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“We accept full responsibility,” Ivain said. “Taly, I am so sorry for what you had to endure. If it’s any consolation, you handled yourself with grace.”

Taly’s eyes snapped to Skye. “Ha!”

“It is a pity,” Ivain went on. “I was hoping to find more of the riftway keys, but obviously, we can’t ask Taly to keep going.”

Skye smirked. Taly rolled her eyes as she finished pouring a cup of coffee. “He said he can’taskme, dummy. He doesn’t need to. I’m going to do it anyway.”

But Ivain looked hesitant.

Taly slammed the coffee pot down. “Oh, my Shards. You can’t be serious.”

“There are precautions we could take,” Sarina suggested. “It wouldn’t eliminate the danger entirely, but—what? Ivain, we talked about this. All magic carries risk. How else would I have ever learned not to burn myself if I never faced the flames? Or you—where did you learn to control your strength if not through trial and error?”

“If there’s a grimble on the loose, we shouldn’t be encouraging Taly to scry. We should be installing adreamspindle. I’m sorry,” Ivain said to Taly’s scowl, “but I’m with Skye on this one.”

Skye leaned down, whispering smugly, “Ha.”

Taly bristled. “I don’t need a dreamspindle. There’s no reason to hobble me in my sleep too.”

“It has your scent now,” Ivain explained. “Time mages used to hunt these things. Tess was one of them. Without their protection, I can’t say with any certainty it won’t find you again.”

Sarina looked to Taly. “I’m sorry, little one, but he does have a point.”

Gritting her teeth, Taly muttered, “I’m not using a dreamspindle.”

Skye moved to her other ear. “I’m installing one today.”

“If you put it up, I’m taking it down.”

“You’re right. Ishouldput it on the ceiling.” Skye flashed her a cocky grin. “I look forward to watching you try to reach it.”

Taly’s fingers tightened around the mug. Skye just stared her down.

“I don’t know, Ivain. I think I actually missed this.” Sarina scratched a purring Calcifer beneath the chin. “Nothing like a lively debate to get your blood burning in the morning.”

“I miss eating my breakfast in peace,” Ivain grumbled.

Taly exhaled sharply. She didn’t need this right now. She didn’t need to be coddled or the subject of everyone’s aggravation.

What she needed was a strong cup of coffee and a to-do list long enough to drown out every unwanted thought. Maybe a little bit of space to pull herself together, which she would get on the walk to the healing park where she would hopefully find that second thing and a refill for the first.

She set her empty plate on the bar, filled her cup to the brim.

“Where are you going?” Sarina asked.

Taly didn’t answer, aiming for the door.

“Just in case you try to twist everyone’s words around later, the verdict was no scrying,” Skye called after her.

Taly gave a wordless scream of frustration as she stalked out of the room.

“Well, I think that went well,” Sarina said as the door swung closed.

“Oh, yes,” Ivain drawled. “She seems very stable.”

Sarina waited until Taly was safely out of earshot, then spun around to Skye. “How is she really? Tell us everything.”

Skye frowned. “What happened to ‘Do you really think that was our first time…’and all that crap?”