It's enough to make the little boy laugh, the other one bashfully joining along as they look between each other and back to Byerly.

"I'm going to join Riftwatch," says the more cheerful of the two, at the same time the other asks, "is he going to die?"

Prudence comes out of the house just in time to meet her husband at the door, and they embrace tightly-- he isn't going to get in her way.