And started in surprise, because Shuahn was right there.
“Did you have one more question?”
“What if I can’t let my feelings go? What if it’s not a safe thing to do?”
“Then I’m not taking you to Hearthaven’s Repose.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’ll never get out of here again.”
Shuahn shoved Kell so hard he stumbled. When he regained his balance, he was standing on the moss-and-slate path in the maze, and the holly branches closed behind him while Shuahn watched.
He was trapped.
Ordinary mazes onFaerûn weren’t difficult. Keep turning left, and eventually you got out—unless there were tricks and magic that kept you from that solution. Before the water flask on his hip was half empty, Kell had started tying twine in different knot patterns to signal his next move to try to solve it. One sip remained by the time that strategy had sent him to the same knot three times.
Solving the maze wasn’t the answer.
“Saeldian!”
He didn’t expect that would work, but their voice returned to him. Off to the right. “Here!”
“I think we have to do this together.”
“You might be correct,” Saeldian called back.
“Did you see my twine marks? With the knots?”
A pause. “Brown jute? Knot code? Number of lefts or rights before you make the next knot marks?”
“You’ve seen them?”
“I’ve been making them too.”
“Fuck!”
Saeldian laughed. Kell wanted to laugh too. Maybe he should. That was a bond, right?
“Stay there,” Kell called. “I’ll find you.”
“Understood,” Saeldian yelled.
Find Saeldian. Over that way, if he could fly like an owl.Don’t try a trick. Feel the right way.
He could find anything he knew. He could find things that weren’t his, if he could take their longing for it with him. He could find anything he wanted, so long as it didn’t cross another realm.
He wanted to find Saeldian. And so there Saeldian was, after a left turn and a right, staring at a leather-covered ball on the ground.
“There you are. Is that my ball?”
Saeldian picked at the bloused cuff of their linen lawn shirt. Loose threads on the tiny handkerchief hem unraveled under their fingers.
“If it’s yours, you have to pick it up,” Kell said.
Saeldian startled. They looked at Kell for one alarmed instant—wait, that wasn’t right, but what—then bolted, dodging around a hedge.
“Saeldian!”
