"Thank you," Mari called after her. "Isn't it just like Alli to add a comment to her message even at a time like this?" she asked Alain. "Although I can imagine Alli was pretty upset at the idea that Kira might have shot Gari."

"Danalee," Alain said. "Kira did go north, as you guessed. Perhaps you understand her more than you thought." He was seated at the small table which held the remnants of their morning meal.

"I don't understand her nearly enough!" Mari winced as she sat down opposite him. "Have I mentioned how much I hate long, hard rides on horses?"

"Not since before the Mage brought the message."

"My funny Mage," Mari said. "I should have known you were trouble when you first started trying to make jokes. Kira is not going to Julesport."

She still liked being able to elicit a surprised reaction from Alain. "Why do you say that?"

"Because Kira is smart and sneaky."

Alain nodded. "She gets those things from you."

"She gets smart from both of us, but most of the sneaky from you," Mari said. "Which is why I know that if Kira was going to Julesport, she wouldn't have let Gari know she was heading that way."

"Dorcastle, then," Alain said.

"Do we go there?" Mari asked. "Kira might need us, but if we do go to Dorcastle that might draw the Urth people's search there as well."

"If others saw Kira and Jason in Danalee, reports of that may reach the people from Urth," Alain said.

"Good point." Mari stood up again. "I'm going to ask the long-range far-talker operators here to listen for anything from Danalee or near it, and ask that message Mage to send a reply asking for anything Alli or Calu might pick up. We're supposed to be looking for Kira, so if solid reports of her draw everyone else's attention that way it would look very odd for us not to go to Danalee."

"And if that happens, the Urth people will still search near Danalee, not elsewhere," Alain suggested. "They believe that we do not know they watch us."

"Have you noticed that we're getting reports of more of those drones being seen over cities and roads, but the one following us is remaining hidden? The Urth people must be deliberately letting most of their drones be seen."

"To overawe and worry the people of this world," Alain said.

"I am worried," Mari admitted. "But I'm a long ways from being overawed."

* * *

Morning on the river brought another bowl of stew and enforced inactivity. Kira sat next to Jason as he choked down his stew, thinking how strange it was that the opportunity to rest she had craved had so quickly become hard to endure as the barge made its slow, steady way down the Silver River.