a widow should not be commanding an army, and the thought of adjunct tavore leading that army into a war left lostara both disturbed and frightened. to wear the mask of the widow was to reject life itself, scattering ashes into one's own path ahead, making the future as grey as the past. it was as if a pyre awaited them all, and at the moment of standing on the threshold of those murderous flames, she saw tavore paran stride forward, bold and resolute. and the army at her back would simply follow.

two people seated across from one another, silent and trapped inside the world of their unspoken, private thoughts. the waters never blended, and the currents of the other were for ever strange and forbidding. there was no comfort in these suppers. they were, in fact, excruciating.

she quickly made her escape. each night, retreating to the silk-walled chamber that was her bedroom. where she sharpened and oiled her knife to drive away the red stain. solitude could be an unwelcome place, but even the unwelcome could become habit.

lostara had heard banaschar's footsteps as he headed for his temple of maps. they were steady this night, those footsteps, which meant he was more or less sober. not often the case, alas, which was too bad-or perhaps not. sometimes-his clear, sober times-the bleak horror in his eyes could overwhelm. what had it been like, worshipping the worm of autumn, that pale bitch of decay? it would take a particular person to be drawn to such a thing. one for whom abject terror meant facing the nightmare. or, conversely, one who hungered for what could not be avoided, the breaking down of flesh and dreams, the knowledge of the multitude of carrion eaters that waited for him at life's end.

but the worm had cast him out. she had embraced all her other lovers, but not banaschar. what did that mean to the man? the eaters would have to wait. the nightmare was not yet ready to meet his eyes. obeisance to the inevitable was denied. go away.

so, he would begin the rotting from the inside out. spilling libations to drown the altar of his own soul. it was not desecration, it was worship.

the knife-edge went snick against the whetstone, steady as a heartbeat, each side in counter-beat as she flipped the blade in perfect rhythm. snick snick snick...

here in this cloth house, the others had their rituals. while she-she had her tasks of maintenance and preparedness. as befitted a soldier.

stormy sat, back against the stepped rail that served as the barge's gunwale, positioned just so. opposite, the jade slashes loomed in the south sky, fierce and ominous, and to his eyes it seemed the heavens were coming for him, a personal and most private vendetta. he tried to think of a guilt worthy of the magnitude. that pouch of coins he'd once lifted from a drunk noble in falar? he'd been able to buy a decent knife with that. how old had he been? ten? twelve?

maybe that passed-out woman he'd groped? that friend of his aunt's, easily twice his age-her tits had felt huge in his hands, heavy and wayward, and she'd moaned when he pinched her nipples, legs shifting and opening up-and what would a fifteen-year-old boy do with that? well, the obvious, he supposed. in went his finger, and then a few more.

at some point she'd opened her eyes, frowned up at him, as if trying to place him. and then she'd sighed, the way a mother sighed when a wide-eyed son pressed her with awkward questions. and she took hold of that hand with all its probing fingers-he'd expected her to pull him out. instead, she pushed the whole hand inside. he didn't even think that was possible.

drunk women still held a certain fascination for stormy, but he never went after them, in case he heard that sigh again, the one that could turn him back into a nervous, lip-licking fifteen-year-old. guilt, aye, it was a terrible thing. the world tilted, came back, eager to crush him flat. because doing something wrong pushed it the other way, didn't it? keep pushing until you lose your footing and then wait for the sudden shadow, the huge thing blotting out the sky. splat was another word for justice, as far as he was concerned. when it all comes back, aye.

he'd thrown his sister into a pond, once. but then, she'd been doing that to him for years, until that day when he realized he was bigger and stronger than she was. she'd hissed and spat her way back out, a look of outrage on her face. recalling that, stormy smiled. justice by his own hand-no reason for feeling guilty about that one.

he'd killed plenty of people, of course, but only because they'd been trying to kill him and would have done just that if he'd let them. so that didn't count. it was the soldier's pact, after all, and for all the right decisions that kept one alive, a thousand things one could do nothing about could take a fool down. the enemy wasn't just the one in front of you-it was the uncertain ground underfoot, the stray arrow, the flash of blinding sunlight, the gust of grit in the eye, the sudden muscle cramp or the snapped blade. a soldier fought against a world of enemies each and every time, and walking free of that was a glory to make the gods jealous. maybe the guilt showed up, but that was later, like an aftertaste when you can't even remember the taste itself. it was thin, not quite real, and to chew on it too long was just self-indulgence, as bad as probing a loose tooth.