“I met someone,” she said. “Last night, just before midnight in the First Heart Wine Rooms. He looked exhausted, like he'd been walking forever. I knew he was a wanderer—there was a distance in his eyes, as though he'd seen things no one else could imagine. He looked around, then approached the bar and asked if they had root wine.”

“So, a wanderer ordered a drink. Are you going to get to the point?”

“Ramus, you have to meet him!” She stood and paced the small room, nervous and excited. “I've arranged to meet for breakfast, down by the river. He has something he wants to sell, and I think we need to buy.”

“ ‘We’? You know I don't have two pieces to rub together.”

Nomi waved at the air and shook her head, as though impatient. “No, no, I'll pay. But you and I need to enter into this together.”

“Enter into what?”

“An agreement.” She sat again, never taking her eyes from Ramus. I could get lost in that gaze, he thought. He shoved the notion aside. He and Nomi had met ten years ago, and they were the most friendly enemies he had ever known. Competitors, jealous Voyagers, and so dissimilar that he sometimes wondered how they even spoke the same language. Yet he harbored emotions for her, keeping them so deep that even he was not certain of them, and sometimes he saw confused thoughts in her eyes. But he feared that they were merely reflections of his own.

“You're a mess,” he said. “Look at you. Your trousers don't even match your jacket.”

“I got dressed quickly. Went home, couldn't sleep, then knew I had to come to see you.”

“Why? What has this wanderer got?”

Nomi's eyes burned, her cheeks flushed and her lips pursed. A smile spread across her face. “I won't tell you,” she said at last, the words bursting from her. “But we need to agree—”

“Nothing, until I know what this is all about. How much money is involved?”

She shook her head and swigged from the wine bottle again. “That's not important.”

Ramus pretended to collapse against the wall. “Now you truly have me worried!”

“You'll see.” She stood and clunked the bottle back onto its shelf. “You'll see, Ramus. Meet me at Naru May's for breakfast. You must hear what this wanderer has to say, and see what he has to show.”

“I do?”

“If you want to change your life, yes.” She glanced around the room, and for a second Ramus hated her; the look of disgust was bad enough, but the vague contempt in her voice was cutting.

Nomi left without another word, and Ramus was glad to see her go.