When we entered the mountains, Sorcha picked up his pace. He caught up with Shayat and rode beside her. They were less than a foot from each other, pressed into an odd intimacy by the pass. “Hey, are we going through a mountain compound? Looks like we are.”

“Yes, we are,” she said.

“Which one? It’s not Lachandour, is it?”

“No, it’s Bardondour. Why?”

Sorcha slowed his camel to let her ahead. He shrugged.

Shayat peered at him over her shoulder. “Why Lachandour?”

“My pa’s from there.”

“Does he have people there still?”

“Don’t know,” Sorcha said. “Thought it might be interesting to find out.” The growing distance broke the tenuous thread of their conversation. My camel made slow, bitter progress up the mountain. When I caught up to him, I asked if she had said it was Bardondour we were heading through. He said it was. “Why? What’s in Bardondour?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But it’s strange. Bardondour comes up sometimes at court. It’s like a little country of its own. It’s not really Vilahnan. Dor’s been there a few times. The queen thinks he’s wasting his time on the mountain compounds. She says they’re still mired in a war no one’s fighting, and that Bardondour is the worst of them.” I laughed. I lit a match and took another draw from my perpetually packed pipe. “She is such a hypocrite.”

“Well, Ariah, don’t be shy now. Tell me how you really feel about her.”

I shrugged and took another hit. “It’s true. Bardondour. You know, Fallinal said they won’t even trade goods with the plains towns.”

“But they’re gonna let a bunch of silvers through?”

I looked up ahead, shielding my eyes to track Shayat’s camel. She swayed with its movement. She was a graceful and effortless rider. The black skin of her arms stood out against the mountains. Her cropped hair blew around her. She looked wild. She looked fearless. “Like they could stop her. Shayat could get through anywhere.”

“That girl. Hey, I been meaning to ask you something.”

“Ask.” My camel spat on the ground. I tucked my legs further underneath me.

“Why would she cut us this deal?”

“What do you mean?”

Sorcha shifted in his saddle. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “Look, it’s not like I know her none, but that one, she strikes me as anything but generous. Why would she break up her route and ferry us up there for no profit?”

“Well, her father is in Rabatha. I think she worries about him.”