I put it off to him being Orlesian, and honestly found it wryly amusing. He rushed off ostensibly to ‘prepare our rooms’, leaving us alone on the ...eck until the captain emerged from a door near the front of the ship; he was a good deal friendlier, but quite clearly busy, as he turned and started shouting orders mid-conversation.There was a huge crane of sorts loading cargo from another tender onto the ship – which was what the captain was attempting to manage – and I looked at Fergus in. I came from a region further East.”“Why do you need me to keep you alive if you’re native to this climate?” I asked, perplexed. It extended a clawed hand to help me over the crest of a dune.“My people retreat to burrows when the cold comes,” it said. “In this white desert the ground is hard, and the cold is harsh, noone lives here.”“So you need my poncho.” I huffed, as I attempted to descend a steep incline, my feet sliding.“And your body heat, you are a mammal, you have warm blood, my people. .. don’t forget that we’re only here to observe, not to fight this war ourselves. Don’t fire if you can avoid it.”“As you wish,” she replied, making her way to the door. “I will be but a shadow.”“And Lozka,” he added, the Araxie turning to look back at him as the ramp began to lower. “Be careful out there.”She gave him a rare smile, then stepped out into the storm, the wind whipping at her cape as she darted out of sight. He turned back to his monitors to see that Mizi was peering at him, her. She now had soft skin and a few of the maid's more noticeable age spots had disappeared. Derwen's friend was in very good cheer during the day and she loved how I now occasionally nibbled on her ears in public, showing the staff her new status as one of my lovers.The day after my return, I explained to Derwen how we'd killed Baron Basina's heir at the market village battle and that they were the Caldavian family that had captured Laudus and her sisters. We schemed to spread a rumor in Conquest.