We carried our saddlebags to the barn. Mara helped Leif saddle Rusalka.

“How’s my favorite glass wizard today?” Leif asked.

“Better now that you’re here.”

“Wouldn’t miss it. Besides, I haven’t seen my sister in a while. I need my danger fix.”

“You don’t really think Yelena’s in danger?” I asked.

“No. She’ll just use me as bait and cast me aside.” Leif sighed dramatically. “I’m so deprived of attention, I’ll take any little bit.”

“Leif, you’re being melodramatic. You’re very important,” Mara said.

She continued to fawn over him. Mara would be staying behind to run the glass shop. Ulrick searched for the Stable Master.

After several minutes of listening to Mara’s annoying praise, I said, “For sand’s sake, we won’t be gone long.”

“Oh hush!” Mara said. “I’ve had to work with you and Ulrick as you make moon eyes at each other all day. You can handle a few minutes of goodbyes.”

“Moon eyes! We kept a professional attitude in the shop at all times.”

Mara’s humor faded. “I know. Actually I would like to see more mooning with you two.”

“Spare me the advice. Please.”

But she wouldn’t listen.

“He’s gorgeous, Opal. Relax. Have fun. On your trip to the Moon lands take him into the woods one night and make him forget about all his troubles. Do you want a few pointers?”

“Mara!” I said.

Leif turned every shade of red. “Milk oats…ah…I’ll see if I can get…” He disappeared in a hurry.

“What?” Mara asked. “If you don’t need pointers, what’s stopping you?” When I didn’t answer she said, “It’s that Stormdancer, isn’t it?”

“His name is Kade, and it has nothing to do with him. We’re taking it slow.”

“Slow? I’ve seen turtles mate faster.”

“Mara, what’s gotten into you?”

She slid her foot forward. Just below the hem of her skirt, two red scabs still marked the snake’s bite on her ankle. “I had seconds to live. You know how people will say their life flashed in front of their eyes?”

“Yes.”

“Not for me. My future hopes and dreams played in my mind. All the things I would never experience, and I had only one regret. That I hadn’t shown Leif how much I cared for him. After you saved me, I decided I would stop hoping and dreaming, and start acting. So when the snake finally catches up to me, I won’t have any regrets.” She stared at me as if seeking an answer. “You’ve been in a few bad situations. Who did you think of? What did you regret? Have you changed anything?”

There was no quick reply to her questions.

“Think about it.”

Ulrick returned smiling. “Stable Master said I could take Moonlight.”

“He’s still here?” Leif asked. His hands were full of milk oats. Rusalka charged toward him. “Whoa, girl! These are for later.” He danced back, trying to avoid the horse’s determined lunge for the treats. “Now we can cut through the Avibian Plains and reach Fulgor faster. Although we’re not going anywhere if you two don’t get your horses saddled.” Leif shooed us into motion.

Quartz nickered at me and Moonlight’s head poked over his stall door. Ulrick and I brought the horses out and saddled them.

“Did I hear Leif right?” Ulrick asked. “Cut through the Avibian Plains?”

“Yes.”

“Won’t the Sandseed’s protective magic confuse us?”

“Leif is a distant cousin of the Sandseeds so he’s welcome in the plains. And…”

“And, what?”

I was reluctant to mention magic to Ulrick and destroy his good mood.

“Opal?”

“And Leif mentioned how fast the Sandseed horses can run in the plains, but I’ve never been there before even though the border abuts my family’s glass factory. Have you?”

“Are you kidding? Growing up, going into the plains was the dare with my friends. The way to prove to everyone you’re a man.”

“Did you prove yourself?”

He laughed. “I guess I’ll find out.”

The three of us left the Citadel and headed east toward the Moon Clan lands. Farm fields spotted with houses and barns spread before us as we traveled though Featherstone country. The Citadel was located in the southwest corner of the Featherstone Clan at a point bordering the Krystal and Stormdance lands and the Avibian Plains.

It was a couple of weeks into the cold season. The air smelled damp. Dark clouds in the west threatened to dump the rain and sleet mix so common this time of year. I peered at the sky, hoping the weather would hold off a few days. Snow would even be welcome. Better than having the road turn into a mushy mess.

I wondered if Kade could turn rain into snow. My knowledge of Stormdancers’ powers was limited to what I had learned in school. I had been surprised when Kade told me storms had moods. What else didn’t I know about the storms or Kade? And why was I so curious?

Mara’s encouragement to consider my regrets came to mind. In order for me to answer her questions, I would have to review difficult events. Not a pleasant task.

“It’s four days to Fulgor, but if we cross into the northern hump of the plains, we can make it there in three,” Leif said.