“Did I really love Timal that much?” she said to the empty room. The metal shields on one wall rang with a sonorous response.

Nomi lit the fire to warm water. She would bathe, change into fresh clothes, then go back down into the city to meet up with Ramus and Ten once more.

In her mind, the voyage had already begun.

RAMUS WALKED ALONG the riverfront, past the traders he'd seen setting up that morning. They were still trading, but business had slackened somewhat as the sun rose higher, and the Cantrass Angels had vanished. He wondered what they had achieved with their morning's work.

As he approached the bridge out to Naru May's, he paused and looked across the water. It was almost half before midday and Ten was already there. He was sitting in the same seat he'd taken that morning at breakfast, head bowed, hands crossed on his lap. There was a mug on the table before him. Ramus guessed he had been there for some time.

Eager to see us again? he wondered. Or eager to leave?

He hurried across the bridge and stood before the table.

“Real?” The wanderer looked up, then stretched his arms above his head, clicking his fingers.

“Interesting,” Ramus said. “They're written in an unusual language, and contain some intriguing imagery.”

“But don't you agree that they're from above the Divide?”

Ramus stared at the wanderer for a dozen heartbeats, trying to see past his eyes. “Nomi will be here soon,” he said. “Our discussion should begin when she arrives.”

Ten stretched again and looked around. “Good. Can't wait to get away from here. My feet are itching already.”

“You didn't look around the city?”

“What's to see?” Ten asked, and Ramus surprised himself by finding nothing to say.

At Ten's signal, Savi came with cydrax and a mug for Ramus.

“Another mug?” Ramus offered, but Ten shook his head.

They sat in silence for a while, looking everywhere but at each other. The deck was filling rapidly with traders and buyers breaking off for their midday meal, and the chatter was upbeat and pleasant.

“So where did you really find them?” Ramus asked at last.

Ten frowned. He had been staring into the distance, lost somewhere beyond Long Marrakash. “You don't believe what I said?”

“If there is a lie in your story, you'd best tell me now.”

“No lie.”

“Good. Because if there is one, Nomi will know it by now. Her mother's sister is a truthscryer.”

“That's superstition!” Ten scoffed.

Ramus raised his hands and shrugged. “I'm not pretending to know how it works.”

Ten's eyes narrowed. “You're just trying to play me.”

Ramus stared at the wanderer. “Believe what you wish.”

NOMI ARRIVED , A look of doubt and suspicion on her face as she glanced from Ramus to Ten.

“I thought we were meeting at midday?” she said to Ten.