Whatever insight Fitch found in the briefing proved to have a galvanizing effect. Dinpik found herself in an endless series of meetings with people she knew only as faces from the morning assemblies. No one bothered to explain to her what the names and numbers (agents? coordinates?) that were the to...

Dinpik noticed the snow first. Patches of it, irregular and dulled with dirt. There hadn’t been any in the garrison, doubtless because of orders from Fitch to keep it clear. The ground that showed was covered with brown, dry grass. The air was moist but cold, and pale grey clouds shrouded the sky. D...

“This is not what I had in mind,” Dinpik said faintly. “It’s what we have, Commander,” Fitch replied. “After all, size doesn’t matter.” The center square of the garrison was the assembly point for caravans as well as staff. From what Dinpik had gathered, leavetakings weren’t considered noteworthy by...

Strongheart’s wake passed in a blur of faces and conversations, neither of which Dinpik could clearly recall. Eating fixed her light-headedness; the numerous toasts worsened her headache. At the end Dinpik somehow got to her quarters and collapsed on her bed, intending to stay there the next day. Fi...

Dinpik slept that night on a cot in the command center’s main room, in front of the wide, fieldstone fireplace. Fitch and another officer made a show of heating water for a portable tub, stringing rope and a blanket up as a privacy screen, and bringing a plate of food and a mug of warmed cider. The ...

“Not the most auspicious beginning to your new post, Commander,” Lt. Fitch said. Dinpik nodded. Nodding was safe, controllable. Unlike what she feared would happen if she actually opened her mouth and spoke. She might shatter the comforting numbness currently enrobing her and fall completely apart. ...

....literally...

[/URL]

Dinpik expected the days to her reassignment to drag by like lame oxen, but they raced ahead like thoroughbreds. Aside from packing, there were alchemy projects to finish or neutralize, a last-minute change to the new chapbook, and arrangements made between Rina and the glassblowers for the former’s...

Prologue “Dinpik?” “Hmm?” Dinpik looked at Miranda’s reflection in the oval mirror that hung above the pair of ornate sinks. The bathroom open to the Royal Library’s visitors was in Dinpik’s opinion a little overdone with regard to décor. She finished the end of the first braid and held her hand ou...

Geoff Kingsley wrote:returning an SQL error on "Legacy". Anyone else?

Same.