Just a little after dark, Valen found Ferrin still sitting at the edge of the camp where Marcus had left him.
He looked thinner than he remembered, with hollows under his eyes and a stain of ash across one cheek, and the cloth mask hung around his neck like a scarf.
He lowered himself onto the ground beside Ferrin without a word and sat looking out over the dark fields for a while.
"You came," he said at last.
"Everyone says that," said Ferrin. "As if there had been any question."
"There was a question." Valen rubbed his face with both hands. "I asked Tessa to run for three days to ask for it. I was not sure what the answer would be."
"Kael was." Ferrin reached into his pack and drew out a small jar, sealed with wax and wrapped in a strip of clean linen, and set it between them. "He told me to give you two things. The first is a message. He said to tell you that you are an idiot, that he is proud of you, and that you are not allowed to die."
