They moved on, Kira's mount alert in that way that meant the mare was looking for a chance to bolt, so Kira kept a tight rein. "We'll stop soon for the night," Petr told her. "Tomorrow we get an early start so that we'll reach Ihris by mid-morning. We'll direct the herd to the corrals outside the city. There'll be enough people moving around there that it'll be easy for you and Jason to dismount and walk off without being noticed. The nearest city gate won't be far."

"Petr, I don't know how to thank you," Kira said.

"You're family," Petr replied as if that explained everything.

"Speaking of family, give my thanks to Great Aunt Bara as well." Kira hesitated. "How about my father's grandmother?"

"How about her?" Petr shrugged unhappily. "Nothing changed. She would rather hold to her anger than find any joy in Alain, or in you."

"What?" Jason asked, trying to bring his horse closer. "Your great-grandmother doesn't like you?"

"It's about Alain," Petr explained. "He was taken by the Mage Guild when he was very little. Some years later, raiders from the north hit his parents' ranch and killed his mother and father. My aunt and uncle-in-law. Alain was locked in a Mage Guild Hall, and still only about ten years old, but Grandmother blamed him. She still does."

"What could he have done when he was only ten?" Jason asked.

"Nothing. Nothing except maybe die with his parents. Maybe that's what Grandmother wishes had happened. I know! It's an ill thing to say. But she won't let it go. Alain is a Mage to her, a Mage as they once all were, without feeling or humanity, who treated other people like we were nothing. We tell her what a great man he is, all the good things he has done, and his wife, Mari, everyone knows the good the daughter has given all of us. And there is you, Kira. Who couldn't love you, eh? But Grandmother will not open her heart. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Kira said. "You're a very good person, too. It means so much to Father that you and Great Aunt Bara accepted him, even before the rest of the world understood who he was."

Petr shrugged, embarrassed by the praise. "It's not so bad being the cousin of the daughter and the Master of Mages. Your mother knows that if she ever calls, I'll come, right?"

"Yes, she does," Kira said. "Petr was in mother's army, too," she told Jason.

"What does that mean?" Jason asked. "If your mother calls?"