“With the right man, you can share that control,” Ronica offered.

Keffria felt her smile go crooked. “But Kyle isn’t the right man for that. And we both know that now.” She drew a deep breath. “If he came back now, I wouldn’t let him have the family vote on the Traders’ Council. Because I know more about Bingtown and can vote more wisely. But Kyle would hate that. I think that, alone, would be enough to drive him away.”

“Kyle would hate that you had to control your own vote? That you had to be able to take care of yourself while he was gone?”

Keffria paused a moment before she answered. She forced the truth out. “He would hate that I was good at it, Mother. But I am. And I like being good at it. It’s one reason I feel I should let Selden go. Because, in his short years, he has shown me that he is better at taking care of himself than I am. I could keep him here, safe by me. But it would be a lot like Kyle keeping me in hand.”

A light tap at the door made both of them startle. Rache peered around the corner.

“Jani Khuprus is here. She says she has come for Selden.”

Rache had changed in small ways since the upheavals in Bingtown. She still lived with them, and took on the duties of a house servant. But she also spoke openly of where she hoped she would get her piece of land, and what type of a house she would build when the final agreement was settled. Now when she spoke of Jani coming for Selden, her disapproval was more obvious in her voice than it would have been months ago. Keffria didn’t resent it. The woman had cared for her children, and in doing so, had come to genuinely care about them. Rache had been overjoyed at Selden’s return from the Rain Wilds. She hated to give him up again.

“I’ll come down,” Keffria replied immediately. “You should come, too, if you wish to say good-bye to him.”

JANI STUDIED THE ROOM AS SHE WAITED NERVOUSLY FOR KEFFRIA. IT HAD changed from the happy days when Reyn had been here courting Malta. The room was clean but the furniture had obviously been scavenged from throughout the house. There were chairs to sit on and a somewhat wobbly table. But there were no books, no tapestries, no rugs nor any of the small domestic touches that finished a room. Her heart bled for the Vestrits. Their home had been taken from them; only the walls remained.

True, she herself had seen the collapse of the buried city that was the source of the Rain Wilds’ and, indirectly, Bingtown’s wealth. Trehaug faced lean times ahead. But her home had weathered the storm. She had resources to draw on. Her pictures, her embroidered linens, her jewelry, her wardrobe of clothing awaited her safely at home. She had not been left near-destitute as the Vestrits had. It made her feel all the more selfish that she had come to take away the final vestige of the family’s true wealth. Their last son would go with her tonight. It had not been put into words between them, but the truth was writ large on Selden’s scaled face. He was Rain Wild now. It was not Jani’s doing; she would never have sought to steal a son, let alone the last of their line. It did not make her feel any less greedy that she cherished the thought of taking the boy with her. Another child for her household was a treasure beyond compare. She wished she did not have to gain it as her friends’ loss.

The whisper of their sandals preceded them. First Keffria, then Ronica and finally Rache entered the room. Selden was not with them. That was as well. Jani preferred to make her proposal to Keffria before she had to say goodbye to her son. It would not seem so much like a trade. As she exchanged greetings with them, she noted that Ronica’s hand seemed frailer in hers, and that Keffria was more grave and reserved. Well, that was natural enough.

“Would you care for a cup of tea?” Keffria asked in the courtesy of a bygone day. Then, with a nervous laugh, she turned to Rache. “That is, if we have any tea, or anything close to it?”

The serving woman smiled. “I am sure I can find some sort of leaves to steep.”

“I would love a cup of anything warm,” Jani replied. “The cold outside bites to my bones. Why must so harsh a winter descend in our most difficult time?”

They commiserated on that for a bit. Then Ronica rescued them from pointless pleasantries as Rache reappeared with the tea. “Well, let us stop being as nervous as if we do not well know why Jani is here. She has come to take Selden to the Rain Wilds when the Kendry sails tonight. I know Keffria has agreed to this, and it is what Selden wants. But…”

And there Ronica’s courage failed her. Her voice went tight on her closing words, “But I do hate to lose Selden….”

“I wish you did not feel that way,” Jani offered. “That you are losing him, I mean. He comes with me now, for a time, because he genuinely believes he has a duty to help us in our preliminary work. Certainly, the Rain Wilds have marked him as their own. But that does not mean he is no longer a Vestrit. And in days to come, I hope for a time when Rain Wilds and Bingtown will mingle freely and often.”