On this night, he depended on her to be so again. She did not tell him where they were going. She did not say what she intended to do. That was all right with him. He didn’t have any suggestions in any case. She knew what was needed, and she would have that firmly in mind, wherever she took them. The minutes slipped past as they worked their way down the mountain slope and into the heavy forests that concealed Arborlon. Overhead, the stars speckled the dark sky, thousands upon thousands. Their brilliant light filtered through the canopy of the old growth and let the Belloruus siblings find their way more easily. It also revealed them. Twice Simralin stopped where she was, holding up her hand, listening to the silence, her head turning first one way and then the other. Both times she altered course slightly. Both times Kirisin saw and heard nothing.

I would be lost without her, he thought.

Nevertheless, he concentrated on keeping eyes and ears sharp for movement and sound. He would help as much as he could, although he did not think his sister required it. Now and then, his hand would stray to where the Elfstones nestled in his pocket, touching them, finding reassurance in their presence. He thought of how much his sister and he and the Knight of the Word, Angel Perez, had gone through to retrieve them from the ice caves on Syrring Rise. He thought of the hardships they had endured during their search for the Stones and of the lives that had been sacrificed. Barely a month had passed, but it felt like so much more. It all seemed as if it had happened in an earlier life. He shook his head. What had begun as a group effort had ended as a responsibility given solely to him to fulfill. He understood and accepted this charge, but at the same time he wished that it could be over. He wanted things to go back to the way they were when he had been just another of this year’s Chosen and the boundaries of his life were defined by nothing more than his obligation to care for the Ellcrys and her gardens.