Rorin lowers his head, not quite a bow but something close. Something that means more than a bow would.
The courtyard begins to move again, lighter than before, with something underneath it that had not been there when I arrived.
Colsar turns back to me. My attention moves past him, over the men still entering through the gate. It is clearer up close. The way they move. The way some of them hold themselves carefully, managing what they will not show.
They will not survive the road like this.
"They are in no condition to travel," I say.
He looks at them, then back at me. "No." A brief pause. "There is a window. Solaryn. The light holds through the night cycle. Three days without full dark. It is the safest passage we will have."
"Then we go during Solaryn," I say.
He nods once.
I meet his eyes. “You need to learn what you can do. Now, and not when it matters and there is no time left.”
Something shifts in his expression. “I will.” He pauses. “And you?"
"I have not used mine in too long," I reply. "That changes." A glance toward Enovar, who stands at the far edge of the courtyard. "He is here."
Colsar follows my line of sight, then looks back. "Arabar will train with me."
"Yes. And I will work with the Avanki."
"Good," he says.
We turn at the same time. There is still work to be done.
"Your Majesties."
Both of us stop. Rorin glances once at the men nearest to us, then takes a step closer, lowering his voice. "This is not something that needs to be resolved today. But it cannot wait until Veynar either."
A pause. "And it cannot leave this circle."
Colsar turns fully. "Speak."
Rorin exhales slowly, the way men do when they have been carrying something long enough that setting it down feels strange. "I had months in that pass," he says. "Nothing to do but think. And the more I thought, the less sense any of it made."
He looks between us.
"Yes, there were undead at Shalvar's borders. But the attack that pulled you away last year," he says, his eyes moving to Colsar,"was too targeted. Too precise. Shalvar has not taken sides in this war. The Threns have no reason to move against it. And undead are only formed where Threns have killed."
He pauses. "So why were they near the high pass at all? What would there be to gain from pressing into Shalvar?”
"Speak plainly," Colsar says.
Rorin meets his eyes. "I do not think it was an accident, Majesties. I think the attacks were targeted. Either to put you in harm's way," he says to Colsar, "or to move you out of it. So that she could be reached."
The air shifts.
"Sevrin does not know these mountains,” I say. “And we are at war with the Threns. He has no reason to coordinate so elaborately.”
"Teorin," Colsar says. "Most likely."
"Perhaps." Rorin does not look convinced.
“That is not his style,” I say. “Not truly.”
