"Try," she whispered. "Try!"
"But do not tell anyone that the pipe is silent, Sathi. Perhaps I should not even have told you."
"Why not? I am your friend and the friend of your folk. I would we had all the tribes of Killorn here."
"Jonan is not," he said grimly.
"Jonan—he is a harsh man, yes. But...."
"He does not like us. I do not know why but he doesn't."
"He is a strange one," she admitted. "He is not even of Ryvanian birth, he is from Guria, a city which we conquered long ago, though of course its people have long been full citizens of the empire. He wants to marry me, did you know?" She smiled. "I could not help laughing for he is so stiff. One would as soon wed an iron cuirass."
"Aye—wed—" Kery fell silent, and there was a dream in his gaze as he looked over the hills.
"What are you thinking of?" she asked after a while.
"Oh—home," he said. "I was wondering if I would ever see Killorn again."