Alise nodded dumbly. She felt empty and sick. She took a sip of her tea to give herself time to think, but no ideas came to her. 'I feel so foolish,' she said softly. She looked at Sedric and apologized, 'I've dragged you all this way, for nothing it seems. I should have listened to Hest.' She laced her fingers together on the table in front of her and spoke to Althea past a lump in her throat. 'I only booked passage on your ship as far as Trehaug. From there, I planned to travel by one of the cargo barges, the small ones. I didn't buy tickets for our return, because I hoped to stay weeks if not months learning from the dragons.' She reached up to massage her own temples. A storm of a headache was brewing in her skull. She tried to keep tears out of her voice as she asked, 'Is it possible to arrange to return to Bingtown immediately?'

'You can travel back with us.' The captain spoke without moving away from his window. There was sympathy in his voice.

'But you should understand that it takes time for us to unload cargo and take on supplies and more cargo,' Althea cautioned her. 'And I had planned to visit Malta while we were here. So we will not be immediately returning to Bingtown. You will have to spend a few days in Trehaug while we do so.'

'I understand,' Alise said faintly. 'I am sure we will find things to see in Trehaug until you are ready to begin the journey back to Bingtown.'

'Then you don't plan to even visit Cassarick? I can't believe that! Alise, you must go. We've come so far, it would be foolish not to at least visit it.'

The apparent disappointment in Sedric's voice startled her. A few minutes ago, he had seemed positively hopeful that their journey had been for naught.

'What would be the point of it?' she asked him dully.

'Well,' he seemed to flounder briefly for a reason. 'Well, to say that you'd seen what you'd gone to see. Done what you meant to do. You said you wanted to see the young dragons lor yourself. Do so.' Suddenly he seemed more confident of his words. He leaned across the table and took her hands. He gazed earnestly into her eyes. 'Isn't that what you've been telling Hest you wanted, for years now? Simply to see for yourself?' He gave her a twisted smile. 'Surely you don't want to go back to Bingtown and admit to him that you came all this way and didn't even look at a dragon?'

She stared at him. Suddenly she could imagine Hest's delighted grin at such an admission from her. Bile rose in the back of her throat. No. No. Her disappointment was big enough without letting it be his triumph. She blinked back tears, and suddenly felt a wave of gratitude toward Sedric that he had thought of her and spoken out to save her from such shame. 'You're right,' she said in a shaky voice. She thought of her years of carefully compiled notes, scroll after scroll, page after precisely lettered page. Resolve settled and firmed in her. 'You're right, Sedric. I have to go. The least I must do is see them for myself.' She drew a deeper breath. 'I've committed a grave error, one that too many scholars fall prey to. I've let my expectations and hopes colour my opinion. If what I see are deformed and near mindless creatures, then that is what I must observe and document. Just because my studies do not reflect what I hoped to find is no reason to turn aside from them. Thank you, Sedric' She sat up, squaring her shoulders and met Althea's measuring gaze. 'I will be journeying on to Cassarick.'

Althea slowly nodded. A grim smile of understanding touched her face.

'But we won't be staying long,' Sedric hastily added. 'I suspect that we will still be travelling downriver with you. In fact, I'd like to secure our passage home right now.'

Both Althea and Brashen were looking at Sedric oddly. Alise understood. If she hadn't known the man, she too would have wondered at his weather-vane spinning. He'd gone so quickly from persuading her that she must go to Cassarick to declaring that they would stay only a very brief time. But she knew why. She sat silent as he discussed with the captain the likely dates of their departure for Bingtown. Without a word, she signed the note for funds for their return tickets. All the while, she looked at Sedric, not with new eyes, but with fond remembrance of their old friendship. He hadn't wanted to come to the Rain Wilds. She was certain he didn't want to make the uncomfortable journey by flat-bottom barge to Cassarick. But he would do it, for her sake. He'd help her save face with Hest, no matter the discomfort and inconvenience to himself.

When their business was concluded and she rose from the table, he offered her his arm, just as he always did. As she took it, she looked up at him and smiled. He smiled back and patted her hand reassuringly. 'Thank you, my friend,' she said quietly.

'Not at all,' he replied.

Day the 23rd of the Growing Moon                      

Year the 6th of the Independent Alliance of Traders

From Detozi, Keeper of the Birds, Trehaug to Erek, Keeper of the Birds, Bingtown

From the Traders' Councils at Cassarick and Trehaug to the Bingtown Traders' Council, in a sealed scroll case, an accounting of the expected expenses for moving the dragons to a spot more conducive to their good health, with the Bingtown Traders' Councils share of the expenses itemized in detail.

Erek,

You should not listen to silly gossip. The dragons are to he moved, not slaughtered or sold! How rumours do twist as they fly. I have received the peas, and the difference in my birds'plumage is already noticeable. Is this feed expensive? Is it possible you could acquire a hundredweight sack for me, if it is not too dear? Detozi

CHAPTER NINE

Journey

Leftrin straightened up from slouching against the railing and peered down the dock at the procession headed toward the Tarman. Was this what Trell was sending his way? He scratched a whiskery cheek and shook his head to himself. Two dock workers were pushing barrows laden with heavy trunks. Another two followed carrying something the size of a wardrobe. And following behind them came a man dressed more for a tea party in Bingtown than for a trip up the Rain Wild River on a barge. He wore a long dark blue jacket over dove grey trousers and low black boots and was bare-headed. He looked fit, in the manner of a man who is generally so but has never developed the muscles of a particular trade. He carried nothing save a walking stick. 'Never worked a day in his life,' Leftrin decided quietly.

The woman on his arm looked as if she had at least tried to be practical. A brimmed hat shaded her face; Leftrin supposed that the loose netting attached to it was intended to protect her from insects. Her dress was dark green. The fitted bodice and wrist-length sleeves showed off a tidy upper figure, but he estimated there was enough fabric in the skirts that belled out around her to dress half a dozen women her size. Little white gloves protected her hands. He caught a glimpse of a neat black-booted foot as she walked toward his barge.

The runner had reached him just before he ordered his crew to cast off for their trip upriver to Cassarick. 'Trell from the Paragon says he's got a couple of passengers that want to get to Cassarick fast. They'll pay you well if you'll wait for them to transfer.'

'Tell Trell I'll wait half an hour for them. After that, I'm gone,' he'd told the boy who had run the message. The lad had bobbed an acknowledgement and scampered off.

Well, he had waited substantially more than half an hour for them. And now that he saw them, he doubted the wisdom of accepting them aboard. He'd expected Rain Wilds folk in a hurry to get home, not Bingtowners with a full complement of luggage. He spat over the side. Well, he hoped they'd meant what they'd said about paying him well to wait for them.