Asayaga raised his cup, looking towards Strike Leader Tasemu who stood by the door. He stood at rigid attention and the minutes passed.

Finally Tasemu turned, faced the group and started a sing-song chant, and the other Tsurani joined in. The chant lasted for several minutes and then ended with lowered heads, the chant eerily drifting off into silence. The Tsurani solemnly raised their cups and flagons, drained them, and then slammed the cups down with a loud cheer.

Asayaga turned and bowed to Wolfgar. 'It is custom, that when the Day of Atonement has ended, a man brings into his home any wayfarers upon the road and feasts them. Tonight we are the wayfarers upon the road and we thank you.'

The cups were refilled from great bowls of ale set around the table and all the Tsurani raised a salute to Wolfgar, who stood up smiling, nodding his head in thanks.

Next Asayaga turned to Dennis. 'It is the custom, as well, for a man to then seek one towards whom he feels anger and to extend his hand, clasp his forearm, and to pledge that the year to come shall be free of that anger.'

As he spoke in the language of the Kingdom the other Tsurani fell silent, but from their expressions Dennis sensed they knew what their captain was saying.

'You and I are pledged to a king and an emperor who are at war, Hartraft. We must obey that pledge first. But I ask tonight that we will sit together without rancour, or thought of what we must still decide between each other. We are enemies, Hartraft, but at least tonight let us sit as honoured enemies and share this meal in peace.'

Asayaga started to extend his hand and Dennis did not know how he would react. Actually clasping the hand of a Tsurani in a formal ceremony was something beyond anything he had ever dreamed of doing.

Asayaga hesitated, looking into his eyes, and all in the room fell silent. A flicker of a smile crossed Asayaga's face and, turning aside, he picked up his own cup, filled it, and offered it to Dennis instead.

Caught off guard Dennis took the cup without even thinking and a ripple of laughter echoed in the great hall followed by a flurry of activity as the Tsurani soldiers took their own cups, filled them again and offered them to the Kingdom soldiers.

Dennis, nodding, raised his cup, tipped it slightly in salute to Asayaga and then drained it. A cheer resounded throughout the long hall. He put the cup back down.

'There are times, Asayaga,' Dennis whispered, 'when I almost forget that you are Tsurani.'

'And there are times I forget you are Hartraft of the Marauders, Dennis,' Asayaga replied.

Dennis could not help but offer a grudging smile and picking up his own cup, which had yet to be touched, he offered it to Asayaga, who drained it.

Tsurani soldiers who had been sitting at the back of the hall left the table and returned seconds later with steaming platters piled high with cold slices of roasted meats, which had been prepared the day before and soon all were sitting, eating their fill, the room abuzz with conversation, the men finding it amusing to fill each other's drinking cups and then press the cups into the hands of their neighbours, forcing them to drink.

'Your ritual was deeply moving,' Alyssa said, leaving her seat to come over and stand between Asayaga and Dennis.

'I thank you, my lady,' Asayaga replied.

'It is a shame that this pledge between you two could not be kept till the next year's Atonement Day.'

Asayaga nodded. 'War is war, my lady. Hartraft must obey as I do. If ordered to fight we must do so. The only question then is what is in our hearts.'

'And what is in your heart, Hartraft?' Alyssa asked, looking over at Dennis.

'I do my duty, my lady.'

'Is it just duty? Father has told me of what happened to you, your family. Is it just duty?'

'You have not seen this hall burn, your father dead, your beloved spouse dying in your arms.'

The words spilled out of him and, embarrassed, he turned away. She put a hand on his shoulder and he looked back.

'I know my father will not survive this winter,' she whispered. 'Your coming was the harbinger of that, and this hall will burn too.'

'And won't you hate the moredhel for that?'

'Yes, the ones who might do it. Yes.'

Dennis looked back over at Asayaga. 'Why do you even try?' he asked.

'What do you mean?' the Tsurani replied.

'This. All this,' Dennis said, a note of confusion and frustration in his voice. 'The feast, that prayer yesterday about the spirits of my dead comrades, the drink just offered. Why the hell do you even try?'

'Because I am Tsurani,' Asayaga replied in a sharp whisper.

Dennis, stunned by the intensity in Asayaga's response, said nothing.

'I don't want to be here, Hartraft. I wish by all the gods I was home, miserable as it was with the intrigue, the damnable Game of the Council. I am a retainer to Lord Ugasa, and his son who will rule after him, and have achieved the highest rank I may hope to achieve. I gained my rank through twenty-five years of dutiful service, doing what was ordered without hesitation. And ten years of that service has been here, on your world, Hartraft.

'I was ordered to this place, this war. Of the fifty of my clan who originally came with me there's only Sergeant Tasemu and three others left. The others are the younger brothers and the sons of those who have fallen here.'

Dennis nodded, and said nothing when Alyssa's hand slipped onto Asayaga's shoulder.

'I wish the men of Clan Minwanabi had never come to your keep, that you were living out your days there, that you and I had never met.' He spat out the last words sharply, so that several of the men sitting to either side fell silent, turning their attention to the two captains. 'But we have met, your family is dead, my comrades dead, and all that we have left is what is to come of our lives, brief might they be.'

He looked back up and Dennis was stunned to see tears in Asayaga's eyes.

'I just wish I could find peace and learn to forget.'

Then Asayaga stood up abruptly and turned his back to the table. More men were falling silent and Dennis looked around the room. The Tsurani were watching their captain, wondering what had just transpired.

Dennis saw Gregory and Tinuva looking at him curiously, Gregory giving the subtle hand signal to ask if there was trouble.

Time seemed to stretch out. He looked the other way. Wolfgar was silent, as if lost in thought. Roxanne, by her father's side, staring at Dennis, but there was no sarcasm in her gaze this time, but a look of pity and sadness.

Dennis stood up awkwardly, and took his feasting cup. He approached Asayaga, and held out the cup. 'If I have caused sad memories tonight,' he said, 'I apologize."

Asayaga stared at him and said nothing in return.

'The men are watching us,' Dennis whispered. 'They think we are arguing.'

'Always the men are watching,' Asayaga sighed, 'and we must act accordingly.'

Dennis shook his head. 'Take the cup, Asayaga: you need a drink.'

There was the flicker of a smile. Asayaga took the cup and drained it. Instantly conversation in the room returned.

'I suspect, Hartraft, that I've just received the most friendly gesture you will ever give to a Tsurani.'

Dennis said nothing. His gaze caught Alyssa's for a second and he could see the relief in her eyes. He knew as well, at that same instant, that whatever feelings she might have kindled in him were worse than useless. Her attention was fixed on Asayaga and there it would stay.

He returned to his chair, Asayaga sitting beside him, and the two ate in silence, the room around them echoing with laughter, bursts of songs, and a wild eruption of cheers when one of the Tsurani, with a throw of the dice, won a dagger from a Kingdom soldier who grinned when he handed the blade over.