Stonemiller nodded as Hadrian spoke. Then, it seemed, he had taught the boy well. "Do not trifle with the need to feel honoured," he finally said, half smiling. "Sometimes I might appear stubborn, uncaring, lost in my research. But I too feel a sense of honour seeing you back. You have done well for yourself." He nodded at the statement about the storm. He remembered the Konti turning up in Zeltiva. Their ethereal faces had belied their dark message. Harbingers of the storm that had now ravaged the land. And it had come from the Kalean mountain. From Wind Reach, home of the Inarta. "It is not truly the source I wish to uncover. I think, perhaps, we will never truly know what caused the storm. I want to see the rest. I have heard whispers of wild djed, pooling in the storms wake. Did you see any such thing?" |