:I’ve known for several weeks that you were my Chosen,: she said, as if it was so matter-of-fact that he shouldn’t even be considering any other possibility. :I’ve just been waiting for the opportunity to get you alone where I could explain things to you.:

“But—”

:You’ve already lost this argument, you know,: she pointed out. :Three times, in fact.:

He gave up. Besides, the cake was cool enough to eat. And he was hungry enough by this point to eat the oats raw, much less in the cakes he’d just made.

He put a second poultice on his eye and nose and lay back in the boxbed that filled most of the Way Station. It had a thick layer of fresh hay in it, covered over with a coarse canvas sheet; it was just as comfortable as his bed in the Priory, and although he wasn’t sleepy yet, he didn’t really want to venture out into the alien environment outside his door. He heard things out there; all manner of unfamiliar sounds enlivened the darkness, and he didn’t much care for them. There were wild animals out there, owls and bats and who knew what else. There could be bears. . . .

:You don’t for one moment think that I would let anything hurt you, do you?: The unexpected fierceness of that question made him open his good eye and turn his head to look at her, where she lay half-in, half-out of the doorway.

“I don’ know anything ‘bout you,” he admitted, slowly. “Nothin’ at all ’bout Companions.”

:Well, I wouldn’t.: She sighed. :And you’re about to learn a great deal about Companions.:

“No, I ain’t. They’re gonna take one look at me an’ throw me out,” he replied, stubbornly.

:No, they aren’t. They already know who you are, what you are, and that I’m bringing you in tomorrow.:

“What?” he yelped, sitting up straight, keeping the poultice clapped to his eye with one hand.

:Well, not everybody, just the people who need to. The Dean of the Collegium—that’s the Herald who’s in charge of the whole of Heralds’ Collegium. Herald Alberich, the Weaponsmaster. The Queen’s Own and the Queen. A couple of the other teachers. They all know, and they aren’t going to throw you out.: She was so matter-of-fact about it—as if it shouldn’t even occur to him to doubt her. :As to how they know, I told them, of course. Actually I told them through their Companions, but it amounts to the same thing.:

He flopped back down in the bed, head spinning. This was all going much too fast for him. Much, much too fast. “Now what am I gonna do?” he moaned, mostly to himself. “I can’t ever go back—th’ Watch’d hev me afore I took a step—”

:You couldn’t go back anyway.: Cymry replied.

“But—”