[mark12_30]

Raefindan held Mellonin's eyes, and thoughts raced through her mind.

Go crawling back to him? Stir all that madness back into the seething pot? I have just begun to ... to... I am free now. I have no desire to.... we don't need him. We don't.

Raefindan spoke. "You know we'll be luckless without him."

She snorted and gestured at Aeron. "Luck?"

Raefindan watched her evenly. "That's not what I mean. We can't track a two-week-old trail, and you know it. And we owe him this. He has saved each of us from death. If this ranger is concerned about Ravion, how can we discount our debt to him?"

"He released us from that debt. He released us from everything, " Mellonin retorted. I was glad to be freed. Do not push me into that snare again.

Raefindan stepped closer to her and dropped his voice to a whisper; the others looked away, save Aeron, but he did not hear Raefindan's words. "In your heart, were you glad of that release?"

Mellonin 's lips tightened. "My heart is fixed on seeking my brother, " she whispered back.

"For that we need a ranger, do we not?" Raefindan persisted. "And what other ranger would you choose?"

She stared at him for a long silence. This redheaded brother does not bend like my own younger brother. How I miss my Mellondu. How I wish he were here, and I would care not one whit for Ranger nor thief. Oh, Mellondu, where are you? Why have you not come home? If I must track you, then Raefindan speaks truly.

She turned to Erundil with a shrug. "As you wish. We will seek the departed ranger."