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fulsome gratitude, not only ignored the whole incident, but disappeared for the rest of the night.  They bedded down early, in the way of travelers wishing to make the most of daylight, and the next morning Ari and Loren waited considerately for the room to empty before arranging themselves on either side of Rodge’s still-snoring head.
    Then i n perfect unison, they bellowed at the top of their lungs, “WAKE UP RODGE EVERYONE’S LEFT YOU’RE LATE GET UP GET UP GET UP!!!”
    He jerked upright, gasping, eyes wide, flailing around for wakefulness, then threw the covers off and managed two steps out of bed…before he let out a shriek of agony.  Ari and Loren grinned, deeply satisfied, as he staggered—very stiff-legged—around the room, spewing profanity concerning them, Master Melkin, this trip, his legs, and his completely innocent pony.
    Melkin wasn ’t amused.  He gave them such a tongue-lashing for the delay they caused that it was a very subdued party that headed out into the new day.
    It didn ’t last long.  They weren’t half an hour out of town when they took a turn off the main Way, and shortly afterward began to hear the dull roar of a monstrous waterfall through the trees.  The air seemed to tremble with anticipation.  Suddenly, they broke out of the forest and in front of them the great, long, green slopes of the Wilds seemed to shoot straight up into their view, on and on and on until they blotted out almost the entire northern sky.  It was the biggest country Ari had ever seen, swards and swards of green pasture, all on edge, stretching on forever.
    They were at Aepont, the first place the Kendrick could be crossed in all it s foaming, thundering white fury, and Ari stared in awe at the enormous, gushing riverine mouth every moment across the bridge that spanned its tumultuous fall.  The big stones that made up the bridge had been placed so that two wagons could easily cross abreast, but the thing seemed fragile as glass set so close to the raw power of the river.  Roaring with life, seething and churning out of the mountain far above, it roiled its way down the chasm of gigantic boulders and broken trees to level out hundreds of feet below them.
    It was impossible not to feel exhilarated—like they ’d survived something—once they’d reached the other side.  Rodge and Cerise both had white faces, lips pursed and eyes wide, but Loren shook his head, laughing and soaked with spray, and shared an exultant grin with Ari. 
    It was a fitting gateway.  Like the Kendrick, the High Wilds were so stupendous, so enormous, they seemed to consume their little lives, suffusing them with brilliant light and soaring space.  The trail was nothing but a wide, well-beaten dirt path, climbing steadily, lined sometimes with firs and pines and sometimes open so that they could see the land rising precipitously up around them on all sides.  It was almost impossible to grasp the sheer size of the place; Ari’s head bobbed around on his neck like a toy as he tried to get some perspective.
    It wasn ’t long before they rounded a bit of mountain, the roar of the Kendrick faded, and a little community appeared in the trees ahead.  Out of the corner of his eye, Ari caught Cerise craning her neck curiously, and for once he instantly understood the female mind.  What kind of people would live in such undeveloped, unprotected wastes?  These were harsh, empty lands, their emerald green beauty buried in snow nine months out of twelve.  The only thing that Ari knew about Addahites was that they were…well, mysterious.  Oh, and Illian, which was probably why they chose to stay in Addah.
    The houses here were rough-hewn timber and were all small, no more than huts, organized around a single and much larger building…with a familiar look.  Ari’s jaw dropped as they passed through the outer buildings and he saw the unmistakable flash of a Diamond, Marek’s triele, across the front of that biggest one.  A