No one spoke of Umber's departure the next day when the group packed up and moved on shortly after dawn. I glanced back from my seat beside Nona, amazed how completely the maji cleaned their tracks. Aside from the crushed grass and the gaping sand pit covering the old fire, it was as if no one had been there at all.

Josephine rode beside me, her hood pulled down over her face against the gray sky of early morning and I took the fact as a signal she didn't wish to talk. Nona ...