I never truly thought we would find the city of the gnomes. But I also never thought that I would leave the same day that we found it, and I certainly didn't think I would leave without my friends.

I had grown apart from them since the attack on the mountain with the churchmen. I didn’t know if they blamed me for it. After all, I had brought them with us. A large part of me wished they had never come, but they were still the only friends I had ever had.

I knocked on their door, and Clidale answered it. He looked sleepy and rubbed at his one eye as he squinted at me in the dim light of the hall. The blue gnome lights stayed on all the time, it seemed. It was a strange thing to witness light without flame—and to this day, I still cannot fathom how they work.

"I'm leaving," I said.

"What?" he asked. "Leaving where?"

"The king says I have to leave Gillith with Naro," I said. "He doesn't trust Calk, and he wants us to leave the city."

Clidale blinked at me, and then his eye widened. "He wants you to bring the weapon, doesn’t he? The one that Calk wants?"

I remembered that Clidale had been there during the discussion with the King and his entourage in the dusty abandoned cave city. But I was surprised that he had figured it out already. Clidale had the beginnings of a deadly swordsman, but his mind was just as quick. I felt a stab of sadness as I knew what I had to do.

"You and Shay can't come with us," I said, looking away, not wanting to meet his eyes—afraid of what I would find there.

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He didn't say anything for a while, but when I looked back, I was surprised to see him smiling. It was the old smile that I remembered from our time at sea. It was good to see him like that once again.

"I know, Mil. You don't need us anymore. You're something special, aren't ya?" He thumped me lightly on the shoulder. "You never told me you were an elf."

I shrugged, and I felt myself smile back at him. "Where will you go?" I asked him.

He turned back to the room, and through the crack in the door, I could see Shay sleeping. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have met her. She's a good lass. Maybe we'll head back to the sea.”

I must have looked at him a certain way because his smile faded. "I'm sorry, Mil. She cares for you, but—" he paused "what you did back there, and what has happened—" he looked at the ground, and I could tell the words didn't come easily. "She told me what you did to her. How you brought her back."

It seemed like so long ago that I had met Shay in the dirty little inn. I remembered the way Roth had smiled at me, and how he had strangled her. I felt a slow anger creep back into me. It had been some time since I was reminded why I had come this far, and who for—and now I had to say goodbye to keep them safe.

"I'll find you again one day, when it's all over," I said.

"Sure, Mil." Clidale smiled at me, but it didn't reach his eyes. Despite the low light of the room, I could see that I was making him uncomfortable. I sensed he was putting on a front for me, to make the goodbye less painful. Things weren’t the same as they were before. He had lost his eye, and I had become something different in his eyes.

He had always loved to tell me stories of the forests and his home, some real stories of his small family, and some of the monsters there--horrible monstrosities and the heroes that fought them. He had conjured these stories from the creative mind of a child, but they were told at sea, with good company and the smell of the waves. But now, I realized, it was as if one of his stories had come to life before him, and that terrified him.

For a moment, we just stood there trying not to meet eyes. Then he moved forward and hugged me. Before I could hug him back, he had closed the door, and I was alone in the hall.