uncertainly. "There's absolutely nothing out there. Not an island, not even a rock. The only thing separating Wikuna from Shen Lung is a few thousand leagues of open ocean."

"Well, that does describe empty, trackless sea," Allia pointed out. "If the ocean there is indeed that empty, it fits the description in the book."

"I don't understand it saying they hid it behind the wind," Dar said, his brows furrowing in thought, as the others nodded in agreement with Allia. "What does that mean, anyway? How do you take something and hide it behind the wind? It has to be some kind of metaphor."

"They did not want it to be found, so they were deliberately vague, Dar," Dolanna reminded him. "It probably is a metaphor of some sort. A poetic description."

"Well, it's something, at least," Miranda grunted. "So now we can all start looking for more references to this behind the wind nonsense. Maybe one of the other books will have a more sensical description."

"Maybe it is a literal description," Allia proposed, her eyes distant. "The Ancients of that time had a great many secrets we do not. Maybe they knew a spell that allowed them to literally hide the Firestaff behind the wind." She looked up at them. "Though I do not see how that could be done. The wind is invisible. If you hid something behind it, it would still be seen."

"Maybe that's the metaphor," Miranda said brightly. "Maybe it means that they hid it out in the ocean, but they hid it in plain sight. Sometimes that's the best place to hide something."

"Let's just hope that they didn't take it out in the middle of the ocean and throw it over the rail," Keritanima grunted. "I really don't feel like swimming for it."

Tarrin chuckled. "Well, unless anyone has anymore ideas, let's go back to our books. Keep reading that one, Dar."

"And read it carefully," Keritanima added. "There may be another remark in there about it."

"I'll read it slow and careful," Dar told her with a nod, taking the book from Miranda. "And after I'm done, one of you read it after me to make sure I didn't miss something by accident."

"Good idea," Miranda nodded.

That turned out to be the only excitement of the day. Nobody else found anything of interest, and Keritanima found nothing new in the book Dar had been reading after she read it after him. They left the courtyard at sunset a little more hopeful than the day before, having found at least one clue. Tarrin excused himself from his family after eating and visited with Dolanna and his sisters for a while, then tracked down Jula to make sure that she was still doing alright. It turned out that she and Kimmie had indeed become thick as thieves, the Were-cat Sorceress finding a kindred spirit in the turned female. On the way back to his rooms, where Jesmind and Jasana were waiting for him, a familiar face appeared around the gentle, curving bend in the Tower passage, a redheaded female with exquisite beauty, and a pair of leathery bat-like wings. Shiika had finally reappeared, leading two of her Cambisi children. One of them he recognized as the blond Anayi, the halfbreed that had appeared and saved him from an army of Trolls at the edge of the desert. Her expression brightened when she saw him, marching right up to him and taking hold of his wrist. "Well, they said you grew," she noted. "They said I did it to you, too. I think it's an improvement."

"Hello, Shiika," he said cordially. He wasn't entirely happy to see her, but she was helping, so he had to be nice to her. Tarrin didn't hate Shiika, but like every other non-Demon around, he felt just a little uncomfortable around her. She had that effect on people. "Anayi," he said with a nod.