A door to her left opened, and Kersh came through. Icelin stood to greet him, but he got to her first. The Watchman wrapped his arms around her and lifted her onto her toes.
"Have a care for an aging woman," Icelin said, laughing.
"Not a chance," Kersh said. He pulled back to arm's length and regarded her with mock sternness. "Every time I let you out of my sight you work yourself into more trouble."
"Lucky for you I'm too stubborn to let anyone do away with me," Icelin said.
"Are you well, Icelin?" Kersh looked at her intently, as if he could take her apart piece by piece to find any deficiency. "I don't expect you to ever forgive me, but as long as you'te all right, I can be content."
"I'm more than well," Icelin said. "You followed the right course, Kersh. I should have trusted you from the beginning."
"We should have made ourselves more worthy of your trust," said a voice from the open doorway.
Icelin looked beyond Kersh to see Daerovus Tallmantle towering over both of them. He tegarded Icelin with an uncertain expression. Icelin had never expected to be on the receiving end of such a look from the imposing Warden.
A memory came to her, with crystal clarity as always, of another time when she had sat in this chamber. She'd been much younger, and Brant had been with her, holding her hand.
When she looked into the Warden's eyes, she knew he was remembering that same day.
Kersh squeezed her hands and stepped away. She felt suddenly adrift. She looked at him imploringly, but he shook his head and smiled. "I'll leave you two to talk," he said. He gave her hand another squeeze, the Warden a salute, and left the toom.
"I am truly sorry," Icelin said, "about Tarvin, and any other men you lost these past nights."
"Tarvin was our sole loss, and that was none of your doing," Tallmantle said. He sat on the bench across from her and gestured that she should resume her seat. "I know you're tired," he said, "so I'll be brief. Cerest is dead. What of his men? Are any of them still hunting you?"
Icelin shook her head. "The only ones that might be are a pair of elf women Cerest had working with him. I don't know who they are or what their fates were."
"They are the Lock sisters," Tallmantle said, "well known dealers in antiquities and magic. We believe they hired a portion of the men who hunted you, but we have no evidence linking them directly to Cerest, other than your testimony." His mouth twisted. "They have already lined up several witnesses who will swear they were giving a party the night you were kidnapped."
"I don't want to go after them," Icelin said. "Cerest was the one bent on hunting me. They should have no interest in me now." She thought of Bellaril, master now of Arowall's Cradle and all its men. The dwarf woman had her own score to settle with the sisters. Icelin had no doubt the women would be made to answer for what they had wrought in Mistshore.
"What will you do now?" the Warden asked, surprising her with the change in topic.
"Do the charges against me still stand?" Icelin asked.
"One," Tallmantle said. "The outstanding charge of evading a Watch summons waits only for my signature to dismiss it."
"My thanks. You will not be popular for that decision in some circles," Icelin said.
"You overestimate our enmity," the Warden said. "Tarvin was the exception. Any others who privately held you responsible for Therondol's death have changed their opinion, based on the events that have transpired these past days." A faint smile lit his features. "You've shamed them, my lady, by choosing deadly Mistshore as a safer haven than the Watch." His smile faded. "You shamed me, as well."
Icelin shook her head, unable to believe what she was hearing. "You have more reason to hate me than anyone. Therondol was your son." Her voice cracked. "I know what it's like to lose yourself to that kind of grief."
The world had stopped working the night she'd lost Brant. Right and wrong became concepts that belonged to other people. Perhaps she was more at home in Mistshore after alj. At least she could understand the place now, what created and sustained it as well as what kept it apart from the rest of the city.
The Warden put a hand on her shoulder. Icelin couldn't meet his eyes. She remembered that day, sitting in his office with Brant. His face had been gray, lifeless as he read the account of the fire and his son's death.
"I would have been glad of someone to punish that day," Tallmantle said, as if reading her thoughts. "But it wasn't you I wanted. I stopped believing in the gods that day. I didn't care whether any of them lived or died, because I thought they had forsaken this world. They'd forsaken my son."
Icelin did look up then, but she couldn't read his expression. "Do you still believe that?" she asked.
"I don't know," the Warden said. "I've learned to put my faith in this city and the men and women who serve to keep it thriving. I look to them for aid and inspiration when I need it. So far, those forces have been enough to sustain me."
Icelin nodded. She knew that kind of strength. Ruen and Sull and Bellaril had been hers. "What will happen to him?" she asked.
She was speaking of Ruen. They both knew it. "He did bring you to the Watch, as I instructed, though it was after considerable delay," the Warden said. "Unfortunately, it's been made clear that he can't be trusted to act under our direction. That leaves two options, as I see it."
"You can't send him back to the dungeons," Icelin said. "I owe him my life."
"I don't enjoy the prospect," the Warden said, "which is part of the reason I inquired after your immediate plans. Will you take up your great-uncle's shop and stay in Waterdeep?"
Icelin shook her head. "I considered it, but no. My family wanted me to see more of the world than Waterdeep."
It was a desire she'd never found in herself before. But she knew the breadth of her life now, and the urgency and wanderlust in her blood had flared. The time to begin her journey was now or never.
The Warden nodded thoughtfully, as if he'd been expecting her answer. "I suppose I could recommend a period of banishment from the city for Morleth. A man of his resources should have no trouble finding a direction in the world. Perhaps that direction will coincide with yours."
Icelin grinned. "You might ask him about this course of action before you undertake it. He may vastly prefer the dungeons to being saddled with me indefinitely."
"I have already asked him," Tallmantle said. "He has agreed to keep an eye on you for me."
Icelin didn't know how to respond. Her throat constricted around emotions she couldn't begin to handle. "My thanks," she said roughly, "for everything."
"Gods and friends go with you, lass," the Warden said, "wherever you choose to walk."
When Icelin stepped outside the barracks, she didn't immediately see the monk. Ruen stood in the shadow of a building several paces down the street.
"Were you waiting for me?" she asked when she reached him.
"I would have waited in Tallmantle's office with you," Ruen said, uncrossing his arms, "but I can only spend so long in the place. I break out in a rash."
Icelin fixed a look of annoyance on her face. "So the Warden thinks I need watching after does he? What makes him think you're the man for this task?"
"I'm still alive," Ruen said, shrugging. "No small accomplishment, where you're concerned."
"Hmmm," Icelin said. "I suppose you're right. Will you be vexing me the entire journey?"
"At least halfway there and back."
"I see. I suppose I'll have no choice but to pay you back in kind." Icelin took a step closer to him and leaned in. When it became clear she was about to kiss his cheek, Ruen stepped back, his hands on her shoulders.
Icelin smiled up at him teasingly, but he didn't return the humor. His eyes were shadowed under the brim of his hat.