"Not for long," Sien said. "Too many people would talk. I can order that they immediately notify me and not inform anyone else, because of the importance of the matter. That will allow me to decide based on the exact circumstances. As you say, if Kira has not managed to leave Tiae by the time the orders go out for my cavalry to search, something must be wrong."

"The Urth people would overhear your cavalry informing you, would they not?" Alain asked.

"Sir Mage, if you have any better suggestion I would welcome it."

"Unless those Mages who send messages are available, I can think of none. The Bakre Confederation will send out cavalry as well," Alain said.

Mari studied the map. "The Confederation is probably already sending out cavalry to search for Kira, because they'll think they are doing me a favor. I sent out warnings not to cooperate with the people from Urth, but if the Confederation picks up Kira they'll be doing that without knowing it. There won't be any way to keep it quiet, and then the Urth people will fly in and demand what they have every right to: Jason."

"Even if the cavalry is ordered not to pick up Kira," Alain said, "she will not know who she can trust. She will do all she can to avoid being taken. That is wise, because not every official or individual soldier in the Confederation can be trusted to put our requests above their own desire for reward."

"The more we can tell people about the true motives of the people from Urth, the better," Mari said. "We need to send messengers out by horse, ship, and train. The Urth people seem to have odd blind spots. Kira left me a note with a lot of information in it, but that Talese Groveen just used what she called her sensors to look around and never seemed to think or ask about written messages."

"I have not seen any of them use paper," Sien said. "Always they move their hands before them as if taking notes in that manner."

"The hand and finger movements are some sort of interface to electronic records," Mari said. "The sort of thing mentioned in the most advanced technical manuals we have, but still beyond what we can make. If we send written messages, the Urth people might not try to stop them because they no longer think messages can come in that form."

"Those Mages who can send and receive messages," Alain said, "can also assist."

"Yes," Mari said. "But they can't grasp any technical terms or concepts, so anything like that would be garbled. We'll have to be careful how we phrase anything sent that way."

"What else do you intend?" Sien asked.

"First, visit with Camber and tell him that the Empire better not try anything with Kira."