Harbend made it clear he would join the rescue mission, a decision that met with several protests early on, but he insisted and with the help of Nakora he eventually managed to convince the other members of the caravan he wasn't needed to personally oversee the slow trek towards Braka. That honor fell to the oldest of the traders coming from Ri Khi.

Harbend noted, with some satisfaction, that Captain Laiden was always absent from the meetings, but for those not in the know it was maybe not so strange.

Lastly Harbend chose the two mages from Khanati, who had followed Arthur around earlier, to accompany him. After all they had played the role of heroes during the blizzard in the mountain pass, and the one named Escha was the only one with the gift to jump.

They left early in the morning, winter chill biting their faces and even the slightest puff of wind an icy razor of cold. Harbend couldn't imagine a place colder, but he had been told that the farther east and north you traveled, the colder winter became.

They walked. The Transport Khar, Escha, didn't want to jump with horses, and with him available, horses wouldn't make much of a difference anyway. Harbend glanced at his companions. Different now, both of them. Less and less of the arrogance and more of the hard professionalism required of anyone rising in a society where war was a part of daily life. He corrected himself. They must have changed during the journey, but he'd been too preoccupied with his own business to pay them proper attention.

Trai had saved lives on more than one occasion without ever claiming any glory for it, and Harbend had been too ungrateful to recognize the valor of a man he considered to be nothing more than a fop. Gods! He needed to be more observant, especially now when he was placing his life in the hands of men he previously discarded as little more than useless.

"There is something you should know," he said silently, as if his unease wouldn't allow him to admit failure.

"Your thoughts, Lord Garak?" Trai asked.

There was no turning back now. "I have been less than the host you deserve."

"How so?"

"You saved us in the mountains. Twice probably, and you were there when we needed you during the attack. It shames me that you have not received any thanks. I want you to know I appreciate all you have done even when unasked."

"There is no need to ask, Lord Garak," Trai said with a smile. "I know we are but strangers here, and I know you have no reason to make enemies of your own people on our behalf."

"I want you to know anyway."

"Now I'm told, and I'm grateful, Lord Garak."

Strange, he talks like a normal being for once. Embarrassed or just angry I waited this long with common decency?

They continued walking in silence. Muted rumbling of hooves broke that silence. A single rider was catching up. A messenger? No, it was Nakora, but she wouldn't have ridden out herself only to bring a message. Then what?

"Master Garak, do you think you can escape me so easily?" Her face was red from the hard ride.

"I fail to understand what you mean," Harbend responded. Unfortunately he suspected why she was here, despite his words to the contrary.

"It means I am joining you. You are not doing this without any kind of military experience."

Harbend groaned. So he had guessed right. He played with the thought of starting a discussion or even giving her an order to return, but at this distance he saw her flushed cheeks probably were not only the result of straining herself during the ride. He allowed his groan to turn into a sigh.

"I guess we could use your expertise."

"Do not guess, Lord Garak. Just do!"

Harbend spread his arms and stared at Trai. A bemused smile was the only response Harbend received.

"Then we are four. I assume that shall not be a problem to you, Khar Escha?"

"No horse."

Harbend looked questioningly at Nakora. She was already emptying her saddlebags.

"No horse," Harbend agreed.

Nakora returned with her weapons, a quiver, some bags with food and a blanket in which she wrapped her water skins.

"I am ready. Are you?"

Harbend smiled and nodded. "Khar Escha?"

"Come closer, both of you. I'll jump us to where we can get a view of where they are."

"Why not directly to them?" Nakora asked.

"Escha, wonderful and mighty as he is, still needs to know where to jump," Trai answered affectionately.

They jumped.

Gods! The power! Trai may have been prone to flowery language and exaggerations, but all boasts concerning Khar Escha were understated if anything. Harbend blinked. Where? Ri Nachi, the capital of Ri Khi?

"Why?" Nakora asked before looking around her in wonder.

"Because such are the laws for jumping," Trai answered as if he hadn't noticed that they were several eightdays worth of travel from where they had started. "In order to jump safely a Khar needs to know the destination, and only the mightiest of Khars can jump to a destination seen only in the mind."

"I fail to understand," Nakora admitted. "And why are we here?"

Harbend smiled. "A guess?"

"Of course, Lord Garak."

Harbend faced Trai. "You want to find us a Mindwalker."

"Lord Garak, you're a dangerous man. Do you have talents you haven't told us about?"

"No, at least not the kind you think I have. There was a Mindwalker where I grew up. She showed me many places in Khi before I was old enough to go there myself."

Trai smiled in response.

"Master, shall we find one to help us?" Escha asked.

"Of course, my love. Captain Weinak, would you care to lead the way?"

Nakora bowed and started walking.

They were at the outskirts of the capital, almost where a jump tower had once been erected, but that was a hundred years ago, before it was torn down during the last major conflict to hit Ri Khi. Harbend guessed only tradition made the Transport Khars choose the site these days, but then tradition was always a strong power in itself.

He gave the walls an appraising look. The second time he was here, and years spent in Verd made them less impressive than he remembered. He suspected the town itself would disappoint him, home to a mere twenty thousand or so. Still it lacked any competition in size for eightdays of travel around it, and apart from Verd few towns in Keen housed more.

Street peddlers offered them food, cloth and other items. Harbend wondered if selling was the main reason for the gawking and shouting -- the Khars from Khanati, in their unfamiliar garbs, attracted their fair share of attention.

Children played in the snow and an old crone passed by close enough that he could see her shocked expression when she stared at the two Khars.

Some new houses had been erected since his previous visit here, and as was the way with wooden constructions, a few demolished as well. The town was alive in a way Verd wasn't. Verd didn't have an outer town. Apart from a few official buildings nothing was allowed to be built outside the city walls, and somehow Verd was always the same. Here a long stretch of the southeastern road from the town had become a town of its own with narrow streets feeding blocks of houses further away from the road that had become the main street.

They walked along the muddy street until finally coming to the bridge leading to one of the gates. The city on the rivers. Not really accurate, but descriptive. The river flowing through the town had been diverted, split into two arms joining again south of Ri Nachi with canals crisscrossing the entire town.

Gates flung open, only guarded by a couple of men who lazily eyed those passing by, and Harbend soon walked upon the paved streets of Ri Nachi. There was a certain glory to the town, a peculiar mixture of efficient Keen and aesthetic Khi. The streets regular, but the houses allowed a personality never seen in Verd apart from a few grandiose monuments built to put visitors in stunned awe.

Even a few half houses built in the way typical to Khi. They rose like stairs, or a terrace so that each story would have a small garden on the roof of the story below. A reminder for aging soldiers who maybe never gave up hope of coming home one day.

Harbend wondered how many of them had lived out their days here; maybe even with new families, and still never managing to think of this as home, dying in the belief that they were in a foreign land. He shook the thought away. It made him depressed, and it was just a little bit too close to his own feelings.

"Captain Weinak, do you know where we are going?" Harbend asked, mostly to change his line of thoughts.

She smiled back. "Should our mighty mages not know that?" she answered nodding at Trai.

Harbend frowned at her.

"Sorry, Lord Garak. I can find the way here easier than any of you," Nakora said.

"Thank you, Captain."

"The magehealers should know where to find a Mindwalker."

With those words she took the lead and guided them over a bridge separating two districts, through the next one and over yet another bridge. They had entered the district of mages.

"Silent, is it not?" Nakora asked as if she'd heard his thoughts.

"And large," he agreed. "It serves all of Ri Khi?"

"Yes, and Ri Kordari as well. Sometimes we have people from as far away as Erkateren here."

"And some of the magehealers journey to the more distant parts of the land I guess."

She laughed quietly. "Maybe we are not that far removed from Khi then if you are so familiar with procedures here."

"Maybe not," Harbend affirmed.

"Well, this should be as good as any other place," Nakora said cheerily. "Should I go in and ask for directions?"

"Please do," Harbend answered, grateful for something to interrupt his thoughts. The town brought strange and troublesome musings to his mind.

She ran up a short flight of stairs and vanished into a doorway. The three remaining men waited, and rather than face more of the uncomfortable silence Harbend explained what had happened to the Khars. Speaking Veric was cumbersome as always, but he had some practice from his journeys. All educated men in Khi got at least some schooling in Veric as Khi traded with Khanati as well as Rhuin.

Of course, there were some people in Khanati who resented the use of Veric as Veraike had been little more than a Rhic province for several eightyears, but it was an ancient culture, far older than either of the warring empires and open complaints were few and far between. He knew better than speaking De Vhatic. That offended anyone living around the Sea of the Mother, but then the people from Keen aggravated almost anyone with their peculiar hatred of the gift.

They waited some more until Nakora returned. She was smiling as she ran down the stairs.

"Are you ready?" she asked as if they hadn't been waiting for her all along.

"Yes, is it long?" Harbend replied.

"No, just a few houses." She pointed at a building further down the street.

"I did not know magehealers and mindwalkers shared quarters."

"Neither did I, but apparently at least two of them do. We are to visit Irika Hankar, the magehealer whose house it is and her companion, Nerika Havik."

She took the lead. They made their way close enough to the river turned moat that Harbend could see it was flowing slowly enough to have started freezing over. Thin sheets of ice covered the surface, still brittle enough to give way should anyone try to walk across. There was still some defensive magic in work here then. It was cold enough for the moat to freeze solid. Old magic, no longer of any real use.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

This part of the world hadn't seen full scale wars for hundreds of years, and a hundred had passed since the last major unrest. That one had been bad enough though, Harbend recalled from lessons. A fanatical, religious movement, set on bringing the end of the world. Originating in Erkateren it spread to Ri Khi, Ri Kordari and Vimarin. It had taken Keen's intervention and over thirty years of bitter fighting to finally crush it, and the process had given birth to the Free Inquisition, as unwanted a boon as any could be.

Preoccupied with his musings Harbend almost walked into the back of Nakora when she suddenly halted in front of him.

"Here we are," she said with a cheerfulness that seemed to cling to her this day. Maybe she was just happy to be back home again, even if only for a short while.

Harbend tilted his head to get a better view of the house. Almost circular. He frowned at its peculiar design. First floor made of bricks or stone and the second wooden, as if the builders had run out of money halfway through its construction. The roof barely jutted out from the walls, and splotches clearly showed that whenever it rained water ran down them rather than falling to the street at his feet.

"Are you sure?" Harbend asked, and realized his voice must have shown the disdain he felt. "I apologize, of course it has to be here," he added in a feeble attempt to remove some of the sting.

He still received a hurt look, but Nakora didn't retort. She just climbed the stairs and knocked on the door.

Trai and Escha followed her up the stairs, and both glanced at him as they passed. Even though they couldn't have understood what he said, his tone and her silent reply surely told them something was amiss. Gods! He didn't need to invent new ways to alienate those around him. Harbend slapped himself mentally, closed his eyes, exhaled and took the first step up the stairs. Before his third step the door ahead of him opened, and a man in his early twenties beckoned them to enter.

The entrance opened into a wide hallway, two staircases climbing to the second story and a short corridor between them leading into whatever rooms were hidden on the first. He followed Escha into the corridor. Harbend came into a room, round as the building itself. Behind a desk, close to a window behind it, a figure sat framed by the daylight streaming in through the glass.

Deliberate or not, the light shining into the otherwise dark room created a halo surrounding the shape in the chair.

"Welcome, I have waited for you." The voice belonging to the shining figure was female, distinctively so. Harbend could feel the tingling sensation at his temples signaling that he was in the presence of a Mindwalker activating her gifts. As she walked closer to them she illuminated the room with a soft light streaming from her body.

Both Khars prostrated themselves on the floor. Harbend met her gaze and stared into a pair of golden eyes. Lifetimes of experience lived there. At that moment he knew, and bowed low.

That voice! Words more ancient than any human history, and he was allowed to bask in the glory of hearing them, no, to be one whom they were addressed to. He wanted nothing more than to please the wonderful being who had so graced him.

"Enough of that!"

Harbend looked around, ready to slay the rude offender.

"I said enough!" This time the harsh order thundered from all over the room. Escha, no a multitude of him swirled around the room. Steady, pulsing, almost rhythmical waves of power crashed around them. "Glorious as you may be, there is little need of playing such tricks on mere human minds. Not all of us are ready to face your beauty in mind and presence. I say hold!" all the Eschas roared simultaneously.

Once again an abrupt surge of power and suddenly blinding daylight surrounded them.

Impossible! I am flying. Outdoors, close to the river and hovering the height of a full grown man over the ground, but he could still feel the floor beneath him. At least it felt like the floor, but he could see right through it, and that was a dizzying experience. More of Escha's display of power. Still on his knees Harbend clung to the solid nothingness under him afraid he might fall off the unseen platform if he moved. From the gasps around him he knew he wasn't the only one feeling uneasy.

"Could we please return indoors?" the golden female who had addressed them earlier asked.

"Of course, my lady. If you refrain from your games," Escha's answered.

"You are a very rude man."

"I am a very rude Khar."

"Please, love, leave her be." Trai, from somewhere behind Harbend.

"As you wish, Master."

As suddenly as they had found themselves outdoors they were inside the house again. Harbend let out a deep breath of relief. With a floor he could see under him again he dared standing up. The room was not as dark as he'd believed when he first entered it. The window was one of many, but he only had eyes for the woman rising from behind the desk. Long, silvery hair cascading around a face that still showed signs of bewilderment. A silken gown shifting in blue and green. She was beautiful, and tall, almost as tall as Vildir.

"Who are you, lady?" Harbend asked when he had gathered his thoughts.

"I am Neritan Hwain, or at least that is my name."

"Where is Magehealer Hankar?" Nakora asked.

"On an errand. Midwifery."

"Mindwalker Havik, then?"

"Ah, that's a bit different. She's here, in a sense."

Harbend shook his head. "Where, my lady?"

"Present and nowhere."

"Please, my lady, I have little time for riddles. A friend of mine is in danger, if not dead already."

"Nerika Havik is a convenience. It's a name I use to avoid prying ears. Call her my second life if you wish."

Harbend's hope sank. "That is bad. We came in search of a Mindwalker."

"I am one."

"But you live with a Magehealer!"

"I am one as well."

"I did not know you mages attempted to master two fields of the gift."

Neritan flashed him a boyish grin. "It used to be quite common."

How old is she? Ancient one moment and a boy-girl the next. Body and face spoke about a woman somewhere in her early twenties, but with those golden eyes she could be hundreds of years old.

"I am older that that." Her eyes became icy and hard as she stared at Escha. "I don't want to hear any comment about intruding. He could as well have shouted his question."

Harbend blushed. Well, she was a Mindwalker. That was for certain. He studied the silent duel between two mages, a fight where the gift wasn't used at all, but where two minds obviously used to be in mastery of those present measured each other. Then simultaneously they smiled.

"You are strong." Both voices at once.

"And skilled," Neritan added.

"And experienced," Escha acknowledged.

An expression of fierce pride grew in Trai's face, but Harbend had expected nothing else. The Fire Khar loved his slave. A strange companionship, but they were all strange in Khanati.

Nakora giggled nervously as the tension released. Harbend sympathized with her. No sane man, nor woman for that matter, wanted to be near mages when they were angry enough to test their powers against each other.

"You stated you had been in wait for us," Harbend said to turn attention to himself.

"I did so."

"Why?" There was no reason to ask how she could have known they were coming.

"A friend of mine asked me to, as a precaution. I've been ready for a long time. The moment, however, didn't present itself until today."

Harbend disliked the sound of that. The caravan was less his own enterprise than something more important if people powerful or rich enough to trade favors with a golden born mage got themselves involved.

"No matter the reason," he started, "I am grateful you are here. We need to find friends lost to us."

"I've sensed as much."

"Then, could you show Khar Escha where they are?"

"Maybe, but first you must eat, and then you must rest."

"But we need to be there in time, my lady," Harbend pleaded.

"Now, my young man, acting rashly has its own risks. I haven't done that in a very long time." Neritan smiled, but he could see a bitter glint in her eyes. "The last time I acted without precaution something very bad happened. We wouldn't want that to happen again."

Harbend didn't dare ask her the reason for her caution. He had a sinking feeling that whatever bad had happened must have been outright awful, and if she deemed his questions too intrusive she might punish him by giving him the full answer.

"As you wish, my lady," he answered meekly.

"There is another reason for the delay as well. I need to prepare myself for the travel."

"There is no need for you to come with us. I am grateful and honored, no offense meant, but we would not dream of demanding your presence on a dangerous mission like this, and..."

He knew he was babbling when Neritan laughed. It was a silvery laugh removing all tension and doubt. It was the happy sound of a child seeing the first flowers of spring, and Harbend could only stare dumbfounded at her.

"Young man. You are most refreshing, and I appreciate that. I am going to accompany you. That's something I've promised my friend, not you, so you need not worry you shall end up too much in my debt. Besides, I'll be hard pressed to help the Transport Khar otherwise." Harbend blushed and wanted to protest. "No, no, silence my hasty friend. No more words that walk astray and wander aimlessly before you can take them back. I beg you."

She clapped her hands, and the doorman who'd been silent all the time left the room.

"He'll make sure you get food and drink. There are beds on the second floor you can use after your meal. Please, get some strength. I'll need to draw a lot on it later."

There was nothing left for them to do but oblige.

The food was excellent, as was the weak wine that went with it, and even though it was still morning they soon fell asleep on the beds assigned to them, and it wasn't without a certain amount of regret they were awakened later that afternoon.

The doorman led them to the room where they had first met Neritan, and she walked away with Escha. Harbend could see them talking with each other for a long time before returning to the center of the room.

"Please, stand close to us," Neritan said. She locked eyes with Escha. "I can't promise that they are still there, but I can show you where they have stayed long enough to make an imprint clear enough for me to see."

"That, my lady, is all I ask. Whatever location you can clearly show me I can bring us to," Escha said.

"You're not a little bold."

"There hasn't been a Khar like me for a hundred years, and I don't expect another one for the coming one hundred, at least." There was little of boasting in his voice. The words were those of a braggart, but Harbend heard that Escha was only stating a well known fact.

Neritan smiled. "Then, if you are ready?"

"I am."

Harbend saw them lock eyes again, and soon there was a sense of elsewhere in the room, as if they were at two places at the same time. Then suddenly he felt power flow through his body as Escha released his gift. There was a short sensation of nothingness and then they were on the Sea of Grass again.