Mel’s fork clattered to her plate and she slapped her letter onto the table. “What’s wrong with my mother?” she demanded.

They all stared at her in astonishment.

“What do you mean?” Karigan asked.

Mel huffed, then jabbed her finger at the letter. “She tells me everything’s good, nothing to worry about, new Riders coming in, tra-la-la, then…then she gets mushy and tells me how much she loves me.”

When Mel’s outburst produced only blank stares, she explained, “She never goes on about that stuff. The love stuff. And there’s a whole lot missing from this, it seems to me. What happened this summer?”

Three pairs of eyes turned in Karigan’s direction. “Uh…” she said.

“Yes,” said a voice from behind, “I’d like to hear about this summer, too.”

Karigan almost knocked over her chair in her haste to stand. “Estral!” she cried, and strode over to her friend to give her a hug.

After enthusiastic greetings, Estral demanded, “And I want to know why no one sent me word of your arrival. Or, were you planning to sneak about the whole time?”

“Sneak about? No! We…I was…”

Estral laughed and it was a silvery sound. “Never mind, not much gets past me anyway. I have my sources.” She grinned and took a chair next to Mel. Estral Andovian, daughter of the Golden Guardian and journeyman minstrel, joined them for tea and a dessert of hot apple crisp smothered in cream. Conversation turned to general topics of the school and of Karigan’s and Fergal’s journey. Karigan was careful to leave out their “adventures” in Rivertown.

Estral listened with her head cocked and her gaze trained on the speaker’s lips, for she was deaf in one ear. Instead of it inhibiting her musical ability, she claimed it made her a much better listener and musician. Children had been cruel to her when she was a student, no matter that she was the Golden Guardian’s daughter. She and Karigan had become best friends when Karigan stood up for her against the bullies, in one instance using wharf language so vile it brought her tormentors to tears. It had not made Karigan popular, but she hadn’t cared. Estral’s friendship made up for it all.

Much had changed since those early school days. Among Estral’s duties was teaching students and Karigan suspected she handled many of her father’s obligations during his long absences. One day Estral would inherit the title of Golden Guardian and become responsible for Selium and its repositories of history and culture. Hers was a noble station of a sort, though what the Golden Guardian governed was different than that of a lord-governor.

“So you’ve a message for my father,” Estral said. “I am expecting him to return soon, though I couldn’t tell you exactly when. I suspect he’s had word about the attack on the dean and will hurry home.”

“We’re planning to wait,” Karigan said. “His response to the king’s message will determine whether or not we continue on with our other errands.”

“Where are you headed?” Rendle asked. “That is, if it’s not a secret—”

“No secret,” Karigan replied. “We’re off to a border town to meet with a horse trader. With more Riders coming in, we need more horses. Fergal here has been riding a retired cavalry horse.”

“More horses! Yay!” Mel cried. “I wonder if one will be mine someday.”

Karigan glanced at Fergal who looked to be in a continual state of astonishment, if not awe, in Mel’s presence. She suppressed a laugh. “After we meet with the trader, it’s off to Mirwellton.”

Estral gave her a sympathetic look. They’d both been exposed to Timas Mirwell’s cruel behavior during their school days. Seeing him was the one part of the errand Karigan dreaded.

“Mirwell ba-a-ad,” Mel said.

This time, Karigan did laugh.

“Don’t you need to see to your studies?” Estral asked Mel. “It’s getting late and soon it will be lights out in your dorm.”

Mel pouted. “But Karigan hasn’t told me what’s wrong with my mother.”

Again, all gazes were fixed on Karigan. She squirmed in discomfort. “Your mother is well,” she said. “Overworked, but that’s not unusual. Connly and the rest of us are trying to help her keep up. Even Mara from her bed in the mending wing.”

At Mel’s perplexed expression, Karigan realized Mel must have heard almost nothing of the summer’s events. A glance at Estral’s expression revealed that her friend knew at least something of what had happened. Having been caught in the middle of those events, Karigan forgot that news was sometimes slow to reach outlying areas, and if the captain did not see fit to tell her daughter everything, Karigan wasn’t sure it was her place to do so.

“Why is Mara in the mending wing?” Mel asked, her voice uncharacteristically level.

“She got hurt. When Rider barracks burned down.”

“What?”

It took them several moments to calm down the agitated girl.

“Perhaps you should start at the beginning,” Estral said. “Mel won’t be able to sleep with just that information, and I’ll see to it she doesn’t get into trouble for being out late.”

Karigan was trapped, but Estral was right. Worry would gnaw Mel to death, so Karigan related the summer’s events as best as she could, delicately maneuvering around bits she thought better to withhold, including the extent to which the captain had been affected by the disruption in magic. At certain points Rendle and Estral nodded or made affirmative noises when they heard news that was familiar to them.