“Where you felt like you had the night itches?” She nodded, her cheeks stained pink, and Han rolled his eyes. “I swear I must’ve had every possible symptom.” He frowned at her. “Didn’t you try to drown me once?”

“Well, we were trying to sweat out the poison, and so we took you to the healer’s spring.…” Her voice trailed off when she saw he was teasing.

“I was so worried about you,” she went on. “I don’t think I could have endured it if you had been…permanently…If you had…” She stopped and breathed out, gripping the arms of the chair. “Anyway, I wanted to thank you for saving my life. Whatever happens, however we go forward, I will never forget your service to me.”

Service? She seems different, Han thought. Oddly formal. Nervous and ill at ease. “Captain Byrne is dead,” he said. “Did you know? I found him in Marisa Pines Pass, shot full of arrows.”

She nodded. “Yes, I know. I saw…I saw it happen. We’ve fetched back his body. Maybe…maybe Dancer told you?”

He nodded. “I have his sword. Or at least I did when I arrived. It’s fancywork. I thought maybe Corporal Byrne would want it.”

“That’s thoughtful of you,” Rebecca said. “I know he will want it.” She rushed ahead. “He’s here, you know. Corporal Byrne. He’s just outside. He asked to speak with you when I’m…when I’m finished. He’ll want to ask you questions, and to…to thank you.”

Maybe that’s why she’s so twitchy, Han thought. Last time they were all together, Han had jumped out Rebecca’s bedroom window so Amon Byrne wouldn’t run him through with his much plainer sword.

Rebecca seemed to have something important to say to him, but couldn’t quite spit it out. So she asked him a question.

“I wanted to ask you how it happened that you saved my life,” she said. “I don’t really remember much, and people have been asking…lots of questions.”

“When you disappeared from Oden’s Ford, I headed for Marisa Pines Pass, looking for you, asking about you all along the way.” Han paused, waiting for the holes to fill in. “In Fetters Ford, this innkeeper’s boy remembered someone that looked like you—but said your name was Brianna and you’d been murdered by rovers.”

“Ah,” Rebecca said, nodding. “Simon.”