“Oh, very soon,” said Elani. “Now let’s see Deep Harbor.”

Two days later Seregil and Alec accompanied the others and the queen to the caves, at the head of an entourage of Elani’s retainers, Mayor Hasen and his wife, and other eminent townspeople. The Oracle and her attendants rode in an open carriage decked with flowers, flanked by Elani and Klia.

The stonework around the entrance to the first cave had been damaged by the earthquake, but had been repaired so skillfully that it was difficult to tell. Members of Klia’s guard flanked the flower-decked altar, where the flame burned, reflected in the basin of clear water beside it. The priest and priestess held a brief rededication ceremony, then accompanied the Oracle, Elani, and Klia inside while the rest waited outside in the sunshine. The third cave had been repaired with a masonry wall that Thero had sculpted to look as it had before the cataclysm. Even blind, he was an artist.

After that followed several weeks of frivolity. Elani was clearly delighted to be away from the constraints and duties of Rhíminee, having left that in the capable hands of her uncle Korathan, the vicegerent. She toured Menosi, but declined to take up residence in the old palace, instead ordering the construction of a small, charming summer palace on a headland near Deep Harbor. She’d brought the architect and a crew of masons and builders with her to begin the task, and hired many more people from the surrounding area.

In the meantime, there were riding parties and picnics, boat rides and hunting. She was very taken with Mirror Moon and spent a week there, which sent the household into a flurry of feasts and pleasant pastimes. Alec had had an archery list built and he and the queen spent many happy hours together there. It was there, after swearing Alec to deepest secrecy, that she confessed that she had a suitor, a young marquis Alec and Seregil had gambled with on occasion. He was a good sort, and Alec promised to keep her secret. She hadn’t told her mother yet. There in the list, dressed for shooting, with her fair hair escaping her braid and fluttering in the light breeze, Alec was struck again by her freshness and light humor, as well as her intelligence. He prayed she did not lose any of that; Skala had had enough of dark times.

The new governor, a capable woman named Archduchess Nurana, arrived as summer began to fade, and it was time for leave-taking. Klia, Thero, and Mika sailed back to Rhíminee with Elani, together with the wizard-born ’faie from Mirror Moon.

Seregil had contracted with a sea captain to carry him, Alec, and Micum back to Skala with a shipment of two dozen fine Mirror Moon horses, destined for Watermead.