Arcolin took Arneson into his office while Calla finished with Jamis and readied herself for dinner.

“We didn’t expect you this soon, my lord. Congratulations on your new title,” Arneson said. “If I’d known, I’d have had the recruits parade for you.”

“Kieri used to come back north only within a few tendays of their departure for the south,” Arcolin said. “But though I’m required to attend Autumn Court, I see no reason to stay in Vérella through the winter when I could be up here. If I am assigned to the Royal Council, I might stay, but not now. How was it this year?”

“We’ve had no real problems,” Arneson said. He gave a concise account of the recruit cohort’s progress, his assessment of Kaim’s potential and then asked, “Any word at all from your Sergeant Stammel?”

“No. As the dragon and Stammel’s own letter told me, he has left and does not want to be found. The dragon assures me he went to a safe place, a healthy place, and has settled into village life there. The dragon would not tell me more.”

“I’m sorry,” Arneson said.

“I was … but now I’m relieved. If he’s happy where he is, that’s enough for me.” Arcolin took a swallow of water. “How are the gnomes settling in? Do they visit?”

Arneson shook his head. “No, my lord. Once they’d moved in over there, they vanished. We never see them. Of course, we don’t do maneuvers in those hills, as you requested. No orc problems at all, nothing. There’s a peculiar line in the vegetation, as if someone mowed a path short; I suppose that’s the boundary line you told me about.”

“Yes. You’ve heard I arrived with a gnome as well as a wife—”

“Yes, my lord. I wondered if your—if these gnomes had sent an emissary to meet you in Vérella.”

“No. It’s a long story.” As he told Arneson about it, Arcolin thought how incredible it was—a thief meeting a gnome in Fin Panir, then showing up running errands for one of the junior captains in Valdaire. “And then,” he said, “Dattur told me this was his tribe and I was their prince.”

“Prince!”

“Yes. I had to tell the king, of course. I was just a count then, in the court of Tsaia. Luckily, the king thought it was amusing.”

“Not the gnomes, though, I’ll warrant,” Arneson said. “What do you think will happen with them, now that you’re back?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been practicing gnomish with Dattur, of course, and trying to learn what their Law is. Normally, a gnome prince does not leave the stone-mass in which they live, but I must. I’ll need to designate a leader for them.”

“What are things like in the south?” Arneson asked.