The lower city hadn't changed, because it never would. The only difference was that in my expensive blue tunic, and trailed by an armed knight, I stood out more than I was used to. Evrik was uncharacteristically nervous, which I found a little amusing. He glanced around as if he expected someone to leap out and attack him at any moment. Without a word, he followed me through the chaos that was my part of the city, until we reached the old building Baisan and the others lived it.

Immediately I could tell that something was off about our old home. I broke into a run, pushed through the front door and down the short hallway. It was empty. Even the piles of clothing and blankets we used for mattresses were gone. I froze and looked around the room for a moment, my mind racing as I tried to come up with a reason for their absence.

Evrik hovered in the doorway warily, axe in hand. "What's wrong?"

"They should be here."

"Do you think they've been arrested?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No. Not all at once. That doesn't make sense." Baisan wouldn't have taken that kind of risk. Already, the flash of panic was dissipating and I knew exactly how to find my family. "Come on." I led Evrik out of my old home, back through the thin, twisting streets.

The widest street was packed, as it always was, with little booths. People tended to take one look at Evrik and step out of the way, but the merchants recognized him as someone with money and tried to get his attention. More than once, a merchant forced something into his hands and I had to pause to give it back. When we reached the square by the main gate, I leaned against a wall.

Evrik's axe was back on his belt, and he tapped his fingers on the head. "What are we doing? We should leave. Thank the Goddess I didn't bring any money with me or it'd be gone by now. I'm surprised no one's taken my throwing axes yet."

"I've been keeping an eye on you," I promised. "Don't worry. We won't have to wait long." I knew that didn't really answer his question.

He sighed and leaned against the wall beside me. "You know, you're lucky Tannix likes you so much, or I'd pick you up and carry you out of here. Despite any struggling."

"I wouldn't struggle. It wouldn't accomplish anything."

"That's right." Evrik nodded to himself. "Good thing you know your boundaries."

"That's not true," a third voice cut in. Evrik's hand flew to his axe again, but I caught his wrist just in time.

Castin was leaning his right shoulder against the wall beside me, his arms crossed. He was tall, but not quite lanky, and his hair was longer than I was used to. His knife was tucked harmlessly under his belt. It suddenly occurred to me just how long it had been since we'd seen each other. "Finn," he said simply.

"Castin, thank Zianesa. When Baisan told me what you did, I..." I didn't know what to say.

He half-shrugged with his left shoulder. "You're my brother. I had to try something."

"But Stria, and Gale."

His eyes darted off to the side. "Look, I couldn't just... I couldn't tell my son he was named after someone I let die. And I knew that if something happened to me, Baisan, Ninavi and the boys would still be there to help Stria. I guess I have you to thank for freeing me. You and your friendship with the king. Who's this?" He looked over my head at Evrik. "You're assigned your own bodyguard now? Too high and mighty to visit us without protection?"

"Tannix insisted. I'll explain everything when we're all together. Where is everyone?"

Castin nodded at Evrik. "Do you trust him?"

"Of course I do."

"Then follow me." He abruptly pushed off of the wall and stepped around the corner.

More than a little confused, I followed him. He led us down one of the other wider roads, past our temple, shops and one of the most popular brothels in the city. When he stopped, it was in front of a large building. It was a rundown apartment building that had been somewhat repaired, three stories high, with a surprising amount of windows that still had glass.

"What is this?" I asked.

Castin clearly enjoyed keeping me in the dark, because he didn't answer. We walked up to the front door and he knocked on it a few times in an odd pattern. There was the squeaky sound of a bolt being moved, and the door swung open. The young boy standing there seemed like he was about to challenge us, until his gaze landed on Castin and he stepped out of the way.

Castin led us past him. A long hallway stretched out in front of us, with a staircase on the right and a pretty big open room on the left. The group of children sitting in the room turned to us, and stared with wide, scared eyes. At Evrik, I realized.

"He's not dangerous," I said, even though he very much was dangerous. Just not at that moment.

"Come on." Castin started climbing the stairs. We passed by the second floor, where I took a quick look at a long hallway with doorways. Some of them still had wooden doors, but most were covered with blankets of left open. The third floor showed the building's age. Once upon a time, it would have looked exactly like the second floor, but now the back half of the hallway crumbled away. Repairs had been made with planks of wood, but there were still gaps where daylight shone through.

The intact half of the hall still had a handful of doors. Castin turned to the door immediately beside the staircase. He raised his fist like he was about to knock, but then changed his mind and turned the doorknob.

"Found him," he announced.

I slipped in behind Castin to see a dusty room, and one of the few with glass windows. There were two pieces of furniture. A bed with crumpled sheets tucked underneath one of the windows, and in the middle of the room, a cracked table that had once been round. Baisan was leaning over the table, looking at what I quickly recognized as a roughly sketched map of the lower city.

I side-stepped Castin. "Baisan! What in Zianesa's name is going on?"

Baisan looked up and grinned. "Finn!" he exclaimed with more enthusiasm than I expected. "Welcome to our new home, courtesy of the king. Well, his money, before he was king."

"What?" Tandrin hadn't mentioned buying them a building. "What do you mean?"

"When the king had Cast released from jail, he also gave us two hundred siyas. He said the money was for Gale, to make sure he had enough food and clean clothing. He also said he would give us a hundred siyas a week, if he could manage to get it to us secretly, to help us out. He kept it up until the old king was killed, and then the money stopped coming. But that was fine, because we already had a lot of it saved up. And we were still-" he cut himself off, maybe noticing Evrik for the first time.

"He knows we're thieves," I said.

Baisan still seemed unsure. "Well... anyway... I wanted to do something with the money. So we started looking around for a new home. This building belonged to the brothel down the street. I guess at one point they were thinking of expanding. But it isn't in great shape, so it wasn't hard to convince the mistress to sell it to us."

Castin moved to half-sit, half-lean on one of the windowsills. "Then word started to go around that we had such a large space, so other homeless children started to show up."

"I didn't have enough money left over to feed them," Baisan continued. "But we decided that if they could find their own food, they could at least sleep here and be safe. Then some of the better thieves in the group started to give me what they collected during the day. Usually just a few coins, or some extra supplies. And things kept growing from there. People have started calling it the Thieves' Guild. But we're also sort of an orphanage."

"So... you have all these children working for you?" I was shocked, but not exactly surprised. Baisan had always had ambitious ideas and leadership qualities that I admired.

"Not exactly. They don't have to give me anything, but I guess some of them considered it a sort of rent," Baisan said. "And most of what I'm given I use to buy food or blankets that we give to the younger children. Or to buy wood for repairs. And of course, we're all still working. The boys are out right now. Ninavi's been very passionate about getting girls away from the brothels and joining us instead. Stria's busy with Gale, and she helps with some of the littlest orphans. Castin-"

"Is your bodyguard," I interrupted. "You're so high and mighty you need you own bodyguard." I flashed Castin a grin as I said it. Castin narrowed his eyes.

Baisan glanced between us, but obviously remembered how Castin and I always taunted each other and moved on. "Lately, I've been trying to find new ways to make money. You know, odd jobs for a bit of pay, that sort of thing."

"This is all incredible." I walked a little closer to look at the map he had been inspecting. A few places had been marked by red ink. I didn't immediately recognize what the marks were indicating. "So, where are the others?"

"They'll be here soon," Baisan said. "We heard you've been in the city for a month. Why didn't you visit?"

I shrugged. "I was shot. Tannix was very protective. He didn't want me going anywhere until I was completely better."

"You were shot?"

"I'll tell the whole story when everyone else-"

As if on cue, the door swung open and the rest of my family walked in. Leker and Orrun paused, giving Evrik equal looks of confusion and suspicion. Ninavi immediately flung herself into my arms. When she released me, I gave Stria and Gale a gentler hug.

"You can hold him," Stria said, passing Gale into my arms. I cradled him against my chest, ignored the panicked look from Castin, and sat down on the cracked table. Ninavi hopped up to sit beside me while Stria went to lean against Castin. He slipped an arm over her shoulders.

"Now I can tell you what happened," I said.

I told them everything that had happened to me since the last time we'd met in as much detail as I thought they wanted to hear. Evrik cut in once in a while, as he grew more comfortable in the room. When I described Evrik's axe throwing trick, Leker and Orrun urged him to demonstrate, which he was more than happy to do. When I talked about Prince Kalvahi and his plans, Baisan scoffed. When I explained how I had gotten shot, Ninavi insisted I show her the scar. When I told them about stealing a ship, they all looked at me in awe.

When I finished, Baisan was the one to break the silence. "Everyone knows we're at war, but it hasn't really hit us yet. And we haven't heard any rumours about a Deoran prince wanting to free us."

"Because he doesn't want to, not really. You understand, don't you?" I asked. "They would just treat us exactly like the Telts do."

"I understand," Baisan said. "But other people might not believe it. Next time you talk to the king, you should suggest that he come down here and talk to the Natives. Tell us what's happening. Include us. You said he wants to change the divide between us, right?"

"Tannix does," I said. "Tandrin is a little distracted."

"Tell him anyway," Baisan said. "I trust your judgement, so I believe you. But if the war reaches Zianna, and this prince is spreading lies about a better life for us, people are going to fall for it. I hold a bit of sway these days so I might be able to help convince people, but I don't know how much I'll be able to do. If the king doesn't want his own people turning against him, he better make sure we know that he considers us his people."

I nodded slowly. "You're right. I'll tell him." It was still strange to think of me passing a message along to the king, and the king actually listening. But I didn't want to think about the war any more. "So, tell me what you've all been up to."

Ninavi, Stria, Orrun and Leker took turns telling me stories, while Castin tentatively asked Evrik to give him some fighting advice. Gale, settled comfortably in my arms, dozed off.

I was enjoying myself, until I glanced towards the window to see that it was beginning to get dark. "Lothian Dusk is falling. Evrik, we should go." I hopped off of the table and carefully handed Gale back to Stria.

"All right," Evrik agreed. He had been in the middle of showing Castin something, but he stopped and held out his hand. Castin eyed his hand before cautiously shaking it. "A pleasure," Evrik said. "You would make a good soldier, I think. Now lead the way, Finn. Your lower city confuses me to no end."

"I'll visit again soon," I promised as I headed for the door. Soon, Evrik and I were stepping outside into the darkening city, and we began the long walk back to the castle.