Morty pushed his empty bowl of stew to the side. He leaned in, all business.

“I know some folks who might can hire you,” he said. “Nothing permanent, you understand, at least not right now. But there’s always somebody from the old neighborhood who could use a hand.”

“Thank you,” Rune said.

“Don’t go thanking me,” Morty said. “I hook you up with the right people, maybe you can do a favor for me down the line.”

“Of course.” The honor game had rules, even on this side of the Mere. Give, and receive in return. Keep the favors flowing. A hasty “thank you” might imply a one-time transaction, but this Morty obviously had his eye on the long term.

“You got skills. You told me a little about that, being trained with—” He looked around. Everyone was listening to the musicians, but he lowered his voice anyway. “With them people…and all.”

“The Haw wasn’t a bad place,” Rune said, a little defensive. “Intense, but not all bad. Whisper seemed happy to have me around.”

“Whisper,” Morty said. “He’s the one that runs the joint?”

“That’s right. He said he’d always wanted to see what I had it in me to do. He’s the one who really taught me magic. Of course, my mother and stepfather started me out when I was young. But it was Whisper who pushed me to show what I could do.”

“I expect you can do quite a bit.”

“I try to be resourceful. Think on my feet. Having the biggest sword doesn’t matter much if you don’t know how to use it. And it helps to have the right people behind you.”

“Did you? Have the right people?”

“It was a good team,” Rune said. “Even if they weren’t always doing good things.”

“I aint’ here to judge,” Morty said. “Folks don’t get a say in the cards the Good Earth deals ‘em.”

Rune just nodded. He was coming to like this Morty Grindle.

“Any of ‘em you’d call friends?”

“One. Goodfellow. Avice was the team leader. She tried to make things hard for me. She succeeded in making things hard for me. But Goodfellow always took my part.”

“Most have been hard to stand up to her, being the team leader and all.”

“Goodfellow’s family was as well-placed as mine. It limited what Avice could do to him…openly. And, to give him credit, he was fierce in a fight. You didn’t want to cross him if you could help it. But being my friend cost him at least one relationship—another Nightwalker he’d taken a fancy to. I suppose I’ll always owe him for fouling that up for him.”

“D’you think you’ll ever see him again?”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“But suppose you did. What would you tell him?”

Rune stopped to think a minute. “I’d say thank you. I’d tell him… he taught me a lot—about loyalty and perseverance and…compassion, I suppose you’d say.”

“He sounds like a real friend.”

“He is,” Rune said. He swallowed. He looked down and pushed his own half-eaten bowl of stew to the side. “He was.”