The wind caught her hair and stirred it about her face. The ends tickled his cheek and he reached over to tuck a loose strand behind her ear.

“Tell me about your home,” she said, lifting her chin toward the view. “Ghadria can’t possibly be more beautiful than this.”

He looked out, trying to see this place as she did. The island was all black rock and towering pines surrounded by icy cold waters and dangerous currents. There was a chill in the air even now as they approached midsummer. The people lived in stone huts with thatched roofs. Their best art was in their weaponry and music. In the steps that Lorel danced. He suspected that was how they sealed their magic too. Mages gave their spells form in their sigils and chants, the charms they stitched to their robes and marked on their skin. The Erysians had simply found another way.

“It’s different,” he said. “So different I don’t know that I can justly compare the two. It never snows in the capital. The winters are mild, but the summers are brutally hot.”

“I don’t like the heat.”

“Mmm. There are compensations. The waters of the sea are calmer away from the straits and always warm enough to swim in, even during the winter. The water is so clear you can see right to the bottom. You can stand in the shallows with a spear to catch fish as they swim by.”

“There are no serpents?”

He shook his head. “Sea serpents prefer waters that are deep and cold. You won’t find them past the straits.”

She leaned her chin against her hand. “Your people must never go hungry.”

He thought of the beggars and orphans in the market. “Some do. The cities are large and not everyone is capable of providing for themselves. In the smaller villages, it’s different. People tend to look out for one another more.”

“You grew up in the city?”

“No.” A small village near the Karaeli border, an area destroyed by long years of war, near an outpost much like this one. “I’ve lived there for years though. Did you know that if you placed the capital city here it would take up half the island?” Her eyes widened and he grinned. “The buildings are formed of stone bleached white by the sun. All the homes have high ceilings with windows designed to catch the wind off the water. There are fountains everywhere.”

“And the people?”

“The same as anywhere else.