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me back to Nylan. You . . . you're strong. I'm not. I know I'm not. I'm not worthy of you." Her eyes were bright in the dimming light of the dining chamber.
    "You're more than worthy of anyone. Not feeling comfortable in a strange land when you're young isn't exactly weakness. I didn't feel at all comfortable in Swartheld for the whole time I was first there." He offered a smile. "Besides, you feel something for me."
    "I always have." She looked down for a moment. "That doesn't change anything. You won't come back to Nylan, and I can't live in Hamor."
    "Healers are always welcome there," he said mildly.
    "I don't feel welcome there." Her smile was strained. "Can we leave it at that?"
    "Until after the orange cake." Rahl forced a smile.
    "You don't deceive any better than I do." An unsteady laugh followed her words.
    "I'm not trying to deceive anyone. I couldn't come here and not tell you how I feel. The letter . . . I didn't want to say too much, or not enough . . ." He shook his head.
    "You said enough."
    "Too much?"
    Deybri was the one to shake her head. "If you were an engineer here, even a stevedore on the docks, I wouldn't hesitate a moment to consort you."
    Rahl could sense the cost of the admission. "But I'm not, and you're not someone who can do things halfway or partway or with an ocean between us."
    "No. I can't. I just can't . . . and I hate myself for that weakness . . . but I can't."
    Rahl considered her words. Her ability to recognize where she was weak was another strength, and held an honesty he had not considered.
    Kysant reappeared with two small plates. "Would you like a brandy or something hot, as well?"
    Rahl looked to Deybri, catching the slightest shake of her head before replying. "No, thank you."
    Neither Rahl nor Deybri said anything as they slowly ate.
    "The cake is better than the khouros, I think," Rahl said after finishing the last moist crumbs on his plate.
    Deybri smiled. "I think so, too, but Uncle Thorl doesn't. But he's never liked oranges. That might be because his father had an orchard, and Thorl's job was to take care of the spoiled and rotten ones."
    "I can see that might give him less liking for oranges," replied Rahl with a laugh.
    "That's just the excuse he gives." She paused just slightly. "He does ask if I hear from you. He said you were one of his best students, that you had the gift for languages."
    "He has the gift of teaching them."
    "He's never asked about anyone else."
    "That's because he's never had another student in love with his niece," Rahl answered lightly.
    "Please . . . Rahl. No more. Not now."
    "For now. How is Aleasya?"
    "She's close to becoming an arms magistra, I think. Before she does, though, she'll have to learn more about order and how it affects weapons."
    "Has she started building that house yet?"
    "Not so far . . ."
    In the end, the dinner cost three silvers, with a tip, and Rahl felt strange keeping the seven, but he'd return them to Taryl the next day.
    He did offer Deybri his arm once they left the restaurant, and she took it, gently. They walked through the early evening, uphill toward her small dwelling. Rahl tried to keep his words away from what he really felt.
    ". . . never realized how small Recluce is . . . almost as far from just Swartheld to Cigoerne as it is from Land's End to Feyn . . ."
    Deybri fell silent, and Rahl quickly went on. "I saw my first Kaordist Temple in Swartheld . . . all the words about twinners suddenly made sense. You know that they have twin spires, one that's twisted and strange . . . and that's the female one . . ."
    "Why doesn't that surprise me?" She shook her head.
    "Men think of women as chaotic everywhere, you think?"
    "In most places, from what I've heard and seen."
    "I don't."
    "You're one of the few," she said dryly.
    All too soon, they reached the low stoop before her front door.
    Deybri let go of Rahl's arm and stepped back. "I know I must be a disappointment to you. You've crossed an ocean and laid your heart at