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Nortel nodded wordlessly The lopped a scoop into his bowl Nortel held his bowl steadily there until the ly added a bither bowl over the cauldron of porridge It bobbed as it received its load

"Well," Tats said reluctantly, "if we just let those two tag along after us and don’t do anything for the them die just as surely as if we left them here to be starved"

"They aren’t fit to survive," Alum observed He was in line behind Tats "My Arbuc ht, but he’s fast and physically healthy That’s why I chose hi the journey"

"The midwife said I wasn’t fit to survive," Thye She trailed after Sylve to a pile of hard bread rolls set out on a clean towel Each girl chose one and then moved on

"We live in a hard land A hard land requires hard rules," Alum said, but he didn’t sound quite as certain as he had a few moments before

"I’ll take on the copper one," Tats said quietly The keepers were settling into a circle to eat "I’ll clean hiet so"

"I’ll help you" Thy down carefully next to Tats She balanced her chunk of bread on one knee, then held her bowl in one hand and her spoon in the other to eat

"I’ll take the silver," Thymara declared recklessly Somehow she didn’t think it would sit ith Skyon would be jealous of any attention she gave the creature Well, let her see how it felt, she thought, alet his tail bandaged up," Sylve offered

"And I can get soed himself into their circle between Tats and Thy into his porridge with fervor "Never got porridge for breakfast at hoh a full mouth "Grain was too expensive for ourdcakes"

Al with bowls and bread Several nodded

"Soe with honey," Sylve said "But not often," she added, as if embarrassed to ads

"We usually had fruit, whatever athered the day before and hadn’t sold," Thymara said, and was ambushed by a wave of homesickness She looked around herself suddenly What was she doing here, sitting on the hard ground, eating porridge, and preparing to depart upriver? For a moment, none of it made sense, and the world seemed to rock around her as she realized how far she was from home and family

"Thymara?"

She nearly dropped her spoon at theaardly at the edge of their circle He was irance almost like perfume floated on the air "Yes?" she answered him stupidly

"I don’t mean to rush your meal, but we are told that the departure time is imminent I wondered if you could possibly co for on"

He let his words trail off Probably the look on her face had silenced him She looked aside and tried to calm the sudden jealousy she felt Alise was already up and talking with Skymaw? This early in the day? Yesterday, when she and Sedric had returned, the light aning As the day lost its waric By the tion plainly wished to be left alone to sleep She had not been too tired, however, to gulp down the fish they brought her, Thyreat deal of satisfaction at Alise’s unconcealed astonishment at the size of the fish, and her awe at how quickly the dragon devoured it While Sky permission for Sedric to be present when Alise talked to her Afterward, Sky area Thyo back to the beached barge

She had noted how Alise took Sedric’s arm, and how he carried all her supplies for her, and wondered what that meant He’d said he was her assistant, but she sensed there was more between them than that She wondered if secretly they were lovers The thought had sent a strange thrill through her, and then she had felt ashamed of herself It was no business of hers if they were Everyone knew that Bingtown folk lived by their own rules