There would be another hour until the gates of Fartemple were opened. Ferys wondered why they bothered with gates — a pathetic, half-baked town like this.

"It's probably more to stop people getting out."

Ferys accepted this explanation without question. What he wanted to know now was why he hadn't managed to shake off this insane elf yet.

"So... this person you're looking for..."

"Mind your own business."

Of course, Zephyr was undeterred by this. "This person you're looking for — it is a friend, or foe or neutral third party?"

"Shut up. Stop asking me questions."

"Is it someone you've to kill?"

Ferys shot him a scathing look. "I'll kill you in a minute!"

Silence.

Zephyr sighed. "If I have to be killed by anyone," he smiled, "I'd want it to be you, Ferys."

"Argh!" Ferys pounded his fists on the ground. "Now I'll never kill you, just to give someone you hate the chance to do it!"

"You wouldn't do it anyway. So this person, is it a friend of yours?"

Ferys gave up. "I hope so."

"If it turns out they're not and they try to hurt you, I'll be by your side, protecting you."

"Thanks, but I don't need your help."

"But — "

"I don't need your help!"

"But I have a sleep spell. Ferys, I — "

"Why don't you use it on yourself?"

This was a new thought. "Hmmm... you know, for nights when I can't sleep, it might be useful."

"No, I meant now."

Zephyr closed his eyes for a moment, deep in thought. "No, not yet. The gates will be open soon. And you don't dream under a sleep spell, and I like to dream. I dream about my parents sometimes. I never knew them, see. I like to imagine what they were like, how they looked. I like to think it was my father who was the elf, and my mother the human — though I don't know, really."

Ferys started. "What, so you're a halfer?"

"Yeah. What did you think? No pure elves are so tall or have hair this colour."

"I see." Ferys turned around. "I don't care anyway."

Zephyr continued to muse. "I like to imagine my mother rocking me to sleep when I was a baby. I'm sure she was kind and graceful and had the most beautiful lilac hair. And my father a strong and handsome ranger, and planning to train me for a warrior — although he may have wanted me to be a carpenter, I don't know."

"You're insane, you know that?"

"Nope. Have you heard of Midway?"

"No."

"It's a human-elven settlement. You don't find many of those. In fact, I think Midway is the only one. It's south of Fallingstar and on the border of the Elven Territories.

"Listen! Long ago, an errand-boy called Rivan was sent from Midway's herbalist to buy some supplies from Fallingstar. But he dallied on the way, and by the time he arrived, the sun had gone down and the shops had all closed.

"While looking for a place to shelter until morning — for the money the herbalist gave him didn't extend to a room — he noticed a pair of suspicious figures, cloaked in black, their hoods pulled low over their heads and their faces masked. They were approaching a small house off the road. He swiftly backed into the shadows and watched, scarcely daring to breathe."

Zephyr paused.

"Well?"

"You want to hear more, Ferys?"

Ferys shuffled uncomfortably. "I can't stop you talking, can I?"

"No, you've tried already. Well — where was I? So Rivan continued to watch the figures from the shadows. They entered the house, and one came out holding a baby, which he took round to the back, before returning, empty-handed, back to the house. There was screaming from within, then silence. As the two figures walked calmly away, Rivan smelt burning and wondered what was happening. As soon as he was sure the two figures were well away, he rushed to the house, but the flames had already engulfed it. He went to the back of the house, where the first one had taken the baby, but there was no sign of it. He noticed that a patch of earth had been freshly dug, so he scraped away at the earth and found — me."

"What? You were that baby?!"

"Yeah! From that day, he became my Cousin Rivan. He was too young to be an uncle, you see. He's my darling Cousin Rivan and I love him more than anyone in the world — but you're a close second."

Ferys ignored his last statement. "Sounds fishy if you ask me."

"How so?"

"This Rivan sounds terribly suspicious himself. How do you know any of this story is true? You have only his word to go by. For all you know, he's the one who did your parents in. Wouldn't that be ironic?"

"You..."

Zephyr was trembling and his face was redder than ever. "Anyone but you said that, I would kill him straightaway," he said quietly.

"Wait... what?"

Zephyr turned to him and yelled. "Don't ever talk about my Cousin Rivan like that again!"

Ferys scowled. Who was this upstart to talk to him like that? "Kill me straightaway... you wouldn't get the chance." He drew his dagger. "Wanna try?"

And immediately, Zephyr started crying. "I said anyone but you! I just don't want you to talk about my Cousin Rivan like that! Please don't let's fight."

"Wimp."

Zephyr's eyes welled up again.

"Okay fine. I'll say no more of it. Only about half an hour till those gates are opened and I'll be shot of you. I don't care anyway."

Zephyr wiped his eyes "We'll see. Listen, I'm telling you. So what happened was, I went to live with Rivan in Midway. He was apprenticed to the herbalist. My, but she was a crotchety old thing, Mistress Delsenora. She'd cuff me if I just called her 'Delsenora' or even 'Miss Delsenora'. It had to be 'Mistress'. She called Cousin Rivan a blamed fool for bringing home a baby and she shouldn't be expected to have anything to do with me, but she helped raise me just the same."

"Are your cheeks pink from all the cuffing she gave you?"

"Mmmm... no. Cousin Rivan said I was always like that. As soon as I was old enough, they got me helping out with the shop. I learned about dressing wounds and which plants heal which ailments and so on — speaking of which, remind me to redress your wound as soon as we get to a herbal shop. Well, I got on fine in Midway with Rivan, and I could handle" — defiantly — "Delsenora all right.

"But then the Great War broke out. I was only 12 at the time. The trouble never stretched so far as Midway, but there was fear that it was only a matter of time before it did. Many of the elves retreated to the Elven Territories; it wasn't their war. But some half-elves and most humans eventually went out to fight. Cousin Rivan was one. It was only a few months after that that the war ended, but Rivan never came back. We waited another year, and Delsenora cuffed me something awful during that time, but I never saw him again."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Until someone tells me they saw him fall, I'll keep hoping. I left Midway a little after that year, but not through choice. Delsenora said I was a lazy good-for-nothing and she never wanted me anyway, and besides, was she to starve on my behalf? And that's when old Grumpygroos arrived in Midway and offered to take me and train me for a mage. No one objected, so I had to go with him to his tower in the deserts. He was super weird. I learned a lot from him, but he was really creepy sometimes. I never liked him and he never liked me; I don't know why he was so willing to have me for his apprentice. After all, there were more talented trainee mages in Midway. I'd only been a dabbler, parlour tricks. But here's the thing, he used to mumble a lot to himself about revenge, and he used to mutter strange things in a tongue I'd never heard before. In the end, his weirdness got too much for me, so I ran away, and then I met you and the rest is history — no, it's not; it's the future."

Ferys said nothing.

"So I'm hoping that when I get back to Midway, Cousin Rivan will be back. It'll be so good to see him again."

Ferys wondered at Zephyr's naïvité. He was surely setting himself up for disappointment. "Should you really get your hopes up?"

"Why not? I might as well be dead if I can't hope. I hoped and prayed for a friend all that time I was in the tower, and though it took five years, I found you in the end. I'll keep hoping for Rivan, too."

"Supposing he's not there, though?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

"I'm just saying."

"I reckon there's only ten minutes left till that gate opens. What do you think?"

"Probably."

"At least I didn't leave my money in the saddle-bags. First thing I'm gonna do when I get in is buy a three-course meal, hope it isn't poisoned, and eat it in five minutes. No — first I'll see to your wound, then eat. How about you?"

"I'm gonna drink a jug of water, then go straight to sleep."

"Sounds like a plan. Hey, look — it looks like they're opening already. Come on, Ferys, let's go."

Underneath that smiling exterior, Ferys realised, Zephyr, too, carried a lot of sorrow. Here, then, was someone he was a little closer to understanding. And maybe, one day, he'd allow this person to get a little closer to understanding him, too.

A friend, perhaps, was what he had been looking for after all.

Ferys smiled. "Yeah. Let's go."