A/N: ARGH! The site wouldn't let me upload my document, so apologies for this chapter being late. Thanks to all the cool people who reviewed the last one. And now, we meet a new character in this chapter! And yes, you have heard the name before. Bet you can't guess who it is…

The Wallmaker's Patient

Felio's face was relaxed in sleep, and he looked much younger than his age. He was young enough to be Ghidreth's son, as a matter of fact. The Wallmaker supposed that was one of the main reasons why she was personally looking after him now. That and the fact that he had been her assistant ever since he'd joined the Wallmakers.

Felio had been one of the youngest Wallmakers to reach the rank of Master, and his work was famous in the East of the Kingdom. People had not asked questions when he'd volunteered to make the first lesser Charter Stone, perhaps because the talented Wallmaker had been an obvious choice for such an important task.

But Ghidreth knew better.

Ever since the Great Stones had been made nearly eight years ago, Felio had thrown himself into his work without regard for his health or safety. It was because of Vicara, the Wallmaker who had sacrificed herself for the good of the Charter. Ghidreth wanted Felio to be happy, but this latest incident caused her to suspect that he had deliberately overexerted himself.

And now he was lying on a bed in the old room that had once held Yrael's cage, and he was unconscious. Felio had channelled Belgaer's powers to make the first lesser Stone, linking it to the power of the Great Stones, and he had succeeded. However, the task had completely drained him. He had lain in a deep sleep for nearly a month, and nothing had been able to wake him. Needless to say, Ghidreth was concerned. Forget that – she was nearly senseless with worry.

The Wallmaker glanced up at a chart on the wall of the room. It was a crude map, with red squares marking all locations designated for Charter stones. If Felio recovered from this ordeal, then other Wallmakers would craft hundreds of stones all over the Kingdom, stones which would draw power from either the Great Stones or the Wall. To be repaired, the Charter Stones would need the power of the Charter itself, from one of the Shining Ones or from a member of one of the bloodlines. But it took someone of great skill, a true Wallmaker, to actually create one.

Ghidreth heard a low moan, and turned back to Felio. The Wallmaker had opened his eyes, and was blinking up at her in confusion. "Welcome back," she greeted him, unable to hold back a huge smile.

The younger Wallmaker, however, frowned. "So it didn't kill me," he murmured. He sounded almost disappointed.

Ghidreth was quite irritated at that remark. She and the other Wallmakers had worked hard to keep Felio alive and relatively healthy, and now he wished that he was dead? It sounded very ungrateful to her. She knew that Felio had loved Vicara deeply, and she knew that he had been heartbroken when Vicara had made the Charter Stones, and she knew that he had needed time to grieve. But eight years? This was getting ridiculous, and if something was not done soon Felio would wallow in misery and self-pity without end. He could even do something rash. Something more rash than volunteering to make the first Lesser Stone, that is.

Ghidreth felt for his pulse, placing her fingers on his wasted wrist. "How do you feel?" she asked, forcing her voice to sound gentle, and not annoyed.

"I feel…" the man frowned. "I don't know… I feel worn out, I guess. Drained." Ghidreth wasn't surprised. His cheekbones stood out sharply in his pale face, and his eyes looked over-bright.

"Can you do magic?" the Wallmaker asked her assistant.

Felio closed his eyes, then shook his head. "The Charter is there," he confirmed. "I just can't do anything with it. I doubt I have the strength to light a candle."

Ghidreth had expected as much, and she gave Felio's arm a comforting pat. "We'll take it slowly," she assured him. "Perhaps in a week or so you will regain your strength and abilities." She could only hope that the condition wasn't permanent. If it was, the number of Wallmakers who had volunteered to make the Stones would drop drastically.

As the Wallmaker was lost in her thoughts, the dark-haired man shoved back the bedcovers and got unsteadily to his feet. "Now just wait one minute!" Ghidreth said indignantly. "Where do you think you're going, in your condition?"

"I'm getting out of here," Felio announced grimly. "I can't believe you put me in Mogget's old room."

Ghidreth rolled her eyes, but allowed the man to take a few steps – until he collapsed onto the floor. "See?" she pointed out. "You're too weak to be going anywhere. You haven't eaten anything solid for a month."

"Look," sighed Felio from his position on the floor. "I'm not staying in this room like some invalid. Help me into your workshop, or I'll crawl there."

The Wallmaker briefly considered telling him that he was an invalid, but she did not want to antagonize him, not in his condition. Then she considered blocking the doorway and daring her assistant to try to crawl past her, but fortunately decided against it. She rolled her eyes, then gave in and helped Felio stagger through the door. Inside the workshop Ghidreth clapped her hands together, and settled the thin Wallmaker onto the chair that had unfolded from a twisted piece of metal.

Felio let out a long sigh as he sank into the chair, allowing his head to loll back. He blinked. "Those are new."

Ghidreth looked up at two swords hanging on the wall amidst the other weapons. "Yes, they are," she admitted. "Sister-swords Seen by Tirelle."

"They're beautiful," he admitted almost grudgingly. "Who made them?"

"That one, Binder, was forged by Masters Russen and Iva. The second was made chiefly by Master Nehima."

"Nehima?" Felio repeated blankly. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What is she doing here?"

Ghidreth kept her expression neutral. "She's helping me," she replied evenly. The talented young Master Nehima had been working on the West end of the Wall, and her skills had grown quite famous in that region. She was actually a distant relative of Tirelle's, and had a little Seer blood. Ghidreth had asked her to replace Felio as her assistant while the man was incapacitated. And judging from the expression on Felio's face, the Wallmaker did not like being replaced one bit.

"And what's the sword called?" Felio managed to ask, trying to steer the conversation away from the uncomfortable subject of his rival.

It was not to be so. "It's called… Nehima," the Wallmaker admitted. Felio scowled; none of the Wallmakers had ever had a weapon named after them before. The fact that a Wallmaker from the west had been given that honour was already a source of jealousy and resentment among the other Masters, and it appeared that it would be the same with Felio. "Tirelle Saw a sword named Nehima," Ghidreth tried to explain. "When she told me this, I knew which Wallmaker was to forge it."

"You chose her because her name happens to be the same as the sword's?" he spluttered.

"Yes."

"How could you trust her with something so important?" Now Felio was getting worked up, and Ghidreth hoped that he didn't collapse or anything before she could placate him.

"She is older than you were when you and I forged Lord Abhorsen's blade," the Wallmaker said levelly. "And Nehima was not the only forger, of course. She had help with it."

Felio opened his mouth to retort, but the door banged open and a man ducked inside, shaking rain from his cloak. "Good evenin', Ghidreth," he said solicitously. When he saw that she had company, the visitor's eyes lit up. "You all right, Felio?" he asked cheerfully.

The younger Wallmaker nodded. "Hello, Master Malfas," he greeted the other man. When the bearded man gave him a look of concern, Felio raised his hand. "Don't worry about me. I'm quite all right."

Ghidreth and Malfas could both see that he was lying, but they wisely said nothing about it. "The plans for the Clayr's home in the glacier," Malfas said to Ghidreth, pulling a roll of parchment from his pack. "We can go over them, if you like."

The Wallmaker shook her grey head. "You go and rest, Malfas," she instructed. "We can discuss the plans tomorrow morning." The bearded Wallmaker touched a hand to his cap, and left Ghidreth's house.

She cleared a space on her cluttered workbench and unrolled the map, placing pieces of wood and metal and half-completed knick-knacks along the edge of the paper to keep it from rolling up on itself. Felio scooted his chair closer, and peered down at the diagrams. "Remarkable detail," he murmured, examining the plans with an expert eye. "How curious – a spiralling library."

"And look at these," Ghidreth tapped at various points on the parchment. "They look like secret chambers and passages. So many of them! And the specified engravings and spells for each… 'Lirael's Path', that's interesting…" They stared down at the inscriptions that were meaningless to them, but no doubt full of meaning for future inhabitants.

Felio shook his dark head. "Tirelle seems to be Seeing much," he remarked ironically.

"Tirelle's daughters are also Seeing things that need to be made," Ghidreth observed. "The Wallmakers do not have much time left to make such things, after all."

"What do you mean?" Felio turned to look curiously at Ghidreth, who avoided his gaze.

"I mean that the Wallmakers will not last forever," she said quietly, "And that our end may be nearer than we think. What we are building – this Wall – it may end up costing us more than a few drops of blood." The silence that followed was uncomfortable, and Ghidreth briskly said, "I'll pull three teams of Wallmakers from the Wall, as the King ordered, and send them north. Malfas should be in charge, don't you think?"

"He's a good Wallmaker," Felio agreed, getting back to business. "Raised as a carpenter, I think. He'll do well on the Clayr's home."

A quiet knock sounded on the door, and another hooded figure stepped through. The cloak was duly removed and hung on a peg, and Ghidreth was surprised to see Nehima herself. She liked the small blond woman, but this was perhaps not the best time for her new assistant to come visiting.

"Hello, Wallmaker," the young woman said brightly, tossing her long yellow braid over her shoulder. She turned to the other occupant of the room and smiled, holding up a covered tray. "Hello, Master Felio. Malfas told me that you had woken up, so I decided to bring over some soup. I've been helping Ghidreth feed you while you were asleep, and it's high time you had another meal."

The dark-haired Wallmaker looked rather stunned, and gawped at the petite woman as she set the tray in front of him. Ghidreth knew that Felio was starving, but his fingers fumbled with the spoon before he could pick it up.

"I'll be assisting the Wallmaker until you are fully recovered," Nehima chirped, not noticing Felio's strange behaviour. "I hope that you are not upset at the idea of me taking your place for a while. I am the most qualified for the job, anyway. And you've been through a dangerous ordeal, and need to take things slowly."

Ghidreth looked to see what Felio's reaction would be to these words, and was astounded to see that he was staring at Nehima with a rather silly expression. Indeed, if Ghidreth had not known better, she would have said that Felio was captivated by Nehima's forget-me-not blue eyes… But that couldn't be right! Although the two Masters had never met, they were still rivals in the Kingdom – weren't they?

But now that she thought about it, the Wallmaker did remember the gentle, fond expression that had graced Nehima's face whenever she had taken care of Felio. And she was certainly mothering him now, in a bossy sort of way. Nehima was helping him eat his soup, and wrapped a blanket firmly around his thin shoulders. Ghidreth looked back and forth between Felio and Nehima, and smiled. Perhaps some cure for Felio would be forthcoming, after all.

A/N: Yup, it's Nehima! Now, some tidbits I thought you'd appreciate: a pronunciation guide! Ghidreth (gih-DRETH), Berillan (BARE-ill-lahn), Tirelle (tih-RELL),Malia (MAY-lee-uh), Felio (FEE-lee-oh), Dantalion (dan-TAH-lee-on), and Penemue (PEH-neh-myoo). I will kill anyone who calls Felio "felly-o". The poor guy has been through enough!