"Well, my father is…you know. The guy had been pressuring me about going to one of Mother's public appearances, all of us together, and even though I was crushing on him I didn't want to because I've always felt uncomfortable at those kinds of things. Father took the guy aside and asked some direct questions, and he could tell when truth or lies were being spoken, and even when something wasn't being said, and it turned out the guy didn't care about me. Didn't actually even like me. He just wanted to be close to my mother so he'd get some reflected glory." She smiled sadly into the dark. "I was really mad at Father at first, but then I forgave him because he'd saved me from someone who didn't care about me. That's when Father got really serious about teaching me Mage skills for knowing when people are lying or telling the truth."

Jason didn't say anything for a little while. "You can tell when people are lying?"

"And when they're telling the truth, yeah. Usually. I'm not as good as Father, but I'm pretty good at it."

"Oh."

The worry in Jason's voice was so obvious that Kira couldn't help laughing. "You're fine. You haven't lied to me."

"I haven't?"

"No."

"But I'm always— Not even once?"

"Not yet."

This time the silence lasted a lot longer. "Kira? Thanks."

"For what?"

"Being somebody I never lied to. I didn't think I could do that."

"You're welcome," Kira said. "There are probably a lot of things you could do, things you could be, that you don't think you could."

"That's true of you, too, you know."

"Not the same thing, but thank you. Rest well, Jason."

* * *

Two days out of Caer Lyn, two or three more left to reach Kelsi.

Kira and Jason sat on the platform high up on the mainmast, looking at the unusually calm waters of the Sea of Bakre. A light breeze drove the ship at a steady but slow pace through the inky sea. The stars still shone amid the darkness but a brightening to the east showed where the sun would soon be rising and the new day beginning. But for now the high platform offered a place to be alone and not be overheard. They didn't talk for a while, though, just sitting beside each other. The platform wasn't very big, so they had to sit right next to each other, but that didn't bother Kira any more. "It's beautiful up here right now, isn't it?" she finally said.

"Uh, yeah," Jason said, as if startled out of deep thoughts.

"What were you thinking?"

"Me? Uh…I was thinking…why is this ship square-rigged?"

Kira laughed. She could tell that Jason wasn't being entirely truthful about his thoughts, but he had the right to some privacy for those. "That's a funny question. You mean why are the masts and sails like this? Because that's the way it's usually done."