“Now that we have a coach and four, you can go to Noviomagus, Bee. We can go as soon as I’m stronger. Perhaps Chartji has some business for us to take care of there as well, so we can combine work and love! I am sure there are radicals to meet with, too, for it seemed to me that the prince and mage House in Noviomagus had not the least interest in listening to the radical cause.”

“That would be delightful,” cried Bee, blushing.

“Yes, for the first hour, until you fall simpering into Venus’s coils and I am left to mope about Noviomagus on my own, although that kindly steward I met at Five Mirrors House might be sympathetic to my sad plight.”

Vai frowned. “What manner of reckless mischief you can get up to on your own or together I don’t even like to think. Not that it’s any of my business, mind you, for I am sure you can do as you please,” he added as Bee opened her mouth to expostulate.

“You ought to be cautious, though, Bee,” I added thoughtfully. “Maybe you did dream of that fabric before Vai found it, and you just didn’t realize it. I know dragon dreamers are barren when they mate with men, but Kemal isn’t a man even when he’s in man form.”

“Cat!” Blushing, she clutched her sketchbook to her breast.

Vai was still vexing himself over my mention of the kindly steward. “I need to negotiate with the mansa of Five Mirrors House regardless on another matter. Viridor can meet me there. He and I have begun a correspondence regarding new pedagogical methods. I’ll send a dispatch to alert them. Kofi needs to see something of Europa, and I wish to introduce him around.”

So it was that twelve days later, with a light fall of snow dusting the ground, I set off to escort my cousin to meet a dragon with whom she had the intention of becoming romantically involved.

Bee was so charmingly nervous that she kept running back into the house for things she was sure she had forgotten. The coachman stood at the horses’ heads, chatting with Kofi. In company the eru had proven to be much more reserved than the relaxed coachman, so she waited by the door with one eye on the sky, as if making sure a blizzard was not about to drop in.