“I will be staying here for three nights,” Sid said, cutting through the tail end of Raven’s words—rudely, as though she would have preferred to clamp a hand over Raven’s mouth. “I require a maid to attend me. I will pay extra for the service, of course.”

Raven said, “Annin—”

“I want Nirrim.”

Raven studied Sid. Her expression wasn’t suspicious, exactly, but her curiosity was growing.

“She will also serve as my guide to the Ward,” Sid said. “I am a traveler from afar.”

“There are no travelers.”

“There is one now.” She ignored Raven’s stare and Annin’s. “We have nothing like the Ward where I come from. I would like to see more of it before I leave this island.” Sid opened her purse and withdrew a handful of gold coins. She let them slide from her palm onto the table.

“Nirrim will do whatever you need,” Raven said. “Won’t you, my girl?”

“How do you know her?” Annin said in a hushed voice as she walked with me toward the kitchen, where a bath lay in an adjoining room.

“Know who?” Morah glanced up from her mortar and pestle as she continued to grind spices.

“The lady.”

“Why is she here?” Morah said. “High Kith never come to the Ward.”

“But she is not really High,” Annin said, then scrambled as if she had said something offensive for which she could get in trouble. “I mean, she is different. But in her country she must be whatever they call High.”

“Maybe she’s faking,” Morah said. “How do we know she is High where she comes from? Just because she acts like it doesn’t mean she is. How do we even know she is a traveler? There have been only Herrath people on the island of Herrath. Travelers only exist in stories.”

“She doesn’t look Herrath,” Annin said. “She looks like no one I have ever seen.”

Morah sniffed. “That much is true.”

“She is so elegant. Did you see her dress? I would die to wear something like that. She is beautiful.”

“She would be,” Morah agreed, “if her hair weren’t so short.”

“I suppose that’s the fashion where she comes from, but it is a pity. Such a pretty color!”

“What’s wrong with short hair?” I said. “I have short hair.”

“Not that short,” Annin said.

“You would grow yours if Raven let you,” Morah said.

“It looks like she paid a tithe!” Annin said.

“It looks like a boy’s,” Morah said.