He sighed, folded the map back up, and laid his head down to take a nap.

He awoke with a start, realizing that he had no idea what time it was. Dusk could be long gone. He yanked his still-damp clothes on, shoved the star map in his pocket, and lifted the tent flap. The light sliced through the trees in long, dramatic, beautiful rays. It was not dark yet, but it was coming. He headed for the stream again as quickly as he could while still trying to look casual; he hoped Mara had not woken to see him sneaking off into the forest as fast as he could.

No one stopped him or seemed to notice him. He was back at the stream, sitting on top of the large boulder, with plenty of time to wait till the sun set. A few women were washing clothes in the water, talking softly, laughing. They nodded to him, then ignored him. It was a lovely, if cold, fall sunset, and they were all simply going about their business.

In the better light, he examined the star map again. He found Casel, and he studied the characters around it, struggling to translate the old Serabain. The paper was faintly translucent, and the sunlight made it glow a little. Between the sound of laughter and rushing water and the time alone to himself to study the map, he felt a strange contentment. Even with all the other problems in the world, there was still this moment.

As the sun faded, he stopped trying to read the map. The only parts he could decode were names of stars he already knew. The bottom portion completely eluded him. Indeed, the words seemed wrong, nonsensical. If only he knew more of ancient languages, but such scholarly study typically had little practical use. Thel would probably have known better what it said as he’d taken to the more esoteric subjects. Aven sat back and watched the water swishing by. The young women finished their work and strolled back to camp, smiling as they passed. He smiled back, nodded, and pretended to be enthralled by the beauty of nature at the moment. Which wasn’t far from the truth.

As soon as the women crested the hill, his mother and her companions appeared near the water’s edge. His mother’s face looked tired. He hated hurting her. He really hoped they’d found something.

Their glowing forms glided toward him in an odd blend of walking and sliding until his mother could sit near him on the rock. How that worked, he had no idea.

“What did you find?” he asked.

“Not much concrete, but a few things,” she said. “First, Beneral was able to reach Wunik, one of the elders and his teacher.”

“He believes freeing Kavanar mages is possible, based on the oldest tales,” said the lord. “Although he does not know how, he believes that if the tool they use to bind the mages was made by a mage, then it must be possible. We have no examples of magic that cannot be undone with other magic. Aside from, perhaps, this one.”

His mother nodded. “Anything that can be bound should be able to be unbound. The question is which kind of magic, what technique. But that we could find nothing on. Since the Dark Days, Kavanar and the Devoted appear to have been working to hide that knowledge. And it was rare enough to begin with.”

“Wunik also advised that he felt you’d have the Way of Things on your side, which can’t hurt,” said Beneral, “although I’m sure there are a few Devoted who would disagree.”

“The old tales also say air magic is used to bind the slaves,” his mother added. “Which is good news.”

Aven nodded solemnly. That was a positive, but not much help. To even believe he had a chance of success, he had already assumed all these things were true. It was nice to know it was indeed possible, but that didn’t tell him what to do. “Anything else?”

“Unfortunately, no,” she said. “We tried to reach several other elders. Three of them knew nothing of the subject, but two of them that should’ve known… could not hear our calls. We could not find them with squirrel or hawk, either. We’ve sent riders to check on them. I have a bad feeling about them.”

“Wunik wishes you all the luck of the gods,” said Vonen. “He said he hopes to speak with you when you return.”

Aven smiled. “That’s good of him to say. I’m going to need all the luck I can get.”

“I found the book you left on the balcony,” his mother said. “I just noticed today—it’s a book of magic, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “I never got to read it. Teron gave two books to me. Wait—”

“Teron!” she cried.

“I never had a chance to tell you! That’s why we were headed to the balcony to talk. I had the strangest conversation with Teron, where he gave me those two books. Inside one was a map of the stars that I managed to bring with me. Otherwise, I didn’t get to look at the books. But what was so strange—it seemed like he knew about my magic, that Evana had told him. But for some reason, giving me those two books was his only response.”

She said nothing, dumbfounded. Beneral and Vonen frowned and glanced at each other.

“Surely they are gone by now. He never mentioned anything of it?”

She shook her head. “It’s only been three days, Aven. They are not gone. A drop in the bucket of their extended stay. But we felt sure they didn’t know. They’ve carried on just the same. Accepted our excuses at your absence readily. Why?”

“They’re mages,” Aven asserted. “That must be it.”

“What! No. How could that be?”

“Teron, at least. I’m telling you. Confront them.”

“And if they are not?”

“You have been nothing but polite to them. I’m sure they can take a good-natured accusation. But think about it. Why would they want to stay in Akaria so long? How can they have nothing else to do? Maybe they have some ulterior motive.”

She nodded slowly. Beneral spoke up. “Takar does not have mage slaves—or at least not that we know of—but the Devoted are based there. My merchants say it is not a good place for mages.”

“Evana seemed to have a kill-on-sight policy.”

“Perhaps it is worse than we thought, and they don’t want to return.”

“Ask them. Ask him why he picked those books, how he found them. He said they were in our library—why did he go looking?”

“I will,” she nodded. “Vonen’s power is waning, Aven. This star map, can we see it?”

He turned and picked up the map to show her—and gasped in surprise.