That surprised her. She looked me in the eye for a moment, startling me. Her eyes were green. She neither smiled nor acknowledged me in any other way.

Remarkable, I said, to nobody in particular. Green eyes. Then I controlled myself and waited while the Speaker sipped some tea before he started circling in on his problem.

He told me, Green eyes are rare and greatly admired among Nyueng Bao. He took a ritual sip. Hong Tray may part the veil occasionally but her visions are not always true, or not always fixed. Or they may be visions that have not yet come to pass. She does not see recognizable people so it is hard to determine when the visions might be taking place.

Uhm? The woman in question sat with eyes downcast, slowly turning a jade bracelet that hung loose upon her left wrist. Her eyes were green, too.

She foresaw the flood. We believed that would prove to be a false vision because we could imagine no way so much water could be brought to Jaicur.

But were in the middle of a lake now. The worlds widest moat. The Shadowlanders wont bother us anymore.

It took the old man a minute to understand that I was not serious. Oh. He chuckled. Hong Tray looked up and smiled. She had gotten the joke first. I see. Yes. But it will serve the Shadowmaster, not us. Any attempt to leave will require rafts or boats, easily spotted, which cannot move enough men to force a breakthrough.

The old boy was a general, too.

You got it. Shadowspinner had found an ingenious solution to his manpower problem. Now he could challenge Lady confident that we would not jump on his back.

The reason I wished to confer is that in her vision Hong Tray saw the water rise to within ten feet of the battlements.

That would make seventy feet of water. I glanced at the old woman. She seemed to be studying me in a way that had nothing to do with curiosity. Thats a shitload.

There is another problem.

Which is?

We tried to calculate how many structures will rise above the waterline.

Oh-oh. I see. I saw. Dejagore enjoyed a vertically oriented architecture, as walled cities do, but not many buildings overtopped the wall. And most surviving structures, even many that were partially burned, were occupied by someone. There would not be much housing available if the city flooded.

Luckily for us Old Crew our quarter boasted a lot of tall tenements.

Oh-oh indeed. In this area there are enough such structures to house our few pilgrims. But elsewhere it will go hard for the Jaicuri when the black men and their soldiers finally understand how much space they will need.

No doubt. I thought a moment. Hell. People could camp out on the wall. Them getting in the way would not be a problem militarily.