There was indeed a towel. It was monogrammed. Timha rubbed his hair with it, looking haunted. Lin Vo's display had not been lost on him, either.
"What did you just do?" asked Ironfoot.
"Me?" said Lin Vo. "That was nothing. I just changed things around a bit."
"You have the Thirteenth Gift," said Silverdun. "Change Magic."
"There you go with your Gifts again," said Lin Vo. "Everything's a Gift with you people."
She sighed. "Now if we're done with the histrionics, I'd like to get the conversation going, because it's going to be light in a few hours, and that's when you need to leave."
Silverdun rolled his eyes and said, "Please tell me you're not going to launch into a rambling, vague prophecy of some kind, telling us our fate."
"No," said Lin Vo. "And I don't like that word `fate.' There's no such thing as fate. There's only the river."
"What river is that?" asked Sela.
"Time is the river, Sela, and we're all floating down it. It's a strong current and it carries us. We can paddle this way and that and we can try to swim upstream for a while or make ourselves go faster, but we're headed down that river one way or another.
"What you call Premonition is just the ability to sit up a little bit and look downstream. Sometimes you can see rocks ahead; sometimes you can see that we're all about to go over a waterfall."
"Why are you telling us all this?" asked Silverdun. Ironfoot could see that he was growing impatient. Silverdun claimed to have a philosophical bent, but Ironfoot had noticed that he was always far happier when he was in action.
"Because there's a waterfall just up ahead."
"If we're all going over it anyway," said Silverdun, "then why bother telling us?"
"So you can go down it feet first, with your eyes open, silly." She sipped her tea. "So I sent Je Wen out there to wait for you to come falling out of the sky, and here you are."
"Surely you didn't do this out of the goodness of your heart," said Silverdun. "What do you want in return?"
"Oh, my! How cynical you are," said Lin Vo. "Sometimes people do the right thing because it's the right thing to do."
She touched his knee. "There's a war coming, Silverdun. War is the greatest waste there is, and we Arami are particularly indisposed to waste, as you may have noticed. And this isn't just any war. This is a war that has the power to end Faerie. The power to turn this world to dust."
"The Einswrath," said Ironfoot.
"There you go," said Lin Vo. "That little device changes everything, as the four of you know all too well. In fact, none of you would be here if it weren't for the Einswrath."
"There aren't any Einswrath," said Timha.
"What?" said Silverdun, glaring at him.
"We couldn't figure out how to do it," said Timha, his eyes downcast. "We tried. We did everything we could. They said they would kill us all if we didn't."
"And that's why you ran," said Sela.
"But you've got the plans with you," said Silverdun. "Are you saying they're not real?"
"No!" shouted Timha. "They're real. They're extremely detailed, and they were drawn by Hy Pezho himself. But he's gone and he can't explain how it all works."
"Now he tells us," said Silverdun.
"I didn't want to die," said Timha. "I'm giving you the plans; that's how badly I don't want to die. If you can figure out how to make the thing work then you'll have the Einswrath and Mab won't. Don't you get it? Don't you understand what I've done?"
"Funny name, `Einswrath,"' said Lin Vo. "The wrath of Ein. Strange thing to name a weapon. You wouldn't think they'd name it after a made-up god who's supposedly been buried in the ground for thousands of years."
"So you don't believe that any gods are real?" asked Silverdun. "I'd always heard that the Arami worshipped the Chthonic gods."
"Oh, the gods are real," said Lin Vo. "Just not the way you think. And you're all going to have to learn how to think things anew if you're going to survive."
"A premonition?" asked Silverdun.
"A fact of life," said Lin Vo. She looked at Timha. "Not you, though. You just keep doing what you're doing."
Silverdun stood, clearly irritated. "I don't know about my companions, but I've had enough clever presentiment for one night. I appreciate your hospitality, but I think I'd prefer a bed."
"I don't blame you, Silverdun. This is all very tiresome and vague. Pre- monitives have a reputation for that. But true vision isn't something that can be expressed in words. To put it into words is to render it false. I can only point you in a direction; I can't tell you what you'll find when you get there. Maddening, I know. Not too different from the gods, really."
"Ah," said Silverdun. Ironfoot could tell that Silverdun was tired. The pressure of leading this assignment was wearing him down.
"You go rest, Silverdun. I don't have anything more to tell you; in fact, the less I tell you, the better. Take Timha and Ironfoot here with you. Je Wen will find a place for you to lie down."
"Thank you," said Silverdun, visibly relieved.
"What about me?" asked Sela.
"Let's talk about you, Sela. Let me pour you a cup of tea, because this is going to take a while." She looked up at the men. "Go on, you three. Ladies only."
Ironfoot, Silverdun, and Timha left the tent, and found Je Wen waiting for them outside.
"Was your conversation profitable?" he asked.
"I have no idea," said Ironfoot.
Je Wen gave him a knowing smile. "Come with me."
The tent next to Lin Vo's held four mattresses piled with blankets and pillows, and not much else. Silverdun sprawled on one, his eyes wide open, and Timha was fast asleep on the other by the time Ironfoot got his boots off.
"I thought you were tired," said Ironfoot, looking at Silverdun.
"I am. More exhausted than I can remember being in a long, long time."
"That was an ... unusual conversation."
Silverdun sat up, rubbing his temples. "People like her drive me utterly mad," he said.
"Did you see what she did to Timha?" Ironfoot asked. "The way she used re?"
Silverdun shook his head. "I haven't the slightest idea what happened there. I saw Timha channeling Motion, and the next thing I knew, he looked like he'd been dunked in a pond. Strangest thing I ever saw." He lay back down and closed his eyes.
"Get some sleep," he said. "I have a feeling we've got a couple of long days ahead of us."
Ironfoot lay down as well, but couldn't sleep either. When he closed his eyes he saw the patterns in his mind again, and the colorless color of Lin Vo's magic.
An undefined term. Division by zero.
Some time later, just as he was drifting off, Sela slipped into the tent. He caught a glimpse of her in the firelight from outside. Tears glistened on her face, but she didn't look sad. Quite the opposite: For the first time he could remember, she looked at peace.
Ironfoot awoke what felt like a moment later, although it must have been at least four hours, because gray dawn was already filtering in through the tent flaps. Though he'd slept little, and fitfully, when he stood up he felt fully awake and rested. Another perk of the change wrought upon him and Silverdun at Whitemount, whatever it had been. He needed little sleep these days, and what little he got worked wonders.
Hell, it even grew back a hand if necessary.
"About time you woke up," said Silverdun. He was already up and pulling on his boots. He looked as refreshed as Ironfoot felt.
"How do you feel right now, Silverdun?" he asked.
"Just fine," said Silverdun.
"After just four hours of sleep."
"I'm not questioning it today," said Silverdun. "Just grateful for it. I woke up in fine fettle and don't intend to let anything bring me down today."
"That's uncharacteristically optimistic of you," said Ironfoot.
"Apparently my previous character wasn't doing me much good," said Silverdun drily.
"Is it morning already?" said Sela. She sat up on her mattress and looked around, groggy. "I feel as though I just fell asleep."