They made camp that night beneath cold stars, a sky of tilted foreign constellations. “Are you uneasy?” Tain Hu asked. Baru drew her cloak around her and watched the duchess across the campfire, uncertain whether to take the question as a threat. Duchess Vultjag opened her hands to the brush around them, the shadow of the looming forest, and smiled. The firelight gilt her eyes like an eagle’s. “All I meant to ask was: isn’t this the farthest you’ve ever been from the sea?”
