"No. It's not that at all. I was thinking that it sounds to me as if you like this young man very much." Keffria gave her head a small shake. "I remember all the grand plans that your father and I made for our life together. Those dreams do not always come true, but the spinning of them is very sweet."

"It sounds to me as if she likes the prospect of all he will bring her," Ronica corrected softly. More gently, she added, "But there is nothing wrong with that, either. Young people who share the same dreams often make very good partners."

Malta came back to poke at the fire in the grate. "Don't talk as if it were all agreed upon, because it isn't," she said petulantly. "There are a lot of bad things about him. Not just his veil and gloves; who can even imagine what he really looks like? He also goes on and on about politics. One minute he is talking of parties and friends; the next he speaks of war with Jamaillia and how we must stand firm no matter how difficult life becomes. He talks as if that would be some big adventure! Moreover, he says slavery is evil, although I told him that Papa thinks it might be good for Bingtown and that Papa is rebuilding our fortune by selling slaves. He dared to say that Papa would have to change his ways and see that slavery is wrong and bad for our economy, too, and trade up the Rain Wild River instead!

"And he talks about having children as if I am to have a baby the day after we are wed! When I said we must have a house in Bingtown as well as in the Rain Wilds so we can visit often and see my friends, he laughed! He says that once I see the wonders of his city, I will forget all about Bingtown, and that we will not have our own house, but only a set of rooms in the great house the Khuprus family shares. So. I am not at all certain that I will choose Reyn."

"It sounds as if you two talked a great deal about your future together," Ronica ventured.

"He speaks as if it is all assured! When I tell him it is not, he smiles and asks why I love to torture him so. Are all men so obtuse?"

"Every one of them that I've ever known," Ronica assured her complacently. Then, more seriously, she added, "But if you have decided to deny his suit, then you must tell us so. The sooner the courtship is broken off, the least discomfort to both families."

"Oh… I haven't decided. Not really. It may take me a while."

The room fell silent as Malta considered her prospects and the two older women privately contemplated what her choices might mean to them.

"I wish I knew where Althea was," Keffria heard herself say again.

Her mother sighed.

ALTHEA SET HER MUG DOWN. THERE WAS VERY LITTLE LEFT OF THE ROAST fowl on the table before them. Across the table from her, Amber set her knife and fork carefully across her plate. Jek leaned back in her chair and picked at something caught in her teeth. She caught Althea watching her and grinned. "You don't have any big brothers at home, do you?" she teased. "Eyes such as yours are wasted on a woman."

"Jek," Amber rebuked her amusedly. "You are making Althea uncomfortable. Why don't you go stroll about Bingtown for a bit? We have some serious talking to do."

Jek pushed up from the table with a grunt. She rolled her shoulders and Althea heard the crackling of muscle. "Take my advice. Do some serious drinking instead. Serious talking is no way to spend your first evening back in your home town." When she grinned, her teeth were white as a carnivore's.

"Who knows? It may come to that as well," Amber conceded affably. She watched Jek tug on her boots and then find a light cloak. As soon as the door closed behind her, Amber leaned forward on her elbows. She pointed a long finger at Althea. "Continue from where you left off. And this time, don't bother to gloss over the parts where you feel you behaved badly. I'm not asking this of you so I can judge you."

"Why are you asking this of me?" Althea asked. To herself, she wondered why she was granting this to Amber. She still knew relatively little about the woman. Why was she favoring her with a detailed account of her travels and experiences since the last time she had seen her?

"Ah. Well. I suppose that is a fair trade, considering all I've asked you." Amber took a breath as if putting her words in order. "I cannot leave Bingtown. I must do things here. But the timing of those tasks is dependent on events that are happening elsewhere. In Jamaillia and the Inside Passage, for instance. So I ask you to tell me what changes you have seen in those places."

"That tells me nothing at all," Althea pointed out quietly.

"I suppose it doesn't. Let me be blunt then. I am dedicated to bringing about certain changes. I wish to see an end to slavery, not just in Bingtown, but in all of Jamaillia and Chalced as well. I wish to see Bingtown shake off Jamaillian rule. And I wish, most of all, to solve the riddle of the dragon and the serpent." She smiled significantly at Althea as she said this. She tapped first the dragon earring she wore in her left ear and then the serpent that swung from her right. She raised an eyebrow at Althea and waited in anticipation for her response.

"The dragon and the serpent?" Althea queried, baffled.

Amber's face changed. A terrible dread washed over it, followed by a look of weariness. She leaned back in her chair. She spoke quietly. "When I finally said that to you, you were supposed to leap to your feet and look startled. Or perhaps shout, 'Aha! or shake your head in wonderment and then explain it all to me. The last thing I ever imagined you doing was sitting there being politely puzzled."

Althea shrugged. "Sorry."

"The words have no significance to you at all? The dragon and the serpent?" There was a desperate note in Amber's voice.

Althea shrugged again.

"Think hard," Amber begged. "Please. I have been so certain that you were the one. Certain dreams have shaken that conviction from time to time, but when I saw you again on the street, surety leapt up in me once more. You are the one. You have to know. Think. The dragon and the serpent." She leaned forward on the table and fixed Althea with a pleading stare.

Althea took a deep breath. "Dragon and serpent. All right. On one island in the Barrens, I saw a rock formation that is called the Dragon. And our ship was attacked by a sea serpent on the way home."

"You mentioned nothing of a dragon when you told me about your time on the Barrens!"

"It didn't seem significant."

"Tell me now." Amber's eyes burned with a cat-like intensity.

Althea leaned forward and replenished her mug from the earthenware pitcher of beer on the table. "There's not much to tell. We camped in the lee of it when we were working the slaughter. It is just a big rock that sticks out of the earth. When the light hits it right, it looks like a dead dragon. One of the older hands spun a yarn that it was really a slain dragon and that if I climbed up there, I'd find an arrow in its chest still."

"Did you?"

Althea grinned sheepishly. "I was curious. I climbed up on its chest one night. Reller had told the truth. Its forelegs were clutching at an arrow sticking out of its chest."

"Then it wasn't just an accidental formation of stone? It truly had forelegs?"

Althea pursed her lips. "Or maybe some sailors with a bit of time on their hands had 'enhanced' it a bit. That was my opinion. Reller's claim was that that thing had been sprawled there for ages and ages. But the arrow shaft didn't look weathered or splintered. It was as nice a piece of wizardwood as I've ever seen. The only surprising thing to me was that no one had ever taken it. But sailors are a superstitious lot, and wizardwood has a dangerous reputation."

Amber sat as if transfixed.

"The serpent-" Althea began, but "Hush!" Amber ordered her. "I need to think a moment. A wizardwood arrow. Is that what all this has been about? A wizardwood arrow? Shot by whom, and when? Why?"