Thus reassured, he relaxed back into his chair. "I was a farmer," he told her with a smile, "nothing interesting."

She shook her head, and her golden curls danced. "Don't undervalue yourself," she told him. "You left your world to seek adventure in space, didn't you? How many people actually do that? One in a hundred thousand? One in a million? You did. I find that interesting. Tell me about your farm. Was it yours?"

"My father's," Teldin answered, "but I ran it, ever since I came back from…" He paused. He'd almost said "back from the wars." He had to be more careful. "… from military training," he concluded quickly.

"Your land has an army?"

"I think all lands do," Teldin answered honestly.

She grinned. "Perhaps. What did you grow, Aldyn?"

"Some of everything," Teldin replied. He was beginning to enjoy this, despite-or maybe because of-the knowledge that he was taking a risk. "We were self-sufficient and grew enough to sell. We weren't rich-far from it-but we were comfortable. It was a good life, a pleasant life."

"But too dull, else you'd never have left to come into space, right?" She nodded as if answering her own question. "Were you married?"

"No. Never."

"Why not?" Rianna's grin grew mischievous. "Were you having too much fun breaking farm maids' hearts? Would marriage have put too great a limit on your freedom?"

Teldin shook his head firmly. "No," he answered again. "I just never found the tight woman. Maybe-" he had to smile at his own unaccustomed flight of rhetoric "-maybe that's why I left home, to seek her among the stars."

Rianna's eyes sparkled like emeralds. Her laugh seemed to thrill through Teldin's body. "Would you bow her if you found her, Aldyn Brewer?" she asked.

"Who's to say I haven't, Rianna Wyvernsbane?" he joked.

The woman laughed again. "If all men of Waypoint are as silver-tongued as you, maybe the place is worth a visit, but you know, it's interesting…." Her voice took on a musing tone, but her gaze was steady and appraising. "I always thought that Waypoint was a desert world, and all you could farm there was dust and lizards."

Teldin had felt like he was drifting through a warm, comfortable dream. Now reality struck him like a bucket of cold water. Stupid, he cursed himself. He'd let himself get blinded by Rianna's beauty and apparent friendliness, and she'd led him straight into a stupid contradiction. Damn it! She knew he was biding something. What else did she know?

The woman's green eyes were still on him. Well, he thought, he could at least do some damage control, "That must be the southern hemisphere you're thinking of," he said as casually as he could manage. "Well, it's been a pleasure, Rianna…." He started to climb to his feet, but Rianna reached out a hand and took his arm.

"No, don't," she said quietly. "Don't leave yet."

The woman's grip on his arm was surprisingly firm. Teldin could have broken it, but not without some effort. And, even now, he had to admit he didn't want to break it. He took his seat again.

"I could well be mistaken about Waypoint," Rianna told him. Her hand was still on his arm; he could feel its warmth. It was her gaze, now, that fixed him in place, rather than her grip. It held his own firmly, made it impossible for him to look away even if he'd wanted to.

"We should change the subject," she went on. "You've told me something about you, and it's my turn now. In my business, I deal with lots of people who have secrets. I think just about everyone has secrets. You bow, I think your secrets are probably the most personal possessions you ever have, and no matter how rich you are, they're probably the most valuable Do you see what I'm saying? I think you should treat a person's secrets with the same respect you'd treat any other valuable item they have. You can accept some item of value as a gift, but you don't take it. It's the same with secrets." She smiled. "There. I've just told you something that's important to me, one of the rules I live by. Like a gift, I hope you take it in the spirit in which it was given."

Although the woman's tone was light, almost joking, and her mouth was smiling, the glib expression didn't reach her green eyes. Her gaze still held Teldin's, and in it was an intensity that was almost uncomfortable. He couldn't look away- not that he was sure he wanted to. Those deep, emerald eyes seemed intent on passing a message that wasn't contained in her words. Or maybe it was, but deep below the surface. Teldin thought he understood that message, thought it was meant to reassure him, but he couldn't accept that message at face value, not right now.

Rianna seemed to sense his thoughts as clearly as if he'd spoken them aloud. She nodded as if in answer to a question or statement of his, then she let her eyes soften into the smile that was already playing about her lips; The intensity faded from her gaze.

"Well," she said-and her tone was as light as ever-"I hear Rauthaven is our port of call. I've been to the Resort several times. Maybe when we land I can show you around a little."

"I'd like that," Teldin told her, and again he was telling the truth.

Her smile grew warmer, if that were possible. "So would I."

Chapter Ten

From space, Toril was to all practical purposes indistinguishable from Krynn. Teldin was surprised and somewhat disappointed to find this out. Both worlds were simple blue spheres streaked with irregular patterns of white clouds. From Teldin's vantage on the forecastle, Toril appeared about as big as his clenched fist held at arm's length. There was no way he could see anything through the cloud cover, no way to pick out the shapes of the seas and the continents that would prove that he was actually seeing a new world. Currently, Teldin thought, if he were feeling particularly paranoid, he could easily convince himself that the planet he was looking at was Krynn, and that the whole voyage had been some kind of elaborate hoax. Let's just sail out and back and confuse the dirtkicker. Of course, he didn't believe that, but in some ways it was an attractive concept. It would mean that what those white clouds concealed was home.

Teldin shook his head. It would be good to get off the Probe, he thought. He needed to feel real ground under his feet, see a real sky overhead. Feel the wind, taste the rain, smell growing things. While he'd lived on the farm, he'd never been consciously aware of the close bond that he felt with the world around him. It was only this forced isolation he'd experienced aboard ship that had brought this fact to his notice. Why do we have to lose something to realize we have it? he wondered. He'd noted that trait in others but was surprised to find it in himself.

The symptoms of his isolation had started subtly-vivid dreams of home, of walking through familiar woods, of hiking the hills that bordered his farm-then he'd found that his mind would sometimes wander off down strange pathways, contemplating bizarre thoughts, the one about the trip to Toril being a hoax, for example. There was never any temptation to accept these weird conceptions as real, so he didn't fear for his sanity, but he did quickly come to realize that he wasn't by nature cut out for long voyages in the claustrophobic atmosphere of a ship-even one as large as the hammership. How could Rianna stand it? he wondered. Her ship was much smaller than this one. All in all, it would be much better if he could get onto solid ground, find an arcane, get the cloak off, and be done with it. Maybe he could go home to Krynn. Or- he glanced over at Rianna, who leaned on the forecastle rail next to him-perhaps he'd prefer to make a new life for himself on Toril. One never knew….

"You look so serious." Rianna's warm contralto voice cut through his reflections. "A copper for your thoughts."