"I wouldn't try to stop you," Roland replied flatly. Flatly, but with a certain dangerous undercurrent of anger which was almost unnoticeable. "I've forced us back together once. If ka wants us apart, well, I guess it'll happen." It was clear, and understandably so, that he was unhappy with that. It was equally clear that he meant it. He wasn't about to step in now. Part of him, endlessly weary even at his young age, said that you could only follow someone, not force them to follow you. Nor, if he was honest, did he altogether want any of them to. You will lose all that you love...

"When it comes down to the moment," he said after a little while, "I swear to you, I will not force her to anything she doesn't want to. And nor will you. What comes after that..." He shrugged. "There'll be water if God wills it."