Hebros was a small town whose only relevance to Kite was that it was their last stop before entering Dunburgh. As such, she found the market a welcome distraction. It was located in the centre of town, set in a custom-built space with elegant pillars and decorated walls separating innumerable little stalls from each other, partial roofs casting welcome shade from the heat of the late morning sun. She went in looking for clothes, but spent twenty happy minutes wandering through a section which seemed devoted to fancy lamps and candlesticks before she finally wound up in an aisle between two enormous heaps of brightly coloured fabric. A little further on, she found actual clothes. Every single stall sold something different, but it took nearly an hour for her to decide on outfits. They had to be matching, and they had to be as different as possible from the clothes she and Saryth had last worn to Dunburgh. Her final purchase was two large leather bags.

"Three silvers, please," said the woman at the table, and Kite paid up without haggling.

"Thank you very much!"

She stuffed the new clothes into one of the bags and made her way back out past the ornate candlesticks, across a subsidiary square and down a flight of small steps to where Saryth waited in a small courtyard.

"Did you find one?" she asked.

"Yes, but it was the last room in the city, I think." He turned to lead the way back to their lodgings. Kite paused as they crossed a road lined with more stalls, these ones selling food rather than clothes or furnishings. One of the closest was piled high with tempting food, loaves of all different shapes and sizes in baskets on one side, and a tall stack of cheeses on the other. The mingled scents of fresh bread and strong cheese made her stomach twinge with hunger. It's been a while since breakfast. She gave in and went over to the stall.

"Could we buy some bread and cheese, please?"

"Of course!" The woman behind the stall gave them a friendly smile. "Are you new in town? You picked a good time to visit."

"Why?" Kite rested her staff against the table and fiddled one-handed in her bags for a couple of small coins.

"It's the summer welcoming tonight." The coins vanished into the woman's apron pocket. "Which bread and which cheese?"

"The summer welcoming?" Kite asked, pointing to her choice of lunch. Saryth just nodded his assent to the same choice.

The bread seller brightened, and started speaking even as she turned to the bread baskets. "Legend has it that before the beginning of time, the earth was dark and empty." She picked out two small loaves from the chosen basket and put them on the board in front of her. "But one day, the moon welcomed a stranger and treated him as an honoured guest. That was the sun, and he stayed, and brought light to the moon and to the world." She cut open the loaves and tucked large wedges of cheese into each. "And that's why, every year, we welcome strangers so the sun will remember and bring us the summer."

"I see."

"Your bread." She handed the loaves over, and Saryth took them both, since Kite's hands were full.

"Thank you."

They headed out of the street of stalls and made their way to a convenient bench under a tree which offered some shade from the sun. Kite dumped her staff and the bags beside her and reached over eagerly for the bread Saryth was holding out to her.

"Mm, thanks."

There was silence for a while, as they both ate, and Kite watched the people walking by, old and young, some carrying heavy burdens, but no pack animals. This didn't seem to be an area where pack animals were brought, although she'd seen caravans around the outskirts of the town. There was a public fountain across the street, but it was clearly meant for people and not animals. It was cared for by a sleepy old man who appeared to sell cups for those without. She watched him for a while, then gave in and went to buy cups for herself and Saryth. It was too hot to be without water for long.

"Well, I got our disguises," she said, handing him the cup. "We're going to be travelling musicians, brother and sister. I've got an ocarina, and I can sing or story tell or even dance, if I have to."

"But I don't play anything," Saryth said.

"I'll get you some drums. I'll teach you a few set rhythms."

"I feel superfluous," he muttered. She chose to ignore that. Worse was coming, anyway.

"Pyetr gave me some dyes," she went on, "so we can colour our hair the same red, and something that'll help match your skin tone to mine." She couldn't quite bring herself to call it fake tan. Saryth looked down at his hands, which, despite all his time outside, were still the same pale colour they always had been, and shrugged. It was all fine so far, but... "And you'll need to wear a blindfold," she said in a rush, then winced at his horrified expression.

"What?"

"Saryth, think about it." She had. She'd spent most of the last few nights worrying about it. "Having one eye is going to get you pulled in for questioning no matter what you look like. Vorannen will see through an illusion. I can't think of another way. I'm sorry..."

He looked down, hiding his face behind his hair like he always did. Kite made herself wait, give him the time to get used to the idea. Eventually he shook himself, a short sharp motion like a shrug of his whole body, and looked up.

"Anything else?" He wasn't happy about it, but she thought he understood. She opened the fourth bag on her belt, and took a well-wrapped box. Inside was a dull brown powder. Carefully, she shook out a little of the power on to her hand, then closed the box again. She held her hand out to Saryth, who gave it a dubious look.

"You need to learn how to use this."

"What is it?"

"It burns with a cold flame and ignites easily, when it gets damp." She had been going to spit, but there was a little water left in her cup. She added a drop to the powder, smushed damp grains between finger and thumb, then clicked her fingers and it flared up, making a tiny intense glow in her palm. Despite what she'd just said, Saryth laughed in surprised delight at the little flame. "See? I hope it's going to get us into the castle. We should be able to get an audience, but we need something - a threat or a promise, an edge to intrigue him. We have to catch his interest, or he'll just lock us up again." The fire flickered and died, and she brushed the crumbled remnants of the powder off her hands. "He's got a suppression field across most of the castle interior, but if you can work magic anyway..."

"I see." He looked more interested now. Kite stood up, scattering crumbs over the pavement and exciting the interest of a flock of small birds who'd been loitering in the trees and watching them while they ate.

"Anyway," she said, "do you want to try some of that dark tea?"

"Coming!"

He was smiling, he'd accepted the plan, but she still felt that dark misery inside. Should I have left him to look after Aeryn at Pyetr's? But that was a worse choice, at least for her, and he hadn't wanted to stay. She was sure of that. I shall be selfish, then.

The room Saryth had found was small but clean and neat, with bed frames which folded down from the walls, supported by chains. Thin mattresses were covered with woven bedspreads, light cloth for a warm climate. The tall, narrow windows were shuttered against the sun. A small table bore a covered jug of water and a basin. He'd been relieved to find it, after nearly an hour of trekking from place to place asking for rooms and being told there were none. It didn't help that whatever sign was used in Hebros to indicate a lodging house had entirely escaped his notice, so that he had spent almost as much time asking strangers for directions as he had actually talking to lodge keepers. Kite didn't seem to think there was anything unacceptable about it, a second relief. She'd always been the one to pick their accommodation before. Even when he'd chosen Top House in Ansel, it had been with her there, and thus with her tacit approval.

After they'd found a small, portable set of drums, they'd spent the hot part of the afternoon resting in the room. As the sun started to set and the outside temperature dropped, Kite stood up.

"Shall we go, then?" she said. There was an odd expression on her face.

"If you think we should." He wanted to, but not if she didn't. She shrugged and opened the door.

"Well, you heard what the lodge keeper said. It's a local tradition that everyone attend, visitors in particular."

Saryth followed her out of the lodging house in silence, unable to interpret her tone. The lodge keeper had told him twice now that visitors were expected to attend the festivities for the summer welcoming, once when he'd paid for the room and once when he'd come back with Kite. But he didn't think the man would be watching for them. I'm sure if Kite is tired, we could stay. But maybe that wasn't it, and anyway, he wanted to go.

There was no need to ask directions now. The street outside was filled with people, a cheerful, boisterous crowd laughing and talking as they filed towards the main square, not far from the market where Kite had gone shopping. Children threaded their way between adults, shrieking and giggling and pushing each other. Vendors worked the crowd, holding out sweetmeats, little honey-covered pastries, sticky soft things on skewers, and glazed fruit he didn't recognise. The air was filled with a medley of sweet scents, a cacophony of perfume, incense and spices. He breathed it in and felt dizzy.

The central square was decorated with long thin streamers of bright silk cloth hanging from the pillars at the side and swirling gently in the evening breeze. The pillars held up walkways, a second storey around the edge of the square, with a large space on one side where a group of musicians were playing, although Saryth wasn't sure they were all playing the same tune. For all that, there were little knots of people dancing in the main square. It reminded him of the wedding they'd attended. He turned to Kite.

"Hey, do you want to -"

"I'm tired," she interrupted, "so no thanks." And she went to sit on a bench out of the way, under the walkways, next to the pillars. Saryth hesitated, then sat down next to her, uncertain of what to do. He watched her for a while, but she just sat there, looking like she was thinking. About the legend?

"What the woman said," he tried, and she looked up. "About summer coming because the moon welcomed the sun..."

"Yes?"

"Is it true?"

"Sorry?" She looked confused. Saryth ploughed on, doggedly chasing his speculation.

"That the sun was a stranger? And that about visitors, that they must be welcomed or the sun wouldn't return? Would that happen?" She still looked bemused. "You said, in Araithel, that the world went round the sun, so..."

"Physically, yes," she said, and he sighed with relief that she'd responded. "Metaphysically, who knows? Legends have a lot of power, after all, if people believe in them, invest power in them."

"So it wouldn't return?" Something still wasn't adding up. "If they didn't do the welcoming, I mean?"

"I expect the gas would."

A smiling boy came round with a tray of drinks, and gave them one each, clay cups with something warm and dark inside. It smelled like sweet tea, with a hint of lemon underneath.

"Is that what it's like in Harien, then?" Saryth persisted, still trying to get a handle on what 'the sun' meant, and how it could be absent while still being there. "Is that why Aeryn left?"

"I don't know. I've never been to Harien." Kite stared at her cup.

"But couldn't it be something like this?" He was warming to the subject now. Aeryn must have left for a reason. "And what should we do, if it is?"

"I don't know, Saryth," Kite snapped, and he recoiled in surprise. "I've got no idea. I don't even know what we're going to do with Vorannen! Believe it or not, I don't know everything." She turned away, hunched in on herself, while he sat in stunned silence, struggling to find the words she needed. Above them the music drew to a close and the dancers broke up, clustering into small groups of laughing people. A new tune began, picked out by a pipe and echoed underneath by two stringed intruments. Saryth listened to the tune and toyed with the idea of being a musician.

"Hey, Silver! Fancy a dance?"

He jumped in surprise at the tall, cheerful woman standing in front of him. She looked flushed and excited, like she'd already been dancing. She eyed him up and down, glanced at Kite, then sat herself down between them and leaned towards him.

"So, where do you come from? And what stories do you have to tell?" She grinned, reaching out one hand to brush aside his hair, and winked. "I bet they're good ones." He flinched back from her hand so close to his face, fumbling for a way to tell her to go away, but his mind was blank.

"I changed my mind!" Kite was there, rescuing him, grabbing his hand and hauling him up and out towards the square. He caught a glimpse of the bemused expression on the strange woman's face as he was whisked past, then he was in the middle of the main square, the music was playing again and Kite was snatching at his other hand so they could spin properly. It seemed like everyone was dancing a different dance, so what they did didn't matter as long as they could keep the rhythm and not bump into people. Saryth concentrated on his footing, but he didn't miss the expression on Kite's face as she spun past and around him. She looked like she was about to cry.

Later on they ate, along with all the others at the dance, and Saryth finally got to taste some of the sweet tea that was freely available, and by the time they got back to the room they were both too tired to talk or think.

Waking up so early was painful. It can't have been more than a few hours... But for all that she dreaded facing Vorannen, the idea of putting it off for another day was even more unbearable. We have to keep moving forwards.

"Saryth, wake up." She shook him gently, and he grunted and turned over.

"Why? It's still night."

"We have to get changed and leave early. It'd look a bit odd, otherwise. You paid for the room in advance, didn't you?"

"Yes." He sat up at last and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, wincing as his feet met the cold floor. The jug served to fill the basin, and a small touch of magic made the water warm enough to wash their hair so they could add the dye. Saryth's hair ended up a sandy ginger, while Kite's went warm golden-red, but she hoped it looked sufficiently similar for the relationship she wanted to claim. Smearing the tan ointment onto Saryth's skin did help, although it took a bit of mixing with the water to stop his skin turning the same dusty orange as his hair. Then came the clothes she'd bought, matching outfits with bright red patterns on arm and leg, a shirt and short trousers for Saryth and a short top and equally short skirt for her. Matching cloaks and scarves made up the ensemble. They eyed each other in the flickering lamplight. We really do look different. I hope it's different enough.

"Ready?" she asked.

"All but the blindfold."

"That can wait. Let's go."

They shoved their normal clothes into the big leather bags and shouldered one each, then made their way down the stairs and out into the cold predawn. The streets were quiet, deserted save for the scurry of urban wildlife, and they saw nobody except for the sleepy caravan guards watching their beasts of burden at the edge of the city.

"Kite?" Saryth asked as they left the clustered buildings of Hebros behind them, walking out along the road between the small fields which spread out from the city like a halo, punctuated here and there by the fieldworkers' cottages. Nobody else was on the road this early in the morning, but farm workers and merchants would populate it soon enough.

"Mm?"

"What are we going to do when we get to Vorannen?"

And that was it. That was what she'd been thinking over ever since Pyetr's. When it came down to it, she still didn't have an answer.

"The only thing we can do, really," she said. "Tell him the truth. And hope he has a better side to appeal to. I don't think anything less than the truth will do, for him."

The sun had risen by the time they reached the spot Kite and Pyetr had identified. There was nothing special about it, it was just another bit of landscape, just over two miles north of the road. Some boulders, a few scrubby trees, ready to bear another day of heat. It took all Kite's concentration to feel the faint pulse of the nearby leylines.

"Well - this is it, then," she said. "This ought to feel like a natural gate. It'll hardly be noticeable at all. In theory, anyway." She dropped the bag and staff, and bent to draw the gate. It felt good to concentrate on getting the sigils right. Saryth watched, as always, trying to learn, but she didn't have the words to spare for him. All she managed, once she'd drawn the thing, was to look up and ask, "ready?"

"Ready," he said, and she picked up her bag and staff and stood by him in the centre of the circle.

"Oh, wait," Saryth said, just as she'd been anticipating the gate. She watched as he fumbled in his pocket, pulled out the scarf she had given him, and knotted it around his head, covering his eyes. Then he reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. "Now I'm ready."

The gate bloomed into existence as he fed power to her diagram, and the world of Hebros wavered and fell away from before her. He held on to her shoulder, a warm hand in the cold of the abyss between the worlds.

She felt awful.