“Zianna,” said Avisha reflexively. “Zi’an would be a boy’s name although that would be very old-fashioned.”

“Thank you,” said the girl. “Avisha, this is Captain Anji.”

Avisha rose hastily and brushed off her horrifically rumpled and dirty clothing.

“Where did she come from?”

“From the courtyard gate.” Mai indicated the stand of pipewood. “Now that I think of it, Chief, how will I ever convince the Ri Amarah to allow one of their daughters to visit me if I can’t promise a secure house?”

The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes. “That door was secure at dawn, for I checked it myself.” He trotted over to the gate.

The captain’s gaze assessed Avisha. He was like the temple clerks, toting up numbers that might not bring them any personal benefit but needed accounting because that was their job and one they were accustomed to doing well. “Who is she? Certainly not one of the Red Hounds, for they don’t admit women to their ranks. An assassin from the temples, perhaps?”

Mai seemed amused. “She’s a girl from a village. These are her siblings. She hopes to find a husband among the troop.”

“Ah.” He handed the cloth to the older woman and turned to look through the open door, into an interior Avisha could not see. “Nothing I need concern myself with, then. Mai, I have an idea Keshad might actually be useful.”

The older soldier walked back to them, shaking his head in disgust. “When I find out who left that unsecured, I’ll whip him myself.”

“Tuvi-lo,” said the captain. “Where did the prisoner go off to? He was right behind us.”

Inside, a familiar voice rose. “Don’t touch that! Don’t you know a priceless vase when you see one? What kind of five-burned fool are you?”

The splintering crash of ceramic meeting floor answered the question. Gales of laughter followed this assault, accompanied by a few choice swear words that genuinely shocked Avisha, for the only person she had ever heard say such rude things was the disreputable village drunk.

“Who did that?” demanded Mai in a voice meant to carry indoors. “If that vessel was truly valuable, then the owners of this house will have to be paid its value out of your own portion. What a waste!”

Her words cut short the laughter. Three young men filed into the garden. One was smirking, one was still stifling laughter, and the third was fuming with such intensity that Avisha expected steam to rise from the top of his curly black hair. Eiya! He was the man with the handsome eyes and the overbearing sister who had rescued them at Candra Crossing and gotten them across the river.

The law had caught up with him.

His gaze passed over her, and she found herself smiling stupidly only he had already looked away without any flicker of recognition. He glanced first at Mai, then looked at the captain and, flushed, glared down at the paving stones.

It hurt to be dismissed so easily. Avisha was used to being known as a pretty girl in her village, but she also knew perfectly well that her village wasn’t very large and that the world must be populated with women twelve times more beautiful than she could ever hope to be. And yet those two young Qin soldiers were looking at her in a gratifying way even if she did wish it was Keshad who found her of interest. In fact, the soldiers were staring as if they recognized her, and all at once she remembered the one with the pretty eyes. He had been part of the cadre that had intercepted them on the road in the Soha Hills. His teasing grin made her grin shyly in return, and his grin widened.