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The syraza chihter "You woke because he left, precious one"

"Hunh?"

"There was a peace upon you while he was here," she told me, "and you slept deeply and well When he left, you reached for that peace like a blanket that had slipped fro and so, awoke"

The truth of it wound throughto be annoyed that he wasn’t here"

"Yes, he will be," she replied, violet eyes alight with amusement "Take the opportunity to bathe, and you will feel more refreshed when he returns" Her head tilted, and her eyes unfocused briefly "He is still with Idris"

I considered everything that had happened in the past few days, and my smile slipped a bit "It scared ued, it was like I lost so I couldn’t replace I wondered if ins to have, us for their captor, but now…" I shook my head

The syraza leaned forward "What you nainates here" She touched in of your ‘like’ of hiain, "or here," she tapped my chest above my heart, "or somewhere beyond both"

"Before yesterday, I was too confused to know" I sat up and draggedhappened e faced Rhyzkahl" I paused, considered "I’ pros and cons inIt’s…" I trailed off as I realized I didn’t have words for it

"Beyond both," Ilana said quietly "Find the balance between the head, the heart, and that which lies beyond"

"Easy for you to say," I said with a s bath Deep thinking will be a lot easier once I start feeling hued for awhile as I processed the events of yesterday We’d beaten Rhyzkahl Holy shit We beat hih I knew the core of it still rees about it A different light had been shed on the trust between us I couldn’t explain it, but right now I knew I trusted him as much as I could trust anyone More really

My hands were nicely pruney by the tied myself out of the bath-pool I toweled off, slipped on a robe, and headed out, then paused at the sight of Mzatal standing in his usual spot on the balcony, looking out, hands behind his back

I took a deep breath, padded out in

"I brought you to these rooms so that I could watch over you," Mzatal said quietly He exhaled a low breath "And, I wanted you close"

It tookabout Then I realized Oh, right I moved out Technically, this wasn’t my bedroom anymore

He shifted and splayed his hands on the rail "It cannot be like it was"

"Well, I fucking hope not," I replied, with perhaps a hint of acid in hed and shook my head "I hope it can be better"

"It already is," he said "So much has clarified"

I looked over at Mzatal I knew ard to how much I trusted him But how much had clarified for him? And, if so, in ay?

His left hand dipped into a pocket then placed a ring on the rail My ring The one I’d thrown against the wall The lovely blue stone had a long crack in it