Two announcements:

I thought I mentioned it in chapter 8, but in case you missed it, this is set around two hundred years after Vanyel's death.

This might be a good place to end it. I can continue the story if you want, but be prepared because everything after this gets really long and really complicated. Let me know what you think.

Gallin knew he'd been on duty too long when he thought he saw the shadows move.

It wasn't his shift; it was supposed to be Drew's shift. But Drew's wife had gone into labor, so Gallin agreed to take his watch. Normally Gallin was on guard during the day, so Drew's late night shift was certainly not what he was used to.

Not to mention new Guards had been stationed at Cordor recently and the veterans had taken to "instructing" them. Gallin had undergone the same himself six years ago. He had long since grown accustomed to the tales of evil Karsites and their demons, or so he thought. But Cordor was just a stone's throw from the border, practically, and when you're tired, ridiculous notions start sounding credible.

So when Gallin finally admitted he wasn't seeing things and that the shadows were moving, he started remembering all those stories about the Karsite demons.

A large shadow separated from the darkness – but then it resolved itself into two figures on a white horse. As the horse walked closer, Gallin could see it carried a man and a girl, both wearing dark clothing and looking travel worn.

"Hey, Anna," the man said gently, in Karsite, "wake up, sweetheart. We're here."

"Where's here?" the girl asked groggily in the same language.

"Uh . . . Cordor? Really? Huh. This is the Cordor Guard Post. Welcome to Valdemar, Anna," the man told her. There was quiet a moment before he continued. "Wait. Cordor? You mean – Alex? You called Alex? I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing."

"Who is Alex?" the girl asked.

"A very good friend of mine."

"Is he – "

"A Herald? Yes, he is. And he has this Sector for, uh, Jerem's Internship Ride, I believe."

Gallin was not proud of the fact that it was only than that the thought that the big white horse might be a Companion occurred to him. Although it certainly explained the odd conversation. Enough Heralds passed through Cordor that their reputation for seemingly talking to thin air was known. So he wasn't completely taken off guard when the horse came up to the gate and the man introduced himself as Herald Malachi Rowen.

The girl was simply "Anna," with no family name given, but if she wasn't Karsite, he was a donkey's mother. She was equally obviously under the protection of the Herald. Anyone who was stationed at Cordor for more than a year and failed to recognize "Heralds' business" was a hopeless dunderhead. Gallin wasn't a hopeless dunderhead.

If Herald Malachi wanted to pretend Anna was an ordinary little girl, Gallin wasn't going to contradict him. Even if Gallin was willing to bet money the Herald had rescued her from being fire-fodder. Travel worn, not in uniform, and coming from the south? Freshly back from Karse. But anyone with an incautious tongue about Heralds' business was a hopeless dunderhead.

So Gallin didn't comment as he directed the group to the stable and helped the exhausted child dismount. Gallin turned to leave as Herald Malachi began to groom his Companion. He was caught in the stable however by the incoming pair of Heralds and Companions.

The elder of the men rushed past him to clasp Malachi in a hug. "You are overdue," the Herald said, breaking away. "And what in the nine hells are you wearing?"

Gallin found himself glancing at Malachi's travel worn garb. Under the dirt and the wear it almost looked like . . . priest's robes?

Malachi shrugged. "It's a long story." As if on cue, the girl yawned, drawing the attention of the two recently arrived Heralds. Noticing their regard, she hunched her shoulders and moved closer to Malachi.

Heralds' business, Gallin reminded himself. Stifling his curiosity he slipped past the Heralds to return to his gate.

Herald Alexander Ornell noted the Guardsman's departure without taking his eyes off of his year-mate. Why is everything always a "long story"?

:Because Heralds lack the ability to do anything simply,: Ariel told him helpfully. :And men in general make things more complicated than necessary.:

Alex didn't respond to his Companion. "Going to introduce your friend?" he asked Malachi.

"This is Anna," his friend replied. "Anna, this is Alex and Jerem. Their Companions are Ariel and Rilyn." Malachi then repeated the introduction in Karsite.

"It is good you to meet," Anna said in halting Valdemaran.

When it became obvious that an explanation was not forthcoming from Kai, Alex began to groom Ariel.

:Darvin is being curiously close-lipped,: she remarked.

:Of course he is. Why would we want to know why in the nine damned hells Kai is wearing a priest's robe? I can see not wearing his uniform, but a priest's robe?:

"I lost my uniform," Malachi said aloud.

Alex glared at his Companion. Ariel merely snagged a mouthful of hay and swished her tail. "You can borrow one of mine," Alex offered.

"Much appreciated."

"I suppose I have to wait until after you've bathed to get that 'long story' out of you?"

Malachi grinned. "Of course. And we need dinner. Anna's aunt would never forgive me if I let her niece waste away from lack of food. Not a woman you want to get on the wrong side of."

Anna frowned, trying to follow the Valdemaran conversation. "Aunt Lillian angry at you would not get."

"She would get angry if I did not take good care of you," Malachi said slowly. He repeated his words in Karsite.

"No," Anna said stubbornly. "You she likes. At you angry she would not get."

"Would it be easier to just talk in Karsite?" Alex asked in Karsite.

Anna bit her lip and shook her head. "To speak Valdemaran learn I must. Here now I stay. For me Karse safe not is."

Alex personally thought he was going to go cross-eyed trying to make sense of her backward sentences.

:Maybe that would be a good look for you.:

:Thank you for that lovely compliment, Ariel.:

:Would you rather argue with a child? She might delight in making you cross-eyed.:

Alex didn't try to argue with that. His seven year old niece practically delighted in being perverse at every opportunity. If Mellany could do it, he could hardly expect less from Anna. Especially when the girl had already established herself as stubborn.

Alex roped in his curiosity and his impatience while the Companions were groomed, and the humans were bathed and dressed. When the four of them were having dinner in a private room he decided enough was enough.

"Ready to explain?"

"Explain what?" Malachi asked innocently.

Alex glared at his friend. "You can start with Anna, or what happened to your uniform, or why you're late, or maybe why Darvin won't say anything to Ariel?"

Jerem pretended to be intent on his food. Anna frowned as she caught her name and tried to follow the Valdemaran words.

"Anna was almost fire-fodder," Kai admitted. "Her aunt saved her."

"Aunt Lillian is amazing. Also lonely," Anna added with a frown.

Kai smiled. "Amazing is a good word. Unbelievable also works. Lillian asked me to take Anna to Valdemar."

"And do what?" Alex asked. "You're a Herald; you don't have much time to look after a child."

"I'm taking her to Haven," Kai said, as if it were obvious.

"Blue I will be."

"A Blue," Kai corrected. "I will be a Blue."

"I will be a Blue," Anna repeated dutifully. "Blue-robes are weak, not much better than novices," she added in Karsite.

Kai translated the statement into Valdemaran. Anna tried to copy him.

"How do you have a conversation like this?" Alex demanded.

"I got used to it. I taught Lillian Valdemaran; she picked it up very quickly, though. Anna is not doing so badly."

"Learning only . . . two week?" Anna asked.

"Two weeks."

Anna stuck her tongue out at Malachi.

"What would your aunt say if she saw that?"

"She . . . would say . . . good that of White Demons afraid I am not."

Malachi shook his head. "You are too much like your aunt. It is no wonder you had problems in Karse."

"And just who is this mysterious aunt?" Alex asked.

"Mysterious? Mysterious she is not. Aunt Lillian is . . ." Anna clamped her mouth shut, looking worriedly at Malachi.

"It's okay," Kai reassured her.

"Aunt Lillian is . . . what?" Alex prompted.

Kai hesitated. Alex felt him check for listeners. "A Sunpriestess," Kai answered.

"Are you crazy?" Jerem blurted out.

Anna jumped up and kicked him. "Nice you are not!"

"Anna!" Malachi scolded.

"You crazy calling not nice is," she replied primly. "Even if companion to Valdemaran Firecat he is. Not nice he is. Aunt Lillian nice is. You nice are. He nice not is."

Alex could feel his eyes crossing with every mangled sentence.

:She is still learning our language, Chosen. You weren't very good at learning languages if I recall. Weren't you the one that managed to insult the instructor?:

:I have no idea what you are talking about.:

:You don't remember the "shiny tomato" incident?:

:Every time I helped in the kitchen someone always tried to hand me a tomato afterwards.:

:I knew you remembered! Now stop complaining about that girl's syntax or I will have the one of the serving girls bring you a tomato,: Ariel warned him.

"Jerem is usually nice," Alex said aloud. "He was probably just surprised. I was too."

"Sorry I am not," the girl said unrepentant.

"You were just trying to defend your aunt, weren't you?" Anna frowned and Alex repeated himself in Karsite.

"Yes. Sad she is. Temple not a nice place is. No friends does she have. Like anyone there she does not." Alex caught Kai making a face at her. Anna grimaced. "She . . . does not . . . have . . . anyone?" Kai nodded. "The priests . . . took her . . . when . . . she was . . . much small. I think," she added. "Papa mentioned her often did not."

:How am I supposed to get an explanation out of Kai when she takes forever to say anything?:

:She hasn't had more than a fortnight to learn Valdemaran, Chosen. Shall I find a tomato for you?:

Alex sent his Companion a mental glare.

"I did not intend to imply insult," Jerem said. "But what is a Valdemaran Firecat?"

Malachi laughed. "That was Lillian's description of Companions. It was the closest comparison she could think of and Darvin thought it was similar."

"Karse has a version of Companions?" Alex wanted to know why no one had ever heard of them before.

"Uh, sort of. Firecats have strong connections to their Sunlord, but no one has seen one outside of legends in a few centuries," Kai explained.

"Vkandis' messengers Firecats are," Anna announced.

Malachi shrugged. "Lillian not got around to telling me any of the legends."

Anna turned to Kai. "About Reulan heard you have not?"

"Who's Reulan?"

She opened her mouth, frowned, closed it again and looked up at Malachi. "Can I explain in Karsite?" she whispered.

"Of course," he answered with a smile.

Anna grinned broadly. "Reulan was a simple country priest. One day while he was taking a walk, Khar warned him of a rainbow snake on the path. Reulan was very surprised to realize that a cat was speaking to him, but he was also very grateful for the warning because rainbow snakes are very dangerous. He thanked Khar and asked what he could do to repay the favor." Anna paused. "Khar wanted a fish," she said firmly.

"Reulan was surprised by the request and a little annoyed because Khar wanted a fresh fish and the closest place for fresh fish was Sunhame. But Khar was a cat, and cats have minds of their own, and he wanted his fish. It was almost Midsummer, and Reulan hadn't been back in Sunhame in years, so he agreed. He walked all the way to Sunhame, with Khar at his side." Anna frowned a moment. "Dasin told me that Khar got bigger the closer they got, but Giry said that cats don't grow overnight. But Khar was Vkandis' cat, and the statue of Khar was almost as tall as me, so I think Giry had it wrong.

"Anyway, when Reulan got to Sunhame, he learned the high priest had died several days ago and the council of priests couldn't decide who would replace him. Reulan was getting funny looks but didn't know why until he reached the Temple where the priests made a fuss. That's when Reulan realized the little kitty he'd been travelling with was as tall as his waist and not an ordinary cat at all. Which is kind of silly because of course Khar wasn't an ordinary cat – ordinary cats can't talk!"

:I wonder how many cats she tried to talk to as a little?: Ariel asked.

"Reulan recognized Khar as one of Vkandis' Cats then, and all the priests took Khar as a sign of Vkandis' will, so Reulan the simple country priest was made Son of the Sun. Everybody knows the story of Reulan and Khar," Anna informed them. "The novices snuck bits of fish to all the Temple cats, even though we weren't supposed to," she admitted. "We even named one of them Reulan!"

"You were a novice?" Jerem asked. Very politely, Alex noticed. "Where?"

"The Sun Temple. The novices all go there." Anna bit her lip. "Do I have to speak Valdemaran? Aunt Lillian is right, you do have a backward language."

Malachi smiled at the girl. "You are going to need to speak Valdemaran eventually, but I suppose in the interest of explaining to Alex and Jerem without trying their patience too much, we can continue in Karsite for now. You still have another three weeks before we get to Haven to learn more Valdemaran."

"Okay!" she said brightly. "I was a novice at the Sun Temple for a year and a half."

"And where does your aunt come in?"

"She was there the whole time. I just never knew she was my aunt. I never talked to her before she rescued me. She rescued Malachi too! And then she explained the Sunpriests weren't very nice and taught us wrong, because the White Demons aren't demons at all."

"She rescued Malachi too?" Alex asked with raised eyebrows, looking at the Herald, not the child.

"I ran into a bit of trouble," Malachi admitted. "Lillian got me out of it."

"What kind of trouble?"

Malachi grimaced. "The kind you aren't allowed to tell anyone, either of you! And make sure Ariel and Rilyn know that too!"

:Contrary to popular belief, Companions don't just gossip everything. We do know how to keep a secret, you know. Tell Malachi my lips are sealed, pinkie promise.:

:If you tried to pinkie promise you'd break my pinkie,: Alex reminded his Companion.

:It's the thought that counts.:

Alex and Jerem relayed their Companions' promises not to share the information with anyone.

:Except Rolan. I can't lie to Rolan.:

"Rolan is fine," Malachi agreed.

"So you are going to tell them what you told me not to tell anyone?" Anna asked. "You already told them that Aunt Lillian's a Sunpriestess, even though you told me not to say that. Ever."

Malachi winced. "Yes."

"Should I leave?" Jerem asked. "I could go check on Rilyn if this is supposed to be a secret."

"Can I go with you?" Anna asked. "I want to give Darvin an apple." She grabbed one the apples from dinner.

:I wouldn't mind an apple,: Ariel said entreatingly.

"You don't have to go," Malachi began.

Jerem laughed. "But now Rilyn wants an apple."

"We can bring lots of apples," Anna agreed.

With much laughter, Jerem and Anna carried all the apples out of the room.

"She's clearly not afraid of 'White Demons'," Alex observed.

"Her aunt gave her a lengthy explanation. Apparently the Firecat analogy works. Although Darvin took exception when I compared him to a cat."

"And a lengthy explanation from an aunt she never knew she had is convincing?"

Malachi grimaced. "Her aunt is a respected and feared figure of authority, even for a child who is being told the world she knows is upside down."

"A respected and feared figure of authority?" Alex's eyebrows crept towards his unruly blonde hair.

Another grimace. "Shesablackrobe," Malachi mumbled.

"What?"

"She's a Black-robe."

"What?!"

"Anna's aunt is a Black-robe Sunpriestess."

"Please tell me this is a joke."

"No joke. Lillian saved my life. I got myself captured when I pressed a little too hard; Lillian used her Gifts to rescue me while making everyone else think I died. I spent a month letting broken ribs heal in her closet."

"You spent a month in a Black-robe's closet?" Alex tried not to stare at Malachi as if he grew a second head or started acting crazy.

:Darvin says she was definitely a Black-robe,: Ariel confirmed.

Okay. Not crazy.

"We became friends."

Not completely, at least.

"I really need to speak Valdemaran more," Anna told the young Herald – in Karsite. "But your sentences are all backward, so it's not very comfortable."

"How long have you been learning Valdemaran?"

"Almost two weeks."

The Herald laughed. "Wait! No! Don't kick me! I wasn't being rude!"

Anna narrowed her eyes at him. But she didn't kick him. Yet.

"What I meant was that you're doing pretty well for only two weeks. My mentor, Alex, he'd been learning Karsite for almost two months when he called his instructor a shiny tomato instead of saying good afternoon."

Anna giggled. She was glad she hadn't kicked him this time. "Those do sort of sound similar," she admitted.

"Not similar enough. Everyone teased him about it. But you've only been learning for two weeks. You'll get better, don't worry."

"You're sure?"

"Of course. How old are you?"

"Almost eleven!" Her birthing day was in a few weeks.

"Am I allowed to know what Malachi is telling Alex?" Jerem asked.

Anna thought about it. "Well, he did say you could stay and listen, but it's just more stuff about how amazing my aunt is. She's a really powerful Sunpriestess but she's also really nice, and really worried about me and all the littles like me who don't have anyone else to look out for them. She saved my life," Anna told him proudly. "And she was really sad that she couldn't do everything."

Anna looked around the stable yard at the three Companions. That one was Darvin, but, "Which one is yours?" she asked.

Jerem laughed. He laid an arm around one of the mares' necks. "This beautiful lady here is Rilyn. I'd call her mine, but she would point out that I'm hers." The mare whickered and bobbed her head, which she then snaked around to steal an apple from his pocket. "Hey! I was going to give you that!"

The mare shook her head and made a laughing noise. Anna giggled and held out an apple to Darvin. As the stallion chewed his snack, Anna offered an apple to the third Companion, Alex's Ariel. The Companion mare took it gratefully. Jerem meanwhile, held up another apple to taunt his Companion. Rilyn knew how to tease back, however.

Anna wished the others at the Cloister could be here. No one could be afraid of Demon-Riders and their Hell-Horses if they watched while Rilyn chased her Herald around the yard, trying to steal the apple out of his hand, while Jerem tried to keep the fruit out of the mare's reach.

Anna watched them and laughed so hard she forgot about the other apples she carried until a Companion nudged her shoulder.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed in Karsite as she turned around to offer an apple. She met the Companion's big blue eye and fell into its depths.

:Don't be sorry, Anna. I am Sandra and you are my Chosen,: a voice in her head told her. :You are mine and I am yours and I will never leave you. I'll be happy to take that apple, though.: