The Queen sat in the greenhouse with her feet in the water, flicking her toes at the goldfish, trying to ignore the guards who stood off to her sides. With her main bodyguard – and her husband, and the High Wizard – gone, Amon had insisted that at least three of his guards accompany her everywhere; she'd bargained him down from five.

It was more than two months since she'd seen Han, since he'd walked out of the dinner hall and into the night. She winced whenever she thought about the fight they'd had that day; unkind words and hotheadedness, and they'd ended up apart.

It was raining outside. It had been raining since the week after Han had left. Fire Dancer had refused to use his nature magic to make the skies clear, saying that it would only work for a couple days and that he had more important uses for his flash.

A month later her council representative spent half the time in their weekly meetings staring out the windows, as if looking for Han. Raisa didn't have the heart to tell him she did the same.

She couldn't ignore the whispers that the rain and the High Wizard's absence were connected, no matter how much she tried.

Raisa sighed and stared out across the greenhouse. She had suggested they renovate the rooftop garden, but Han said he liked it messy. Some days they'd work extra hard during the day just to have an evening alone, pulling weeds and talking.

Two months, she thought. He should have come back.

They'd had a year and a half together before he'd left, nine months at Odden's Ford and nine months at home after they married.

Nine months. That was it.

Weeds snaked up the metal frames of the greenhouse and tangled together. Their bitter, tangy scent came unbidden, as Raisa remembered that she hadn't touched the weeds wince Han had left.

Nine months.

"Where's Dog?" Han said.

The Queen spun to her left, following her guards. Han stood in the entrance of the greenhouse. He was dripping wet and grinning wickedly, the glow of his amulet casting light throughout the greenhouse.

Two months.

His hair was longer, ragged and dirty; he hadn't shaved in a while and his clothes were riddled with holes. He looked worse than when he was driving Montaigne's army back south, and that was saying something. But his eyes were alive, and he wasn't hurt, and that was what counted.

Raisa stood after a moment and walked to him; she retained enough self-control to keep from running, but the moment she got to him she threw herself into his arms. Two months she'd waited, and done nothing but work to keep the worry away, and fail at it.

They drew back after a long moment. "You're late," Raisa told him.

"I know," Han replied. "We had trouble coming back up." He glanced at the guards.

Raisa let go of her husband and turned to them. "You're dismissed for the day."

They nodded and left, out into the rain.

She turned back to Han. "A month's worth of trouble?"

"I know, I know. We ran into some Arden soldiers and had to backtrack across the Tamron Forest and into Demonai territory, it took longer than we thought…" Han didn't want to talk about it now, Raisa could tell. For all her worry, she didn't really want the details right now either.

"How about you dry off inside," she suggested. "You can change your clothes, get some food, tell me everything-"

"No," Han said, "I, uh, I need to find Cat first."

"Cat?"

"Yeah, I want her to put watchers on some of the people who came back with me. I think they're slipping information to Montaigne."

"Well, she's in my rooms."

Han smiled. "You really want me to come inside, don't you. You never answered my question, y'know."

"What was that?"

"I asked, Where's Dog?"

Raisa smiled deviously. "In my rooms."

"Is everyone in your rooms? Is Dancer there? And Byrne? I need to talk to them too."

"Dancer's on Grey Lady. Council meeting. Amon is at Way Camp, waiting for you."

"Oh. Right. I forgot 'bout that…"

"It's fine, I'll send a message to him. In the meantime…" Raisa gestured to the chapel, with the trapdoor.

"All right. I can't stay long, if there's a Council meeting I need to be there."

Raisa sighed, exasperated. Han knew exactly how she felt. He raised a hand to her face and kissed her again. "How are things going here?"

She grimaced. "They'll be better with you back. I can't stand everyone tiptoeing around me. Don't you dare do it too," she added.

Han grinned. "I'll try not to. Let's go get inside, how about."

It had been two months since anyone had seen Hanson Alister. Two months, three days and just under 24 hours. Micah was keeping track, counting the days until the Queen realized that her husband had left and wasn't coming back. Until she realized that Micah had been there the whole time, and he wasn't going to leave.

It had been raining for almost that long, too.

Micah might have convinced himself that Alister wasn't coming back, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Raisa wouldn't remarry, especially in her current…condition.

She broke the Nǽming for him, and they didn't even last a year before he left.

They'd exploded in the middle of dinner, and spent thirty minutes – a whole half-hour – shouting at each other in Clan. Despite the Queen's efforts to integrate her court, the only person present who could understand the language was Hayden Fire Dancer and he refused to tell anyone what they'd said.

Hayden, Micah's half-brother.

They sat opposite each other on the Wizard Council; rather, Micah sat and Hayden stood clutching a gavel. That gavel had been held by their father for so many years, and then by Alister for nine months until he stormed out of the dining hall and didn't look back. The Queen had appointed Hayden as Han's fill-in until her husband returned.

Hayden was delaying a vote on whether they should vote for a new High Wizard. The most vocal supporters were Lord Mander and Micah (not that the second lord was actually talking, but everyone knew how he'd vote), but Abelard was leaning towards a "yes" vote as well. Hayden was stalling by bringing up every other point on the agenda and completely ignoring Mander's constant suggestions of "Let's vote on the High Wizard, copperhead."

The slur was not making Hayden more amenable to the vote, even Micah could see that. For all that he disliked his half-brother he was at least avoiding calling him that.

Hayden and Mander had escalated into shouting. Micah's uncle was heaping the blame for everything that had happened in the past millennium on the Clans and Hayden was listing off wizard misdeeds through the ages, pre- and post-Nǽming. It occurred to Micah that he was trying to make the argument that the Wizard Council should become more democratic, but he wasn't paying enough attention to his half-brother's points.

Mordra and Abelard would cut in every so often with arguments for either side, but they both favored the Queen's representative. Adam Gryphon was watching the argument and not contributing, but he was also obviously in Hayden's camp. A year ago none of them would have supported him so obviously, but the past year had polarized sides, with most anti-Bayars supporting the Queen, and by extension her representative on the council.

Micah was the only councilmember not paying attention; thus it was only Micah who heard the muted voices from behind the doors, and only Micah who noticed the doors open. Only Micah who saw Hanson Alister walk through the doorway.

Micah stood. The wizards noticed, followed Micah's line of sight and immediately shut up.

The young High Wizard smiled. "You're trying to replace me already? I thought we tried this before, I'm not that easy to get rid of."

Micah sat down.

Everyone watched as Alister walked to his seat, but he didn't sit; he stayed standing and surveyed the variety of stunned, shocked or, in Lord Mander's case, upset faces. "I see we're all getting along well. Besides kicking me off the Council and calling each other names, what other motions were on the agenda?"

Hayden cleared his throat. "We've got a new trade negotiation with the clans, and repealing some old acts-"

"Acts legally set in place by better Councils!" Micah's uncle cut in. Hayden tensed, but sat down; the other man stayed standing.

Alister looked at him bemusedly. "Rules established centuries ago, Mander. They're no longer relevant and they're keeping our Queendom divided. Sit down and we'll get on with it."

Mander sat down slowly; Alister followed.

After a moment of silence, the High Wizard cleared his throat. "I'm not here to finish the meeting. I've got business in Fellsmarch that needs attending and I'm not up to speed here. Lord Dancer'll finish the meeting after I leave."

"Then why are you here?" Micah asked. It was the first thing he'd said since entering the room.

"I'm getting to that." Alister drew himself up in his chair. "As you all know, Montaigne cut off all communications with Oden's Ford after we drove him out of the Fells. Four months ago the Queen and I made a plan. A group, no bigger than a triple, would cross Tamron, sneak into Oden's Ford and bring all the Fells residents back home. We brought a number of people in on the plan, but only for parts. Only five people knew the whole plan: the Queen, Captain Byrne, Dancer and Lady Abelard. And me, 'course."

Everyone turned to look at Abelard. She looked around, smiled, shrugged and sat back in her chair. Micah wondered why she had leaned towards replacing Alister if she knew that he was in Oden's Ford.

No, it was obvious. The chances of him coming back weren't good; she was being realistic.

"Abelard's Dean of Mystwerk House, and with all the recent…deaths on the Council, she's also the longest-serving member. We needed to convince the residents to trust us; we needed her signature and her stamp."

Alister paused. He leaned back, crossed his arms and sighed.

"Two months ago I led a triple of Guards and Clan scouts down to Oden's Ford. It all went smooth, but on the way back Montaigne's soldiers caught us near Ardenscourt. We had to go back across the Tamron Forest and into the Fells in Demonai territory. It took a lot longer than we expected, and we ran low on supplies towards the end. We had nine deaths: four Guards, two common folk, and three wizards. Most of them were over fifty years old. The whole thing was supposed to take a month. Obviously, we're late."

Han sighed and uncrossed his arms. "I think that's it, and-"

Micah only had one question: "So that fight-"

"Me and Raisa faked it," Alister finished. "It'd be less suspicious if I disappeared like that, at least for the first few days. Whoever Montaigne had slipping him info wasn't quick about it, so we figured by the time he heard about it we'd've already gotten down to Oden's Ford."

It occurred to Micah that Alister was more exhausted than he looked; it certainly explained his bad speech, and that he was sitting down. Han Alister hated sitting down.

The High Wizard tapped his fingers on the table. "That's it for now. I'll have a complete report for the Council by the next meeting, which I'll call in three-"

"Where are they?" interrupted Abelard. "The students. The original plan called for the group to rest at Way or Marisa Pines Camp, but obviously you didn't go that way."

Alister nodded. "We left most of the group at Eastgate. I took a horse and changed at every post. They'll be comin' in the next week."

"All right, that's really all it for now." He stood up. "Right. I'm calling the next meeting in three days. Dancer," he prompted. Micah watched him walk to the doors, while Hayden stood up again and suggested they talk about the trade negotiation with the Clans.

Part of Micah felt relief; now he could properly get over his old flame, now that her husband was back. He wished he could see Alister return to the city; he wanted to see everyone's faces.

Micah turned back to his half-brother.

Han was sleeping in Raisa's bed when she returned from dinner.

Magret hadn't noticed. She was laying down in the sitting room, with Cat playing the basilka: her headaches had become increasingly common, to the point that she no longer actively responded when the Queen entered the room. But Cat nodded towards the door to the bedroom and winked at Raisa, so she'd noticed at least. Raisa forgot too often that they'd grown up together in Ragmarket; of course they'd know each other's sounds and movements.

Raisa padded softly across the sitting room, and opened and closed the bedroom door quietly. The wave of relief she felt seeing Han sleeping was stronger than she'd expected, but then, she had gotten used to a warm bed and after he'd left for Oden's Ford the old empty bed felt cold and lonely.

It was good to have her husband back.

She undressed, tied her hair back – it was getting longer than she liked, she'd have to cut it again – and climbed into bed.

Han turned over to her. "I fell over a bucket," he told her. "Is that yours?"

"Yeah, the washroom's too far away."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry…"

"Shhh, it's not your fault," she told him. "We both decided to do it, it's my fault as much as yours."

"Still, I wish I could've been here…"

"You're home now," she said firmly. "That's what matters."

"Hmm." Han reached his arm out and pulled his wife to him. "Why was Dog wearing a new collar?"

"Magret's trying to domesticate him. She says that if he's staying he has to be clean." It struck Raisa that she'd never thought about how much she missed this, talking in bed, little things like that. She also didn't realize how easily they'd fall right back into it. "She's been keeping him inside, too. I would've brought him out to the garden but she was in here."

"His first owner was a blind alcoholic, he's not going to get much better than that," Han remarked. He didn't like to talk about Lucius much, so all Raisa knew was the life summary Han had given the court, and the little things he'd mention offhand.

"She also wants to rename him."

Han laughed. "Better chance of bringing Lucius back from the dead."

"Mmm."

They were both silent for a while.

"Did Talia come back with you, or is she still at Eastgate?"

"She came back, said she'd been away from Pearlie long enough," Han mumbled. "She broke her foot halfway back, I fixed it best I could. I told her to say in Eastgate but she said…said something about I owed her n' Pearlie for covering for us in Oden's Ford. I gave her a week's leave, same as everyone else when they get back."

"Good."

"I'm, uhh…"

She turned over to face him. "Yeah?"

"I, uhh…how much work do you have to do tomorrow?"

Raisa knew what he meant. "Han, no."

"You've been doing so much work-"

"I told you not to treat me like an invalid!" And he'd promised not to.

"You've been going solo two months, Rai, don't you want a break?" Don't you ever wish you could have a partner? "Let me take some of it…"

He'd only started calling her Rai recently; it was somehow appropriate, she thought. Only three men called her that: the man she'd rejected, the man who'd rejected her, and her husband. Three men who she'd been closest to, at one time or another.

"You can have half," she told him. "And no more."

"Yes, Your Majesty." He was smiling. She kissed him, as if he could share his smile with her as they fell asleep.

As it turned out, he could.