Disclaimer: *gasp* I am actually changing it (again)! The old new one bored me so now I'm changing it again … essentially I own nothing (minus anything unfamiliar) that has to do with Valdemar… no suing I have no money!

A/N okay I was gonna skip to the end, but I figure whats one or two extra chaps gonna hurt?  Considering I am notorious for cutting stories to abrupt cliff jumping endings I figure more detail at this point won't hurt.  Besides when I looked at my reviews this morning I was suddenly motivated!  Speaking of reviewers it is time for thankees!!!

Katsiebee- thanks I intend to finish this by the end of the week but I have an insane amount of work to do so we'll see. Yeah heraldic bards are cool (I guess never really read about one before much but oh well)

Badgerwolf- (cool name by the way) is that unusual good *much head nodding and smiling* or unusual bad *much head shaking and negative hand waving*  anyway thanks for the review. (is that referring to this chap or the whole story?)

Stee- you rock!  Thanks for the reviews!  Ch24 is the kind I make my friends give… (yeah I make them tell me whether they like word choices to the point that they tease me about wanting a speech on every use of the word 'the') I don't consider any reviewers to be ungrateful children, as long as there are reviews I will be writing (I think)

Andi G-here's the next chap.  That question about the collegium will be answered in this chap or the next.

Fireblade K'Chona- thanks for the review glad you get it

Kathleen- Thanks bunches for the review.

Imaginary cookies for all!!!!!!

And now on to the next chap… (um I guess Cye so we can see his funny reaction?)

            Savannah walked over to me alone; she looked as tired as I had ever seen her.

            :What's wrong Sav?: I asked not feeling much better than she looked.

            :I appear to be out a herald …: She sent vaguely as she ambled closer.

            :Something happened to Azori?: I asked worry penetrating the haze of tiredness.

            :No, she's fine.:

            :So how are you out a herald?: I asked, puzzled.  Savannah was right in front of me now.

            :Herald Roy died…:

            :But he's not your herald.:

            :You're a clever boy Cye, and I know you've read your history.:

            I stared blankly.

            :Roy was the queen's own…:

            "Oh!" I exclaimed slipping out of mind-speech, "Garth chose her to take his place?"

            :I knew you were a smart boy!:

            "So what are you going to do?" I asked wondering why she was wasting time talking to me.

            :I… My name is Savannah and I..:

            :Yeah I know that Savannah quit kidding around!  Go find your new herald…:  I interrupted angry that she was rubbing my nose in the fact that I was once more being overlooked. 

            :I was trying to, look I want you to be my new herald.  If you'll still have me.:

            If I would still have her?  That was the oddest thing I had ever heard.  Was I being chosen?  After spending most of my life dreaming of this moment it felt so anticlimactic.

            "That's it?  I get to be your herald now?"

            :Yes, were you expecting a light show?:

            "No," I wrapped my arms around her neck, "no, this is perfect."

            "I'm glad to see you two are taking to each other so nicely," Azori's voice broke into my reverie.  She was standing behind us, or rather sitting, on Garth's back, "We have work to do.  Normally I would send you back to Haven for training, but you two are already quite close, and you know as much about heralds as most heralds, Cye.  Besides we need every advantage we can get."

            "Malken's not a threat anymore," I protested, "We can't just go home?"

            "Not with a threat at our back," Azori said shaking her head ruefully.

            :You've certainly become more decisive since this morning.: I grumbled to her in mind-speech.

            :You'll just have to deal with it,: Azori returned confrontationally.

            :You okay?:

            :I'm fine Cymon, I just need to work some stuff out.:

            :Sure, whatever you say,: I agreed getting onto Savannah's back.

            "We should be getting back to camp," I said.

            "Yes, we need to plan and rest; we still have much to do before we return home."

            "Why don't you gather the others then?" I suggested, "You have the highest rank here after all."

            "Great, just what I need; to be in charge of this expedition"

            I didn't respond to her last comment.  Eventually everything was sorted out and we moved our camp to Malken's old estate.  It would serve as our new base of operations.  With a little help from our companions we managed to retune the spells on the building to ourselves.  The design was surprisingly similar to the Tayledras heartstones.

            In short we were well established for the remainder of our campaign.

A/N okay there now for the next chapter, sorry this one is kinda short and mostly consists of the first a/n but oh well the next one is already half written and they should both be posted at the same time so no big deal right? Okay this is the part where I beg for reviews and end the update...