On the last day of travel, Kieri discussed with the Squires what might happen when they reached the city. “Though I can contract the elvenhome almost to myself alone or expand it to cover us all—and more—it will be obvious to any elves and, I suspect, to most Lyonyan humans.”

Jostin nodded. “It will be seen, and it will surprise people. Frighten some but please others.”

“Questions,” Kieri said. “I’m sure there’ll be many questions, and to some I have no answer. For others I have answers, but I must speak first to Arian, my uncle Amrothlin, and the Seneschal.”

“The ring and torc will be noticed as well, sir king,” Linne said.

“It is likely,” Panin said, “that this new power will help you silence questions you are not yet ready to hear.”

“A dangerous precedent,” Kieri said, shaking his head. “I do not want to evade questions, merely delay answers, and only briefly.”

“Do you still believe that elf was the only traitor in the Lady’s domain?” Jostin asked.

“I do,” Kieri said. “But not the only danger. The iynisin—we may have blocked them from entering the palace, but we do not know where all such patterns are.”

In the long summer afternoon, they rode into Chaya itself. The bubble of light that had been scarcely visible in the sun now brightened and expanded as they neared the inn the elves favored. Even as Kieri glanced at the inn, elves hurried out the door, Amrothlin in the lead, and stared at him. The elvenhome transmitted their reaction—the mix of hope, disbelief, fear, with touches of anger … and more longing.

“You … I cannot believe it, and yet I must—” Amrothlin had tears in his eyes and took a step forward, one hand out as if to touch something fragile. “It is … real,” he said. “Real. How?”

“It can’t be!” another elf said. He pushed past Amrothlin, drawing his blade, and the light blazed … He cried out and staggered back. “It’s not the elvenhome—it’s some evil—”

“Put down your blade,” Kieri said. “And then see. You cannot come within, intending to harm me.” He wasn’t sure that was true, but it made sense. “Amrothlin, come within and tell them.”

Amrothlin came without hesitation, his eyes shining. The change in his expression once he was within astounded Kieri, for he had not witnessed an elf moving from without to within the elvenhome before. A relaxation, a joy, lit Amrothlin’s face with his own light. “It is,” he said. “It is real.” Two more elves pressed nearer, then another. As they did so, the light expanded again, as if enfolding elves enlarged it without Kieri’s intent.

The elf who had drawn his blade sheathed it and edged forward, still wary. Kieri smiled at him. “Come,” he said. “I intend you no harm.”