The sixth task was a small, jade-feathered duck in a straw bottom cage. It was the first one to truly baffle Dyeawan until she saw that the creature was in distress. It was lying on its side, its breathing labored and belly distended. She opened the cage to examine it, out of concern more than anything else. She could feel a small, hard object pressing against the duck’s belly from inside. She could only guess whatever it was would not pass on its own.

Dyeawan had watched more than one person die in that way on the streets.

She rowed herself to the Cadre commissary to see Makai. Despite Tahei’s wonderfully constructed, silent running wheels, the blind cook heard her coming and was smiling before she even entered the kitchen. She asked to see a duck that was being dressed for cooking. As before, Makai asked her no questions, simply gave her what she needed. She scrutinized a freshly slaughtered duck, inside and out, for the better part of a half hour.

When she was done, Dyeawan requested a finger of Makai’s strongest spirit, one of his sharpest boning knives, twine, needle, and a handful of clothespins. She was relieved to find the duck still breathing when she returned to him with the kit she’d assembled. Dyeawan fed him wine from a thimble until the lids of his tiny eyes began to droop heavily. She cut low and shallow just below his belly, careful to avoid the area where she’d seen so many small organs.

Prying what turned out to be a bound stack of coins loose of the duck’s gizzard was a simpler process than she’d thought. There was less blood than she expected, and he barely moved during the impromptu surgery. Stitching the incision closed proved to be the difficult part. Dyeawan realized the twine from the commissary was far too thick; she had to carefully strip single threads from it one at a time. Fortunately she had the clothespins to use as makeshift tourniquets.

She returned to her room after lunch to check on the duck, who Dyeawan had secretly and unbeknownst to him named Greenfire. Not only was he still breathing, he actually quacked as she rolled into the room.

It was after that test that Dyeawan finally opened up to Tahei and Riko. They were all eating dinner, Tahei loudly slurping his noodles as she’d become accustomed to both watching and hearing him do, when she told them both she’d been waking up to find a new task in her room every day for the past week.

“Building the wooden star and the pebble in the maze were two of the tests they gave me when I first came to the Cadre!” Riko informed her brightly.

Though Dyeawan had formed her suspicions, much of her still refused to believe them. “Really?”

Riko nodded excitedly.

“You too, Tahei?”