She pulled him upright. “Don’t forget. I want you to find out something about this girl, this Aleia Omarosian. I want information about who she was and what became of her. Am I understood?”

He nodded quickly. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Then do as I ask before I return. Find something. Anything.”

Then she turned from him, and because she didn’t want to prolong her leaving she walked over to where Garroneck stood waiting. The big Troll’s rough, impassive face revealed nothing of what he was thinking, and he was quick to offer her the rope ladder to climb. She went up it swiftly, still strong and nimble in spite of her years. She climbed through the slot in the railing and waited for Garroneck to join her.

“Are we ready?”

“On your signal.”

“Then lift us away. I’ll take the helm. I feel like doing something. Maybe I can still do this.”

“This, and a great deal more, unless I am mistaken.”

His deadpan voice made her smile. “Let’s hope so.”

She gave a quick wave to the members of her Druid order as she walked to the cluster of thruster levers and steering gears, but she did not stop to look closely at them. She didn’t trust herself with what she might see on their faces. Instead, she set herself in place at the controls. As the anchor ropes were freed, she eased the skimmer out of its berth and into the air, wheeling south toward Kennon Pass and the far side of the Dragon’s Teeth. The Wend-A-Way responded smoothly, flying over Paranor’s walls and battlements, her towers and spires, her courtyards and ramps, and finally the deep woods surrounding them all. Sunshine beamed down out of a cloudless sky, and the wind was soft and cool on her skin.

She glanced back once to see the other Druids disbanding and moving indoors until only a couple of the Troll guards remained.

She sighed, watching it happen. It was as if her leaving made no difference to anything, and yet she could not quite shrug away the feeling that she was about to begin a journey that in the end would be life changing.

They flew on through the remainder of the day, traveling south through the Kennon before turning east, then tracking the wall of the Dragon’s Teeth, brief glimmerings of the Rainbow Lake visible to the south through mist and haze, the land spreading away in a patchwork carpet. By midafternoon, they had crossed over the Mermidon River where it angled south through the valley formed by the Runne Mountains and could see the land ahead turn stark and bare as the mountains broadened and the woods disappeared.