The hag nodded.
“Clover,” Lorzok said. “Delicious. It tastes like an invitation to have more, but it’ll sneak up on you if you do.”
“More, then?”
Lorzok held out his cup. “Perhaps a little?”
The Brewmistress laughed and poured some more. “Welcome, Seeker. I felt it when you came in.”
Lorzok bowed his head. “I enjoyed your beer and your welcome very much. I am glad to have found Kell’s family, but we search for Hearthaven’s Repose. Do you know it?”
The Brewmistress nodded. “I know Hearthaven. You’ll need a guide.”
Saeldian smothered an outraged noise. That’s what they had asked! The Brewmistress answered him but not them?
The Brewmistress swept her hand to welcome Lorzok—and his friends—to the Village That Chooses Its Own. “But before you can find it, you need a good meal, a good bed, and a song or two. You’re no good to anyone tired. Quickwit!”
Something flew past Saeldian’s ear so fast it made them flinch. “I know, I know, I know exactly where they go! I will help them, one, two, three, four—that’s four! And then I’ll help them again, and that’s eight more!”
A tiny pixie hovered between Lorzok and the Brewmistress. “Let me! Let me! Four favors, then eight, a dozen more would be great! Anything you need, Quickwit lends his help with speed!”
“That’s very helpful,” Saeldian said, “but are your favors freely given?”
“Nine hundred fifty-six! No strings attached, I swear, no tricks! Please come this way! It’s been such a day!”
Saeldian glanced at Lorzok. “Do they have to rhyme?”
“All the time.”
“Don’t you start.”
Lorzok laughed and held out his hand for Saeldian’s pack. “Come on.”
Lorzok came backto Saeldian’s cabin a few minutes after they had closed the door, and he was so jolly about going upstairs where the music had resumed that Saeldian agreed just to keep from fighting about it. But only long enough for people to get bored of them so they could slip away.
The Village That Chooses Its Own was a forest. Tall, straight-trunked trees grew up past openings in an upper floor that rested on branches that wound and wove to support it, just like the little houses cradled closer to the ground. They all had platforms like these, and wide, carefully laid stone paths branched out to each private house. Lorzok stood on the little platform, and when Saeldian joined him, he said, “Up.”
The platform rose, smooth and silent. It floated, like the wizard Tenser’s spell, but powerful enough to bear much more weight. The music and laughter were louder here. Saeldian looked up and gasped.
The trees that grew past the openings shaped into this floor soared over Saeldian’s head. Sunlight passed through the fingertips of their branches, which were arched to brush leaves against their neighbors. Suspended from the branches were chimes, feathers, light globes, and charms that Saeldian would bet gold were charged with spells.
It was rustic, compared to Osalor’s perfect glass house. But it was beautiful and comfortable, and the air felt happy. Lorzok hummed with the music and led the way to a party that hadstarted without them. Musicians gathered around a table played dance music. People lounged in pendant chairs reading or talking. Jubilee waved and kept on staring at a timed lanceboard game against a person who looked like a frog.
Strangers. Jubilee there, Verandil playing a long wooden flute, and then strangers. Some faces were curious. But those two dryads eyed them and pointedly turned away.
Kell wasn’t in view. He was probably still downstairs, surrounded by people who wanted to hug him, touch his face to be sure he was real, and hug him again. He was home, surrounded by love, and he wouldn’t even be here if it hadn’t been for Saeldian’s help. But nobody here cared about that. They’d picked sides—Kell’s side, of course.
A thump startled Saeldian, and they realized they’d been staring at the party from its farthest corner. Lorzok smiled an apology for startling them. “Even inside a domain, it’s best not to let your anger run away from you.”
Saeldian watched Jubilee play lanceboard with the frog-person instead. “I’m not angry.”
“All right,” Lorzok said agreeably. “Then what are you?”
“Fine. I’m fine.”
Lorzok waited.
Saeldian sighed. “It doesn’t matter how I feel.”
