"She could have done worse," Alli conceded. "Gari noticed that when she laid down on him she kept her finger straight along the guard instead of on the trigger. At least she had the sense to do that so she wouldn't accidentally fire without even knowing who she was aiming at!"

"She had a good teacher," Mari said.

"Oh, so it's my fault!" Alli pushed Calu aside and embraced Mari. "I'm sorry, too, your daughterness. I know you're under a lot of pressure and scared for Kira."

The term "daughterness" usually aggravated Mari, but this time she took it only as a sign of affection. "Thanks. Is anything going on besides the people reporting sightings?"

"Several of those drone things wandering around," Calu said. "Here, along the rail line to the east, and over Julesport. Gari didn't tell anyone besides us about seeing Kira and the boy sneak onto that freight, but the picked lock and the open door on one of the freight cars attracted a lot of attention, especially since other people saw them entering the rail yard. How did Kira learn to pick locks?"

"I did not teach her," Alain said.

"It's a family tradition," Mari said. "Passed on from mother to daughter for two generations now."

"Why aren't you worried about that, Mari?" Calu said. "The Urth people are searching Julesport, and while the great majority of Confederation citizens are refusing to act against your daughter, enough are joining in for the promised reward or because they hate you to make things ugly. Plus the government feels obligated to send out search teams to keep the Urth people from blaming them, and because they're worried about Kira, so there are also ground soldiers and cavalry scouring the areas east of here."

Alli shook her head in admiration as she looked at Mari. "You're not worried because Kira didn't go toward Julesport, did she?"

"I don't think so," Mari said. "She left too many clues that she was going there. She has had very good teachers."

"Kira went north? She's going to have an awful time getting through Dorcastle without being recognized," Calu said. "Your twin on the wall there means everyone in Dorcastle knows exactly what you look like."

"My twin on the wall looks even more like Kira than I do, since the twin never ages," Mari said.

"I still think we should call the twin Mara," Alli remarked.

"Not funny."

"Neither is this." Calu offered a sheet of paper.

Mari took it, frowning at the lifelike image of the Urth boy. "The Urth people remembered what paper is. That's Jason. And the text repeats the offer of a reward for finding him. Did you read this? The reward is for 'return of the boy.' Not 'safe return' or 'unharmed.' How could the Urth people have been so careless in their wording?"

"Maybe they weren't careless," Calu said. "Maybe they want the boy back more than they want him safe."