In a moment he got up and exchanged a glance with Hati. “I’m going to try,” he said.

“If this goes on,” Hati said, “she will go crazy, crazier than we ever were. I think it’s a sister she’s lost. Maybe someone she knows from her village can reason with her.”

When Tofi and his men had packed down the Ila’s tent and when Memnanan and his men had seen the Ila and the aui’it mounted and ready, they got up on their own beasts. Norit seemed calmer by then, though whether it was the calm Luz imposed in her reign he had no idea. The Keran had already begun to move, and opened an interval on them.

There must be gaps all along the line of march now, similar disparities in readiness. Some afoot might even turn back after their first or second camp on the road, losing courage for the hardship. He decided he had no wish to know the personal stories of those behind him in the line. He wanted no faces for those that were bound to die, no situations to haunt his sleep and his waking.

But he went to Memnanan and asked the service of one of his men.

“I need someone to ride back and find Tarsa in the line,” he said, “and find someone named Lelie.”

“Why?” Memnanan asked.

“One of Norit’s kin, I think. I don’t know. But I want this Lelie found. It’s a favor.”

He left that statement to lie unadorned between them. There were favors passed, indeed there had been favors passed between them. Without comment, Memnanan called a man over and put him under that instruction.

“Find out who Lelie is, and if there is a Lelie with Tarsa’s company, bring her with you and protect her from all unpleasantness. A member of this lord’s party wants her.”

The man reined aside from the column and rode back alongside it. There was no telling where in the line of march Tarsa might fall: it might be a journey of one or two days.

By morning the man Memnanan had sent had still not come back. By then Marak began to know it was no small favor he had asked, and by afternoon, after their rest, that most likely time for the man to catch up to them, he began to worry about the man, and about the favor he had asked of Memnanan.

He found nothing comfortable to say about the situation, only to shrug apologetically when he met Memnanan and to wish the man safety and a safe return.

“The line is very long,” Memnanan said. “It may take a while.”