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He didn’t speak. Didn’t try to tell her that everything would be all right. He simply held her and gave her the place to cry.

When she sniffed her way to silence, he relaxed his hold on her. “Better?”

“Yes.” She heaved one last shuddering breath before her tears stopped entirely. After another moment, she swiped at her face and sat up. “I should return to my room and attempt to get some sleep.”

“Let me get my leg, and I will walk you back.” Merrik reached for his staff.

“No, no. Stay here and go back to bed.” Adry hopped to her feet. She held up her hand, a few tendrils of her magic twining around her fingers. “I’ll be fine.”

“Still, it seems the polite thing to do to walk you back.” Merrik used the staff to push upright, balancing on his left foot. He sent a tendril of his magic into the wood, breaking the staff into its two pieces to form his crutches. Crutches would make it easier to get back into his tent.

She pressed a light kiss to his cheek. “Save your steps for that excursion into Defense City that Fieran is planning. Besides, I’m sure at least one of my guards is lurking out there somewhere in the dark. They will walk me back.”

“All right.” Merrik sighed, hating that she had a point. He wanted to be capable of walking his girlfriend back to her room. He didn’t want to have to calculate how hard the walk back up the hill would be. But his body was still adjusting, still regaining strength, even after all these weeks and all the improvement he’d seen. “I will be here if you need me.”

“I know.” Adry turned around, walking backward for a few feet as she sent him a smile, lit by the blue glow of her magic. “Linshi, Merrik.”

Then she faced the other way and set off at a quick pace across the road and down the hill, headed for the elven officer quarters. A shadow—one of her guards—materialized out of the darkness to follow after her.

Merrik remained standing where he was, watching that dot of blue magic until it disappeared from sight.

Chapter

Twenty-Five

Merrik strolled hand-in-hand with Adry along the meandering streets of Defense City, a rambling town that had sprung up a few miles outside of Fort Defense.

Mak led the way through the streets crowded with humans, trolls, elves, and dwarves, both military personnel on a pass and those from the various Alliance kingdoms who had come to sell goods and entertainments, such as photograph booths or moving picture showings, to those on a pass.

Behind Merrik and Adry, Lt. Rothilion, the commander of the elven half of the squadron, silently took in the sights of the town. Taking up the rear, Fieran and Pip were talking quietly, also hand-in-hand and so wrapped up in each other and their conversation that it was amazing that they didn’t run into anyone.

Entering a smaller lane, they were surrounded by booths mostly run by elves. Lt. Rothilion quickened his pace, passing them as he headed deeper into the alley.

Adry halted by a booth that sold intricate wooden puzzle-models, which stood in full shapes rather than lying flat on the table. Some of the puzzles formed the shape of dogs, cats, other animals, and several different kinds of trees. The one that seemed to catch Adry’s eye was shaped like an airship.

“These look really fun.” Adry reached out, though she stopped short of touching any of the models at the proprietor’s sharp glare. “These would be perfect to do on some of the long evenings in the bunker or on rainy days. I was warned about the boredom, but I didn’t realize how much sitting around between the battles there would be.”

“It can get pretty boring on the quiet days.” Merrik inspected the models as well. He could see himself fiddling with one on the days when he and his squadron were on standby, and they were required to stay in the hanger just in case they were called up.

Adry picked out the airship, an aeroplane, and one of the trees for herself. Merrik grabbed a number of the trees, aeroplanes, airships, and several other assorted puzzles. The flyboys and flygirls would like them, and these would be a vast improvement over their other forays into hobbies, such as the sourdough fiasco and the more recent wood carving disaster that had kept the elven medic busy.

When Adry rummaged around in a pocket to pay, he shook his head. “No, let me.”

She sighed and shot him a look. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I like to spoil my girlfriend.” Girlfriend. He grinned, unable help himself. “I have not had much of a chance to do that until now.”

“Fine, fine.” With a shake of her head, Adry added her items to his pile and stepped back as he paid.

With a canvas bag of wooden models gripped in one hand, Merrik steered the two of them past the next couple of booths until they reached one selling elven shampoo and conditioner. It wasn’t shampoo and conditioner made by Aunt Illyna, making it inferior, but he didn’t say that. No need to insult the proprietor just because he was biased.

Adry sniffed a few of the scents and made a few polite murmurings before the two of them moved on. She, too, had enough sense not to mention that Aunt Illyna’s were better.

As they strolled away from that booth, Lije, Stickyfingers, and Aylia joined them, making their group rather large as they wandered through various side alleys. While they walked, Merrik was content to listen as Adry chatted with Mak, Pip, and the others.

Eventually, they located the new dwarven section that had sprung up after the dwarves had entered the war. These ramshackle booths lined a tiny, quiet alley, and everyone scattered to take in the items that most interested them.

Merrik held Adry’s hand as she tugged him from booth to booth, taking in the forged weapons, leather items, and other metal and stone items.