“I think he’s called the Keeper,” Giddon said, saying the word in Keepish.

“She,” said Hava, with a small scowl.

“Okay, she. And this is the Keep, and the country is Winterkeep.”

“Wow, Giddon,” said Hava. “It’s like you have an advanced degree in etymology.”

“Not nearly as advanced as your degree in sarcasm,” he said, pretending to be less piqued than he was.

“Is that you, Giddon?” said a voice behind them.

Spinning around, Giddon saw the Lienid envoy, dark-haired, gray-eyed, with pale brown skin like Bitterblue’s, eyes like Bitterblue’s. He flashed with Lienid gold. “Periwinkle,” said Giddon.

“Call me Perry, please,” the man said, then gestured toward the archway. “Come visit.”

He led them down the corridor to a small, lamplit office, where he sat them before a fire and pressed hot drinks into their hands. Giddon was beginning to wonder if this was the custom for all meetings in Winterkeep, always. Reaching into the breast pocket of his coat, Giddon pulled out a folded piece of paper. Opening it, he braced himself against Bitterblue’s small, dear handwriting.

“Perry,” Giddon said, “we were hoping for your help identifying the people behind the company names on this list.”

He handed the paper to Perry, who glanced at it briefly. “What is this for?”

“It’s the Keepish importers who purchased rock detritus from Bitterblue’s silver mines at almost no cost,” said Giddon flatly, “tricking her out of her own zilfium.”

“Ah,” said Perry, his expression clearing. “I understand.”

“You do?” said Giddon. “You knew about that?”

“In Ledra, you’d have to live under a rock not to know about that,” he said, his eyes narrowing on the paper. “Though this is the first time I’ve seen a list. It’s an interesting group of people. Balava Importing: That’s Ada Balava. Yes, that’s no surprise, since she has no conscience. Tima Importing is Mirni Tima, yes. Cavenda Shipping is Benni Cavenda, and naturally he would be on this list. I understand Benni’s been growing his shipping business too fast, even running it into the ground, and the Cavenda mine has run out of zilfium. His financial troubles were no doubt eased by cheating Queen Bitterblue out of some of hers. Oh, now, this one is interesting,” he said, glancing at Giddon over the paper. “Keepish Importers is a Varana company owned by Minta Varana. She imports precious metals used in airship production, but I didn’t know she’d joined the zilfium bandwagon.”

“Minta Varana!” said Giddon. “Our host at dinner last night!”

“And the sister of the cat lady we’re staying with,” said Hava, her face like ice. “Lovely.”

“I ate her food,” said Giddon, almost spitting. “I thanked her for her hospitality.”