"It's magic, Beka! Real wizard magic! And you've got your uniform. You're a horse guard!"

Beka hugged her back, grinning. "That's just what I am."

"We must have proper music!" cried Seregil.

"Fiddlers, give us "The Shepherd's Idyll'!"

The musicians set to with a will and couples paired for the sprightly dance.

"Here you are!" Kari exclaimed, coming to embrace her eldest daughter.

"She was afraid we wouldn't see you before tomorrow," Micum explained. "She's been fretting about it all afternoon."

"Oh, I was not," snapped his wife. "Turn around, girl. Let me see all of you!"

"Thero was otherwise engaged, I see," Seregil remarked with a sly glance at Nysander.

"Ah, hello, Valerius," said Nysander, escorting Magyana over to them again. "You acquitted yourself bravely in the sanctuary this evening. were the ravens saying anything intelligible?"

"We were just discussing that," the drysian replied.

"Heavy-handed as the Sakorans are with their "oracles," they weren't responsible for the birds, or that business with the Aegis, if I'm any judge."

"It was unquestionably magic of some sort," mused Magyana. "It may be a portent from Sakor, but it bodes ill nonetheless."

"It certainly bears looking into," agreed Nysander, "but just now I cannot seem to resist the music. Do you think we have a dance or two left in us, my dear?"

"I think they'll have to chain your feet together to keep them still when they bury you," Magyana replied with a twinkle.

Valerius watched with gruff fondness as the pair danced away. "Ridiculous, that Oreskan celibacy of hers. Those two should have married centuries ago." Then something else appeared to catch his eye and a wry grin spread in the depths of his black beard. "Now there's someone I didn't expect to see here tonight. And just look who he's with!"

"Ylinestra a Maranial Wisthra Ylinena Erind, Sorceress of Erind," announced Runcer.

"And Thero i Procepios Bynardin Chylnir Rhiminee, Wizard of the Second Order, of the Third Oreska."

"Well, well!" murmured Seregil.

Thero did look uncharacteristically sanguine, standing at the head of the chamber with Ylinestra on his arm. The sorceress' silk gown glittered with jeweled beading and the bodice, fashionable in the extreme, showed pink half-crescent hints of nipple beneath the heavy necklace of pearl and jet she wore over her bared breasts. Her ebony hair was caught back in a similar jeweled web, exposing a graceful white neck.

Seregil propelled Alec forward with a gentle nudge. "Come on, Sir Alec. Let's greet our illustrious guests."

"Welcome to my home, lady," he said, stepping up to kiss her hand.

"Thank you, Lord Seregil," she replied with a cool nod. "And this must be your new companion I've been hearing so much about?"

"Alec of Ivywell," Alec told her, wondering with sudden discomfort whether she recalled their first brief, tempestuous meeting soon after his arrival at the Oreska House. If she did, however, she gave no sign of it. Extending her hand, she enveloped him with a heart-stopping smile.

"Ah, a Mycenian. How delightful."

She clearly meant for him to kiss her hand and he bent dutifully over it. A faint perfume rose in his nostrils, subtle yet strangely compelling.

Her hand, so warm and soft, lingered in his, and as he raised his head, his eyes swept across her breasts to her lovely violet eyes with a studied enjoyment he wouldn't have imagined himself capable of. Still she held him, and her low-pitched voice sent an unfamiliar tingle through his body when she spoke.

"Nysander speaks so warmly of you. I hope that we may know one another better."

"I'm honored, lady," Alec replied, his voice sounding distant in his ears. She withdrew her hand at last and the world returned to normal.

"Good evening," Thero said stiffly, looking somewhat less than pleased to be there.

"Forgive Thero's bad grace," Ylinestra murmured, once more wrapping Alec in the warm embrace of her eyes. "He is here only as a favor to me, I fear, and is being quite sulky. Come, Thero, perhaps wine will improve your disposition."

As he escorted her into the throng, the actor Pelion stepped into their path with an elaborate bow, which Thero evaded with a curt and proprietary nod. Pelion fell back a pace, then followed Ylinestra with lovesick eyes.

"Ah, so that's the actor's hopeless love," Seregil noted with a smirk. "He's certainly got some competition tonight. And if Thero gets any stiffer, he's likely to fall over and break."

"She was kind of abrupt with you, I thought," observed Alec.

"Well, I'm not exactly her type. Evidently you are."

Alec colored warmly. Her perfume still clung to his fingers. "I only greeted her."

The musicians struck up a reel and he turned to watch the dancers. Micum swirled by with Kari, laughing and smiling; Nysander and Magyana followed close behind. One of the poets had somehow captured Elsbet and she blushed happily as he swept her along. Across the room, Ylinestra was chatting with the actor while Thero hovered close at hand with badly concealed impatience.

"What's she doing with Thero?" Alec wondered aloud.

"Judging by the look of him, nothing he'd want Nysander to know about," Valerius remarked.

"Nysander knows," said Seregil. "I think he was getting bored with her, anyway, but I still say it was bad manners for her to grab Thero next."

"I doubt if she was the only one doing the grabbing," scoffed Valerius. "If he wants to stick his head in the dragon's mouth, let him. Just see that young Alec here keeps a safe distance."

"I just greeted her, for—" Alec sputtered, but was interrupted by Myrhini and Beka.

"I'm off for the Vigil," said Myrhini. "Hope to see you all at the investiture tomorrow."

As soon as the captain was gone, Beka turned to Alec with a knowing grin. "Ylinestra's very beautiful, wouldn't you say?"

Alec groaned. "What was I supposed to do, knock her down?"

"For a minute there I thought you were going to."

"Well, I'm sure I'm no danger to her, when she can obviously have her pick of any man in Rhiminee," he countered. "What about you, though? Can you dance in uniform?"

Beka looked down at her tabard and boots. "I think we can manage."

They made a passable business of the reel and went on dancing when the next song began, in truth, Beka was in such high spirits over her commission that Alec thought she could probably fly if the notion struck her. They soon caught each other's rhythm and went on dancing with scarcely a break until Micum cut in to say that Kari and the younger girls were retiring for the night.

"I didn't realize how late it had gotten," Beka said, letting go of Alec's hand with evident regret. "I'll go up and visit with Mother a while before I head back to the barracks. I've got to be up early for the ceremony."

Giving Alec a quick peck on the cheek, she added, "You and Seregil are coming, aren't you? There'll be hundreds of us, of course, so you probably won't even see me."

"With that hair?" Alec teased, tugging at the end of her coppery braid. "You'll stick out like a drunkard's nose!"

"I'll remember that remark the next time we work on your swordplay," Beka warned with a dire grin. "Until tomorrow, then."

Left to his own devices again, he looked for Seregil and spotted him on the far side of the crowded floor. No sooner had he worked his way through the crowd, however, when Seregil was waylaid by a noble complaining at length about some shipping venture he and Seregil were involved with. Alec listened politely for a time, but his attention soon wandered.

Looking around, he realized that the number of guests was dwindling. Off for more "games in the dark," as Kylith had teased. Nysander and Magyana were still there, moving with stately grace through the circle of a galliard. Thero was dancing as well, but not with Ylinestra.