"That's not difficult. They don't question Vryyh."
	"Good." I rubbed a hand down my face smearing sweat and dirt. It marked my hand. I stared at it.
"But for you, rider? What will help you? I can inject you---"
	"No."
"Nothing unorthodox. Just---"
	"I am unorthodox now." I responded to her unspoken question. "You know this of me, during my work. The heightening, as you have tactfully referred to it."
"But this is different. There's something different, something troubling you more. And my readings of you---"
	"I have never faced source lines before. No 1 has."
She frowned. Pennbaston was not satisfied.
	"I can't explain it now. I must go."
"There must be something?" Her voice took an edge.
	I had begun away but I paused at that, feeling her desperation. "There is 1 thing."
"What?" She bent to open her case.
	I stopped her, "Water."
"Oh." She almost smiled, and the gentle fondness which slipped over her face was nearly more than I could withstand at present. "I'll not be gone a moment. Sit here, rider." She eased me back to perch upon a stone. "Just sit here a minute, get your breath, that'll prepare you, too, for your return. I'll fetch you water."
	I watched her hurry away and debated briefly the advantage of leaving now. Easier for me and for her, surely.
But I was there on my stone when she returned with a dripping water bag. I drank deeply and then poured water down over my face. Its cold freshness startled me into greater alertness. "Thank you, Pennbaston. " I held it out.
"Shouldn't you take it?"
	"No."
"But---"
	"I must take nothing with me."
"Oh."
	I stood and started away. "See to Fion."
Pennbaston nodded. When I was almost through the slit she called. "Yes, I will. I will!'