...st never let slip from his sight -- even should they wander as far as the Shiverpeaks.

---

"Lady, on my word, the fighting now ceases. You will find Alastor can bend in the wind."

Under a flag of truce and trailing his escort more like frightened boys into her camp below Cwen, mountain of the Mother, he shone in the morning on his warhorse, already a king.

Berengar’s Scarlets broke Nyssa’s reminiscence. She knew it inevitable. She thanked the Mother for the small gift of hours. Prayed that She guide Alastor’s heart. Shine Her light upon Drakon, Borysko, Calla, the extraordinary Bear Girl…

"Take her." said the Scarlet captain.

They took Nyssa de Silva in her nightdress through the school, passing the talented children struck dumb.

One girl, one of her more promising apprentices, nervously twitching her little nose, caught the Assessor’s eye, and was granted Madame’s farewell smile.