“Just what we need, more issues,” Brix muttered.

“Or we could be wrong and he’s just a drunk troll in a doorway in the Shanty,” she carried on. “We need to know what’s behind it or guarding it is a waste of time when we have none of that.”

Gal looked to Brix.

Brix shrugged.

They both looked to Serena.

“We form a crew,” Brix declared.

Serena felt a frisson over her skin.

A crew.

She and Chu had been a crew, of a sort.

A highly functioning one.

It was much more fun working something like this with him.

It was much more fun, returning to their lodgings after a day of working something like this and doing that with him.

Life was just much more…

Everything…

With Chu.

But she had lost him.

Through jealousy and hate, she’d lost him.

“One of us provides distraction, the others breach that building,” Gal spoke into her thoughts.

Hmm…

She had a feeling she knew who would be the distraction.

“To keep my disguise, which I will need to do in case we’re wrong, I would have to fight pretending to be unskilled and inebriated,” she said. “Trolls are mighty, even when they’re deep in their cups, and they don’t know their own strength. He could harm me greatly. And trolls have cocks and he’s a he. If I bring myself to his attention, he could want something else, and not giving him that, and I will not be giving him that, I would need to expose my skills to fight him.”

“Can you pick a lock?” Gal asked.

She could not.

Damn it.

“You could teach me,” she tried.

They looked at each other again, but neither shrugged this time before they looked to her.

“True wants men planted in their ranks,” Brix shared. “We must wait for that. We cannot give any indication we know they’re operating in the Shanty. Once we have men covert in The Rising, we can launch the operation to distract the troll and get inside.”

“And what if The Rising finds this troll and his door before we do all of that?” she queried.

“Then we will have no choice but to tip our hand. In the meantime, you’ve established yourself here. You can help us patrol. We can divide the space, gather information, keep watch on the inhabitants, and meet here to share what we know and adjust our tactics, if necessary,” Gal said.

“Team up,” she murmured.

“Yes,” Brix agreed.

Serena looked to the mantel with its five glowing candles.

She wanted a bath.

She wanted a bed.

She wanted a decent meal.

She wanted to know how her sister fared in Airen, if she was safe.

She wanted to know how her mother fared at all, for she’d seemed better, but Serena sensed that was borrowed time.

She wanted Chu.

In all of that, there was only one thing she could have.

“Do you know any news from Airen?” she asked quietly.