I thought Jonah would be the first one to talk to me, so I'm surprised to find Dathid at my door. "Seriously, how long are you going to make me stay here?" he says with a sigh as he pushes past me to flop on the sofa.

I was about to take a bath and get ready for bed, but I guess my plans have changed. "I'm not making you stay."

He stretches back and laces his fingers behind his head. "Until you change your mind, I can't leave."

"I thought I had time to think."

He looks me square in the eye and says, "You did. Time's up."

I sit on the sofa opposite him and fold my arms across my chest. "I may delay a decision just to force you to stay."

He folds his arms over his chest to match my stance as we glare at each other. I'm not mad and neither is he; we just don't talk a lot, so this is what we've come to. I grow bored of the game first, but I have a weapon in my arsenal: I know something about him and I hope I shock him with it. "Do you file your teeth to make them look more human?"

I'm not sure what that expression is. First he looks angry, then surprised, and then angry again. I've definitely shocked him. "Who told you that?"

"Albína." One of her arguments for how disgusting faeries are is that they have sharp teeth that continually grow unless they file them. She was grossed out by the whole thing.

He nods. "There's different trends. Flat is the current style. I'm not sure why. But my clan is obsessed with humans, so it makes sense. But also, flat is easier."

He smiles and his eyes squint with evil intent. "Is it true that most of your body is covered with hair?"

I think my face goes through all the emotions his just did. "Touché," I say with a chuckle. Before he can ask any follow-up questions I have a diversion. "The war with the elves only stopped because you guys had a worse enemy. What keeps all of you from starting up again if I destroy the key and Ziras is forced to go away?"

"That's why I'm married," he says through clenched teeth.

I've gone too far. I shouldn't have asked that. I just don't want him to talk me into staying. "I could go through all of this and then you'd just kill each other anyway. Do you even remember why you're fighting?"

He takes a deep breath through his nose like an angry bull. He chews on his lip and then loudly grinds his teeth together. "Yes. We know why we were at war. It started over a border, and then their side killed our family and we killed theirs. I am married to their Crown Princess in the hopes that we will one day have peace across the land."

"What border?"

"The one between Cromsmead and Manahata."

I try to grind my teeth together as loudly as he did but I can't. I think he hears me anyway. "Really?" I say with as much sarcasm as I can, but I'm not good at it.

His face relaxes. "Did you see the pink line in the sky when we left the woods and entered the desert?"

"Yeah. There was a pink line, like a jet trail. And the sky went from night to day in one step."

"That line is a circle. The elves believe that they control everything in the circle. Everywhere the sky is blue."

"Why?"

"Because they're arrogant, self-indulgent—" He takes a deep breath. "Let me start over. I'll give you the elf version of a fable explaining how the line came into being and that should give you a good idea of how they feel about it."

"Okay," I say slowly. I just wanted to distract him, but I've made him mad and I don't know how to get him back to the relaxed guy he was the other night.

He leans back against the sofa. "I don't really know where to begin. As I said, the elves believe that they rule where the sky is blue. They believe the blue sky was a gift because nowhere else on Ashra is the sky blue. And nowhere else does it change so dramatically."

"I don't understand."

"What?" he snaps. "Depending on where you are on Ashra the sky goes from grey to dark purple to grey again."

"You don't have to get snippy. We have grey skies on Earth too, but they change in a day, not an instant."

"Do you understand now?"

"Yes, continue, O' Patient Storyteller."

He gives me a look that makes me believe he might hit me, but then he laughs. He squeezes the bridge of his nose and then looks at me. "I can't wait to see what you're going to be like once you've been trained."

I make the squishy angry face again. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you are meek and mousy, but every once in a while you demonstrate a fiery side that I think is going to be..."

"Be what?"

"Interesting," he says after he thinks about it.

"Interesting-good, or interesting-bad?"

"If it was bad I wouldn't have said anything."

"You didn't. You stopped talking."

He groans. "Interesting-good. Do you want the story or not?"

"Yes." Irritating him is a lot of fun. He gets mad quickly but he calms down even quicker. It's like tormenting a cat; you know you shouldn't, but when they get pissy you can't help but poke them again.

He takes another breath. "The elves believe the mountains were a gift and so was the magical cave, Gwa Twouroch. They believe they own the desert on the other side, too. They just don't want it."

He looks at his hands like he's deep in thought. "I have to translate this so some of it may not make sense, and it's not going to rhyme.

"I don't need it to rhyme."

"The elves make everything rhyme," he says with disgust. "Anyway, elf Queen Sissophey's lover was killed by the Camazotz. Umm...he's like a bat god. But he's evil. Flies around at night stealing elf children and burning crops. General fable villain stuff. Queen Sissophey is so distraught she leaves her castle to wander the flatlands surrounding Cromsmead."

"Flat?"

"Yeah, the fable says that the land was flat; no mountain range, and just a few hills. It's said that it looked similar to Manahata."

"Did it?"

"Fable doesn't mean true." He looks at me like I'm an idiot and continues his story. "Well, she's an elf so she gets lost on her own property. She's alone and scared for some reason. Then she hears a fight and comes across a gang of faeries trying to murder the Camazotz."

He puts his hands up. "Now I'm no scholar, but I would think if you are the Crown protector of a place and some people you don't like are killing the thing that's eating your children, you'd let them continue. But no one asked me."

I nod. "Yeah. But it was probably only eating the bratty kids so the Camazotz may have been doing them a favor."

He laughs. I'm glad he's going back to the relaxed guy he was yesterday. "So her hatred of the flying beasties that are trying to kill another flying beastie makes her intervene in the fight. They don't specify how, but she scares off the faeries and saves the Camazotz. And here's an interesting fact: it doesn't kill her and eat her. Nope, she cries because she's sad the faeries broke its wing."

"Sad," I say with a compassionate sigh.

"Yeah. The Camazotz is so touched that she cries for him even though he's been so evil to her people he gifts her with the mountains to remind her of...something."

He pauses, trying to remember, then shrugs. "I don't know. But he put a cave in the middle where he lives and she can visit him. And then he turned the sky blue to match her eyes, so that she will be remembered for all of time. That's why the elf Queens wear blue."

"Hmmm. Interesting. What's the faerie version of the story?"

"That the border has always been at the river and that's where it should stay."

"Huh. Poetic."

He smiles.

"So where is the border now? How'd you guys resolve it?"

"They bought it and they gave us some land to the west. They also opened up a route for us through Cromsmead. Not being able to pass through the south was detrimental to my clan."

I nod. It seems like a simple solution to end a war that went on for hundreds of years. Fortunately, I have the good sense to not voice that opinion.

He raises a brow at me. "Now that I've answered all of your questions, answer mine. Why are you quitting?"

I don't know what to say, so I look at my hands.

His face and tone change. He's not angry, but he's on his way. "Do you know what happens if we don't find the key?"

I shake my head. "There's no guarantee that I'll find it."

"But you have to try!" He sits forward like he's trying not to jump out of his chair. "Stratagor Ziras is tearing Ashra apart. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not happening. His army will come here. And when it does, he's going to have most of Ashra behind him. He'll find that key and he will continue on, destroying my home and then destroying yours!"

"And you think I can stop him! Me! Have you seen me?" I shout as I stand. "The best I can hope for is not getting everyone else killed when I get killed myself!" I didn't mean to admit that, especially to him.

He takes a deep breath and is forcibly calmer when he says, "No one expects you to take on an army. You're getting trained in case you need to defend yourself. We have an army. Several, actually. But before we send you out there, we want to make sure that you can handle any situation that may arise."

I throw my hands up. "But I can't!"

"Really? In eight weeks you haven't mastered Knighthood?"

I don't like his sarcasm. "Stop it. You're being unfair."

"I'm being unfair?" He stands and takes several long strides across the room before he spins around and throws his hands out like he's trying to stop himself. "My home and family are what stand between Stratagor Ziras and Earth! How unfair do I get to be?"

"You don't get it. I can't do this. I can't read the Orb. I can't ride my pegasus. I can't shoot an arrow, or even run more than a few feet. I can't stop a war! I can't take on a specter!"

Great! Now I'm crying. In front of him!

I flop back down as hard as I can. To my surprise he sits next to me and wraps his arms around my waist. When my cheek rests against his shoulder I cry harder. The only other person to ever hug me was Jonah. Dathid's hug is different. Jonah is safe, but Dathid is strong, which makes me feel protected, which makes me feel safe.

"I'm scared," I mumble against his vest.

He squeezes me tighter. "If you weren't I would question your sanity."

"I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"That's okay. I'm happy you were honest with me. Volume is never a problem."

I take a deep breath. "I don't think I can protect your home or mine, but I have to try, don't I? Just read the Orb and find the key, right? You and Jonah will be there, right? You'll look after me?"

He pulls away so that he can look me in the eye. Our faces are inches apart when he says, "That's all I've done since I met you."

I smile. I've never had anyone to look out for me before and now I have two. I know he means it. I hope I don't shatter his faith in me if the Orb refuses to work.