Han scratched Ragger between the ears, and the pony laid back his ears and showed his teeth, ill-tempered as usual. “You like being lazy, sucking up hay in a warm barn, don’t you?” Han murmured. “Well now you have to get to work again. Both of us do.”

There had been little time for riding over the past few months. Now they’d get reacquainted.

“Can’t you at least stay until Dig—Night Bird leaves?” Dancer said. “She’ll be gone by the time you come back.”

“Night Bird and I haven’t got much to say to each other these days,” Han said. Their evening together had been awkward at best. Too many secrets divided them.

“She came all this way to see us,” Dancer said. “I think she’s getting used to the idea that we’re wizards. I mean, I think she’s sorry for the way she reacted when we—”

“The Demonai are just like everyone else: they ditch their high-minded principles whenever it’s convenient,” Han said.

Dancer frowned, his eyes searching Han’s face. “This is Bird we’re talking about,” he said. “You should give her a chance.”

Han didn’t really want to have a heart-to-heart about Digging Bird. Night Bird. Whoever she wanted to be these days. “Anyway, you’ve been working on amulets since exams were over, too,” Han said.

“I have to work on flash in the summer,” Dancer said. “It’s not part of the curriculum at Mystwerk House.”

Cat had been all twitchy during this long exchange, flinging back her hair, pacing back and forth, signaling that she had something to say.

“You should let me come with you,” she said. “I can’t watch your back if your back is in Tamron and I’m here.”

“I want you to keep looking for Rebecca,” Han said, strapping down his bedroll. “Keep asking questions. See if anyone knows anything. There’s a chance somebody saw something. And watch Dancer’s back. That’s what you should do while I’m gone.”

When everything was in readiness, Han leaned back against his pony, strangely reluctant to leave. There needed to be places like this—places to read and write and study and argue and debate with all different kinds of people and not have to look over your shoulder all the time. Places where the desire for knowledge overwhelmed boundaries and differences.

It was part of the reason he’d resisted hushing Micah during those first few weeks when his anger had threatened to spill over into violence.

His first task was to make it to Marisa Pines Camp without getting killed or recruited into somebody’s army. He’d look for Rebecca along the way. Corporal Byrne had seemed convinced she was alive, but Han couldn’t conjure up much hope.

Once back home, he’d find the Bayars and make them talk.

Han embraced Dancer, then Cat, and mounted Ragger.