Greaves attention was on the inner city and its towers, though. They stretched up into the heavens, built from gray stone and capped with red terracotta roofs. Each seemed so elegant, so finely constructed, clearly belonging to a scholar of the House of Scholars, or to those who employed them. One would be the great library, it had to be.

He strode to the gate between the outer city and the inner. It was open, but the difference between the two was clear. Outside, the roads were dirt, the houses low and mud stained. Inside, every road was cobbled, every house constructed as if to some master plan that had been set out for the whole, fitting together in neat grids and squares clustered around open, green spaces. It was beautiful and orderly at once, a contrast to the river cut chaos of Royalsport.

Move along, a guard at the gate said.

This is your prince, Prince Greave, Aurelle replied.

The guard looked at Greave, paused, and then laughed. Of course he is. And Im the king himself.

It occurred to Greave that after his time at sea, he probably didnt look as refined as he had. His clothes were salt stained, and his hair disheveled. Aurelle looked as though she might argue with the guard, but Greave put a hand on her arm.

Its all right, he said. We dont want them barring us from entry.

For a second, Greave thought that she might argue anyway, but she seemed to catch his worried expression and relent.

Which way to the Great Library? Greave asked.

The guard laughed again. Your servants didnt tell you, your highness? Just go to the main square. The tower is right at the center of the city.

Greave hurried into the city as the guard stepped back. Aurelle caught his arm.

Can we at least find an inn first? she asked. If even the guards think that youre some vagrant, what will the House of Scholars do?

I… Greave wanted to act, wanted to save his sister from her illness now, but he knew Aurelle was right. It was late afternoon, and theyd just gotten off the boat. They needed to rest.

They took a room at a small inn that seemed to be almost perfectly round and made of dark stone, constructed as if as a technical exercise by architects of the House of Scholars. The innkeeper looked at them as if they might rob the place until Greave put money down on the bar for a room, food, a bath. Aurelle led him up the stairs of the place laughing, and if she stumbled against him this time as they reached their room, it had nothing to do with her sea legs.

***