I shook my head. “Never mind. Sometimes your language is more annoying than fascinating.”

   “Weren’t you deaf then?” she asked.

   “Only partially.” I thought back to Grant’s face at Silas’s. “I’ve got it right. Or, well, I’m close.”

   After several minutes of quiet walking, Aiana suddenly said, “There’s also Saasa.”

   I withheld a sigh. It sounded like all the other variations. “What does it mean?”

   “It’s like, oh, I can’t think of which of your angels it’s named for.” She gestured in front of her, like she might grasp the meaning from the air. “The star that doesn’t move. The wayfarers’ star.”

   I stopped walking. “Ariniel’s star.”

   “Right. That’s the one.”

   For Balanquans, Ariniel’s star is the wayfarers’ star—the star that always brings you home, no matter how lost you are. The only thing a wanderer can count on.

   A smile began to creep over my face.

   I can’t wander far . . . not when . . . my Saasa is here . . .

   Aiana studied me curiously. “Do you think that’s it?”

   “Without a doubt,” I said.