“Fine, fine.” I popped a piece of pork in my mouth, then paused to savor it—it was damn good. “Any ideas on what we should do?”

Comenius shook his head as he poked at his cabbage roll with a fork. “Without knowing which state Noria was sent to, it’s impossible to determine where Annia and Elnos are headed. I suppose we can track them to the Resistance camp they initially went to, but there is always the risk of unnecessarily blowing their cover.”

I sighed heavily. “It’s a tough call,” I admitted. “Annia would never forgive me if I blew her chances of rescuing her sister… but I would never forgive myself if she died because I sat back and did nothing.”

“You may need to risk her wrath if you do not hear from them soon,” Elania said. Sadness sat heavy in her dark eyes as she regarded me. “I know Noria is important to you both, but you must not forget she did make this choice of her own free will.”

I clenched my teeth against the angry retort that sprang to my lips. I wanted to shout at Elania, to tell her Noria was simply misguided, that she was too young to know better… but was she, really? She was a technological genius, far more intelligent than the average seventeen-year-old. I couldn’t pretend she was simply an impressionable child, devoid of responsibility for the decisions she’d made. Especially since she was about to turn eighteen. Maybe she was misguided, but Annia and I had done our best to dissuade Noria from her path. The fact that she’d chosen not to listen was on her, not on us.

Not that Annia would see it that way, of course. But as fond as I was of Noria, she wasn’t my kin. Objectively speaking, of the two sisters, Annia deserved to be saved more than Noria did. Not to mention poor Elnos. They didn’t deserve to die for trying to rescue Noria.

“I suppose the only thing to do is keep an ear out for any news, and hope we’ll get a chance to rescue Annia and Elnos, if they get themselves in trouble,” Comenius said.

“You’re right.” Unzipping my jacket, I flipped open one of the pouches at my belt and withdrew an emerald and two rubies, all three roughly half the size of my thumb. “Here, take these.”

Comenius’s eyes widened as I dropped the gemstones into his hands. “Alter Schwede, Naya! What is this for?”

“I want you to help me buy an airship,” I told him. “I absolutely refuse to go on another rescue mission in a hot air balloon, or scramble around for transport when I have money now.”