In the war folio on her left hip she carried the letter she’d recovered from the Eddyn mailhouse. Five paragraphs in their hilariously baroque childhood code. Five paragraphs to implicate Baru in a conspiracy against Parliament. Upon her return to Falcrest, I intend to recommend you to Province Admiral Ormsment … I wonder if we could discuss navy politics again, and the mutability of government.…

It wasn’t what she’d wanted to find.

She’d come here to search for Baru. There was a Morrow Ministry station on the Llosydanes, and Maroyad thought it had received prisoners from Baru’s inner circle.

Instead of the prisoners, she’d found burning islands, dead children, and this damn letter.

Baru had been on the Llosydanes. She’d stopped at the mailhouse to send a note to Aminata. That night Juris Ormsment’s Sulane had arrived. At dawn a battle had erupted on the fallow islet Moem, and under the new light Ormsment had destroyed three Oriati ships.

If only it had stopped there. If only none of the Oriati survived—all could have been written off to storm losses. But a fourth Oriati ship had escaped under diplomatic flag. The Federal Prince aboard had already changed vessels to a fast clipper and sailed south to carry news of the battle to the Mbo federations.

The Mbo would demand an explanation from Parliament. And in Parliament they’d say, The navy is out of control, they’re going to drag us into war too soon.…

There would be purge, then. Swift recalls to Falcrest, “to report to Parliament,” and swifter trials, swifter verdicts.

Rear Admiral Maroyad said: The real purpose of your work, Lieutenant Commander, is to find the agents on our side who are working to provoke war. And Aminata had known it couldn’t be Baru, it just couldn’t, for Baru had always worked so hard to be an honest citizen. Baru did her duty, she took her exams, and she got her reward. Oh, Aminata had been dazzled when Baru landed the Imperial Accountancy—how she’d tried, in her clumsy, tongue-tied way, to tell Baru how much she admired and respected her. Maybe, if she found the right way to say it, Baru would open up in reply. Baru would tell Aminata how much she admired her.

If Baru couldn’t get ahead honestly, Baru with her mind and athleticism and her excellent scores, then how could Aminata hope to earn a ship by honest means?

Aminata put her fists on each side of the feather and laid her forehead on the planks. Through wood and bone, the crisp reports of bootstep on the deck. The slow roll of the sea beneath moored Ascentatic. A sailor’s lullaby.

What was happening here? What was Baru mixed up in? Was she working with Ormsment, or was Ormsment chasing her?