But I understand the attraction of the familiar. I wish I had the same freedom in what I wear." She tweaked her silk robe. It was a relatively simple garment compared with full court dress weighing as much as a cavalryman's armor, but contrasted with the tunic she'd ordinarily worn in Barca's Hamlet-both an inner and an outer tunic for unusually formal occasions-it was heavy, hot and confining. A squad of soldiers talked in low voices as they waited outside in the passage. They were Bood Eagles, members of the royal bodyguard. Sharina had come to accept that, because she was a princess and regent in her brother's absence, she would always have guards. She grimaced. It wasn't that she wanted to be alone-nobody in a peasant village expected privacy, especially in the winter when even a wealthy household heated only one room. She wasn't used to people actuallycaring what she did, however, day in and day out. Well, there was no help for it; and the dangers were real enough. Sharina smiled faintly. Though she doubted men with swords would be any help against the wizardry which had been the worst danger to the kingdom these past two years. "What's your opinion of Rasile, Sharina?" Tenoctris asked abruptly. She fluttered her hands, also familiar-though it seemed odd to see a young woman making the gesture an old woman used to make. "I know she's a powerful wizard; that I can judge. What sort of person was she to work with?" Sharina took time to frame her reply. The room's low-backed chair was stacked with codices. The bed likewise, though there was room enough for a slim person to sleep along the outer edge. And the three wicker baskets of scrolls, though of a height to be sat on, struck Sharina as too flimsy for that to be a safe option. There was room to squat, however. She squatted, just as she would've done back home while popping open peapods for dinner.