“I think your clothes are nice,” Em said. She paused. “Terrible for riding,” she said, because Em was honest, too, most good people were, “but ideal for staying indoors, or walking in gardens. I wish we had robes like that here.”

Rivasoa blinked at her and smiled, cautiously.

Maybe Orfeus would have won an ally from this woman by now if she was friendlier. Maybe not: she couldn’t do it as well as Em did. She certainly had no taste to be charming now, with suspicion sour and unwanted in the pit of her stomach.

Bright came out from behind her, wiping her hands again. “Staying for dinner?” she said almost casually.

Tonight must be Bright and Em’s dinner night. Date night, which was why Em was over and cleaned up instead of greasy from work. They probably didn’t have much meat allowance to spare.

“No, I’ll show Rivasoa some Farflung market food,” Orfeus said. “It’ll be an experience.”

“What are you after there?” Em said, putting her hands in her overall pockets and smiling at her.

“A tasegun,” Orfeus said. She didn’t need to see Em’s slight frown to rethink it: her mind was already recoiling from the idea. “No, not a gun. Maybe a sharplight knife.”

Em’s perfect brows rose and rose. “Mm-hmm.”

Bright, less tactful, whistled. “That’s a lot of things!”

“And I need to send a message while I’m there,” Orfeus said, like that was an afterthought and not the purpose of the errand.

“I hope you brought plenty of things to trade,” Em said, looking faintly amused. Em was always entertained by the lack of preparedness in the people around her. The people around her mostly being Bright, this was fair.

Orfeus shrugged, and patted her cloak, her bag with its bulging pocket. “I have enough.”

Bright settled back at her worktable and pulled out her wand without anything as formal as a goodbye. Em waved to them. Orfeus went out into the hallway, with the tall, robed shadow who might have taken her blood.

She tried to stay calm and couldn’t manage it. Very well. One could still get an awful lot done while on edge, if one was good at it, and Orfeus was good at everything.

“That girl,” Rivasoa said thoughtfully.

Orfeus glanced at her as they passed by the series of close-set doors. “Which?”

“Bright. She was a rival of yours once, yes? So I read,” Rivasoa said. “A fierce one, a competitor. And you made her an ally instead.”