When no one spoke, the others stood, too. Celandine exited first, followed by Heng and Obi. Eileifr paused at the door to look back at Malick. "I am sorry you did not get the outcome you sought, but I have peered into the future. To try to hold the south would create a conflict of blood, not seen since the days before even I was born. This path is the better one."

He slipped out the door, leaving Malick to throw a chair after him. Kateesha flinched at his anger, but Jorick ...