“He picked that one up very quickly,” she acknowledged. “Sextus was strongly devoted to the idea of being as mysterious as possible when it came to his capabilities of furycraft. He would have looked at his staff and shrugged when they wondered how such a thing as an unthinkably late freeze and a steady breeze for several thousand miles’ worth of travel would be possible.”

“When in fact, anyone with a High Lord’s talent could manage it,” Tavi murmured. “If he had, as his partner, someone such as you, who could direct his power to precisely when and where it needed to be to have the greatest effect, however widely dispersed those places might be.”

“I suspect the scions of Gaius did not wish the notion to become widespread,” she said, “for fear that all of those folk with a High Lord’s talent would immediately set about creating such partners of their own.”

“Could such a thing be done?” Tavi asked, curiously.

“Almost certainly—to one degree or another. It is also nearly certain that they would not be able to create a... shall we say, a balanced being.”

“Someone like you,” Tavi mused, “only mad?”

“I suspect the results of such an effort would make the current definitions of madness somewhat obsolete.”

Tavi shivered. “The potential for conflict on that scale... It’s... unimaginable.”

“The House of Gaius is many things,” Alera said. “But never stupid.”

Tavi sighed and settled back down on the cot again. He rubbed wearily at his eyes. “Where is the main body of the vord now?”

“Closing on the mouth of the Calderon Valley,” Alera replied.

“Aquitaine is still trying to draw them all there?”

“It would appear so.”

“Playing the anvil to our hammer,” Tavi mused. “With all those civilians at stake, behind his lines. I’m not sure if he’s brilliant or a bloody fool.”

“His foolishness has been limited to a fairly narrow spectrum, all in all,” Alera replied. “His tactical ability in the field has been sound. If he can force the vord Queen to oversee the assault on Calderon, he effectively pins her in place for you. My suspicion is that he expects you to lead a team of Citizens to find and neutralize the Queen.”

“Of course. That’s how he would do it,” Tavi mused. “But he doesn’t know about Varg and his warriors.”

“Indeed not. And I think it possible that the vord do not, either. The path ahead of us is empty of anything but token enemy forces.”