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"Thank you, Terius," Isana called back "Would you see to it that a er is sent for ain "Of course, my lady Be sure to fasten your safety straps"

Isana s officer banked up and away, to move back to his place at the head of the for sound made the inside of the coach see her wind-tossed hair, Veradis said, "It is possible that he knows, you know"

Isana arched an eyebrow at her "Hht know about the fortifications your brother has been building He ht knohy you came here today"

"WhatSenator Valerius's tent this ht A repulsive lad Bernard found it necessary to break his nose and two of his teeth

"Really?" Isana asked aloud She ed "It doesn't matter if he knows, really He can say what he wishes and wear anything on his head that he likes - but he isn't the First Lord, and he never will be"

Veradis shook her head "I my lady" She spread her hands "Sohtful First Lord, Gaius Octavian"

Veradis looked down "If," she said, very quietly, "he is alive"

Isana folded her hands in her lap and looked out theas the valley below began to grow larger, the colors brighter "He is alive, Veradis"

"How can you know that?"

Isana stared out theand frowned, faintly "I I'm not sure," she said, finally "But I feel certain of it It feels to me as if as if it is nearly sup perti the flock" She shook her head "Not literally, of course, but the sense of it, the emotion, is the same"

Veradis watched Isana with cal ho home"

There was silence Isana watched the walls of Garrison, the fortress-town her brother coed froes to constructions of sea of the First Lord, a scarlet eagle on a blue field, fluttered in the breeze, and beside it flew her brother's banner - a brown bear on a field of green

The town had grown again, even though Isana had been there only teeks before The shantytown originally erected just outside of Garrison's walls had been replaced with solid buildings of furycrafted stone, and a neall had been raised to protect theone up at the base of that wall, and Isana had been there the day Bernard's engineers had brought up the third one, another layer of concentric half circles that enfolded the growing town

The shanties were gone, replaced by s with very little to distinguish one from the next, but Isana was sure that they were perfectly functional and practical

And outside the third wall, still another shantytoas growing, like moss on the northern side of a stone