“She was there,” Perfidy said, feeling a fool for not having thought of it sooner. “In Northpoint. Shortly after I, well, did whut I did, an’ my ma was hauled away like sum criminal. Sinna was there.”

Jereb’s brows knit into a confused frown. “I already knew that. How else would she have brought you to New Dawn?”

“Yer missin’ my point. She was there when…when my ma was…”

She was glad she didn’t have to finish her statement, watching as understanding dawned across Jereb’s face. “You mean Sinna could’ve stopped what happened to your mother?”

“Couldn’t she have? She only has ’bout a thousand fancy gold leaves.”

“Of course, but it’s not that simple.”

“I don’ see whut’s so complycated ’bout savin’ a falsely accused woman. If Sinna is as powerful as ye say she is—”

“She is.”

“—then why couldn’t she wave her hands an’ rescue my ma from a bunch o’ normal people?”

Jereb sighed. “What we’re doing here, it’s important. But it’s also secret. Because of King Vedran’s laws, we’re forced to train away from prying eyes, those who would fear us, hate us, and report us to the Knightguard. If they were to discover our location, they’d burn the entire forest down to destroy us.”

“I’m not sayin’ Sinna shoulda revealed her power in the middle o’ town in front o’ ever’body, but whut was stoppin’ her from breakin’ my ma out o’ prison in the dark o’ night? We coulda escaped to New Dawn t’gether. She coulda come with us.”

“And you think she would’ve wanted that? She would’ve wanted to leave Northpoint, the place where she’d spent her entire life?”

“Better than whut she got from the people who were s’posed to be her friends.”

“Novices having family…it complicates things.”

“Whut are ye sayin’? None o’ ye have any family left?”

Jereb shrugged.

“Truly? Ye don’t?”

“In our world, those who can use magic are little better than shadow people, forced to hide ourselves behind closed doors, or in the wilderness. Those around us get hurt, and even if they don’t, we’re forced to abandon them to secure their safety. That is our weight to carry.”

“So…whut? My ma needed to die jest so I could come ’ere? I’m not sorry to say that I’d rather have her alive than know any o’ ye. An’ I’m s’posed to take orders from Sinna when she coulda saved her? I don’ know if I’ll ever be able to look her in the eye agin.”

“Don’t cross her,” Jereb said. Perfidy didn’t like the way he made it sound.

“Is that s’posed to be a threat?”

“I’m trying to help you. That’s all I’ve been trying to do.”