The white-haired woman set the armor and leathers down. “My name is Sheyl. I am the healer who tended you last night.” She inspected the two of them with a healer’s critical eye. “You both appear recovered from your injuries. I hope you slept well.” She looked at Ellysetta. “No remnant pain?”

Ellysetta shook her head. “None, thank you.”

“Very good.” Sheyl laced her fingers together and regarded them silently for a moment. She seemed to be fighting some silent debate within herself. After a moment, she drew a breath and forced a smile. “Your leathers and armor have been cleaned and mended. Your weapons will be returned to you when you leave the village. Farel is waiting for you now. I will give you time to eat and dress, then take you to him. “

She turned to leave, then stopped again with her hand on the door latch. “The dahl’reisen were once the Fading Lands’ greatest warriors. Remember that.” She lifted the latch and slipped out of the cabin.

“What was that about?” Ellysetta asked, frowning.

“I’m not certain, shei’tani.” He rose from the bed and began to dress.

The Fading Lands ~ Dharsa

When the Massan entered the hall where they conducted their business, they found Kieran vel Solande waiting for them.

“Kieran,” the Massan leader, Tenn v’En Eilan, greeted him as the shei’dalin and the other members of the Massan entered and took their seats. “Your mother told us you had emerged safely from your ordeal and were returning home. We are glad to see you well. What can we do for you so early this morning? “

Kieran had been up half the night, using the new Warrior’s Path his father had shown him so he could get news from Orest. The battle was going badly. As for Ellysetta and Rain, no one was certain as to their fates.

His hands clenched at his sides. He couldn’t believe Tenn and the others were sitting around the table so calmly. “You can tell me what in the gods’ names were you thinking when you banished the Feyreisen and delivered his truemate—a shei’dalin and a Tairen Soul—into the hands of the Eld?”

“Mind your tongue, young warrior,” Tenn warned. “We did no such thing.”

“Of course you did. What else did you think would happen when you declared her dahl’reisen and expelled her from the safety of the Fading Lands? You call yourselves warriors of honor?” He hawked and spat on the floor. “That for your honor.”

“How dare you?” Venarra v’En Eilan, Tenn’s shei’tani, who’d taken Marissya’s place as the Shei’dalin, jumped to her feet. “How dare you insult the Massan in such a manner?”

“How dare you betray our king and put his mate at risk?” he shot back.

“We put her at risk?” Nurian v’En Soma, Spirit master of the Massan, gave a short laugh. “Fey, you don’t know what you’re talking about. It was she who put us at risk. Shei’Kess showed us the evil she would bring. Death, war, destruction, the Fading Lands overrun by Dark ones, her sitting on the ruins of the Tairen Throne.”

“Venarra, Nurian, please.” Tenn held up a hand. “Kieran is young and passionate, and he shares a bond of friendship with Rain vel’En Daris because of the years they spent together at the Academy. He doesn’t understand what it takes to lead a country, the hard decisions we must make, all the consequences we must weigh when making those decisions.”

“Hard decisions?” Kieran laughed.

“Yes, hard decisions,” Tenn reiterated. “Contrary to whatever your parents or your friends may have led you to believe, we banished Rain and Ellysetta for one reason only: because they both willingly and deliberately wove the forbidden magic.”

“Aiyah, my mother told me,” Kieran said, unimpressed by the revelation.

“Look at him,” Yulan, the Earth master of the Massan, said in tones of disbelief. “He knows what they did, and he doesn’t care.”

“I know they spun Azrahn to save the tairen.”

“And you think that makes it all right.” Tenn shook his head. “Show me, young Kieran, the passage in the Scroll of Law where it says spinning the forbidden magic is not forbidden so long as you do it to save the tairen.” He waited a moment. “Nei, you can’t, because no such passage exists. The law is clear. The punishment for weaving Azrahn is banishment—no matter the reason for the weave. We acted, because we had to act. We had no choice.”

“Of course you had a choice. You could have done what was right!”

“We did do what was right.”

“Nei,” Kieran spat. “You did what you thought was safe. The vision in Shei’Kess frightened you, so you betrayed our king and his mate and forsook your oath to protect our women from harm. I was at Teleon. I saw the Eld murdering my friends. They weren’t there to defend themselves against Fey aggression or whatever ridiculous notion you’ve invented to justify your treachery. The Eld were there to kill Fey, slaugher Celierians, and capture the Garreval. You’ve lost sight of who the true enemy is, Tenn.”

“Oh, have I?” Tenn challenged. “The Eld left us in peace for a thousand years until Rain vel’En Daris went to Celieria and began stirring up ancient grievances and beating the drums of war.”

“Did someone strike you a sharp blow to the head while I was gone?” Kieran exclaimed. “Of course the Eld left us in peace for the last thousand years! Rain scorched them off the face of Eloran! It takes time to recover from a blow like that.”