“Well,” the Captain said with resignation, when the tour was over and no one had appeared from the tower with a message. “It looks like the folks at the other end couldn’t find anyone with enough authority to issue orders about you before it became too late. That means you’ll have to spend the night here—unless you’d rather recross the Border?”

“Here will be fine, providing it’s no imposition,” Kris answered.

The Captain looked doubtfully from Kris to Talia and back again, and coughed politely.

“I haven’t got private quarters for you,” he said a bit awkwardly. “I could easily find you space in the barracks, of course, and the young lady could take a bed with the Healers, since they’re all women. But if you’d rather not be separated. . . .”

“Captain, Herald Talia and I are colleagues, nothing more.” Kris looked sober enough, but Talia could read his amusement at the Captain’s embarrassment.

“Your arrangements are perfectly fine,” Talia said smoothly. “We’re both used to barracks-style quarters; I promise you that they’re quite a luxury compared with some of the Waystations I’ve spent my nights in.”

Talia had been careful to use “I” instead of “we” in speaking of the Waystations. She saw out of the corner of her eye Kris winking at her to congratulate her on her tact.

“If that’s the case, I’ll escort you to the officer’s mess for some dinner,” the Captain replied, apparently relieved that they’d made no awkwardness over the situation.

His attitude made Talia wonder if other guests at this outpost had been less than cooperative, or if it was simply that he’d heard some of the more exaggerated tales about Heralds.

While somewhat restrained by the presence of outsiders, the officers were a very congenial lot. They were terribly curious about Heralds, of course, and some of the questions were as naive as any child’s. If all of Alessandar’s people were as open-handed and content with their lot as these men were, Talia was inclined to think he was every bit as good a ruler as Selenay.

Although Kris got a real bed, Talia had to make do with a cot in the Healer’s quarters. She didn’t mind in the least. The nightmares that had plagued her nightly all the way here had left her so weary she thought that she could quite probably sleep on a slab of stone.