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us, or that word of them might reach us, but there’s been nothing.”
    “Not even in the palace?” Rsiran asked.
    “Brusus’s contacts haven’t got much to share, and without anything to really bribe them with, we’re not likely to learn much, anyway.”
    Rsiran glanced at the table covered with his lorcith forgings. Brusus had used the forgings as a way to get information, but had stopped when Rsiran had asked him to.
    Hearn followed the direction of his gaze and shook his head. “Don’t matter that much anyway, Rsiran. There’s only so much you can learn from the palace. They’re not likely to share with Brusus anything about your break-in, and the Forgotten… well, that’s sort of an off-limits topic.”
    “I don’t want to be in the middle of all of this,” Rsiran said. “I don’t want to be the reason anyone gets hurt.”
    Haern grunted. “The way I see it, there’s not much that you’re going to be able to do to avoid it. Some things drag you in, regardless of whether you want them to or not.”
    “You’re the one who told me what’s coming,” Rsiran said.
    Haern nodded. “That I did. And that don’t change anything that is to come, now does it? You want to keep yourself safe, and you want to keep your friends safe, but what’s going on is bigger than all of us. And they don’t want no one interfering.”
    “So what can I do?” Rsiran asked.
    Haern lifted a knife off the table and flipped it toward him. Rsiran caught it easily from the air. “Seems to me that you’re already doing what you need. If you don’t want to get caught in the middle, you have to learn to master your abilities, whatever they are.” He tipped his head to Rsiran and touched a finger to his nose. “And there’s more to what you can do than what they know. I think that’s part of the reason you intrigue them so much.”
    “But, Haern, what can we really do if war comes like you say?”
    Haern laughed and started to the door. “Pick a side. That’s all any of us can do.”
    He pulled open the door and leaned out, pausing to turn to Rsiran. “We’ll pick up our training again tomorrow. Let this settle down a bit before we go at it. The forest?”
    Rsiran sighed, wishing what Haern suggested wasn’t necessary but knowing that he was likely right. “Not the edge of the forest,” he said.
    Haern frowned. “Where then?”
    “Deeper. Where Lianna was buried.” At least there he didn’t think they’d be discovered.
    Haern nodded once, then pulled the door closed as he disappeared down the street.
    Rsiran slipped the locks back into place around the door, knowing they did nothing to stop Jessa, but then he had no reason to obstruct her access. As he made his way to the forge, he wondered how he could do what Haern suggested. How could he pick a side if he didn’t know what each side wanted? And how could he choose when each side had done nothing but try to use him?

Chapter 5
    T he forge glowed a cool orange . Sweat dripped from his brow, and Rsiran set the hammer down atop the anvil. He went to the bucket of water where he’d left the knives he’d forged, and pulled them out. These were smaller than his usual knives, and laced with heartstone in a single strip that ran along the blade.
    “You finally done?” Jessa called from their bed.
    He took the knives and placed them on the table, arranging them in a line. It would take more effort to pull on them, but then he needed the practice. And this way, he had something that no one else could use. At least so far. If Venass and the Forgotten had their way, they would learn how to replicate his ability.
    “Done for now,” Rsiran said. He hadn’t noticed when Jessa had returned, but then he had been focused on the forge, and the metal, letting it clear his head as it so often did.
    Jessa stood and came to the table where she examined one of the knives he’d made, holding it up and turning it from side to side. “Interesting texture on this one. It’s