Djola stroked his daughter’s weave of braids. “I wish that were true.” His resolve cracked. Was he a fool, banging his head on Azizi’s table, betraying his own people?

Captain Rano stuck his face through a ruin wall. “Quint’s in here. I just can’t reach him.”

A sand demon swirled down the village road, dust from the north, from Nuar’s crops. Ancestors whistled a scratchy tirade as Djola and Samina struggled through thorny branches into the ruin. Trees had reclaimed most of the temple ground. Quint was tucked in a crossroads altar at the top of a tower, eyes filled with tears. He clutched a codex wrapped in metal-mesh. Rano stood under him.

Samina climbed stairs that ended in broken limbs. “How’d you get up there?”

Quint took a breath. The altar listed to one side, snapping a branch. He froze.

“He went up and down before, to get the codex,” Bal said. “I was too heavy.”

Samina shot Djola a desperate glance. He winced. Quint and his sisters had risked everything for an empty book. The altar-tower rattled as the sand demon closed in. “Jump!” Djola shouted.

Quint flew from the altar as the tower collapsed behind him. Samina bounced on a branch, sprang high, and snatched him out of the air. Cradling her son, she slammed butt-first into Rano’s shoulder and chest. They fell against a grassy ancestor mound. Rano was knocked senseless. Samina and Quint rolled away unscathed.

Quint thought if they couldn’t find him, Djola wouldn’t be able to leave. Nobody scolded him. Rano praised Quint’s courage, although the words came out garbled. Quint gaped at the addled captain then sank in a corner, pouting.

Bal poked him. “The gods of the crossroads smiled on us.”

Tessa kissed the knot on Rano’s head. She and Bal danced up and down the stairs and rolled across the ground until Quint was giggling and prancing around the cottage with them. Samina prepared a feast, for the guardsmen too. Djola let Quint sit in his lap when they sat down to eat: fish in a mango sauce, nut bread, plantains, and cardamom rice.

“This food tastes better than usual.” Quint savored the last morsel and leaned back into Djola’s full belly.

“You need a bath!” Samina wiped mango from Quint’s cheek and brushed sand from his hair. He tugged her toward Djola and the three of them almost spilled onto the table. Djola’s breath caught in his throat. Giving up the old ways, fighting for the Empire, he never expected to raise three children with his pirate love.