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care of a fairy. And Violet is so much like Mel.”
    “She isn’t Mel, though,” I pointed out. Perhaps I shouldn’t point that out—perhaps he was trying his best to pretend she truly was his sister. But it seemed that thought could lead to nowhere favorable.
    “We were all pretty spoiled,” he continued, like I hadn’t said anything. “I know I did a lot of ridiculous things. I was telling Violet how Mel was so fussy about her hair. She used to put it up in pins at night so the front part that fell over her ears would curl. That was how the human girls wore it, and I thought it made her look like one of those dogs with the floppy ears, but she insisted.” He made a thoughtful sound, not quite a laugh.
    “I wonder how she died,” he said. “I didn’t want to ask. I guess she made it through the war after all, but ...”
    “Maybe she just got sick,” I said.
    “Or she was heartbroken,” he said. “Because she thought we were all dead.”
    “She had Ordorio.”
    “Yes, but ...”
    “But I guess that’s not enough if her family was all dead,” I said, losing my grip on my emotions. “I’m sure your family was wonderful ... and you sound like you were all very close and happy ... and I guess nothing will ever be enough now that they’re gone. I can never ...” Be enough . I couldn’t finish. It was too hard to say. I could never be enough. I could never be enough.
    “No, it’s not that,” he began, but I could tell he was only saying it because I was starting to cry. I bit my lip hard and shook my head quickly.
    “I’m sorry, Nim,” Erris said. “I don’t mean to imply ... It’s just ... I never even knew my family had died until I woke up as an automaton and all those years had passed. Well, maybe I knew in a deep-down way, the same way I knew time had passed, but ... it’s not the same. And thinking about Mel ... going on without me ... growing older than me ... having a child, even ...” He was gettingthat haunted look in his eyes again, the same one he so often had when I woke him.
    “Never mind,” I said. “It’s all right. I understand. Please. Let’s just let it go right now.” My pride summoned a faint smile. “I’ll meet you back at the house.”

Chapter 5
    Erris returned with greens overflowing from his basket. Celestina showed him to the kitchen to help prepare Violet’s dinner and took me upstairs to see the bedrooms.
    She apologized that she had not aired them out. The room she offered did smell musty, but I assured her, quite honestly, that it was nice just to have a cozy room, with a canopy bed and clean linens. I didn’t say it aloud, but it was also nice to be in a house that didn’t feel so heavy with secrets and sorrow. There was a touch of it here, but nothing like Hollin Parry’s mansion, where I had lived before Karstor’s—where I had met Erris.
    “Do you need anything else, Nimira?”
    “Well ... if you have pen and paper, I’d very much like to write letters to let our friends know we’ve safely arrived.”
    She nodded. “Just don’t mention Violet. We try to avoid much in the way of paper records of her.”
    “Why is she such a secret?” I had little patience with secrets and vague excuses these days.
    “Without the enchantment, Mr. Valdana says she would surely be killed by humans or fairies who fear the restoration of the house of Tanharrow. Or, on the other hand, taken by the fairies who want to restore the house of Tanharrow. He just wants a normal life for her, at least until she comes of age.”
    “Normal? But does she have any friends?”
    Celestina looked solemn. “No, no friends. It would do her good, but circumstances just don’t allow for it.”
    “No friends, no mother, and her father is gone from fall to spring?”
    “He has to travel, to serve the Lady. In exchange for the powerful magic that protects Violet.” Celestina raised her brows. “The long and short of it is, be very glad that you’re not a fairy