Giddon took another breath. “Yes. Me too.” What do I do?

You could try giving her a job, said Bitterblue.

He handed Hava the map, now slightly crumpled. “What do you think is the best route to the Keep?”

—

The first part of the journey, down the footpath that ran along the cliff above the sea, was straightforward enough. Before and below them, the city of Ledra spread itself out, towers and domes, parks and gardens, taking shape as the day brightened. The footpath turned occasionally to short, wooden bridges that crossed over crashing water below. Some of the bridges moved when you stepped on them. You would hate the footbridges, Giddon thought. But you would love the views.

“Do you notice there’s a fox following us?” said Hava.

“There is?” said Giddon. “Whose fox?”

“How would I know that?”

Giddon shrugged. “With whatever magical power made you notice the fox?”

“You mean eyesight?”

“Is it actually following us,” said Giddon, “or just going the same way we’re going?”

“It’s not like it’s carrying a sign announcing its intentions,” said Hava in a quelling tone.

Giddon glanced around, but all he saw was the dramatic landscape. “All right,” he said. “Keep me posted.”

Once they reached the city, it became more necessary to consult the map. At one point, winding their way through Ledra’s labyrinthine streets, they took a wrong turn. Then, when they tried to retrace their steps, two people in uniform at the base of a staircase asked them for their pass.

“Pass? What do you mean?” said Giddon, in his most polite Keepish. “We just came down that staircase.”

“You’re in the amble now,” one of the guards said. “You have to walk through in the same direction as everyone else, unless you have a pass.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” said Giddon. “What’s an amble?”

“Royal Continent,” said one of the guards, nodding knowingly. “You don’t know our shopping areas. You enter at one end and exit at the other.”

“An amble is a shopping area?” said Giddon. “Where’s the other end? Is it at the end of this street?”

“No, it’s beyond that. Just follow the traffic.”

From where Giddon was standing, the traffic didn’t seem to have a particular direction. There were more people on this street than on the other streets they’d walked along, all kinds of people, some speaking languages he didn’t know, but most were milling around what he now recognized as shops for clothing, fabric, flowers, food. Almost all the shops had counters open to the street, then a door that customers could enter if they wished to see what else the store had to offer. Now and then, an airship passed overhead. He wanted to board them, and go somewhere else.

“Is the Keep accessible from inside this amble?” asked Hava.