"Where are they?" Mari asked. Any city she visited generated crowds, but Dorcastle brought out the biggest ones. They gathered to watch and to cheer, and she smiled and waved.

Captain Hagen, who had stood with Mari on the last wall and was now Dorcastle's senior police official, indicated a barge that was moored apart from the others. She walked to it, Alain beside her, seeing a family on deck gazing at them as they approached. Mari didn't like seeing the fear on the faces of the two adults. "Good morning," she said.

The woman looked about to collapse as she stared at Mari. "It was her. I swear, daughter of Jules, we didn't know!"

Mari reached to hold her hands, speaking soothingly. "You are not accused of anything. You have done no wrong. I'm not angry with you."

"My wife dealt with them," the man said.

"But you stand with her," Alain commented, as if no other course of action was possible.

"Y-yes, Sir Mage. Of course I do."

"We put them off on the first landing," the woman said. "They never gave their names. They talked to each other a lot. They were in good health when they left us, Lady, I swear it!"

The young boy standing next to his father startled Mari by speaking loudly. "He was nice! He taught me math!"

Mari stared at him, kneeling to be at his level. "The boy? He taught you?"

"Because I didn't like it, but he showed me how to do it," the boy said. "He's from Oz."

"Oz?" Mari rose, looking a question at the mother.

"He did, Lady. The boy. I didn't ask it of him. He wouldn't take any payment." She held out several crowns. "This is what they paid for passage and for food and blankets. That's all of it, I swear it."

Mari folded the woman's hands over the coins. "Then you earned it fairly. You have my thanks for bringing them safely to this city. I will tell the city to release your barge and let you continue your trade. Thank you," she repeated. Mari looked back at the young boy. "He was nice?"

"Yes, Lady," the boy said.

She, Alain, and Captain Hagen talked as the barge was released to return to the docks where its cargo would be sold. "There's no reason to doubt her story," Hagen said.

"She spoke truth," Alain confirmed.

"About dawn of the day after they say they dropped off your daughter and the boy, there was a gunshot on the waterfront. When the local patrols got there they found three known criminals unconscious in an alley. The shot had come from a revolver that was lying with them."

"They shot someone?" Mari asked, suddenly frightened.

"Shot at, perhaps. There was no trace of blood in the alley or on the street outside. My people were on the scene very quickly. There would have been no time to clean up blood."

"But nothing since?" Alain asked.