I slowly opened my eyes.

I was lying on some sort of mattress, tucked into the corner of a ruined room. I could have been back in Zianna, in the room I had shared with Baisan and the others. Except that our room in Zianna had been in better condition.

The walls looked like they had begun to crumble; there were a few gaps near the roof. Sunlight filtered through multiple holes in the ceiling. The most stable looking part of the roof was right above me. I moved to push myself upright, and groaned as a sudden sharp pain spread across my right shoulder. My head hurt and my vision swam.

My groan woke up Tannix, who was sitting beside the mattress, leaning against the wall. He opened his eyes, and when they landed on me, his face broke into a smile.

"Finn!" He threw himself over the mattress and pulled me into a tight hug, which did nothing to help my aching shoulder.

I tried to complain, but my mouth was so dry I could hardly make a sound. Tannix pulled back, finally noticing that he'd hurt me.

"Sorry, Finn. Here." He handed me a flask. "Drink. You're dehydrated. Slowly," he added, as I lifted it to my lips.

I forced myself to drink it slowly, and distracted myself by inspecting him. His right arm was still in a sling, but his shoulder didn't look wrong anymore. The bruising on his face was still dark, but with a hint of yellow that meant he was healing. He was wearing different clothing, which was dirty but not spotted with blood.

I swallowed the last drops of water in the flask and dropped it. "Is—" I paused to clear my throat, "Is this always how you're going to greet me? By hurting me somehow?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when we first met, you tackled me to the ground."

"It was a training exercise." Tannix shuffled closer, and started to inspect the bandage wrapped around my right shoulder and part of my upper arm. "How do you feel?"

"Terrible. The second time we met, you slammed me into a wall and held a knife to my throat."

"You were sneaking around outside my window. I thought you were a spy. Or an assassin." He awkwardly began to unwind the bandages with one hand. "I was told to put more salve on your shoulder when you woke up. It might hurt."

"I can handle it." I shrugged, which was a terrible idea. I winced as a new wave of pain blossomed. "The third time we met," I said, trying my best to ignore the pain, "You shocked me into almost hanging myself and then you bought me."

"I saved your life." With a frustrated huff he finished undoing my bandage. "Here, lie down."

I carefully leaned back, and once I was comfortable, quickly glanced at my shoulder. I immediately wished I hadn't. Around the somewhat circular wound, my skin was discoloured—almost gray. I made myself stare at the ceiling again. One by one, I wiggled the fingers on my right hand, just to make sure I could.

Tannix was struggling with a small jar. I let that distract me. It was almost funny. "In prison you said you weren't an invalid because you can fight with your left hand as well as your right. So... why can't you open a jar?"

"I never practiced opening a jar with one hand. Finn, I can't even... thank the Goddess you've woken up. I was so worried about you. And the knights were, too." He popped the lid off with a victorious grin. "We've been taking turns watching over you. Did you hear us talking to you?" He dipped his fingers into the paste and began to gently rub it around my wound.

It stung. I flinched away.

"Finn. I have to do this, and then we'll get you some food. But if you aren't going to stay still I'll have to call Jalor in to pin you down."

"Wouldn't you rather pin me down yourself?"

Tannix frowned. "Finn. I'm being serious."

I sighed and closed my eyes. "All right, I won't move. I did hear you, you know. Sometimes." I winced when he touched me again, but I took a deep breath and forced myself not to move." It was fuzzy. Sometimes I could hear people talking to me, but they'd cut out or trail off and the next thing I knew the voice was gone. It was strange. I..." A specific thing I had heard came back with a jolt. "I heard what you said to Siour."

"Oh... well, apparently it worked."

I opened my eyes and pushed myself up with my good arm. "Don't ever offer your life for mine again."

"Finn."

"No, Tannix, this time I'm serious. Don't. You're much more important than I am and we're—" I clenched my jaw and quietly endured another wave of pain. It took me a moment to regain my thought. "We're at war. Zianna needs you."

He met my gaze steadily. "We're not discussing this right now. Now, I'm obviously not going to be able to wrap your shoulder again, so... Jalor!"

"How is everyone?" I asked.

"For the most part, fine. Ender's walking, Jalor reset my shoulder—"

"He what?"

"It was dislocated. Not a serious injury, but we had to wait until we had a moment of spare time to set it. And he insists I rest it. Anyway, everyone else got through with minor injuries. Once you were hurt we were unstoppable. The Deorans had no chance. Jalor!" he tried again.

"Kalvahi?" My vision went blurry again and I tried to blink it away.

"He disappeared. I expect he didn't want to let me get close enough to kill him. Ja—oh."

Jalor stepped into the room. "Sir, I... Finn? How long have you been awake?"

"Not long. You need to rebind his shoulder." Tannix got to his feet. "I'll go find you some fo—"

A girl was leaning over me. Her shape was a little hazy, but I could tell she was a girl. Long blond hair tickled my cheek as she pressed a damp cloth to my forehead. Annoyed, I tried to push her hand away.

"Shh, Finn. It's just me. Mayah."

"Hmm?"

"Lady East Draulin. You saved me, remember?"

"Mmm... Tannix... going to bring me food."

"Yes, he was," she said gently. "But you passed out again. That was a few hours ago."

My vision cleared. Lady East Draulin was kneeling beside my mattress, wearing a dress that looked more suited to a peasant than a lady. She put a gentle hand on my chest to stop me from sitting up and continued pressing the damp cloth to my forehead.

"Shh," she repeated. She sounded like Kassia, trying to sooth me while my hand was crushed. I tried to push her hand away again, but I was exhausted. "Sir Kor?" she called.

"Aye, my lady?" He was close. I blinked, and turned my head to see him lean into the room.

"Please tell Tandrix that Finn's awake again."

"Aye."

Lady Mayah turned back to me. Putting the cloth aside, she pressed the flask into my hand. "Drink."

I didn't have the energy to sit up, so I drank the water lying down. As I drank, movement at the door caught my attention and Ender hobbled in. He had a long piece of wood propped under his left arm, which he used to keep weight off of his left leg.

He was grinning when he reached my side. "Welcome back, Finn. Again. You staying with us this time?"

"Zianesa willing," I mumbled. "How are you?"

"Good. Well, better. Want to see it?" Ender gripped the hem of his shirt, but then paused and glanced at Lady Mayah. "Oh. Sorry, ma'am, I guess this isn't really appropriate for yo—"

She sighed and brushed some hair away from her face. "Not a problem, Sir Ender. I've gotten quite used to the lot of you stripping without realizing I'm there."

"Right. Sorry 'bout that. Look, Finn." He pulled up his shirt, revealing a jagged wound running down his left side. It was longer than I thought, running from just under his armpit down to his hip. It was healing into a thick scar, crisscrossed with lines of thread from when Kalvahi's physician stitched it. I'd seen big scars before, but never ones so fresh. It didn't seem possible that he was walking.

"Does... it hurt?"

"Not really." Ender dropped his shirt. "Well... not just on its own. If I'm not moving it's all right. When I'm moving, it's... not great. Actually, shortly after you took that arrow—awe inspiring, by the way—I lost consciousness. So, turns out I really did appreciate having a giant blacksmith who could carry me. Reckon Mandell could've done it, but he had you slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Anyway, Jalor made me this crutch, so at least I can move around on my own."

"You won't need it forever, right?"

He shrugged. "Hard to say. Jalor doesn't think so. But either way I'm alive and I'm grateful for it. Also, there'll be no trouble telling me and Kor apart now."

Mayah got to her feet. While dusting off her dress, she said, "yes, if you two constantly walk around without tunics on."

"Aye, that's true. We wouldn't force such unpleasant images on a lady such as yourself."

"Thank you. Now, where is your brother with Tandrix?"

Ender shrugged again. "One moment, ma'am." He made his way to the door, clearly already pretty comfortable moving with the crutch. "Kor! Hurry it up!"

"Shut it, Ender," Kor replied, suddenly showing up in the doorway. "We were getting Finn some food."

Tannix pushed past both of them, carrying a cracked bowl in his left hand. "Did you show off your battle scar?" he asked Ender, while handing me the bowl. I carefully lifted it to my lips to drink the watery soup.

"Aye. I think it scared Finn, to be honest. But—" Ender was standing beside the mattress again. "You know, Finn, you and I are the only ones with real battle scars, aye? The other knights are jealous."

"Because I've always wanted to have my torso split open," Kor said dryly.

"You're jealous because that nick on your shoulder seems like nothing now."

"Aye. And the women will love looking at your hideous gash."

"It just shows how brave I am," Ender replied.

"You were downed in our first real fight," Kor scoffed.

"Downed, not killed. Shows how resilient I am, mate."

"Gentlemen, maybe you could take this debate elsewhere," Tannix said.

They both looked at him. Then at me. Ender nodded. "Right, mate. Lady Mayah, may we escort you to the dining room? I'm sure Jalor has more of that delicious smelling soup."

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Very gallant," she teased, as she followed them out.

Tannix finally sat down beside my mattress, with his legs crossed. I put aside the bowl I had already emptied. "So... Jalor is a knight, physician, and a cook? What doesn't he do?" I turned so I could lean on the wall beside my mattress. Tannix didn't answer, he seemed distracted from just staring at me. "How long have we been here?" I tried again.

He blinked as if he just noticed that I had spoken. "This is the fifth day."

"We've been stuck for five days? Why haven't we left?"

"We couldn't move you," Tannix said. "You were poisoned, and Jalor was trying to find a physician to come look at you. Besides, we seem to be relatively safe here. And we all needed a little time to recuperate. Especially Ender. Although the men are going a bit stir crazy, since we can't leave. Joen and Mandell have been handling going out in the city and trying to get us supplies. We thought they might not be so noticeable."

I nodded. "Makes sense."

"Joen's been spectacular, by the way," Tannix continued. "He's been learning some Deoran, and Acen's been helping him practice fighting. He isn't very good with a sword but I wouldn't want to challenge him to a fight with war hammers."

Part of me still felt like Joen was my responsibility. "That's good. I'm glad. He deserves to get home."

Tannix nodded. "I agree, he's a good man. So... between sitting with you, carefully pouring water into your mouth, and Acen forcing me to sleep, I've been thinking about how we're going to get home. I think our best bet is by ship. We thought about trying to get some horses and riding across the desert, but we might as well just surrender ourselves back to Kalvahi for all the good that would do us. A ship would be faster, and safer."

Heading across a desert on horseback did sound like a terrible idea, even if being on the ocean again wasn't my favourite option. "So how are we getting a ship?"

Tannix looked a little sheepish. "Well... that part of the plan sort of hinged on you waking up."

I groaned and buried my face in my left hand. "You want me to steal a ship?"

"Don't tell me you can't do it."

I lifted my head to meet his gaze. "I didn't say that. I just need a day or two to... what was that word you just said? Recuperate?"

Tannix smiled. "So you can do it?"

"I can do it."