[It may be best, Yuan says. It most likely is. But this, too, doesn't feel like enough, and for a moment words are crowding Kratos's throat. If he can -- prevent the risk -- would it be so traitorous, after all, just to give some advice, not even tactics --

[His tongue betrays the direction of his heart.]

Tomorrow or the day after there will be shallows enough to ford. Ignore it. In another day again there will be a shallow delta splitting the river into a tributary leading northward --

[He closes his mouth so hard there's a snick of teeth, and he swallows. He said nothing about tactics, about what would happen there. Surely it doesn't count as treason. Surely.]