So even the Heralds were not perfectly in accord with one another. That made him, not uneasy, but conversely more secure. He trusted in his own senses to tell him when someone menaced him, and the fact that Heralds were not perfect, could disagree with each other, and still stay a somewhat coherent whole was a cause for relaxing, rather than raising, his guard. It meant that there was nothing worse lying behind the face they showed the world.

Dallen seemed baffled by the reason for his attitude, but accepted the change with guarded relief.

Only later did he realize that if the Heralds could be at odds with one another, anyone who wanted to, and knew how the various Heralds stood on important issues, could drive some serious wedges in the not-so-seamless front of the Heraldic Circle.

This didn’t change how he interacted with the other Trainees, of course. The habits of a lifetime were too hard to break. He still said little, listened much, and observed always. But that made him the perfect comrade for Lena. They met every day now, at meals, and often between classes. He would listen, and she would talk. Sometimes very little, and sometimes a lot; most of that was about home, her friends, her mother, the things she used to do. Gradually, he understood that she was bitterly homesick, and that at least having someone to talk about home with was comforting to her, even if all he did was murmur some innocuous word at intervals.

He didn’t mind, not in the least, because he found that he enjoyed having a friend. That was repayment enough for him.

But evidently it was not enough for Lena.

“I want to help you,” Lena said earnestly over dinner. “With your studies, at night, after dinner.”

Mags studied her carefully. Her soft brown eyes were full of determination, and he sensed that she was not going to accept “no.” “I gots a teacher,” he said, instead of an outright refusal. “I don’ think they’d let me have a different one—”

“I know who your teacher is, and I am just as good.” Defiantly, she raised her pointed little chin. “I can do this. There’s no reason why not.”

He sucked on his lower lip. “Ye gots to ask her,” he said, finally. “I cain’t just not turn up, see?”

For answer, she stood up, grabbed his hand and tugged at it. “Then let’s go.”

A little amused, and a little alarmed, he let himself be led away; he realized that she must have some information about what he was doing at night, because she went straight to the empty classroom he and Beren and Lyr were using for the extra lessons. They were early, and the tutor looked up at the sound of footsteps crossing the threshold. Her eyes narrowed, then widened, when she saw he wasn’t alone.