“I like watching her better than talking with Farshaun,” Railing observed. “What an old crab.”

“That’s an understatement,” Redden said.

He could have watched Mirai do anything or nothing all day long. How lucky they were that she had been allowed to join them. Even after she had announced to them that she was coming, it wasn’t settled that she would be permitted to join the expedition. But the Ohmsford twins wouldn’t have been comfortable going without her, and perhaps Khyber Elessedil had sensed as much, suggesting it might help their mother come to terms with their going if Mirai were there, too.

But Mirai didn’t feel as strongly as the twins did about the advisability of undertaking this quest. She reminded them later she had decided to come mostly because she agreed with the Ard Rhys that it might ease their mother’s concerns.

“It will kill her if something happens to you,” she’d told them. “If you don’t believe that’s true, you had better rethink it. You’re all that matters to her, even though you’re mostly ungrateful clods.”

Which was true enough, Redden knew, although he didn’t much like thinking of himself that way. Whatever the case, he was pleased she was there. Railing was probably pleased, too, but not as much as he was, he told himself.

“What does anyone know about these missing Elfstones?” he asked Railing as they watched Mirai work the controls.

His brother shrugged. “Farshaun says no one knows anything. All of them disappeared centuries ago. Except for the seeking-Stones, and you and I know as much about them as anyone because of our family history. These other Elfstones can do different things, but no one knows what.”

“What if they don’t do anything that helps anyone? What if they do bad things?”

“Then the Druids lock them away, I guess.”

“Seems like everyone’s taking a big risk without knowing why. Seems like maybe they should leave well enough alone.”

“You heard the Ard Rhys. She says they can’t leave it to chance. If someone else finds the Stones first, they might use them the wrong way.”

“Maybe. But it would have to be an Elf for that to happen. Only Elves can use their own magic, remember?”

“I remember. What’s your point?”

“That this whole thing is a mistake.”

Railing gave him a look. “If that’s what you think, why did you agree to come?”

Redden shrugged. “Same reason as you. It’s an adventure.”