They were travelling ever-eastward, towards the rising sun, towards the mountains, and Faline was nervous, Quetz could feel it. This was the farthest east she'd ever gone, now, and just why they were continuing to follow this lunatic, well. It was actually because she continued to insist on it.

Camphor seemed fine and dandy, as far as he could tell. But then, he didn't know the base-line for lunatics willing to sell their souls to live forever and build boxes for dead people. He could be completely missing the mark as far as he knew.

That didn't stop him, of course, from being annoyed at all this stupid walking. His wings were stunted, hadn't grown for a long, long time, and though he was small, he couldn't stay aloft very well. So it was marching for him, too.

This would be fantastic if he weren't inclined to want to burn things down at every turn. The most fire he got to spew at anything was entirely to cook dinner. He was relegated to 'chief browner of meat'. He was a dragon, for Pete's sake!

Guh.

Humans. Needing to eat cooked meat. Needing warmth and shelter. He could give them plenty of warmth. He just needed to hear the words, but no. Faline wouldn't tell him to light the place up just because he was annoyed.

He rolled his eyes every so often to himself. And he kept marching. Because much as he hated to admit it, he did sort of like Faline's company. And he'd do anything to keep from the lonliness a second time.

As he climbed the wooden lattice, Gershwin remembered why he had agreed to be Fate's eyes and ears and voices. He remembered why he agreed to serve her and take her warnings and compulsions to heart. He remembered this because his muscles burned with every drive up the lattice, and they refused to let him surrender.

Even as exhaustion threatened to make him fall, even as his fingers started to bleed from the corners of the latticework digging into his flesh, even as his legs tired from bracing against the vertical wall, there was no way he would fall unless she willed it.

This deep in the pull, there was no doubt, and he let himself swim to dark, uncharted waters under its guidance. She would care for him, or she would cast him off as her will. Her will was his will, and he climbed until he reached the roof and grabbed hold.

He hauled himself up, just barely rolling out of the way of a swinging dagger. He rolled to his knees and yanked his sword from its hilt at his side. It rolled in his hand, traditional of the Tribes-style of swordsmanship. He was loose in his movements as they began to circle one another, hunter and quarry.

She sat, curled up in a clean white robe underneath her heavy outer robe. Feivel was checking to make sure they had everything before he left.

"I really don't think you ought to leave her here," Marley hissed from the other room.

"I'll be back to pay your dues, woman," he groused. "I won't leave her here. I can't. If I do, my Lady, deaf and dark and silent, will have my head, among other things, delivered to her offering room on a silver platter, probably at the hands of my brother."

"I'm telling you, it's not safe for her kind! She won't be welcome. Word travels plenty quickly around here and--"

"Then watch her," he snapped, and a shrill whistle pierced the air.

Moments later, the thunder of hooves echoed down the cobbled streets, and Marley started swearing oaths left and right. "I'll be back in three days. You can handle a patient that long, can't you, Healer?"

And the hooves echoed off in the opposite direction again.

Janice pulled her heavy robes tighter around her shoulders. One of the girls gave her a very timid look and offered her a tray of tea and biscuits. Kendra was busy staring at photographs and portraits of various people on the walls. Janice smiled at the girl, who quickly bolted from the room.

She reached to pull her veil over her face, but it was gone. She'd lost it before she went swimming, as she had most of her clothing.

Marley hurried passed the doorway, and Janice reached out to call for her, but the words died on her lips, and her hand fell to her side. She pulled her long, dark curls over her twin to hide it somewhat before shifting uneasily. She sighed and poured herself some tea, dosing it strongly with sugar.

It sat for a long time, until the steam had completely died away. Janice stared into the fire before her, and she felt an extreme loneliness spread across her. It was a difficult thing to explain to anyone, least of all herself.

She picked up the cup, and stared into it, dark black and cold by now. She stirred it idly before staring up across the room and being dimly aware of Kendra perching on her shoulder to sip the tea from her cup. The little dragon was growing rapidly, and some day soon would be too big for shoulder-perching.

"You shouldn't have thrown rocks at the glass," Janice told her quietly. Her voice startled her in how reserved she sounded. She sounded tired, exhausted, empty. She sounded how she felt.

She was too delicate, sometimes.

She missed Feivel. She missed friends. She missed her job.

Marley hurried back through the hall again, and Janice reached for her, but again the words died on her lips. What would she say. What would she hope to explain to the midwife?

That she couldn't remember the words she knew she had stolen from her life? That it was an accident? That she didn't remember any of it?

Would she even believe that?

One of the older girls came into the room and sat across from Janice, kneeling on the floor and tucking her skirt in under her legs. Janice sat with her legs folded to one side, the skirts of her robes spread out in a voluminous circle around her.

"I'm sorry for how busy we've been," the girl said gently. "Marley's in a bit of trouble lately, so we're all helping out, but sometimes I wonder if she doesn't just want to throw herself into the drink." She laughed. "You'll see what I mean soon enough. My name is Lina."

"I'm Janice. This is Kendra."

~Hi!~ the little saa chirped merrily. Then, turning towards Janice, asked: ~Can I have more tea?~

Janice obligingly poured Kendra the tea, dropped in several cubes of sugar, and stirred it before setting it out on the table. Kendra hurriedly fluttered over to the table and began lapping it up in a fairly feline manner. Lina stared at her.

"She's a dragon," she explained wearily.

The young woman blinked, then smiled and nodded. "Yes," she agreed with an awkward laugh. "It's just... I... You don't seem like a witch, and Marley swears up and down there's no such thing but you... I've heard what happened this morning, and she sent me in here to find out what's going on. Your friend, he might be trouble too, you see."

Janice blinked. "Witches?" she asked. "I've... no. I'm an Earth Oracle."

Lina's face darkened with confusion. "A what?"

She sighed. How best to explain it? "I see what's been so as to guess what's to come," she managed. "Fires see fire. Waters see water. Earths see earth."

"And wood, then?" Lina asked.

"No. Woods see wood."

"Then what was that this morning? It stopped when you were off the wooden table."

Janice sighed, closing her eyes, trying to block the memories - strangely vivid - from her mind. She shook her head quietly. "I ... That's the surgery table, isn't it?"

"That's right."

"Patients bleed all over it, right?"

"Of course. They go into surgery."

"Wood absorbs blood. Where I come from, Earth Oracles are also known as Blood Oracles, because blood and decaying bodies are also from the earth. I felt fifteen at least swell through me, but I'm sure there were more."

Lina whistled lowly. "I know this might be difficult for you," she said, "but you can't talk about anything that happened this morning to anyone who wasn't there. Your... Kendra... don't let her out of your sight, and don't let her into sight of anyone else. I believe you don't mean us harm, oracle or witch or whatever, but the rest of our people here are not so accepting."

Janice nodded. "I can feel that, lightly, in the dust."

"Your friend called a horse this morning. With just a whistle. And rode bareback from town. What was that?"

Janice shook her head. "He's from the Tribes, on the plains in the center of the continent. I don't know how he does it, or even if it's a matter from the Tribes. He serves as an acolyte of Fate. That's the Lady he speaks of - deaf and blind and mute, or however he goes about it."

"Fate?"

"She's a goddess up north in the mountains. He claims he feels her pulls frequently, and I can only guess he's right, since he finds me in the worst states of health. He's a good man. He won't trouble you hardly at all, I'm sure."

Lina smiled at her, and Janice smiled back. "Well, if there's anything you need--"

"Actually," Janice managed shyly. "If it's not too much trouble, is there a scarf or something I could have? I ..." Her hand drifted shyly to her face. "I've never gone so long exposed."

Lina smiled. "Absolutely," she said. "I'll see what I can find." Then, she drew herself up and nodded. "Call if you need anything else."

She disappeared for a time, and when she returned, the door opened and closed. "I'm here to see Marley," a man's voice said, and Janice felt herself flush hot red as Lina came into the room.

"Here you go, Janice," she said warmly. But when she got no reply and when Kendra stared perked towards the door, alert like a large terrier. "Janice?"

"I know that voice," she answered quietly.

"What?"

"That's Captain Liam Farrows. He's the man that drowned me."