“It was about eighteen, nineteen years ago?” Vidal guessed. He squinted at the towers. “It failed, anyway, which is why it doesn’t get mentioned much. Well, that and Yasmin didn’t like to publicize it widely. But among the Talons, the way she stopped the invasion made her a legend.”

Zofi flashed him a curious glance. “Why? How did she do it?”

“A group of Genalese-led insurgents had recruited hired blades. Mostly disgruntled Eastern and Southern soldiers, but a few Kolonyans, too,” Vidal explained. “Their plan was to sneak up the River Leath posing as migrant performers, and break into the Keep. Attack us from within.” He shook his head. “It would’ve worked if Yasmin hadn’t believed the rumors everyone else dismissed. Stories about Genalese offering payment for seasonal work down on the coasts. She went herself, located and infiltrated the group alone. Somehow she communicated their every action back to Andros without being detected.”

Zofi had a pretty good idea how she’d done that. Her mother’s notes about the mental bond tithe flashed through her mind.

“On the last day,” Vidal went on, “the group was meant to cross the Living Wall into the city. But Yasmin attacked them from within. Even before the Talons’ reinforcements arrived, she’d already carved her way through a dozen of the several hundred attackers.”

Zofi whistled under her breath. “No wonder she still gave me a run for my money in training if that’s how she battled in her heyday.”

“You remind me of her, you know,” Vidal said as they both turned to study the Keep once more. The Talons searched the shining silver driver’s wagon thoroughly, while they waited for his tithe to fade.

She scowled. “Am I that unpleasant?”

He laughed. “No, I just mean… You left everything, your whole band, to ride back here and protect this country. Even though you claim to despise Kolonya.”

“I don’t despise it,” she said after a pause. “I just think it can be so much more than it is now. What use is having the kind of strength and power Kolonya does if you don’t improve the world with it?”

When she glanced at him again, Vidal was smiling. “Sounds like someone’s becoming a patriot, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t.” But she grinned, too.

Across the lawns, the driver’s tithe faded and the Talons waved him on past. “Come on,” Zofi whispered.

“This isn’t going to work.” Vidal held out an arm to stop her. “They’ll make me perform a tithe, which means you’d need to remain unseen for longer than is humanly possible.”

“Longer than possible for you, maybe.” Her boosts weighed heavy against her skin. “Remember the time I fought you in training? I can stay invisible for far longer than it takes to walk through a set of doors.”