Edard walked forward. “Greetings of the dawn, honored ones. I am commander of this small party, which—” They turned their backs.

He retreated, looking flustered.

“What in the hells does that mean?” he muttered to Bai as the others gathered around. “Do they mean to just let us sit here and grow old by this cursed stream with this cursed grass and sky driving us to cursed madness, eh?”

“Let me try,” said Eridit.

“They turned their backs on you before,” he warned her.

“If I have to die, I’d rather do it quickly than wither away any more days in this cursed prison! I don’t even dare have sex for fear it will violate their invisible boundaries. I don’t know about you, but this is the longest I’ve gone without since I celebrated my Youth’s Crown and started in on my Lover’s Wreath!”

Shai covered his eyes. Bai laughed. Tohon sighed.

“Back me up, Bai?” Eridit asked.

“I’m game.”

Eridit sucked in a deep breath. Shai watched her cross the open ground to stand before the three women who, hearing their steps, turned to face them.

“Greetings of the day, honored ones,” said Eridit, her gestures emphasizing the words. She had a clear voice that carried easily. “We are come peacefully, with honor held in our hearts, having strayed out of our own land in pursuit of certain criminals who had broken our laws. We beg humbly your pardon for our transgression, and we request humbly that you allow us to continue our journey, out of your territory.”

“You must pay,” said the woman standing in the middle. “For food, you must pay. For transgression, you must pay.”

Eridit looked to Bai, and Bai leaned over and whispered. Nodding, Eridit addressed the lendings. “Perhaps we may offer trade goods in exchange as an expression of our goodwill.”

“What in the hells do we have to trade to the likes of them?” muttered Edard.

“Hush,” murmured Tohon as, at the sound of Edard’s voice, the lending women again made a show of turning their backs.

After a moment’s silence, the three turned back and displayed empty palms to Eridit and Bai. “You possess nothing worth the weight of transgression. But one of your tales, we’ll hear. If it is worthy, then you show yourselves to ride with honor, and you may walk free.”

A tale.

“Sit down,” whispered Ladon. “This could take a while. I’ve seen her perform.”

The four men sat. The veiled lendings turned their backs, a ring of dark cloth stretched across broad shoulders. Every man carried a bow and quiver slung across his back, and leaned on a spear. A haze spanned the heavens. Clouds piled up in the east, as though a hand were holding them back. Shai shivered, not cold but disturbed by strange vibrations within the earth, and he thought one of the unveiled faces bent its gaze on him, but she was too far away for him to be sure.

Eridit crouched, head bent. As she rose, her posture changed so her body seemed larger not in size but in spirit, as though she was inhabited by others as well as herself.