"i will do my best," he replied.

"in the meantime, let's go to kifirin and visit the babies." i stood and dusted off my clothes.

"i will be pleased to make that journey," reemagar smiled again. i liked it. the blue of his skin was flawless. he folded both of us to the palace in veshtul.

"lissa, what are you doing here?" garde was walking down the hall toward glinda and jayd's suite. i'd been about to knock on their door.

"we came to see the babies," i said.

"then we'll see the babies." garde rapped lightly on the door before entering the royal suite. glinda was rocking one of the tiny girls; the other was sleeping in a crib close by. jayd was sitting on a chair next to glinda's.

"how are they?" i whispered, going to look at the one in her crib. they'd named the girls jhase and jheri, but i hadn't sorted out the scents, yet. it didn't matter; they were adorable.

"fine," glinda smiled. "all fed and no longer fussy."

"how's papa?" i looked over at jayd.

"as fine as i can be at the moment," jayd sighed. "we got the last of the troublemakers off-kiarra and kyler accomplished this for us so we wouldn't have to worry about the girls' safety."

"i'll bet evensun is a wreck already," i muttered. "those fools."

"they'll bring in some of the others tomorrow," jayd went on.

"you'll have your work cut out for you, even with willing help," i said. "we'll help as much as we can-i'll try to get some of the farmers and such to come and teach them what they need to know. surely some of the new ones will know how to cook and clean."

"little queen, i think you should not worry; they are going to wresha tomorrow," reemagar rubbed a hand over my shoulders. "there are many on that world belonging to the lower castes who know much about those things, including how to plant and harvest. it is the highest castes who have ruined the world and brought it to its current status."

"if you need something, let me know," i nodded to jayd. he looked exhausted. "did you get dinner tonight? something decent?" i waited for an answer. "i'll be back," i said and folded away. reemagar came with me; we loaded up quite a bit of food from my palace kitchen and returned with it. i fixed a plate for jayd, glinda and garde and then sat with them while they ate. reemagar even helped me clean up the dishes and the kitchen after they were done. i was familiar with jayd's palace kitchen, after all-i'd worked there for a while.

"lissa, you don't have to do this," garde came in while i was wiping off cabinets and countertops.

"yes, i do," i said, giving the counter one last swipe. "i took your help away. we just have to get you better help and get them settled. they'll have a big cleanup job to do in veshtul; i can't imagine the others left it in good shape. i wish jayd would let glinda stay with us while you wrangle the new ones. and you're all welcome to come for meals, if nothing else. can glinda use her power, now? she can fold those babies in and out anytime. giff would be more than happy to help her. has jayd given any thought to bringing in a nanny or something?"

"lissa, slow down," garde put his hands on my shoulders. "the universe's troubles aren't all yours. we need to stand up and take responsibility for ourselves. we got us into this mess; we have to get ourselves out."

"i just feel responsible," i said, rubbing my forehead to ease the tension.

"lissa, if you hadn't done what you did when you did it, imagine where we'd be right now. i don't think we could have beaten back what showed up on our doorstep, do you?"

i didn't answer-we both knew the answer was no. garde's hand moved to the back of my neck and he massaged it gently, beneath my hair, which i'd left loose. "thank you for dinner," his breath fanned my temple as he leaned down to kiss my nape. "go home, lissa, and get some rest. you look tired."

reemagar folded us back to le-ath veronis and i thanked him before he went toward his suite. "connegar was going to come looking for you earlier," he turned back before i went inside my suite. "i asked him if i could come instead. he allowed it."

"thanks. i appreciate what you did for me, tonight." he smiled gently, so i told him goodnight and opened the door of my suite. drew was waiting on me when i walked inside.

"there's our girl," dragon said, greeting me. he and crane were waiting at the breakfast table when drake and drew herded me to the dining room the following morning.

"hey, dragon. what's up?" i went to give him a peck on the cheek. well, i was fooling around with his boys and all. didn't that make us in-laws or something?

"belen has given permission for all the former falchani and their mates, if they so desire, to join the army on falchan right now. there's a problem and the falchani need our help. don't worry," he held up a hand when i started to tell him i was busier than a ping pong ball in a tornado, "it's temporary and we can fold you back to this moment in time if you're worried you might miss a boring meeting." dragon grinned at me. i didn't see him grin often, actually. he must really be looking forward to this. "belen said you were welcome to go if you wanted. i just thought you might like to spend some time on falchan. look at it as a sort of honeymoon."

"uh-huh," i nodded. "can i have breakfast, first?"

"why? there's breakfast waiting in the cooking tents on falchan."

"tents?" i think my eyebrows must have risen alarmingly, because i was folded away before i could say no.

dragon wasn't lying (as saa thalarr, he couldn't). there were cooking tents, all right, and falchani warriors were lined up to get breakfast in front of a long, makeshift serving table. it was late summer there-i learned that much by looking. after staring down at myself, i found i was now dressed in black leathers, just like everybody else. dragon was making sure i fit in as well as i could. i think every falchani who had joined the saa thalarr was there with me-dragon, crane, drake, drew, dragon taylor, crane trevor, pheran tiger, caylon black, veykan, turtle and rik. devin had come along, too, i saw. i knew where she'd be sleeping.

"did you get a chance to say no?" devin sidled up to me, watching both dragon and crane. stoicism aside, they were happy to be treading the soil of falchan again.

"that answer would be no," i muttered. we both spoke the falchani language; no need to arouse anyone's suspicions. at least my leathers were sleeveless, just like the others, and laced up the front. devin's did, too-the guys just left theirs open-no doubt to show off multiple tattoos and sculpted abs.

"is this your company?" someone walked up to dragon as we stood in line for breakfast.

"yes, lord marshall," dragon inclined his head slightly to the warrior. he had a long braid down his back, just as dragon did and wore his vest open like the other males. his chest tattoo was a snarling wolf and smaller wolves wound around his arms, chasing one another.

"stop by the warlord's tent after breakfast and we'll record the names," the lord marshall commanded.

"yes, lord marshall," dragon dipped his head a second time as the lord marshall strode away.

"that's lord marshall wolf," drake turned and grinned at me.

"nooo," i said. "really?" drake and drew were ahead of me in line, which was fine. devin was standing with me, letting hers go ahead of her, too. i guess rank had its privileges. former warlords and generals got to go first. i could understand that.

"so, who's warlord now?" i asked, as we inched our way toward the serving line.

"the eagle warlord," drew said. "the bear general is his second-in-command."

"why are we here?" i asked. i was stumped, i admit, and i hadn't gone looking for any info, yet.

"you see the mountain range north of here?" drake asked. i looked, bending down a little to do so; the sides of the tent had been rolled up so we only had a roof over our heads for shade.

"yeah."

"on the other side of that mountain range are the lands of the reldani barbarians. they've organized recently, instead of raiding in bands as they normally do. they have a huge army waiting on the far side of the closest mountain, due north of here," drake continued. "we're here to help convince them that attacking the falchan side of the continent is a bad idea."

"oooh," i nodded.

"they'll take any excuse to go whack people with swords," devin laughed. "just so you know, we have tents of our own and your blades are there, with everybody else's."

"i don't recall having blades," i said.

"you do, now. dragon got shadow to ask glendes to make them for you. shadow put protection jewels in the hilts. they're ready to go."

"i'm still trying to figure out why i'm here," i grumped.

"come on, baby, it'll be fun," drew was grinning again. "we'll move out tomorrow. don't you want to be with us?" he was doing his best impression of a pout.

"hey, don't mess up that handsome face with a pout," i said, crossing my arms over my chest. "and i do want to be with you. you couldn't book us a nice hotel, somewhere?"

"you didn't leave the females at home?" a warrior elbowed his way past us, giving devin and me a black look as he did so.

"somebody needs an ass-whoopin'," i grumbled as soon as he was out of hearing. devin snorted a laugh.

we went to register at the warlord's tent later; there was a long line standing in front of us doing the same thing. "this is for the small companies and individuals coming from the hills and outlying villages," drake whispered to me as we patiently waited our turn. the afternoon sun was hot as it bore down on us and my black leathers didn't help much with that. i wanted to fan myself, but it wasn't in the stoic falchani warrior manual to appear weak or uncomfortable. therefore, i sweated and suffered in silence. the grass was dead and the ground was dry and dusty beneath our feet. it made me wonder when the last rain had come.