No one was disappointed that their eastward crossing of the Semordria was less eventful than before. Following Captain Rose’s instructions, they allowed themselves to be put ashore well to the southwest of Hamacassar and its twitchy time guardians. By traveling south and then east from the point of disembarkation, they also avoided Laconda North, where because of the difficulties arising from their previous visit they would have been less than courteously received, and reentered Laconda itself from the west.
Simna was concerned that they might have difficulty approaching the capital quietly if the citizens of that prosperous province recognized their long-absent Visioness, but he needn’t have concerned himself. After the long and tiring journey, her aspect was less than regal, and they arrived in the city without incident.
Disclosure of the Visioness’s presence among them occasioned scenes of riotous joy among the populace, and the travelers were conveyed without delay into the presence of the Duke and his family.
All Themaryl’s relations had gathered to salute her return: father and mother, doddering grandparents, gabby aunts and uncles and innumerable cousins. Haggard and drawn, she was forced to endure embrace upon embrace.
“Oh my delight,” one uncle declared upon looking at her, “you do look like you’ve had a time of it!”
“I am not the same person I was when I was taken from here, Bennrik,” she replied stiffly. “Things changed, and I changed with them.”
“But you are home, back in the bosom of your family and your people, and that is all that matters.” Duke Lewyth rose from his modest seat of power to gesture grandly at the outlandish quartet of foreigners who stood together and formed an exotic island in the midst of the rejoicing throng of aristocrats and courtiers. “And for that we have these stalwart, brave strangers to thank!” Smiling graciously, he nodded at Ehomba.