A knocking interrupted him. They all looked up at each other, then Millo stood and moved to the door.

Leiard finished his drink, then left the table. Jayim had finished his meal long before. Like most boys his age, he was perpetually hungry. He stood and followed Leiard toward the stairs to the rooftop garden.

“Wait, you two,” Millo called.

He stepped back from the doorway. A woman moved past him, and as Leiard took in the Dreamweaver robes and familiar face he blinked in surprise.

“Dreamweaver Elder Arleej,” he said, touching heart, mouth and forehead.

She smiled and returned the gesture. “Dreamweaver Adviser Leiard.”

“It is good to see you again. Are you well?”

She shrugged. “A little tired. I have only just arrived.”

“Then you will be wanting some food and a hot drink,” Tanara said. “Sit down.”

Tanara ushered Arleej to a seat then bustled out. Leiard sat down next to the Dreamweaver elder and gestured for Jayim, who was hovering uncertainly by the stairway, to join them. Millo shuffled away to his room.

“What brings you to Jarime?” Leiard asked.

Arleej smiled crookedly. “Haven’t you heard? There is to be a war. You and Auraya talked us into an alliance just in time, it seems.”

Leiard smiled. There was no resentment in her voice, only irony. “No wonder you are tired. Did you share a ship with hundreds of soldiers, or did the Somreyan Dreamweavers manage to claim one for themselves?”

She shook her head. “We are travelling in small numbers on merchant ships, arriving before and after the Somreyan army. Memories of the massacres of Dreamweavers on the mainland are still strong. We will attract less attention this way.”

“I do not think you would have been in any danger, had you arrived with Somreyan troops.”

“You are probably right. Seeing the troops of another land valuing Dreamweavers might have encouraged Hanians to do the same. Old habits and fears are hard to defeat, however, especially for us.” Arleej looked at him, her direct gaze unsettling. “How are you, Leiard? Has linking with Jayim helped you control your link memories?”

Leiard sensed Jayim’s surprise and alarm. “I am making some progress on my—”

“He doesn’t link with me,” Jayim interrupted. “He teaches me everything except mind links or dream links.”

Arleej looked from Jayim to Leiard, her brows lowering into a frown.

“And he mumbles to himself all the time,” Jayim added, his voice strained. “Sometimes it’s like he’s not aware of me. Then he says odd things in the voice of a stranger.”

“Leiard,” Arleej said, her voice quiet but filled with suppressed alarm. “Do you know…? Are you…?” She shook her head. “I know you understand what you risk. Is this secret of yours so great you would sacrifice your identity—your sanity?”

He shivered. My sanity. Maybe I’ve already lost it. I am hearing voices—one voice, anyway.