Gurice visited her first. After a quick knock, she entered Shyla’s room. “Nice speech. I’m gonna need coins to purchase the air bladders for Rendor.”

Why would he—oh, to carry the water. Velblouds had four air bladders inside of them. Just before the start of the killing heat, the animals filled their bladders with hot air and floated, escaping the deadly temperatures on the surface. The bladders weren’t the best water containers for long-term storage, but, in the short term, they were lighter than leather and would be easier to carry.

“How many osees do you need?” she asked, digging into her pack. Shyla had hidden the bulk of the coins but always kept a few with her.

“Four or five.”

She handed six to Gurice. “Just in case.”

“Thanks.”

“No, thank you for going on this mission.”

Gurice cocked a hip. “Did you know Rendor caught Mojag once?”

“No. He doesn’t like to talk about what he did when working for the prince.” Not like they had any time to talk.

“This was before you came to Zirdai. Before Rendor was the captain. He could have arrested Mojag and tortured him for information on the location of the vagrant communes. Mojag was only nine circuits old. But he didn’t. Instead, he showed my brother a shortcut to avoid an area where there were lots of guards, and then let him go. Mojag didn’t even know the guard was Rendor until he was promoted to captain.”

Shyla wasn’t sure where Gurice was going with the story so she waited.

“What I’m trying to say is, working as the captain for the prince drained his soul. Or so we all thought. I’m glad he still has some left.”

Nice of Gurice to share her thoughts.

“And, scorching hells, girl. He’s a fine-looking specimen. Hope you’re taking full advantage.” She winked.

Not so nice now. “Don’t you have buckets of sand to dump?”

Gurice laughed, waggled her fingers in goodbye, and left.

Her room was too quiet without Gurice. Shyla debated. She should rest, but she was…restless, which didn’t make any sense. Her thoughts kept circling around in her head, but she refused to analyze them. Or rather, overanalyze. Instead, she decided to help clear sand from the dorm level.

Leaving her room, she walked straight into Rendor. Hitting a wall would have been softer. He grabbed her elbow to steady her even though he scowled at her. It didn’t take the power of The Eyes to sense she was in trouble.

She glanced down the hallway. At least no one lurked nearby to overhear their forthcoming argument. Suppressing a sigh, she returned to her room. Rendor followed.

He didn’t even wait until the curtain swung back into place. “I’ve my team. Ximen, Balin, Lamar, Daksh, and Nard volunteered after your speech.”