The road to Eldermere was green and quiet in a way Ardentia hadn't been for a decade. The war had left the land tired, but the trees didn't seem to notice. They swallowed sound, let only the creak of saddle leather and the soft ring of horseshoes on stone carry.
Kaelith Blackblood rode point, his Nightwalker cloak tied back and dusted with road grit. Keiren Vexar rode beside her, hands loose on the reins. He'd left the Ember Crown in Erenhall. Dukes didn't need crowns to ask for help. Behind them, Cyrin Darkfire moved like a shadow between trees, saying nothing unless the road demanded it.
They were envoys now. Not soldiers. Ardentia's Burning Valley was still a wound. Ash choked the soil. The Ember River ran rust-red for miles. Kael Flameheart had sent them to ask Eldermere's earth and water mages to come and heal it. Lady Lila Earthsong. Lady Nymphadora Riverbrook. If they said no, the valley wouldn't feed anyone next winter.
"So Lila Earthsong," Keiren said, testing the name. "She sealed the Nightstalker caves after Dragon's Teeth. Thane Stonefist swears by her wards."
"Good woman," Kaelith replied. "Hard hands. Doesn't care about titles. If she thinks the land needs help, she'll come."
"And Nymphadora Riverbrook," Keiren added. "She brokered the river treaty after Redkeep. Kept the Silverthread clean when Shadowspire tried to poison it."
Cyrin finally spoke. "If they refuse, we dig wells with our hands."
Keiren glanced back at him. "You sound sure they'll refuse."
"I sound sure nothing in Eldermere is free," Cyrin said. "They remember every slight."
The names kept coming as the miles fell away. King Thalion Oakborn, who wore the Crown of Roots and didn't rise unless the trees moved. Rowan Greenwarden, who planted the Evergreen Shield and saved the capital from famine. Dorian Sylvan, who held the Bridge of Whispers alone for three days and never asked for a song about it.
Kaelith told a story about Lysander Starweaver's observatory, how his star maps had guided Eldermere's relief columns to Redkeep three days before anyone else saw the break in Shadowspire's lines. Keiren listened, filing names and deeds away. He was Duke now. If not him, then who.
Then the word "Greyfen" came up.
Kaelith was explaining why the Old Grove might hesitate. "The Court remembers the Greyfen Marshes. They lost a warden there. Twenty years ago."
Keiren frowned. "Corvin Nightwalker."
Kaelith blinked. "You know the name?"
" he has the same last name as Orion ," Keiren lied, half-truth. "Old records from the first year of the war. Said he vanished in the marshes but he was seen years later ."
Kaelith shrugged. "Coincidence. Knights pick names like that. Nightwalker. Darkleaf. Sounds good in a ballad."
Cyrin didn't say anything. He didn't need to. His expression had gone flat, the way it did when he knew more than he was saying and had decided not to say it.
Keiren caught it. "Cyrin."
Cyrin looked at him once, then back to the road. "Not my story to tell, Duke."
Keiren didn't push. Not yet. But the name sat in his chest like a stone. Nightwalker. Orion. He rode with orion to battles he will again someday and ask him
The conversation shifted to safer ground. The reason they were really riding east.
"Ardentia's not just asking for mages," Kaelith said. "We're also acting as envoy to a marriage."
Keiren blinked. "A marriage?"
"Lydia Nightwalker," Cyrin said. "Corvin's daughter. Sister to… someone." He didn't finish the thought. "She's being wed to Sir Dorian Sylvan, Knight-Protector of the Old Grove. Lord of Bridge of Whispers. The ceremony is in three weeks."
Keiren sat up straighter. "Ardentia's sending us to a wedding?"
"To show goodwill," Kaelith said. "To show the Nightwalker name still has weight in Eldermere. Kael wants the mages. He also wants Thalion Oakborn to know we honor Eldermere's houses, even the ones the Court forgot."
"So we're diplomats and farmers now," Keiren muttered. "Wonderful."
Cyrin's mouth quirked. "You wanted the crown, Keiren. Crowns come with weddings."
They rode in silence for a while. Keiren's mind wouldn't let the Greyfen go. He had questions. A hundred of them. But Cyrin's face said not here, not now.