The patrol paused to look around the open area for any signs of trouble. Kira, still watching, held her head absolutely still to avoid giving them any movement to spot.

The leader of the patrol gazed up at the wall and saluted, speaking in a normal voice that carried easily in the quiet of the night. "All's well, daughter."

Kira felt a momentary jolt of worry that her mother was here, then realized that the patrol officer had saluted the statue atop the wall.

"What would happen if we didn't salute her one night?" another officer joked.

"I don't know, and I don't want to know," the first replied. "And you don't want the captain finding out you didn't do it. He was on that wall with her when they broke the legions, remember? If he hears you didn't respect the daughter he'll rip your hide off."

"Do you think her daughter is coming here? With that Urth kid?" a third asked.

"No telling. If we see them, we take them in. Those are our orders."

"What if the girl doesn't want to be taken in and she really is anything like her mother?"

"Then," the leader of the patrol replied, "we will all earn our pay and hopefully none of us get hurt too badly. But we do our jobs. We take them in."

"The daughter's girl wouldn't hurt cops," another said.

"I hope not. But the Urth boy is another matter. We don't take any chances with him."

"Why's the daughter's girl running away with him? Something doesn't fit."

"Maybe he took her hostage. I don't know. Nobody else does, either. That's why we take her and him in if we see them. And if he makes any false moves, we take him down any way we need to before he can hurt us or the daughter's girl."

Kira gritted her teeth. It was easy to fight bad people trying to do bad things, but what about good people trying to do something bad because they thought it was good? How could she hurt any of those police if they confronted her and Jason? But if the police were poised to hurt Jason at the slightest sign of trouble, how could she prevent him from being hurt or killed?

The police moved on, and Kira edged closer to Jason. "Listen. If we get trapped by the police or any other authorities here, I will bluff them as long as I can while you run. Don't hesitate when that happens. Just go, as fast as you can, and keep trying to hide."

"I can't do that," Jason said. She couldn't see his expression well in the dark, but he still sounded sullen.

"Jason, if the police pick you up, people will be talking about that on far-talkers and your mother will find you."

"I'm just supposed to run away and leave you to face everything alone?"