Page 35 of The Lost Art of Finding Where You Belong

“What?” Perian said a bit blankly.

“Onadal took him before Mother this morning. He has the right to expel people from the Warriors, but he regards Fomadin as a troublemaker with a nature incompatible with the mission of the Warriors, and he wanted to ensure he was set outside of their sphere of influence. So he asked Mother to enforce the ban, which she did.”

“Wow,” Perian said. And then, “Thank you. I mean, thanks to your mother.”

Even though Perian made jokes about Cormal throwing fireballs at him in the hallway, Perian had to admit that deep down, he didn’t think the man would do it for no reason. But Fomadin had gone out of his way to attack Perian. The man hadn’t even been working with the newbies, but he’d evidently been carefully monitoring what Perian was doing and had taken the opportunity to try to not just disarm him, but to hurt him.

Perian was pretty sure that Onadal’s assessment was spot on.

“I’ll, uh, feel a little safer walking down the hallways now,” he admitted.

“Good,” Renny said, expression fierce. “No one is allowed to hurt you.”

“I would certainly prefer they didn’t,” he agreed. “Now, what is there to eat? Do you think I can manage it with only one hand?”

Picnics were generally designed to be easily consumable in an outdoor setting without a huge number of utensils, but this ploy successfully distracted Renny and got her to refocus on the food and making sure Perian was comfortable and had eaten enough.

He was quite hungry, actually, a hollow pang in his middle, like his body had just realized he hadn’t eaten in a while, and he had some healing to do.

It was only after they’d finished as much food as they could manage and had flopped back onto the blanket to look up at the sky—clear today, no cloud animals in sight—that Perian remembered about yesterday evening’s ride.

“Kee, I have a question for you. And I guess I can’t ask without your sister being here, sorry, but I think Prince Horsey might have led me to a private place of yours. Do you know where I’m talking about?”

Renny tilted her head, looking immensely curious, and then said, “By the lake?”

It was clear the words were not hers because her brow was furrowed in confusion.

Perian nodded. “It looked very beautiful, and I was hoping it would be all right for me to visit, maybe bring others out with me, but then I realized it might be a private location that you didn’t want to share, so I wanted to ask first. It doesn’t look like it’s been used in years.”

Six years, he assumed but wasn’t going to say.

Renny’s brow was knit as she clearly listened to her brother. She smiled faintly, was silent for another moment, and then looked at Perian.

“He says he used to sneak away occasionally—with CormalandBrannal, after Cormal caught him on his own once and threatened to go to Mother. So as a compromise, they’d go with him for the night. Cormal got his dad to tell Mother they were doing some deep learning about Mage Warriors or something like that. Apparently, it sounded convincing.”

Perian grinned. “I’m glad.”

And… maybe he could respect Cormal a little bit for that. He could totally understand Kee wanting time on his own, but the Prince being out of the castle on his own trulywasdangerous. But rather than scolding him or forbidding it, Cormal had figured out a way to do it more safely.

Had Cormal been more reasonable when he was younger, or was it just that hereallydidn’t like Perian, and so Perian saw the worst side of him? Should he be trying to get on his good side? He didn’t know the man that well and felt like he was reacting toCormal’sreaction, which probably wasn’t a well-rounded assessment of character. On the other hand, Perian really wasn’t impressed with what he’d seen in most casesso far.

But hewasBrannal’s Secundus, and it would probably be easier for Brannal if they got along. (For that matter, if they actually got along, or were at leastneutral, it would be a lot easier for Perian, too.) Maybe this week apart would be good for everyone and let things reset a bit.

Renny continued, snapping Perian back to the present.

“Kee says you can take people out there.” She made a bit of a face. “He’s not using it, and he’d rather that someone was.” Her face lit up. “MaybeIcan go out there, and then you could see it again, Kee!”

Apparently, both Perian and Kee started to protest at the same time, because Renny sat up and turned to face them, holding up her hands. “Stop, stop! I can’t understand you when you’re talking at the same time.”

Perian gestured for Kee to go first, sitting up himself so he could face Renny properly.

She made another face. “He says it’s not safe. I assume you were saying the same thing, but I’m not a little girl!”

“But itisimportant you’re kept safe,” Perian said, picking his words more carefully. “And I think now that he’s relayed that story, Kee understands just how foolhardy he was being.”

A silence. Renny rolled her eyes. “Youwent with Brannal and Cormal.”

“If I say something you don’t like, are you going to punch me?” Perian asked.

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