“I don’t understand everything,” Angmar said. “But I’ve always understood the price that Haen Marn demands for its dweomers. It exacted the fee of my whole life when it brought me here. It demanded that Avain’s father marry a half-breed woman he’d never seen. It took me away from my Rori when he was a man, and it took him away from me by turning him into the silver wyrm. Why would I be surprised that it would demand such a great price for giving him back?”

Mara and Berwynna exchanged a glance. Berwynna noticed with some surprise that her sister’s eyes were full of tears. I never truly knew her before, she thought. Her heart’s not stone after all!

“Avain,” Angmar said, “darling, come here. Tell Mam this one thing. Do you want to fly?”

“Yes.” Avain smiled at her. “Avain truly wants to fly.”

“Do you want to fly away with your new friend, the black dragon?”

“Yes, but Avain will come back. Avain loves Mam and Mara and Wynni.”

“Very well, then. Learning to fly is dangerous. You could fall from the sky and die.”

Avain considered this for a long moment. Berwynna wondered if she understood what death meant.

“If you die,” Wynni said, “it will be like sleep, but you’ll never wake up. You’ll be gone. It will be dark, but you won’t see the dark. You’ll see naught.”

Avain frowned down at the floor while she thought this through. Her lips moved as she repeated to herself the things Berwynna had said.

“Avain is frightened,” Avain said at last. “But Avain will try to fly. Avain truly wants to fly, Mam.”

“Very well, then. Tonight, the black dragon will help you grow wings.”

Avain threw both arms in the air and began to dance, a clumsy jigging of her body, an awkward thrust of her massive hips to one side and then the other. She doesn’t belong on the ground, Berwynna thought.

“I’ll go tell the others.” Berwynna stood up from the table. “If you’re sure, Mam?”

“Oh, yes.” Angmar was fighting back tears. “But I’ll have you know that it’s for her sake, not my own, even though I long to have Rori back above anything in the world.”

“I never thought otherwise, Mam,” Berwynna said.

“No more did I,” Mara said. “I think me this is the moment when the dweomer gives back some of that fee you paid it, Mam. I truly do.”

Close to sunset, Branna, Dallandra, Grallezar, and Valandario went down to the pier. Arzosah carried Avain across on her back, but Lon and his crew of boatmen rowed the women across. Rori waited for them at the verge of the pine forest. The boatmen backed water and turned the boat into the shallows to let the women splash ashore. Branna carried a sack of cloaks as well as the implement she’d use for the ritual. Once she’d gotten the sack safe and dry onto the land, Branna turned back to watch the dragon boat gliding away. Mist rose from the water, just a few curls and tendrils as the evening breeze blew cool after the heat of the day.