Roh shook his head. He met her look when he did it, but Maralah suspected that any boy smart enough to survive the slaughter of his comrades would be smart enough to tell half-truths when the time came for it.

“The issue with the book is translation, as you noted,” Maralah said. “Casa had Talamynii roots. Hers was a very old and isolated family. It wouldn’t surprise me if they wanted her to translate this book.”

“Isjahilde is under enemy control,” Kadaan said. “Even if she still lives–”

“We can find other translators,” Maralah said. “All this death and politics and tracking down omajistas… You think what we need is in this dusty book?”

“It may be a list of recipes, for all we know,” Kadaan said.

“It’s not,” Roh said. “There were two books mentioned in a text we found from an old Dhai scholar. They were specifically about omajistas. He referenced them as among the first books they tried to get rid of, to punish the Saiduan during the next rising of Oma. This could be one of those books.”

“I can’t spare many for this,” Maralah said. “Take Roh, Luna, and a small team. I need Driaa here, but aside from hir, any of the others can go.”

“Where?” Kadaan asked.

“The Shoratau. Tell anyone in there who can translate the book that we’ll free them.”

Kadaan shook his head. “Trusting prisoners to speak truth-”

“I suspect having a squad of sanisi over them, looking to sniff out lies, will aid in preventing some of that,” she said. “So will having two Dhai. Luna knows later Talamynii, though Bael says the ancient is beyond hir. They’ll know if anyone is bluffing.”

“I’m sorry,” Roh said, “What’s Shoratau?”

“A prison,” Maralah said, “where we put the people we should have killed but thought we might need later.”

“It’s north of here,” Kadaan said. “We won’t be able to find a clear road–”

“It’s northeast,” Maralah said. “You’re a small group. You may be able to avoid detection. We’ll be retreating south to Harajan. If the weather holds long enough, you still may be able to meet us there before it takes you.”

“Yes, Shao,” Kadaan said.

Maralah held out her hand. Kadaan gripped her elbow. She leaned in. “It was a good, hard run,” she said.

“If you can’t keep him on the seat, I expect you to take it,” he said.

“A woman on the seat? Then you’ll know we’re lost,” she said, and pulled away.