“I was waiting for you. Remember that time we went swimming at Demon Springs?” They’d fished for trout in the Firehole and cooked their catch in one of the steam fissures that crazed the landscape.

“Ah.” He looked uncomfortable. “The queen may not like the notion of us riding off on our own anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Several reasons.” He paused, and when she didn’t respond, added, “For one thing, it’s more dangerous than it used to be.”

Raisa twitched impatiently. “Everybody keeps saying that.”

“Because it’s true.”

“And why else?” Raisa persisted.

“I’m a soldier, and I’m of age. You’ll be of age by midsummer. It’s different. People will talk.”

Raisa made a disgusted noise. “People will talk regardless.” But she knew he was right. After an uncomfortable silence, she changed the subject. “Tell me about Oden’s Ford.”

“Well.” Amon hesitated, as if to be sure she really meant it. “The academy is split by the Tamron River: Wien House, the warrior school, is on one side, and Mystwerk, the wizard school, on the other. Guess they thought it best to keep the two separated, in the beginning. Those were the first two, but these days there are other schools as well.

“There are fifty plebes in Wien House each year. They come from all over, from Tamron, and the Fells, and Arden, and Bruinswallow. Some of ’em are actually at war with each other, but they’re not allowed to bring it onto campus. There’s something called the Peace of Oden’s Ford that’s enforced really strictly. Oden’s Ford itself is like a small realm all on its own. It’s on the border between Tamron and Arden, but it doesn’t belong to either.”

“Where do you stay?” Raisa asked, kicking off her shoes and drawing her feet up under her gown while Magret scowled disapprovingly.

“Each class stays together until we’re proficients,” Amon said. “Then we can choose our own housing.”

“Is it pretty evenly balanced in Wien House, girls and boys?” Raisa asked casually.

He shook his head. “We send girls from the Fells, but in the south things are different. They have strange notions about what girls can do. Some say it’s the influence of the Church of Malthus.”

“Ah.” Raisa nodded wisely, pretending to understand. Amon seemed so informed, so worldly next to her, and she was princess heir of the queendom! Shouldn’t she know about these things? Did her mother, the queen, know about them? Maybe not. Marianna had never traveled outside the queendom, either.

Raisa was seized by the sudden desire to go somewhere, anywhere, out of the Fells.

“So it’s about three-quarters boys, one-quarter girls,” Amon went on. “The girls hold their own, though. Being a soldier isn’t all about brute strength, as some of the southerners have found out.” He laughed.