Delight sparks in his eyes before he tempers it — Matthias takes it with care, with surety, and a little wariness, not wanting to damage something that is useful, and more than that, valuable. He inspects it from one end to another, not once seeming that he might drop it or fire it accidentally.

'A war on so many fronts?' he says, with some sympathy. Fjerda has two Ravkan forces, but that's better than the single one, united. The war is all he's breathed since he was a boy. 'It's fortunate then, that it did not follow you here.'