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Late that afternoon, when the sunlight lay golden and heavy in the center of the courtyard but the shadows of the walls already stretched long, I went up to Joachim’s room. Evrard was asleep in my bed, and the rest of the castle was sitting around lazily, talking in some amazement of the day’s events, feeling they had already eaten too much, and nibbling on cinnamon cookies.

Joachim threw his casements wide open and looked out into the courtyard. I had something important to ask him, something that I had managed to forget during the past few days.

Now that it appeared that Evrard was certainly going to live, and indeed according to the doctor would be able to walk easily again in six weeks, I had begun to feel that I might someday soon be cheerful again. Even the memory of the old wizard’s death could not remain constantly before me, though I continued to feel I was more responsible than the chaplain seemed to think. But Evrard would be moving to the duchess’s castle, which would leave me again as the only wizard at the royal castle. And even if Evrard stayed here, it would not be the same. Frustrating as Joachim sometimes was, he was still the closest friend I had ever had.

“What are you going to do?” I asked his back. “Does the bishop still want you to go to the episcopal city and join the cathedral chapter? How soon will you have to leave Yurt?”

He turned around, looking genuinely distressed. “Didn’t I tell you, when I met you down in the valley? That’s why I felt so peaceful then. I know I said I’d talked to the bishop, that he’d reminded me that God does not give us burdens heavier than we can bear if we turn to Him. But didn’t I tell you the rest?”

“What didn’t you tell me?”

“I told the bishop that I hoped I had not fallen into the sin of pride, but that it seemed he might be preparing the way for inviting me to join the chapter. And if he was, I told him, I must request that he not do so. I explained that I felt I could do more in Yurt as Royal Chaplain than serving in the cathedral, where there are already many far better qualified priests.”

“And what did he say?”

Joachim smiled. “It’s not a desperate matter, Daimbert. He told me he understood and must agree with my decision.”

I could see it all, even if the chaplain’s humility kept it from him. The bishop was willing to let him remain in Yurt for now, but sooner or later, when they wanted a cathedral officer or even a new bishop, they would come looking for him again.

But that should be many years in the future. Almost reassured, I asked, “And he didn’t try to tell you that you should guard against the untoward influence of friendship with a young wizard?”

Joachim smiled again and shook his head. “I think he’s become reconciled to the idea. I should introduce you to him sometime.”

I had one last question. “Could I possibly have been as callow as Evrard when I first came to Yurt?”

The chaplain smiled slowly but thoroughly. “Yes,” he said.

I put my hand in my pocket and found Gwen’s foil-wrapped cookies. “I’d thought after that feast we had that I wouldn’t want to eat again for days, especially since I wasn’t even hungry at the time. But these suddenly seem appealing. Shall we split them?”

The duchess and her new husband left early the next morning for her castle and were gone for a week. In the meantime, I went down to the village to find the young couple whose chickens the monster had killed and to compensate them.

They seemed delighted to see me and to talk about the resolution of the earlier quarrel, even before I had a chance to ask them how much a new flock would cost. I decided not to mention that what ever cousin or uncle had been dug up and hidden in the woods as part of that quarrel had probably formed the bones of the monster.

At the end of the week, Diana and Ascelin were back at the royal castle. Prince Ascelin was now going home to his city, taking his bride with him, to tell his people about his marriage and to make the arrangements for the city to be governed by someone else for the six months of each year he and the duchess would live in Yurt.

In the morning, the duchess went into my chambers with Evrard. She talked to her wizard for over an hour before coming back out into the courtyard. “So, do you think you can keep an eye on Dominic by yourself?” she asked me.

“Of course I can. Now that he’s decided that the big change he needs is a year in the City once his regency is over, rather than a wife, he seems fairly contented. He’s so relieved that he didn’t have to marry you after all that he shouldn’t give us any trouble.”

The duchess laughed. “If it had been up to me, I would have waited to go until the king and queen came back, but Ascelin is understandably in a hurry to get home himself.” He came across the courtyard toward us, and she looked at him affectionately. “It will be interesting seeing his city.”

I was not fooled by her comment about waiting for the king and queen’s return. Diana had always done exactly what she liked, and what she liked right now was making her new husband happy.

In a few minutes she and her knights rode out over the draw bridge, Nimrod-as I still couldn’t help but think of him-striding beside her saddle as he had the first time he came to Yurt. I wondered if they would ever find a horse big enough to carry him.

In my chambers, Evrard was hobbling back and forth, making a pile of some of my books by my best chair. “As long as I won’t be able to move around much for a while,” he said with a smile though not meeting my eyes, “I thought I should make use of the time and learn some of the magic the teachers at the school think they’ve already taught me.” But then his freckled face became sober. “After all, it will be embarrassing always to have to ask them things I ought to know.”

I sat down rather abruptly. “Wait a minute. I think I’m missing something.”

“I’ve resigned,” said Evrard, much too seriously to be joking. “I told the duchess just now, and she agreed.”

“But she thought you were a hero when we overcame the monster!” I protested, but Evrard wasn’t listening.

“She never really needed a ducal wizard in the first place, and she’ll need one even less now that she’ll be gone from Yurt for half the year. And let’s be realistic, Daimbert. You and I both know that I’m really not competent to be out trying to practice magic on my own. I only graduated by the skin of my teeth, and I could never have stopped the monster without you.

“There are always a lot of young wizards who stay on at the school for a few years, helping out as demonstrators and the like. Many of the City merchants also employ wizards, at least part time. Maybe Dominic will even want some magical assistance while he’s there! It won’t be a disgrace to go back to the City, and maybe with a few more years of experience I’d actually be qualified to serve some duke or count somewhere.”

I was caught between agreeing with him and feeling that he was much too hard on himself. “So you’ve fully recovered from the monster knocking all your magic out of you-” I asked tentatively.

“Oh, yes,” he said as though surprised. “I’d forgotten I said that. The monster didn’t suck my abilities out of me, or anything so dramatic.” He would have put a binding spell on my foot to show me how well he could still work magic if I had not stopped him in time.

“I think you’ll be a very good wizard someday,” I said, hoping I did not sound patronizing.

“I don’t want you to feel you’ve failed me,” he continued, looking down at the closed book in his hands. “I’ve learned a tremendous amount from associating with you, Daimbert. And of course, if I’d never come to Yurt, I would never have met the wood nymph!”

“I’ll miss you,” I said, entirely truthfully.

“There’s one thing I do feel badly about,” he said, looking at me fully for the first time since I had come in. “When I go, you won’t have anyone here to talk to but the chaplain. Who will you tell your jokes to? Who will put illusory frogs on your pillow?”