She shook her head again. “No. I always liked you, from thefirst time we met hunting mushrooms. I wouldn’t have done what I did there inthe woods last fall if I hadn’t. But you were ... a way out for me, when I didn’tthink I could have one. I needed a while to see, to be sure, how much more youwere.”

For a moment, his feelings were hurt. Then he realized she’d paidhim no small compliment. “I won’t let you down,” he said.

Vanai leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. “I know you won’t,”she answered. “Don’t you see? That’s one of the reasons I love you. No one elsehas ever been like that for me. I suppose my mother and father would have been,but I can hardly even remember them.”

Ealstan had always known he could count on his family. He’d takenthat as much for granted as the shape of his hand. He said, “I’m sorry. Thatmust have been hard. It must have been even harder because you’re a Kaunian ina mostly Forthwegian kingdom.”

“You might say so. Aye, you just might say so.” Vanai’s voice wentharsh and ragged. “And do you know what the worst part of that is?” Ealstanshook his head. He wasn’t sure she noticed; she was staring at nothing inparticular as she went on, “The worst part of it is, we didn’t know when wewere well off. In Forthweg, we Kaunians were well off. Would you have believedthat? I wouldn’t have believed it, but it was true. All we needed was theAlgarvians to prove it, and they did.”

Ealstan put his arm around her. He thought of those two chubbyconstables in kilts and hoped the powers above would keep them away. Even if hehadn’t been feeling so feeble, he feared that encircling arm wouldn’t be somuch protection as Vanai was liable to need.

But it was what he could give. It was what she had. She seemed tosense as much, for she moved closer to him. “We’ll get through it,” he said. “Somehowor other, we’ll get through it.”