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WHERE IS HOME?

Wizard Cam had no servants at his castle, so they all made dinner, served it, and washed up. Taylaminkadot fussed about people who didn’t know their place. She would’ve done all the work if the others had let her. When she learned the extra guest for the meal was Paladin, she threw her apron over her head and sat in the corner until Librettowit coaxed her out.

Kale moved sluggishly with Gymn draped around her shoulders like a scarf. They had spent most of two days giving aid to wounded soldiers, most of whom were marione farmers who had valiantly traveled the distance to meet evil head-on. All who were able helped the wounded. Of course, Kale and Gymn were greatly needed. They treated the wounds of injured dragons as well. The dragons sometimes embarrassed her with their obvious adoration and their pleas for forgiveness.

“Just do what’s right from now on,” she said over and over. “You need to deal with Wulder. Show Him you’re sorry by doing right by your families.”

She returned to the wizard’s lake castle with a sigh of relief.

They sat around a plank table in the castle’s kitchen. A fire blazed in the hearth, fish jumped in the stream flowing through the room, and Dar had placed mugs of hot mallow on a tray with plenty of daggarts.

He leaned back in his chair, pulled out his harmonica, and provided restful music for their digestion.

“You’ve done well,” said Paladin as he looked around the company of his servants. Candlelight highlighted the reddish tints in his dark brown hair. His smile eased the hardness of his strong features. Kale felt the friendly warmth of his gaze and knew this important man actually liked her.

He set his mug down on the table and addressed those relaxing around the room. “What do you wish to do now that the threat to Amara has been crushed?”

“I want to go home,” said Librettowit. “The shelves will need dusting. And the books I bought in Prushing will have arrived by now.”

Paladin nodded. “Wizard Fenworth, Librettowit, Kale, her dragons, Taylaminkadot, Toopka, and Regidor shall go back to Bedderman’s Bog.”

He smiled at Kale. “I’ve seen that Bardon has shown you how to defend yourself. I suspect you both learned from Regidor as well. You must concentrate on your skills as a wizard now.”

Wizard Fenworth twitched, sending a scurry of beetles out of one sleeve. “I’m retired, you know.”

“Yes, I had heard that. Who will teach wizardry skills to Kale and Regidor?”

Cam raised a finger. “I’m not overly occupied at present.”

Paladin winked at the wizard. “Do you wish to stay in your castle or at Fenworth’s?”

“Here now!” exclaimed Fen. “Pesky cousin. A distant cousin. Ninth cousin, twenty-two times removed, at least. He hasn’t been invited.”

“Yes,” said Paladin in a reasonable tone, “but if he were there to handle the small things that come up, you could enjoy your retirement more fully.”

Fenworth harrumphed but did not voice any further objections.

Cam smiled at his cousin. “I’ll spend some time with Fenworth in The Bogs. I’m sure he’d miss the hubbub if he found himself alone with only Librettowit and Thorpendipity. But I will take the students on field trips. Nothing like on-the-spot instruction.”

Paladin nodded and raised an eyebrow in Regidor’s direction. “I haven’t forgotten Gilda.”

Regidor’s hand dropped to cover a spot on the side of his robe. “She’s safe.”

Paladin’s eyebrow rose a notch. “Do you mean she’s safe to be around, or she’s safe from harm in your pocket?”

Regidor’s thin lips puckered. He looked Paladin in the eye. “I would like to be responsible for her. She bonded to Risto, and now Risto is dead. I feel I can help her.”

“So be it,” Paladin said and turned to address Kale’s mother. “Lady Allerion?”

“I should like to travel. I didn’t really enjoy being restricted to that dungeon. And I might just uncover a way to free Kemry.” She laid a hand on Fenworth’s arm. “I do hope you will allow me to visit often, Fen. I would like to get to know my daughter.”

Fenworth arched an eyebrow at her but did not answer.

“Thank you.” Lyll leaned forward and kissed the old man’s brow as if he had graciously invited her to come at any time.

“Harrumph! Seems I neglected that lesson for you as well. Your daughter hugs me. You kiss me. Not at all the thing. Wizards must be held in great respect. Unapproachable. Awe-inspiring.”

A mouse slid out from under his hat and scrambled down his sleeve, across his lap, and down to the floor.

“Nothing,” said Fenworth, “should detract from a wizard’s dignity.”

Paladin stroked his chin with his long fingers as he nodded solemnly. “I couldn’t agree more, Wizard Fenworth.”

He turned to the warriors. “Lee Ark and Lord Brunstetter, where do you wish to go?”

“Home,” they said in unison.

“So be it.” Paladin’s eyes held sympathy. “Dar?”

The doneel took the harmonica from his mouth long enough to answer. “Home, Wittoom.”

“And Bardon?”

Kale held her breath and looked down at the daggart in her hand. Where could Bardon go? He didn’t answer, and she peeked across the table in time to see him shrug.

Paladin drummed his fingers on the table for a moment before he spoke. “I think you’ve learned what Grand Ebeck wanted you to know when he sent you from The Hall. Are you ready to begin training as a knight?”

Bardon jerked up straight in his chair. “Yes sir.” He bit his lips and blinked. Kale saw his hand move as if to reach up and pull the locks covering his ears, but he stilled the movement.

Was he supposed to learn something about his mother and father as I have? Was he supposed to learn to accept his roots? Because if he was, I don’t think he did!

Bardon sat a little straighter. Kale watched the familiar resolve sharpen the contours of his jaw.

“Sir, I don’t know what it was that Grand Ebeck expected me to learn.”

Paladin smiled the slow, relaxed smile that somehow made Kale trust him and his wisdom. “I’m not surprised. Often the lessons in life that are the most meaningful are the hardest for us to sort out. Wulder blessed you with a great potential. He used your parents to gift you with unique traits. Grand Ebeck saw those inherent talents bound by your rigid adherence to rules. He threw you out of the austere environment of The Hall so that you would have a chance to become more flexible.”

Paladin swung his arm around, his sweeping gesture indicating the members of the quest sitting around the stone kitchen. “In the company of this motley crew, how could you help but unbend a little?”

Kale grinned as Librettowit and Fenworth harrumphed, Dar and Cam chortled, and Toopka laughed out loud.

Bardon’s lips spread into a smile, and his body relaxed. “So I was to learn to be more yielding before I entered a discipline that is unyielding?”

Paladin clapped him on the shoulder. “Precisely! You must learn to be malleable before you’re formed into an instrument of justice. Otherwise you wield a sword with no mercy, no discernment.”

Bardon nodded thoughtfully, then glanced at Kale and winked.

You have changed, Bardon!

“And I intend to change even more. In three years I will be a knight, Kale. And if our paths do not cross again until then, I promise I will seek you out so you can marvel at the Snitch.”

Kale gasped, and then smiled. He knew the name they had all called him back at The Hall.

Paladin nodded as if he understood their exchange. “You will need something I believe our venerable Wizard Fenworth has been keeping for you.” He stretched out his open palm to the old man as if he expected Fen to hand over the object.

“Oh dear, tut-tut. Where did I put that? Tut-tut, oh dear.” The wizard sat up straight and began patting his beard and robes. Tiny creatures skittered in all directions. The minor dragons jumped on the scampering feast of bugs, ignoring lizards, birds, and rodents as they escaped.

Wizard Fenworth’s hand dug into a fold of his robe. “Aha!” He pulled out a closed fist, turned it over, and slowly uncurled his fingers. A tiny sword lay across his palm.

Bardon stood, and so did Amara’s leader.

Paladin picked it up between his thumb and forefinger.

“Fen, you constantly amaze me. I believe this would be more useful to our future knight in different proportions.”

The sword shimmered and grew at a steady, unhurried rate until the hilt became a size Paladin could wrap his hand around. The silent audience watched the shining blade stretch out to a gleaming point.

Paladin swished the sword through the air, testing its balance. “A finely crafted weapon.” He deftly reversed the blade and offered it to Bardon. The young man took it without a word.

Kale thought she would burst with pride for her friend. She started to enter his thoughts and congratulate him, but the look on his face stopped her. This moment was too important to Bardon for her to intrude upon.

Paladin laid his hand on the stunned lehman’s shoulder. “You shall go with Dar to Wittoom. Sir Dar will train you.”

Kale’s mouth dropped open, and her head whipped around to find the doneel relaxing in a chair with his legs draped over the arms. She slammed her fists against her hips. “You really are a knight?”

Dar ran his mouth over the harmonica, making a loud scale of notes trill through the cavernous kitchen.

He winked at her and grinned, his face splitting almost in two. “Yes, dear Kale, but only a very little one.”