Pasco licked his lips. Time. He needed time to think “Promise you won’t beat me up,” he retorted, his voice squeaking.

“I’ll mince you is what I’ll do! Get me down!” Reha left the courtyard and returned with a tall stool. She thrust it under Haiday, as if she just needed a step down Haiday struggled, but the air held her fast. Reha tried the stool on the other two, without result.

Vani kicked it over when she put it under him. “Pasco, get me down, or you’re hog food!”’

“Promise,” whispered Pasco, mind racing like a pan icked mouse, All he could think was that Vani would need, to hurry to beat Mama to killing him.

A sharp voice demanded, “What is going on out here? You children know very well Great-grandmother rests at this hour!” Gran’ther Edoar walked out of his quarter of the house, as cross as a bear. Leaning on his walking stick, the tall old man went up to the three hanging Acalons and tugged Haiday’s leg. She remained in the air.

Pasco fell to his knees with a whimper.

Gran’ther walked around the three, looking them over, pulling first an arm, then a leg. Pasco’s mind had stopped running, frozen around the thought that he would never be allowed out of the house again.

Once his inspection was complete, Gran’ther halted and looked at the cousins who stood on the ground. “How did this come about?” he inquired mildly. “Surely you have not learned to fly, or someone would have men tioned it at supper.”

“It’s all Pasco’s fault!” snapped Vani. He thrashed as if he thought he could swim through the air to claw at his young cousin. “He did this!”

Gran’ther’s tufted eyebrows rose. “Did he indeed?”

“I didn’t mean it,” babbled Pasco. “I—I was scared, and he’s going to beat me up again—,”

“Beat you up?” Gran’ther looked at Vani and then at Pasco. “Again?”

“He’s lying to get himself out of trouble,” growled Vani, but the girls were shaking their heads.

“He’s beaten Pasco before,” Gran’ther repeated, to confirm it.

“Yes, sir,” replied Haiday, shamefaced. “And you, future harriers all, you said nothing? You allowed him to do it?” Gran’ther asked it as if he were simply confirming a report. Now all of the cousins but Vani and Pasco nodded, staring at their feet.

“Well,” the old man said at last. “Once we have solved the matter at hand, we must talk about this. We cannot turn a bully harrier loose on the people of Summersea. They deserve better care.” To Pasco he said, “Can you bring them down?”

Pasco looked at the three captives. Raising, then lowering his arms, he tried to feel magical. Nothing hap pened. He then hummed the tune, and raised and lowered his arms. That didn’t work, either. He was afraid to try dancing—he’d probably just make it worse.

“There’s—I have to

” he stammered. Gran’ther scowled, and Pasco tried to get his voice under control. “There’s someone I need to get,” he said. “She—she knows what’s wrong with me.” If she’ll come, he thought, shivering. What if she refused?

“Then fetch her at once,” Gran’ther ordered. Pasco hesitated. “I have to go a ways. I’ll be a while.” Gran’ther sat on a bench, folding his hands over the grip on his cane. “No one’s going anywhere.” When Pasco still hesitated, the old man’s heavy brows snapped together. “Now, boy!”

he said sharply. Pasco fled.

It was late when Sandry had returned the night before, and fretting over Pasco had kept her awake long after midnight. As a result, when she woke in the morning, it was nearly ten. She dressed hurriedly and went in search of the duke. She found him in the workroom with Baron Erdogun.

“Uncle, I’m sorry about last night,” she said, kissing his cheek before she took a chair. “I had to talk to Lark. I didn’t get home until late. And why didn’t you wake me for your ride this morning?”

“I am aware you came back late, and before you scold, I heard it this morning. I was abed when you returned.” He smiled at her and offered her a plate of muffins. The baron yanked the bell pull. “When you didn’t come this morning, I assumed you were still asleep,” the duke con tinued. “Since you’re usually up early, I thought you must need your rest. As for my ride, instead of having to make excuses to my taskmaster”—he reached over and tugged one of her braids, which she had left hanging down her back that morning—,”I confined my explorations to the Arsenal.”

A servant arrived and took breakfast instructions from Erdogun while Sandry grinned at the duke. The Arsenal dockyards—where Emelan’s navy was built, housed, and repaired—was large, but it was nearby. A visit there would not have lasted as long as their ride of the previous morning had.

He must have been tired, to go to bed early and to stick to the Arsenal today, she thought, breaking up a muffin. So he’s listening to the healers after all, maybe.

“I trust you found Dedicate Lark in good spirits?” asked Erdogun.

Sandry nodded, her mouth full. When she finished her first muffin, she began on her second. Looking up as she buttered it, she saw that both men were watching her. It seemed they were curious about what had taken her up to Winding Circle, but they were too polite to ask her outright.

She giggled, then told them about the success of Pasco’s net-spell, and Larks advice. As she talked, servants brought in a small table and set her breakfast out on it. Once they were gone, she continued as she ate.