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if anyone that seeks me might know I would come to you to find him.”
    “You will stay the night,” she insisted. “You will eat. You will be provisioned. You will take a horse. I will not give you the direction you need until all those points are met.”
    Nisero tilted his head. “Then, I am a captive to your hospitality. I thank you for the prison of your generosity.”
    Arianne rolled her eyes and turned away from him. “You are part of a high minded breed of warrior that is as sharp and deft with the tongue as you are with the blade.”
    Nisero smiled. “I learned from the very best.”
    “That you did.” Arianne lifted a hard loaf and a short-bladed cutlery knife. She slammed both down on the counter, raining crumbs off the crust of the bread with the resounding impact. She withdrew her hands and crossed the kitchen. “See how deft you can be slicing bread for us while I fetch wine for you and wine-laced water for myself.”
    Nisero stepped forward taking the knife and the bread in hand as ordered. “Why not just drink the wine yourself?”
    “Dreth wants me to drink more water. The wine makes the water healthier. That’s what his mother told him.”
    “Seems like if the wine makes the water healthier then the wine alone would be that much better,” Nisero said.
    Arianne approached the counter again with a bottle, a pitcher, and a wheel of cheese. Nisero stood and took the pitcher and wheel from her. They set the items out on the counter. She tapped the wheel with one knuckle. “Cut.”
    Nisero took up the knife again to obey. She took out two tankards and brought them to the counter. Nisero set down the knife to fill one tankard with wine and the other with water. He set down the pitcher and lifted the wine again. “How healthy?”
    Arianne took the bottle from him and poured in a drab. She set it back down. “I do not trust a soldier to not try to get me drunk.”
    Nisero pushed a slice of bread and cheese toward her before taking up some for himself. “You were the one that offered wine. Perhaps I should be careful of your intentions.”
    He took a bite and his stomach tightened. He had to focus to keep from devouring the slices whole. As he ate and drank, Arianne cut him more from the wheel and the loaf. “I have dried meat as well. There are dates and figs too.”
    Nisero spoke over another bite. “Do I look that starved?”
    “You have been on the run. I remember what that is like still.”
    Nisero swallowed his mouthful before replying. “Without a doubt, I have accidentally survived more than my share of close calls.”
    He remembered jumping off the side of a cliff to escape a bandit army and sliding down the rock face with Captain Berengar, Arianne’s father, by his side. After they reached the ground, the sword he had been holding but lost hold of, had speared into the ground.
    Arianne said, “It was not haphazard survival.”
    “What?” Nisero shook himself from his thoughts.
    “You said earlier that you had survived the attack on the Elite Guard by happenstance – some form of chance. You implied just now that your survival when you came to rescue me was haphazard. But I don’t believe that. You survived for a reason.”
    Nisero took another long drink of wine and poured himself some more before he answered. “You think destiny has seen myself and your father through until now.”
    “I don’t know much about destiny, but I know you and my father have survived where others haven’t by more skill than accident. Accidents are when people get hurt. Survival and completed missions come from purpose. You act with purpose, Lieutenant Nisero, not happenstance.”
    Nisero took another swallow of wine and looked away. “Some dates and figs would be good, if you are still offering.”
    Arianne patted his hand, giving him the same shock through his body that he associated akin to magic. She turned and went to retrieve his request from the pantry.
    After he had eaten his fill, she