Once out of sight of the watcher's probable course, she doubled back through the rocks at the road's edge and scrambled her way to higher ground. She slipped between two shaggy-barked fir trees to wait, her dark cloak blending with the gloom of the shadowy afternoon, the white quatrefoil emblem of the Guards on her shoulder like a patch of snow on wet-darkened wood. In time she saw that cautious figure emerge from the trees, hurrying along the path above the road, keeping a wary eye on the backtrail, and huddling for warmth in the folds of a black fur cloak. The hood had fallen back. A great jewelled clasp glittered like stars in the raven knots of hair.

It was the cloak Gil recognized. Only one woman in the Keep had a cloak like that.

'My lady!' she called out, and Minalde stopped, eyes startled and wide. Gil stepped from between the trees.

'Please go on back,' Aide said hastily, brushing the stray ends of her hair away from her face. 'I'm not going far,

and...' 'You'll never make it there and back by dark,' Gil said bluntly.

'I - I'm not going to the refugee camp.' The younger girl drew herself up, standing on her dignity. Her expression reminded Gil of her own younger sister when she lied.

'And you shouldn't be going there alone,' Gil went on, as if she hadn't heard.

Aide would never make the big leagues as a liar. 'But I have to,' she protested. 'Please don't stop me. There's plenty of time...'

'They're camped outside the Vale, down at the Tall Gates,' Gil stated unequivocally. 'It will be dark in a little over two hours. And besides...' She took a step toward Aide, and the girl fell back, like a deer on the edge of flight. Gil stopped herself and spoke more softly. 'And besides,' she continued gently, 'if they learned who you were, you might never make it back at all.'

They won't know,' Aide insisted, still keeping her distance. 'I'll be all right.'

Gil sighed. 'You can't know that.' She took another step, and Aide retreated warily.