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undergarments, and settled down into the next bath over.
    Nonala glanced back and forth between the two, her look somewhat wistful.
    Kelsa caught her look. She turned to Kindan. “Kindan?”
    “Yes?” Kindan said, turning to look at Kelsa. He saw that tears spangled her eyes.
    “Kindan, I don’t want you to die!” Nonala blurted suddenly.
    “What Nonala meant to say, Kindan, is that she loves you,” Kelsa told him. She nodded slowly. “And so do I.”
    Kindan didn’t know what to say. He liked Nonala, he knew that. In fact, he loved her like a sister. Kelsa was different…sometimes he found himself thinking of her in ways that made his throat go tight. And then he realized—“I love you, too,” he said, glancing at both of them. He smiled, even though it hurt his lips. “You’re the best friends anyone could have.”
    With a splash, Nonala sprang from her bath grabbing a towel from a nearby hook and quickly tying it around her. She rushed over to Kindan, wrapping two wet arms around his neck and planting a warm kiss on his cheek before hopping back just as quickly into her bath.
    “You know your face is really yucky,” Kelsa spoke into the silence that followed. “You should try washing that blood off.”
    “You should see the Masterhealer, too,” Nonala added.
    “Kindan,” Masterharper Murenny called from outside the curtain.
    “Sir?” Kindan replied, glancing at the two girls to be sure that they weren’t concerned.
    “M’tal told me what happened,” the Masterharper said. “I’d like to speak with you as soon as possible.”
    “He should see the Masterhealer first, sir,” Nonala spoke up.
    “I quite understand,” Murenny replied. “In the meantime, I’ve posted Master Detallor outside.”
    Master Detallor was the dance and defense master, a short, wiry man who moved with a limp—except when he was dancing or fighting, and then he moved like liquid fire.
    “Thank you,” Kelsa called back.
    Something about the Masterharper’s tone alerted Kindan, who said, “Did you want to talk to me about relinquishing the duel, sir?”
    “No,” Murenny replied. There was a moment’s silence before he continued. “Who will be your second?”
    “I will,” Kelsa and Nonala said in chorus. They glanced at each other, then Nonala said, “You’re taller, maybe you should go first.”
    “All right,” Kelsa said. She turned to Kindan. “If you don’t win, I’ll kill him,” she told him matter-of-factly.
    “I’m going to win,” Kindan repeated.
    “Well,” Master Murenny called from outside the bath curtain, “I’ll see you after you’ve seen the Masterhealer.”
    “Yes, sir,” Kindan replied. Murenny’s steps echoed to the dormitory door and faded away.
    “You’d better hurry up, then,” Kelsa ordered him. “You don’t want to keep the Masterharper waiting.”
    As this was obviously true, Kindan made no response.

    “The Masterharper says you challenged Vaxoram,” Masterhealer Lenner remarked as he carefully dabbed at Kindan’s split lip.
    Kindan nodded.
    “I can’t approve of dueling,” Lenner said, shaking his head. “You’d think, with these injuries, that you’d not want it.”
    “I want it,” Kindan replied. “He’s a bully.”
    “A bully?”
    “He threatened Nonala,” Kindan said. The Masterhealer’s quick intake of breath was all that Kindan needed to hear.
    With one final, gentle dab, Lenner released him. “I’ve done all I could for now,” he told Kindan, handing him a small glass vial. “Use this daily both on the wound and with your food.”
    “Arnica?” Kindan asked.
    “Of course,” the Masterhealer replied, his tone approving of Kindan’s knowledge of herbs.
    Not five minutes later, Kindan stood outside the Masterharper’s door. He paused for a moment, then knocked.
    “Come,” Master Murenny’s deep voice carried clearly through the thick door.
    Kindan entered the Masterharper’s quarters. Murenny smiled at him and gestured to a chair