“Them?” She produced a trill of very artificial gaiety. “Lady bless, my lord, I can’t for the life of me wonder what I ever saw in them. I never met a pack of puppies with emptier heads in my life! I’m afraid they bored me so I was only too pleased to escape them—and I think I’d better head to the rear and take my turn making sure poor Dirk doesn’t fall out of his saddle. Farewell, my lord!”

:Oh, that’s putting a kink in his tail, little sister!: Gwena applauded as she spun and cantered to the rear. :Well done indeed!:

“Dirk?” Elspeth cantered up next to him.

“What imp?” He’d been almost half-asleep; the sun was gentle and warm, Ahrodie’s pace was smooth, and the gentle chime of bridle bells and the ringing of hooves on the road had been very soporific.

“Do you think it’ll be Talia that meets u: on the Border?” Elspeth’s tone was wistful, her face full of undisguised hope. Dirk hated to disappoint her, but he didn’t have much choice.

He sighed. “Not likely, I’m afraid. Fact is, as Queen’s Own she’s really your mother’s first representative, so chances are she’ll still be with Alessandar.”

“Oh.” She looked rather crestfallen, but apparently was feeling like continuing the conversation. “Are you feeling all right? You’ve been coughing a lot.”

She looked sideways at him with a certain amount of concern in her glance.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to nursemaid me,” Dirk replied with some exasperation. “It’s bad enough with those two playing mother-hen.” He nodded back in the direction where Skif and Teren were riding, just out of earshot.

The bright noontide sun, so welcome after all those weeks of cold rain, made their white uniforms difficult to look at without squinting, Teren positively glistened.

And how in blazes, Dirk found himself wondering, does he manage to look so immaculate with all the dust we’re kicking up?

Elspeth giggled. “Sorry. It does get to be a bit muchish, doesn’t it? Now you know how I feel! It was all right back at the Collegium, but I can’t even slip off into the woods to—you know—without two Heralds pounding up to bodyguard me!”

“Don’t blame anybody but your mother, imp. You’re the only offspring. She should have whelped a litter, then you wouldn’t have these problems.”

Elspeth giggled even harder. “I wish some of the courtiers could hear you, talking about her like she was a prize bitch!”

“They’d probably call me out for insulting her. She, on the other hand, might very well agree with me. What are you doing for classes since you’re not warming a desk?”