The three maidservants, smiling at one another in delight at this unexpected day off, strode down the docks and toward the city. The guards I’d assigned to accompany Lin looked to me and I waved them toward the shore. They could use a bit of time off too. Time that wasn’t spent rocking on the waves. Mephi watched my face and gave me a querying chirp.

I was tapping the bottom of my steel staff against the worn wooden boards of the dock. I stilled my hand. “She’ll be fine,” I said, and it sounded like I was trying to convince myself. I needed to give the maidservants and guards a head start so they wouldn’t see where I’d gone. I checked my purse. “Want to sample the foods of Nephilanu?”

I’d only just eaten breakfast, but Mephi was more than game. I bought him a serving of fried fish and crispy noodles from a young man who was more than a little awed by both me and Mephi, and had to be reminded to take my money. “I have one of your old posters,” the young man said as he passed over the food, “from when you were wanted as a smuggler. I kept it.”

He sounded proud, like he’d found a pearl in an oyster someone else had thrown away. “That’s… very nice.” I’d paid to have those damned posters tossed and now people were keeping them? I wanted to slink away into an alley and cover my face with grime. But I supposed there was no hiding now that I was Captain of the Imperial Guard.

“It’s strange times.” I checked around me and saw none of the men or women from the ship. He kept talking as I tried to edge away from the stall without being rude. I needed to get out of this conversation, for more than one reason. “A little spy construct bit one of my brother’s fingers clean off when he was checking his traps at the docks. He didn’t do anything. The creature just attacked him. And Unta… That’s two islands now. Makes you worry about which one of us is next. I keep thinking I feel the ground shaking.”

“The Emperor is doing her best to ensure the safety of her citizens,” I said. It felt like a lie.

The young man grinned. “And we’ve got you, of course.”

His confidence only made me feel ill. “Yes, you’ve got me. Jovis from the song. Saving children and now saving the Empire.”