“We don’t have anything valuable left!” I said. We’d been searched at the train station. They’d taken some books and whatever cash they could find. They had tried to take Abira’s drums, but she managed to bribe a guard to let her keep them by trading most of her remaining City herb. It was, it turned out, one reason she’d brought it. Dirva lectured her about how stupid it was to use illegal drugs to bribe Imperial officials, but Abira pointed out it had worked more than once, and he grew silent and frustrated.

“They will find something to take,” Dirva said. “They will ask us why we are leaving the Empire, if we plan to return, when we plan to return, and they will ask each of us questions about the people with whom we are traveling. To prevent you from getting detained, you should look through Abira’s and my papers.” He pulled the papers out of his pocket and handed them to me. “Don’t lose them.”

“I won’t lose them,” I said, frowning at him.

“It bears mentioning,” Dirva said. “Remember: I am going to the City for personal reasons. Abira is returning home. You are with us because of your training.” He nudged his camel forward and trotted away from me before I looked at the papers.

I had thought I would have trouble keeping everything straight. When I get nervous, when I am put on the spot, often my mind abandons me. I held the papers and wished that Dirva had not said anything. I thought it would have been easier on me. Sometimes when demands surprise me, I fare better than when I know answers will be demanded in advance. Abira’s papers were on top. They were stained and creased, just a sheaf of documents unprotected. Dirva’s, like mine, were protectively encased in a leather sheath, but hers were impractically naked to the whims of the world. Her name was listed simply as Abira, with no patronymic or matronymic attached. It seemed fitting for her, this name that suggested she sprung fully-formed from the ether. She had listed her race as “mostly elf” and had left the ethnicity field blank. She had listed herself as a drummer for both her occupation and her primary magical ability. Her papers, like Abira herself, were flippant and bold and terribly unhelpful.