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you can’t cuddle with an owl.” She glanced at the tome. “What is it you are researching? Perhaps I can help.”
    “Three things, Dree: a pale green sea, a black ship, a crystal castle.”
    “Sounds mysterious.”
    “They’re elements of a dream.”
    “Ah well, I can’t help you there. But if it were stars—”
    “If it were stars, Dree, I think I could do it myself.”
    Drienne nodded, then said, “Why not let Aylis—”
    “She’s not on Rwn.”
    “Oh. Well. All right. Regardless, perhaps I can help. What other books do you need? I’ll get them.”
    Alamar fished a paper from his pocket. He peered at it a moment, then said, “See if you can find
De Castellis Singularibus
and
De Navibus Notis
.”
    While Drienne searched, Alamar paged through the tome before him, pausing now and again to read, then moving on. Ere he had gone far, Drienne returned, bearing two more tomes. Alamar glanced across at her. “Look for a crystal castle or a black ship.”
    “Hmm. A crystal castle shouldn’t be difficult to find, if one exists, that is. But a black ship now, I would think there might be many. What kind of black ship is it?”
    Alamar fished Jinnarin’s drawing from his pocket, handing it to Drienne. She squinted at it. “Lord, Alamar, who drew this tiny thing? A dragonfly rider?”
    “A friend.”
    Drienne looked at him in wonder, then back at the sketch. “A carrack or a galleon I would say. —A black one?” At a nod from Alamar, Drienne passed the small paper back to him and then opened a tome.
    From the shadows Jinnarin watched as Drienne joined Alamar in skimming through the books. Long moments passed, the silence broken only by the sound of pages slowly turning. Occasionally one of the other people in the central area would get up and leave, and a person or two came up the steps to the same floor and entered the stacks, but they were on the opposite side of the room and Jinnarin and Rux remained where they were. Rux lay with his chin on his front paws, yet his eyes were open and his ears pricked, and Jinnarin knew that he was on guard against discovery. And so the Pysk made herself comfortable on a bottom shelf among musty tomes and waited…and dozed. “Here’s one”—Drienne’s voice brought Jinnarin awake—“Oh wait, it burned while in port at Arbalin. During the rebellion.” Drienne resumed leafing, her eyes fixed upon the pages, and Jinnarin settled once more, leaning back against an aslant book.
    How long Jinnarin drowsed, she did not know, but the scrape of chairs brought her awake. Peering out, she saw that Alamar and Drienne were getting to their feet. Several tomes lay scattered on the table before them, and it was obvious that they had sought references in each. Alamar stretched, straightening his back, groaning, and Drienne said, “Love, you simply must cross over to Vadaria.”
    “Not right now, Dree. Got to solve this dream first. A past obligation.”
    “Stubborn as always,” Drienne muttered and began gathering up the books. But then she stopped and looked Alamar directly in the eye, her gaze filled with entreaty and unshed tears. “Heed me: don’t overcast, Alamar. I want you alive and young; not old and dead.”
    Alamar took her glorious face in his hands and kissed her gently. “I’m going now, Dree. But I promise as soon as I have this dream business resolved, I’ll cross over. Then I’ll come back and we’ll—where will I find you?”
    “Try here, first, Alamar, here in the City of Bells. You see, I’m Regent of the Academy at the moment.”
    “The Grand Dame?”
    Drienne nodded, smiling.
    “What will the apprentices say when I whisk you off to—”
    “What they’ve always said, I shouldn’t wonder.”
    Alamar stood in thought a moment. At last he said, “I may be gone awhile. Should it take long, then where?”
    “If not here,” answered Drienne, “then on the Lady’s island, there in my cottage of the wood.”
    “Faro,” breathed Alamar, then he