“You can take care of yourself in a battle – I’ll give you that. This is politics.” In the end, she’d caved, because she’d wanted to help the orphans, after all. But maybe Ranami was right. Phalue just didn’t have an eye for deception.

She parried Ayesh’s frenzied attacks. “Shoulder back,” she instructed. “Don’t face me head on. Make yourself a smaller target.”

“I’m already a smaller target!” the girl grunted.

Well, she was right about that. “You could be an even smaller one,” Phalue pointed out. “And what is your first goal in a fight?”

Ayesh sighed. “Make it more difficult for my opponent to hurt me.”

“And sometimes that means running away.”

The girl rolled her eyes and Phalue laughed. There was something charming about being treated with such irreverence. Ayesh didn’t seem to really care about Phalue’s position as governor. She did care what Phalue could teach her, and that was refreshing. With everyone else she was more than an instructor. She’d been doing her best to project calm, as Ranami had suggested. The sinking of Unta had sent emotional ripples outward, and Nephilanu was not immune.

There was no witstone mine on Nephilanu, which helped a small measure. But most people didn’t trust the explanation that mining accidents were causing the islands to collapse. Still, at Ranami’s urging, Phalue had planned an escape route from the palace down to the docks using the hidden Alanga entrance in the walls. They had a store of witstone in the palace. It was a precautionary measure.

Three nights ago, there had been a small tremor, and Phalue had woken bolt upright in bed, sweating and trembling, unable to get to sleep even after the tremor had long since faded and no others followed. All she could think about were the people trapped on Deerhead and Unta as their islands sank, dragging them all down, down into the Endless Sea.

The slap of a sword against her thigh brought her back to the moment. “Hah!” Ayesh crowed. “Look at how good I am. Got one on you!”

“I was distracted. Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Phalue chided.

“Sai.” Tythus strode up, interrupting their session. “Someone’s here to see you.”

Something in his tone made her sheathe her sword. “Someone.”

He nodded. That could only mean one person: Gio. She wasn’t sure why he’d be visiting. They’d only just established a truce. More conditions? She hoped not. The patrols were doing what she’d intended and were slowly eliminating the constructs on Nephilanu. “Let him in and then fetch Ranami, would you?”

Tythus moved to obey. Phalue glanced back at the orphan. “I’m not sure how long this will take. You’re welcome to wait, though.”

Ayesh swung her sword experimentally, checking her stance. “I’ll wait.”