carefully, looking for the smallest thing amiss. But her father was as he’d always been. Sun-leathered, burnished skin folded around his gentle smile.
“You made it.” She beamed from ear to ear. “You made it before the gate. You’re here, in Norin!”
“Did you ever doubt me?” Rex said with mock offense.
“Of course not.” Garll shook her head and allowed herself to fully believe her own half-truth. “How long ago did you arrive?”
“Not too long before you.” He motioned to a large recessed area before the hearth. “I hoped to be a pleasant surprise.”
Garll took in the room for the first time. The hearths were decorated in mosaic tile and precious gems that went from floor to ceiling and lined the bottoms of the wooden beams that broke up the clay ceiling. The floors were wooden and stained a de
