She was looking away now, off into the trees. “Little K is a lot stronger than people give him credit for. He’s tough and he’s smart. He saved my life in the ice caves on Syrring Rise. He saved Angel’s life, too. Someone else—maybe almost anyone else—would have collapsed under the weight of the responsibility he was given. Fleeing his home and his city and his people when he had never been away for more than a few days and then just a short distance, using the Elfstones when he didn’t know what that would do to him, that took courage. I can’t even imagine what standing up to Culph and then to Tragen required.”

Logan nodded. “It might get worse.”

“It will get worse. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

He smiled despite himself. “Kirisin was doing pretty well with you as his protector. I don’t want you to think I’m trying to replace you.”

She gave him a look. “Does what I think worry you?”

He shrugged.

“You don’t seem like someone who cares what others think,” she pressed, making it sound like she was very sure. “You seem pretty self-sufficient.”

“That’s how it is with Knights of the Word. They work alone. They live alone.” He paused. “Worrying about what others think can get you killed.”

She was quiet for a moment, and then she said, “Tell me something about yourself.”

He looked over at her. “Tell you something?”

She nodded. “I told you everything about what happened to me. Tell me about what’s happened to you. About what you’ve been doing that brought you here.”

He was surprised at how eager he was to do so. He started at the very beginning, with his meeting with Two Bears, and then carried forward to his last visit from the Lady. He skipped some of it, the things that she didn’t need to know, the details of his battles, of his private struggles. He kept it simple and straightforward, telling her of the Ghosts and the gypsy morph and what was going to happen. She listened without interrupting him, watching his face, the look so intense he could feel its heat. When he was finished, she gave him a smile. “If you weren’t standing here, if someone else told me this story, I would think it was just a story and nothing more.”

He smiled back. “I would think the same. If I hadn’t lived it.”

“Do you know where we’re supposed to go, even if Kirisin isn’t sure? Do you know where we will find this boy and all the other children? Angel’s children?”