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us, as though they expected us to go on a rampage of murder and destruction at any moment. At another time I might have been tempted to oblige them, but just now it was all I could do to sit still and pretend that nothing was wrong.
    Once again I’d had too much time to think, so my thoughts had gone in the predictable direction. I’d replayed that last conversation with Vallant over and over again in my mind, and the more I thought about it the more upset I became. Jovvi had said he was afraid to become involved with me again, so I’d been trying to soothe his fear the way he’d once soothed mine. I’d resigned myself to the complete lack of progress I’d apparently been making, but then he’d actually come out and said that he had no interest in courting me in Alsin’s place.
    I moved in discomfort on the old chair I’d chosen to sit on, finding it impossible to make “uninterested” equal “frightened.” I’d been afraid of all men when Vallant had tried to court me, but there had still been that … undeniable attraction I’d felt every time I saw the man. My insistence that I felt nothing of the sort had been easy for anyone to see through, which was the major difference between that situation and the one I now had with Vallant. He always moved away from me at the first opportunity, as though he really couldn’t stand being near me.
    Jovvi stirred in the chair next to mine, and even though she remained silent I understood what was bothering her and tried to get my emotions back under control. The bleakness and desolation I’d been living with lately was quite a lot like the countryside we’d ridden through in Astinda: deliberately spread and impossible to deny. It had to be almost as painful for Jovvi as it was for me, and she didn’t deserve to have that thrust at her. It was enough that
I
had to feel it…
    “… so after becomin’ aware ourselves of the large number of people headin’ in our direction, we then found out who they were,” Vallant was saying. “The Astindans have thousands of reasons to cross the border into the empire and give back what they’ve gotten, thousands of dead bodies and acres of land. They don’t know that the people around here had nothin’ to do with what the army did, and they probably don’t care. They’regoin’ to do as they were done to, and so far none of our forces has been able to stand up to them.”
    “Or surrender,” Idroy Welt said, sounding and looking more than a little believing and therefore disturbed. “That’s what you said, ain’t it? That they don’t wanna hear nothin’ about surrenderin’? So what’r we s’posta do? Jest run, an’ hope we c’n stay ahead of ’em?”
    “That’s a very good question,” Jovvi said while everyone in the room made sounds which showed their own disturbance. “It’s something none of us have discussed, because we’ve decided to go back to Gan Garee and take care of the business waiting for us
there
. But our doing that won’t stop that oncoming army, or save you and your land and your neighboring towns and their land. Does anyone have a suggestion we can talk about?”
    “Whut about thet there Blendin’ stuff?” someone asked from the back of the room, sounding as though he discussed something dirty but unfortunately necessary. “Cain’t you lot do somethin’?”
    “You mean like repeating what started all this and destroy them?” Jovvi asked gently but without hesitation. “It’s just possible we might be able to do that, but if we do, what’s to stop the nobility from coming back and taking up where they left off? Do all of you
like
being nothing but workers on the land someone else owns even though it’s your blood, sweat, and effort that makes it worth owning? I can tell you that the Astindans didn’t enjoy being invaded and destroyed, and something like that can happen as easily to you as it did to them.”
    “No, she’s not guessing,” Lorand said when a mutter went up that