“That was more than a minute,” Jereb said, eyes tracking her as she strode from the woods. He was sitting cross-legged, arms resting on his knees. “What were you doing anyway?”

She shrugged as she stopped in front of him. “Whut are ye? The keeper o’ time?”

He ignored her sarcastic question and fired off one of his own. “Gruff put you up to stealing Lady Brenner’s stick, didn’t he?”

“Nope,” she lied.

“You can’t trust him as far as you can throw him.”

“He’s little, so I esspect I cain throw him pretty durn far,” she retorted.

“Just be careful.”

“Says the one makin’ me jump off o’ things ’til I’m bruised an’ battered.”

“I’m not making you. If you don’t want to train anymore, I’ll speak to Sinna when she gets back. I’m sure she’ll let you go if your heart’s not in it.”

“She’ll let me go? Does that mean I’m a prisoner?”

“No, of course not. Sorry, that came out wrong.”

“Whut ’bout whutever’s bein’ held in that shed? Is it a prisoner, too?”

“What? How do you know about…” He clamped his mouth shut, seeming to realize his error. “What did you do?”

“Nuthin’. Jest tapped on the wall a few times. Ye never said anythin’ ’bout not bein’ allowed to tap on the wall.”

“Perfidy, just please. Leave it alone. That’s Sinna’s business, not ours. Now, do you want to train, or not?”

“Aye, but I want to help ye train today. That’s whut ye were doin’ jest now, right? Concentratin’ on conjurin’ yer black eagles?”

“Yes, but I’m not going to use them to pick you up again.”

“I know, I’m not askin’ ye to.”

He looked at her, seeming to consider. “Then thanks. I’d appreciate that.”

“Where do we start?”

The others were training too, Clemmy standing in front of the moving fist while Julio shoved it toward her. At the same moment, Aliza summoned her quills and fired off a volley. Clemmy impressively drew her armor around her at the exact right moment, the contraption clanking off of her while each quill ricocheted away. Her armor clicked and clacked until it was gone, and she collapsed, chest heaving. That’s when Aliza offered her final quill, which she’d held back until the last possible second. It struck Clemmy in the side of her neck, the woman said, “Not again,” and then her eyes rolled back in her head as she slumped to the ground.

Aliza, now quill-less, stood, smiling. “Never gets old,” she said.

“Just help me carry her to bed,” Julio said, not looking nearly as pleased.

Jereb had been watching the others too, but now turned his attention back to Perfidy. “I want you to throw rocks at me,” he declared.

“Whut?” she said, thinking she’d misheard or at least misunderstood him.

“Throw rocks at me.”

“Do I try to hit ye?”

“Please.”

“Well since ye asked so nicely…” Perfidy retreated a bit and then bent down to retrieve any stones that looked like the kind that were good for throwing.