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was a thirty-year veteran. He should be past juvenile temptation. Especially involving a woman of Rula's age and wear . . . .
    He worked hard, but it did no good. The feelings, the urges, remained. He kept his eyes averted during lunch.
    "Tain . . . ." she started once
    "Yes?"
    "Nothing."
    He glanced up. She had turned toward the Tower, her gaze far away.
    Afterward, he saddled the roan and led out the mule and took them on a short patrol. Once he spied Torfin in the distance, on a hilltop, watching something beyond. Tain turned and rode a few miles westward, till the Tower loomed ahead. He turned again, for home, following a looping course past the Kosku stead. Someone was repairing the thatch.
    Rula was waiting, and highly nervous. "Where have you been?" she demanded.
    "Exercising the animals. What happened?"
    "Nothing. Oh, nothing. I just hate it when I have to be alone."
    "I'm sorry. That was thoughtless."
    "No. Not really. What claim do I have on your time?" She settled down. "I'm just a worrier."
    "I'll wait till Toma's home next time." He unsaddled the roan and began rubbing him down. The mule wandered away, grazing. Rula watched without speaking.
    He was acutely conscious of her gaze. After ten minutes, she asked, "Where did you come from, Tain? Who are you?"
    "I came from nowhere and I'm going nowhere, Rula. I'm just an ex-soldier wandering because I don't know anything else."
    "Nothing else? You seem to know something about everything."
    "I've had a lot of years to learn."
    "Tell me about the places you've been. I've never been anywhere but home and the Zemstvi."
    Tain smiled a thin, sad smile. There was that same awe and hunger that he heard from Steban.
    "I saw Escalon once, before it was destroyed. It was a beautiful country." He described that beauty without revealing his part in its destruction. He worked on the windmill while he reminisced.
    "Ah. I'd better start supper," Rula said later. "Toma's coming. He's got somebody with him."
    Tain watched her walk away and again chastised himself for unworthy thoughts.
    She had been beautiful once, and would be still but for the meanness of her life.
    Toma arrived wearing an odd look. Tain feared the man had divined his thoughts. But, "The Caydarmen went after Kosku last night. The old coot actually chased them off."
    "Heh?" Tain snorted. "Good for him. You going to be busy?" He glanced at the second man. "Or can you help me mount these bearings?"
    "Sure. In a couple minutes. Tain, this is my brother-in-law."
    "Mikla?" Tain extended his hand. "Good to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."
    "None of it good, I'm sure." Laughter wrinkled the corners of Mikla's eyes. He was a lean, leathery man, accustomed to facing hard weather.
    "More good than bad. Steban will be glad to see you."
    Rula stuck her head out the door. Then she came flying, skirts a-swirl. "Mikla!" She threw her arms around her brother. "Where have you been? I've been worried sick."
    "Consorting with the enemy. Staying with Stojan and trying to convince him that we're not all Caydarmen."
    "Even Caydarmen don't all seem to be Caydarmen," Tain remarked as he hoisted a timber into position.
    Mikla watched the ease with which he lifted. "Maybe not. But when the arrows are flying, who wonders about the spirit in which they're sped?"
    "Ah. That's right. Steban said you were a veteran."
    A whisper of defensiveness passed through Mikla's stance. "Steban exaggerates what I've already exaggerated silly."
    "An honest man. Rare these days. Toma. You said Kosku chased the Caydarmen away? Will that make more trouble?"
    "Damned right it will," Mikla growled. "That's why I came back. When the word gets around, everybody in the Zemstvi will have his back up. And those folks at the Tower are going to do their damnedest to stop it.
    "Kind of leaves me with mixed feelings. I've been saying we ought to do something ever since the Witch turned the Baron's head. But now I wonder if it'll be worth the trouble. It'll cause