Escaping Emprise du Lion is part of it but being able to see friends she’d worried for has done her the world of good, and her lessons that eat up the empty hours when she’d think of home. Even playing cards hurts when you miss what a proper loud tavern is like.

“I heard about Merrick, we had so little time when the Crows had a lead on us and I didn’t wish to intrude when we’ve only met a few times, I am glad to hear he’s on the mend. I stopped to see Sina though, I’d written to her but that’s never the same..” Merrick has enough real friends and his family around without someone he’s spoken to all of twice appearing to peer in and Araceli knows Sina, feels protective of her and not just because of where her shard is. “I won’t be returning there in a hurry, I thought my fingers and toes would freeze off entirely! I keep hoping a rift will open up over an ocean, I must be among the most qualified for such a dangerous venture, no?”

She’d just stow away if she wasn’t allowed to go anyway so whatever.

“Ah, I see my friend has found something for you,” she says with a wide smile as the fox scampers over, pawing gently at Ellana’s leg, a small parcel in his mouth. “I owe you a drink too, that is customary.”

What is not are the dice, carved from deer antlers, and a cup of wood carved with vines and painted green, a liar’s dice set all of Ellana’s own.