Gitrin put her arm around my shoulders. “Hush, now,” she said. “You’ve been through a lot. The journey to Elytherios is not an easy one, and you’ve been worried about me and about Ceilos all this time. Come along with me, there’s room for you in my household. You’ll feel better if you have a chance to rest.” She glanced over at Eos and Marin as if for their approval.

Marin tugged her earlobe. “There’s not much we can do for now. Tomorrow is the weekly forum—we can discuss this then.”

Gitrin smiled and ushered me forward. Isaak started after us, but Marin stayed him.

“No, not with them,” she said. “You need to come with me.”

He looked at me with alarm. I shrugged helplessly.

“It’s all right,” Gitrin said. “You’ll see him again at mealtime. Everyone in the village comes together to eat then.”

I swallowed. “Okay. I’ll see you later, Isaak.”

Marin, Eos at her side, led Isaak back the way we’d come. I watched them disappear down the spiral path.

“Are you sure it’s all right?” I said after they’d gone.

“Of course it is,” Gitrin said with a laugh. She looked at me oddly. “Nadin, who is that young man, anyway?”

I frowned, still looking beyond the buildings at the empty road. “His name is Isaak—oh, Gitrin!” I broke off abruptly, my hands flying to my mouth. The time postern. I had forgotten the entire reason I’d been searching for Gitrin in the first place. I sighed. “I have so much I need to tell you, I don’t even know where to start. Everything has changed so fast, I feel like I hardly know myself.”

“And you’ve changed most of all, alin. You’ve found your independence. I always knew it was there, no matter how hard the geroi tried to snuff it out. I know you were angry with me about your evaluation, but I hope you understand, now, why I did what I did.”

I shrugged. I still didn’t, entirely. But that wasn’t important anymore. I’d found Gitrin. Now all that mattered was finding Ceilos.

“Now,” Gitrin said, “let’s go get you cleaned up, and find some fresh clothing for you. You’ll feel more yourself in no time.”

Chapter 29

Marin and Eos led me through a cluster of the squat, rectangular buildings—they almost looked like the longhouses I’d seen in archaeology documentaries—and down a path that wound its way along a small, burbling creek. I could hear the noises of animals in the trees overhead, like the whistling of birds, but different somehow. A gangly mammal with a long striped tail skittered through the branches, watching me with wide orange eyes.