Page 77 of Homeward for a Spell

“No?” Sage echoes.

“I’m sorry. I can’t.” Araphi’s voice breaks around the words.

“What do you mean you can’t?” Panic fills Sage’s voice, and Araphi can almost see the hurt from all her past wounds in the simple words.

“I mean if we take off, then my Aunt Menorath and my family will keep looking for magic.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do, because I know them. Even if my aunt is denied the dragon’s tooth, she’ll keep looking for some other artifact to suit her own ends.”

Sage grips her hand. “That may be true. And yes, someone should stop her, but it doesn’t have to be you, Phi. In fact, it shouldn’t be. The Claunecks are dangerous; Yael and Margot barely escaped them! What can you possibly do in the face of all that power? You’re just a bard!”

As soon as the words are out, Sage slaps a hand over her mouth.

Hurt blooms inside Araphi. Is this really how Sage sees her? After everything they’ve been through together?

No. She knows it’s not. She knows that in a thousand ways from a thousand moments from their time together. She knows it’s sadness and the thought of leaving each other that lurks behind Sage’s words, but they still hurt.

“You don’t mean that,” she whispers.

Sage shoves a hand through her hair. “I don’t, I’m sorry. I just…”

“You just don’t want me to leave.”

“I don’t.”

“I don’t want to either, but I have to. My family is causing this hurt, and I need to be the one to fix it. If I don’t go back, my siblings will bear the brunt of my choices, and they’re not ready to become the Clauneck heir. They wouldn’t stand a chance against the family. Maybe, though, after I make things better, we can be together. I’m not sure how long that will take, but if you wait for me—”

“Just…come with me now. Stay with me, please.” Sage’s voice breaks on the last word, and Araphi’s heart goes with it.

She draws in a long breath through her nose. “I can’t.”

Sage’s eyebrows draw together and she swallows hard. “Are you sure, Bard?”

“I’m sure, Ranger. I’m sorry.”

Sage nods. “Then I’ll take you as far as Briarwall. You can take the Queens’ Road from there.”

Then she hurries away, wiping at her eyes. Araphi collapses against the tree. That hadn’t gone how she’d hoped at all.

It’s their last day in Arkney, and Araphi has ruined it.

Which maybe is for the best. Araphi Clauneck needs to get not only Phi Runesong out of her system but also Sage Wilderstone.

Even if it’s the last thing she wants to do.

Lute still on her back, she trudges to her room to pack. She won’t be playing Sage’s ballad tonight.

But perhaps that’s for the best too. Perhaps it’s all for the best. One has to go back to the real world sometime, after all.

29

Sage

Their trek back through the Graywood is a sober one, indeed.

Arkney has no mounts to spare, and it will take them twice as long as the journey from Briarwall. But they’ve supplies enough to see them through, and weapons from the armory of Arkney, happily shared. Sage carries a bow that Wren’s momma made just for her, whittling away at it over the long winter months, and a second dagger to replace the one left behind. The warmer weather makes the journey less arduous. Like an early spring stroll through a mist-clogged forest, but with a traveling companion who won’t meet Sage’s gaze.