Then, on the following day, came the good-byes. Zakath, Cyradis, Eriond, Atesca, and Brador were to depart for Mal Zeth while the rest of them were to board the Seabird for the long voyage home. Garion spoke at some length with Zakath. They both promised to correspond and, when affairs of state permitted it, to visit. The correspondence would be easy, they both knew. The visits, however, were far more problematical.

Then Garion joined his family while they took their leave of Eriond. Garion then walked the young and as-yet-unknown God of Angarak down to the quay where Atesca's ship waited. " We’ve come a long way together, Eriond," he said.

"Yes," Eriond agreed.

"You've got a lot ahead of you, you know."

"Probably more than you can even imagine, Garion."

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, Garion, I am."

"Good. If you ever need me, call on me. I'll come to wherever you are as quickly as I can."

"I'll remember that."

"And don't get so busy that you let horse get fat."

Eriond smiled. "No danger of that," he said. "Horse and I still have a long way to go."

"Be well, Eriond."

"You, too, Garion."

They clasped hands and then Eriond went up the gangway to his waiting ship.

Garion sighed and made his way to where Seabird was moored. He went up the gangway to join the others as they watched Atesca's ship sail slowly out of the harbor, veering slightly around Greldik's ship, which waited with the impatience of a leashed hound.

Then Barak's sailors cast off all lines and rowed out into the harbor. The sails were raised, and Seabird turned her prow toward home.

The weather held clear and sunny, and a steady breeze filled Seabird's sails to drive her northwesterly in the wake of Greldik's patched and weatherbeaten war boat. At Unrak's insistence, the two vessels were making a side trip to Mishrak ac Thull to deposit Nathel in his own kingdom.

The days were long and filled with sunshine and the sharp smell of brine. Garion and all his friends spent most of those days in the sunny main cabin. The story of the quest to Korim was long and involved, but those who had not been with Garion and the others wanted as much in the way of detail as they could possibly get. Their frequent interruptions and questions led to extended digressions, and the story jumped back and forth in time, but it proceeded, albeit at a frequently limping pace. There was much in the story that an average listener might have found incredible. Barak and the others, however, accepted it. They had spent enough time with Belgarath, Polgara, and Garion to know that almost nothing was impossible. The only exception to this rule was Emperor Varana, who remained adamantly skeptical more on philosophical grounds, Garion suspected, than from any real disbelief.