I glanced at Gerel and Chenda, and the latter said only, “Friendships are not forged by keeping secrets.” Her frown belied the encouraging words.

I agreed, but the truth didn’t make us look good. Even so, I told Nine about seeing the black ship outside Val fa Merce, noticing Seven in the First Harta Dragon Sanctuary.

“His jacket was too small,” I said. “But you have those devices. . . .”

Nine shrugged. “Our weavers can hold only a few patterns. He probably thought it was easier to borrow a uniform, rather than make an imprint of it, if he didn’t plan to go back there.”

“All right.” I told her the rest of the story of capturing Seven, and then: “When we saw the skimmer from a distance, we didn’t know it was friendly. Hush sensed my fear and decided to protect me.”

“You named a dragon Hush?” Nine’s lip curled.

“I personally didn’t name her Hush, but I can only assume the name was chosen as some sort of plea.”

“I can confirm that,” Ilina said. “She loves to roar, especially first thing in the morning.”

Nine snorted. “Fine. So Hush set fire to the skimmer and then . . .”

“Gerel rescued Chenda, then Seven, but by then it was too late. He’d been badly burned and was unconscious in our infirmary for hours. He awakened long enough to pass on the truth about Anahera, and then he was gone.”

Nine closed her eyes and sighed. “That isn’t how any of us expect to go.”

“How . . . ,” Aaru started, then thought better of it.

“Poisoned in our sleep,” she said. “By a rival seeking our positions.”

“Oh.”

“If we’re not good enough to prevent it, then we’re not good enough to keep our position.” She waved away more questions and started up the ladder.

“You’re not mad?” I would have been furious if someone had taken a friend from me like that.

“What good does anger do at this point? Your dragon defended you. Seven sent you to me. Now I’m going to ask if it’s worth bringing all of you to the empire. I’ll come back down in an hour, so make yourselves comfortable, but not too comfortable. I’m still hoping you’ll go away.” When she was up, she closed the hatch after her.

Chenda faced me, glowering. “How could you make that kind of decision for all of us?”

I closed my eyes and breathed out. “I’m sorry. I meant to say something before. I was trying, but we had to leave the hotel. . . .”

Ilina slumped down to the floor. “Is that why you were asking about eclipses?”

I nodded. “Ever since the earthquake, I’ve been having these dreams where I’m flying. I look down and I see my shadow on the water, or over the land, and it’s a huge dragon. I feel”—I dragged my palms down my ribs and stomach and hips—“separate from myself. Like Mira, but more.”