They stood outside the doors of the Great Hall, and from the other side came a hum of voices and a sense of expectation. On her right was Talamir, in that same set of Formal Whites Alberich recalled from the first moment he’d actually seen the Queen’s Own. Now he wore a set of Whites every bit as elaborate as Talamir’s, and very uncomfortable he felt in them, too. It wasn’t as if they were ill-fitting; quite the contrary, they fit him better than any clothing he’d ever worn. They should. It had taken two cobblers, three tailors, and five fittings to ensure that they did, and the wonder was, it had all been done in just under a fortnight. No, it was that same reaction he’d had to Talamir’s Whites; this was a set of clothing for a highborn courtier, not a common man like him.

:I believe at the time you were thinking, “a foppish highborn courtier,” or something of the sort,: Kantor observed.

:So I was. I still think so. And the moment all this is over, I am changing out of these ridiculous garments as quickly as humanly possible.

He refrained from tugging at his high collar. It wasn’t tight; he only felt as if it should be. “Only for one day, it is,” he replied. “Tomorrow, Alberich the Grim I shall again be.” He did not add how much it would take to induce him back into the cursed Whites.

“Is that what the Trainees call you?” Talamir asked with interest. Talamir’s health had improved vastly, and continued to do so, but there was still something that was otherworldly about him—more so at some times than others—as if only part of him was still here, among the living. And it wasn’t as if he was absentminded, or that his mind wandered; actually, he was, if anything, sharper than ever. He noticed everything but said very little. Perhaps that was part of it; he stood aside from life, an observer rather than a participant. The things that irritated and annoyed other people, Talamir did not even comment upon; Alberich wondered if there was even anything he was afraid of anymore.

There were times when he seemed so distant and remote that he didn’t quite seem human…

Fortunately, today he was very much in the moment, and the most like his old self that he’d been since before the last battle.

“Oh, that they call me, other things among,” Alberich replied. “And ‘Great Stone-Face,’ or ‘Herald Stone-Heart.’” He permitted himself a sardonic little smile. “They take me, perhaps, for granite.”

Talamir and Selenay both blinked at him. “Was that a joke I just heard?” Talamir asked, in utter disbelief. “A pun?”

“Not possible,” he replied blandly. “No sense of humor have I. All know this.”