Bastion

makes it hard to do things the way we used to.” He rather doubted, for instance, that the pair of them would welcome him and Amily staying well into the night in Bear’s cozy lodgings. It was rather too bad, though, because Bear’s rooms shared the special heating system with the greenhouse that kept all his herbs flourishing in the winter, and that made it a fine place to sit and study, play games, read quietly, or just talk.
    “She has a point, though,” Lena said, and passed him the bacon. “Just because we’re married, we don’t have to live in each others’ pockets. I wouldn’t at all mind spending all day with you.”
    Mags passed the bacon to Halleck, wondering if he ought to invite his friend to be one of the party. “Well, I’m spoke for,” the saturnine Trainee said with a grin. “The Kirball Riders are each getting a new mount thanks to Princess Lydia. The team wants me to cast my eye over prospective candidates.”
    Mags managed not to lose his smile at this reminder that the team had, in essence, gone on without him. Halleck’s obliviousness had made itself known again. And since Halleck wasn’t talking about Amily, he was never going to figure out how insensitive he was being. “Better you than me,” Mags said, swallowing his own feelings, along with a lump in his throat. “All I know about horses is what other people tell me. Gods only know what kind of spavined crow bait I’d recommend because I felt sorry for it.”
    “Funny you should mention that,” Halleck replied, and began an involved story of how he had managed to find what he considered the bargain of the century, because the horse in question wasn’t acting all nervous—and, in fact, was dozing away in the paddock!—in the strange environs of the Horse Fair. “People were thinking he was deaf, or old, even though one look at his teeth would have shown them he was four, at most. Or sick, or just a slug. He isn’t any of those things! He’s just too smart to let himself get bothered by other horses getting bothered. He was actually bored by the Fair after being there for a few days, and he’s perfect for us! Jeffers nearly went mad after trying his paces!”
    Mags gritted his teeth and looked interested and appreciative and was effusive in his praise of Halleck’s (and Halleck’s Companion’s) ability to judge a beast. Not that he wanted in the least to spoil Halleck’s pleasure—after the other teams had seen the mounts he’d scored, they wanted his help, and he was justifiably proud of that. It seemed to take an age, but Halleck finally got off the subject and on to other things, and then the Captain of the Greens came to collect him so they could go down to the Fair together.
    When Halleck was finally gone, Mags finished his breakfast fighting off gloom. He felt Bear’s eyes on him, but he refused to meet them until he managed to get himself into a better frame of mind. After all, what did he have to feel sorry about? He was home—a home he had never thought to see again. He was himself, and not some stranger taken over by foreign memories, something that had seemed out of the question not that long ago. He was safe, everyone had missed him and welcomed him back, and absolutely no one was giving even a hint that they thought he didn’t belong here, among the Heraldic Trainees. Just because his team had—understandably!—replaced him in a game was no call for sulks.
    He must have been getting better at this sort of thing, because when he had finished the last bite, he had managed to persuade himself out of the gloom and into nothing more than a mild melancholy. “Right, then,” he said, meeting Bear’s concerned gaze again. “What’s the plan? I know you got one, you never do nothin’ without a plan.”
    Bear’s expression lightened. “We promised we’d collect Amily about now. She’s having breakfast with Lydia; Lydia wants some stuff particularly from the Fair if we can find it, but the Princess can’t actually be seen wandering about like you or me.”
    “So Amily’s gonna get it for her.” Mags nodded. “I don’ mind that, ’specially if you an’ me can find things t’look at in the same places.” He had no doubt that they would; didn’t they both have ladies to buy nice things for?
    Bear made a face. “Shopping,” he said in tones of resignation. Lena elbowed him.
    “I could say the same thing when you get into the herbs,” she teased.
    Mags was just happy to see them so