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to depart, then. Good luck, Captain Beck.”
    The old wanderer began to turn away, but then paused and looked back at Li. His legend called him the Guardian of Fire, but he had lost much of his control over the flames. Every inch of his skin had become black, burning embers. He had no hair, no clothes, no features at all to speak of save for his nose and mouth and the dark orange blazing pits where his eyes had once been.
    “Not him, though. You others will blend in, but Li will be far too conspicuous.”
    The grindylow stood up straight, speaking before Blue Jay or Cheval could summon the words.
    “We’re mates, aye? That means we stick together, or we don’t go at all. You let us worry about keeping our secrets. We’ve done all right so far. The four of us, we left our friends behind in Palenque. Always figured we’d go back for ’em, and now the time’s come, so we’ll go. The four of us. You got that?”
    The Wayfarer studied the water bogie more closely. “All right, young Master Grindylow. Just so you know it’s a problem you will have to solve.”
    Blue Jay lifted his chin. “You’re not the only clever one, Smith. We’ll see to it.”
    Smith nodded and took a final look at Li. The Guardian of Fire only stared back at him with those burning pits and said nothing.
    “Say your good-byes, then,” the Wayfarer told them.
    Cheval Bayard fixed him with a venomous stare, but said nothing. The grindylow stood close by. Li held himself apart. None of them had anyone whom they ought to bid farewell, but Blue Jay turned to Captain Beck and they exchanged smiles only lovers could share. Smith approved. He had spent generations persuading Borderkind that there was no sin in loving ordinary people. Of course, Damia Beck was the descendant of Lost Ones, and so even if they were to have children, their offspring would not be Legend-Born. Such children had to be the product of love between a Borderkind and a human from the other side of the Veil.
    Still, it touched him to see the way they looked at one another. Wayland Smith had lived through eons almost entirely alone. Most of the time he felt as though he had nothing but callus where his heart ought to be. Once in a while, however, he felt a small twinge that reminded him that he still could feel.
    “You know,” Captain Beck said to Blue Jay, “if you succeed, you might well hasten the end of the war.”
    “One way or another,” he said, mischief sparkling in his eyes.
    “In our favor, of course,” the captain said, ebony skin shining in the sun. Then she kissed him, letting her lips linger a moment, not caring that the others saw. Blue Jay returned her kiss tenderly, and when Damia stepped back from him, she was breathless.
    “I wish you better luck than on your first journey to Palenque,” Captain Beck said, glancing around at the gathered Borderkind.
    The grindylow snorted. “Well, we could hardly do worse.”
    But Blue Jay and Captain Beck were not listening. Their fingers touched in a final lingering farewell, and then the trickster moved toward his kin and nodded to Smith.
    “Let’s go.”
    “Indeed. Swift through the Veil, and careful on the other side. The ordinary world has been too long without proper legends. We must do our best not to disturb them.”
    “We’ve all been across before, old man,” Cheval Bayard sniffed. “We’re all Borderkind.”
    With a nod, Smith reached into the fabric of the Veil. It took him a moment to grasp it—something that happened more often of late—but when he did, it was simple to draw the curtain aside, to open a path through the barrier for them all.
    Li went through first, and quickly, as though he had wished for any reason to leave the legendary world behind. Cheval and Grin followed. Blue Jay spared one last glance at Captain Beck. She nodded gravely to him, and the trickster grinned. Then he stepped through.
    Silently, as he too passed through the Veil, the Wayfarer wished the lovers whatever destiny