It began to seem that the Skill itself was flowing through me, as if I were the river, and I was only jolted from it when the Queen leaned forward and shook me, hard.

'Fitz!' she cried out, and Fitz'- I dutifully relayed to Dutiful.

Then, 'Wake him however you must. Throw water in his face, pinch him. I fear if I retreat now, he will go under all the way.'

And even as I spoke Dutiful's words to the Queen, she took up her cup of cooling tea and dashed it in my face. I spluttered, coughed, and was once more fully aware of my surroundings- 'I'm sorry,' I said, wiping my sleeve over my face. 'That has never happened to me before. At least, not in this fashion.'

The Queen offered me a kerchief. 'We've had some minor difficulties of this type with Nettle. It was one reason Chade wanted you to be here as soon as possible.'

'He said something of the kind. I wish he had been more specific. I would have found a way to come sooner.'

'She will need instruction in the Skill, Fitz. It should begin soon. Actually, it should have begun long ago.'

'I know that, now,' I admitted humbly. 'A lot of things should have begun long ago. I'm home now, and I intend to begin them soon.'

'How about now?' Kettricken asked me levelly. 'I could summon my maid, and send for Nettle. You could meet her now.'

A wave of dread washed through me. 'Not yet!' And then I amended it to, 'Not like this, my lady, please. Let me be clean and shaven. And rested.' I took a breath. 'And fed,' I added, trying not to make it sound like a remonstrance.

'Oh, Fitz, I am sorry! I have let my own needs and desires run rampant over yours. A selfish act. I apologize.'

'A necessary act,' I assured her. Then, 'Shall I find Dutiful again? Or Chade. I know there is still much you need to know.'

'Not just now. I judge it best that you refrain from Skilling for a time.'

I nodded. Left alone in my own mind, I felt almost empty, as if I could no longer string together a thought of my own. It must have showed, for she leaned forward to set her hand on mine. 'Some brandy, Lord FitzChivalry?'

'Please,' I replied, and my queen rose to get it for us.

Some time later, I twitched my eyes open. A shawl had been put around me and ray chin rested on my chest. My brandy waited on the table before me. Kettricken was sitting quietly at the table, looking at her folded hands. I knew she meditated and did not wish to disturb her. Yet she seemed aware that I had awakened almost as soon as I opened my eyes. She gave me a weary smile.

'My queen, I offer my humblest apologies.'

'You have been long without rest.' She muffled a small yawn of her own and said, 'I sent for breakfast, and let my maid know I am famished. She will wish to tidy this room before she sets it out for me here. Conceal yourself unI'll you bear me knock.'

And so I spent some short time sitting on the steps in the darkness behind the concealed panel. I closed my eyes, but did not sleep- Yet it was not the burdens of the Six Duchies throne that weighted my thoughts. I was but a tool to be used in that sorting. I would eat with the Queen, visit the steams and shave, sleep for a short time and then find a way to slip out of the castle and go back to the Witness Stones. I would raid the storeroom first, I decided, and take with me cheese and fruit and wine for the Fool and the Black Man. Perhaps they would enjoy some fresh bread. I smiled to myself, thinking how they would welcome the change in food. Perhaps the Fool would be better and able to travel. If he was, I could bring them both to Buckkeep, where I would know the Fool was safe. And finally I would be free, to go to Molly, and heal the rift of years. I heard the Queen's tap on the wall.

She had taken advantage of the time to smooth her hair and don a fresh gown. A meal, ample for several people, was set out on the low table. Tea steamed from a flowered pot, and I smclled fresh bread, and butter melting on hot porridge beside a pot of thick yellow cream.

'Come and eat,' she welcomed me. 'And if you have a word left in you, tell me of what you have been through, and bow it is that you and Thick have discovered such a swift way to travel'

I realized then the depth of the Queen's faith in me. So much had not been relayed through Nettle for the sake of keeping Chade's secrets. Only by subtle hints had she known to expect me, and yet she bad believed we would arrive. And so, as we ate, I found myself reporting to her yet again. She had always been a good listener, and over the years had been my confidante more than once. Perhaps that was why I found myself telling her far more of the truth than I had confided to anyone else. I told her of my search through the city for the Fool's body, and tears ran down her cheeks unchecked when I told her where and how I had found him. Her pale eyes brimmed with wonder as I told her how we had returned to the abandoned plaza. To her alone did I confide my venture into death. To her alone did I give a full accounting of our visit to the dragons themselves and the restoration of the Rooster Crown.

Only once did she interrupt- I had told her of brushing the dust and leaves off Verity as Dragon. She instantly reached across the table to seize my hand in a cool, hard grip.

'With these pillars, if you held my hand, you could take me to him? Even just once? I know, I know, all that would not be there for me. Yet, even to touch the stone that holds him . . . Oh, Fitz, you have no idea what that would mean to me!I

'To take an unSkilled person through a pillar ... I do not know the full toll it might take on your mind. It could be arduous and dangerous, my queen.' I was reluctant, and yet even more reluctant to disappoint her.

'And Dutiful,' she said, as if she had not heard my warning at all, 'Dutiful should stand, at least once, by the dragon of his father. It would make real his father's Sacrifice to him, and he might perceive his own in a kindlier light then.'

'Dutiful's Sacrifice?'

'Did not you hear what he could not say? That as a man, he could have stayed there with Elliania, and been her husband and welcomed by her family. As a prince, he cannot. It is not a small Sacrifice, FitzChivalry. Elliania will follow him here, that is true. But ever, it will be a little wall between them. You yourself have known how sharp that can be, to disappoint the woman you love out of the duty you must yield to your people.'

I spoke without considering the wisdom of it. 'I will be going back for her, now. The time for that sacrifice is at an end. Burrich is gone and no longer stands between us. I will take Molly again for my own.'

A silence followed my words, and I realized I had shocked her. Then she said, gently, 'I am glad that, at last, you have found that resolve. I speak now as a woman and your friend. Do not go to Molly too soon. Let her son come home to her first. Let her family heal around their terrible wound. Then, approach her, but as yourself, not as a man coming to take Burrich's place.'

I knew her words were wise as soon as I heard them. But my heart howled to rush to Molly as soon as I could, to begin, as soon as possible, to make up the years we had lost. I wanted to comfort her in her grief. I bowed my head, realizing the selfishness of that impulse. Hard as it would be for me to stand to one side and wait, it was what I should do, for the sake of Burrich's sons.

'And the same for Nettle,' Kettricken went on implacably. 'She will soon know that something has changed when I do not call on her to pass messages to Dutiful for me. Yet, if you will listen to me, do not rush to her. Above all, do not try to replace her father. For such Burrich was to her, Fitz, through no fault of your own. Such he will always be. You will have to find another role in her life, and be content with it.'

They were bitter words for me to hear, and more bitter still was it for me to admit, 'I know.' I sighed. 'I will teach her the Skill. That time, I will have with her.'