The Common Way
- Tilja wakes up from a really deep sleep on her way back to the island (13.1). The restorative nap was aimed at re-upping her powers after she spent them on controlling the ring. Faheel is still passed out (13.2), so she's not completely sure about what to do, but he said that the time freeze would only last for a day and a night (13.3).
- Despite all the good Til did by beating the Watchers, there's still that dark power out there that hung over her and Faheel like an annoying cloud—who is it? Upon landing on the island, Tilja feeds the roc a handful of rubies (13.7), and the bird totes Faheel to his doorstep. Finally the magician awakens.
- Faheel finally tells Til what the really stinky news she brought him is (13.19): the description of the battle on the walls of Talagh (13.21). The magician fighting the Watchers from the outer city was the dude who wants Faheel's ring, and he's gonna come back again—and Faheel is still too weak to fight him off (13.23), though they're protected for a bit by some funky friends Faheel has. At Faheel's request, Tilja goes to the attic and gets an "egg-shaped ruby" for the roc (13.26); the ruby hatches into a baby roc (13.27).
- Tilja's confounded. She touches the roc and is terrified that she'll eliminate or quiet down the animal's magic like she did with Axtrig, but nothing happens (13.32). Huh.
- Faheel explains that there are multiple types of magic—there's made magic, which is human magic that only takes on its final form once it's crafted from a raw material; and there's wild magic, that's running around the atmosphere and a magician can snatch up and shape (13.35). Tilja can unmake the made magic—it's almost like she can return it back to its raw material—but the roc is natural, wild magic, as are the unicorns and Faheel's island itself. As for the magic ring, it has both made and natural magic (13.37).
- Til holds onto two of the roc's feathers, which Faheel says might come in handy at some point (13.39). She's got to strap them down like she did with Axtrig though, or else their magic might betray her.
- Faheel confesses that the Ropemaker's powers astound even him, one of the coolest magicians (12.43). Ropey can change shapes, which is hard enough in its own right, but it's particularly hard to switch into a magical animal (i.e., a unicorn) and back (12.43).
- Since Faheel couldn't drop the ring off with Ropey in Talagh, he asks Tilja to do it for him. Tilja is worried that Ropey might be mean—you know, since he might have tried to kill her mom as a unicorn—but Faheel thinks that the Ropemaker got mixed up and got tied up in a unicorn mindset (13.46).
- Tilja wants to spill everything to her friends when they finally wake up, but Faheel nixes that convo quickly (12.49). If she tells them, the knowledge will be in their unprotected noggins, but Tilja can hide her knowledge—and the ring—with her own magic. Faheel's unnamed enemy might try to steal the thoughts about the ring from her friends' minds, but it's safe with just Til.
- Faheel insists the bad man can't have the ring. Til says she's got to go look for the Ropemaker then, but how can she explain this to everyone? Faheel will give her an excuse to use (13.51). He thinks Ropey will meet up with Tilja somewhere and she can drop the ring off that way—but if not, Tilja will have to take the blond strand from the hair tie and use that to call Ropey by winding the hair around the roc feathers and then putting the hair and ring together on the ground (13.53). This will send a summons to the Ropemaker, but Tilja's got to wait until the last possible second to do this so their enemy won't track them.
- That's all for their conversation, and Faheel asks Tilja to gather grapes from his garden for him (13.55).
- Til tries to process everything, but surprisingly isn't scared; she sees the world's events as a great balance and she's the metaphorical ant that could tip the scales in either direction—toward the Ropemaker (and good) or her anonymous enemy (and evil) (13.56-8). She gets Faheel's grapes (13.60).
- The magician gives her a purse. When she takes a gold coin—only one—out of its supply of two coins, the gold will be replenished the next day. Then he asks her to help him to the attic, but she can't come in (13.61). Finally Tilja must go to the garden and fill one basket with roses and another with all the fruit she and her friends can nosh on during their journey home. When a bell rings, she's got to come back inside and hang with her sleeping friends; when everyone wakes up, Tahl and she will come get Faheel down. Tilja realizes that the explanation Faheel will give everyone else for hunting down the Ropemaker will be that he'll save the Valley (13.62-64). Faheel reveals that he so desired Asarta's magic ring that he destroyed anyone outside the Valley that knew of it.
- Tilja does as Faheel asks, then the bell rings and she goes back inside (13.67). She picks out more food from the kitchen, and the room darkens; there's weird-looking mist outside. A loud voice busts out in a greeting, and Faheel says hi to it; this happens with a lot of other voices that approach the house. Magic is coursing through Faheel's house—the magician is giving back the powers his friends had lent him (13.68). These magical forces are also welcoming Til herself—they might have a use for her someday (13.69). For the first time she feels a part of the magical community—she doesn't have to fight the powers around her anymore.
- Suddenly Meena, Alnor, and Tahl wake up (13.70-71). Tahl and Alnor dreamt about an ice dragon named Manzal (13.79-80), while Meena dreamt about a Queen of the Unicorns (13.81). Tilja says there's no time to explain what's been going on, and that Faheel said they had to be off the island by nightfall (13.82). She brings Tahl to get Faheel from the attic; he's facedown, drained from his powers leaving (13.83). Til snaps up the remaining grapes and the ring box (13.85).
- At Faheel's request, the Valley folk bring him down to the shore (13.86). The raft they floated in on from Goloroth pops up (13.87). Faheel explains that he gave all his powers back, but he's got magical friends that will let him float out into the Great River and die in peace (13.88). He says that Meena and Alnor should eat the grapes and turn around once they get to shore and not eat anything else until they're done with that, but they should hold onto the stem and burn it when they're home (that's super-important, he stresses) (13.91). Meena complains—that's it? Where's all the advice? She shows him the water and barley she and Alnor brought from the Valley, but Faheel just says they'll find someone to seal up the Valley (13.95).
- Til knows she has to keep his secret and isn't crazy about that (13.96). He's about to be towed out to sea by mysterious sea creatures, so Tilja drops off the roses with him—and he whispers one last piece of advice. He learned the Ropemaker's name: "Ramdatta" (13.105). What a going-away gift.