The streets of Deorun felt like the streets of Zianna.

I trailed after Joen, through Deorun's version of the lower city I had grown up in. Aside for the language, the people and they way they lived seemed almost exactly the same. There were merchants trying to sell what little they had, there were people begging for money and people trying to steal money. I almost could have belonged there.

Joen had figured out the area, but of course, he had also come from this kind of world. Although with his blacksmith forge, he would have made relatively good money. We both kept our heads down and tried not to draw any more attention than we had to.

I didn't stand out, but Joen was given more than few glances. He was probably used to that, I realized. With his dark skin, he didn't fit in with Native Zians or Deorans any more than the Telts did. At least Deorun had a large port, most people probably assumed he was a sailor.

I jogged a few steps to walk beside him. We had never really had a chance to talk, and I could easily watch the crowds and talk at the same time. "Joen? Can I ask you something?"

He nodded with a patient smile. "Your knights have been pestering me with questions, I think I can handle a few more from my rescuer."

"Where are you from?" I asked. Then, as I realized that might be somewhat offensive, to assume he wasn't from East Draulin, I added, "I mean, I know you're from East Draulin. But you're not—you don't sound..."

Joen laughed warmly. "Ah, I see. I am from East Draulin, born and raised. But my mother wasn't. She was from Alvara." He glanced at me, apparently understood the baffled look in my eyes, and continued, "It's a Southern country. I've never been, but maybe one day. My father worked as a sailor for a bit when he was young. When he met my mother and she moved to East Draulin, he decided he was going to stay in the city with her, so he apprenticed with a blacksmith. I inherited the forge when he retired."

"You must make decent money."

"I'd make more if I had a contract with the East Draulin guard. Who knows, now that I've met Lady East Draulin herself, maybe I can work something out. Or maybe... I've really enjoyed training with the knights. Being a knight was a boyhood dream I never really thought I'd get a chance to live out. But trying to live it out on the cusp of war seems... risky."

"I think Tros would support your efforts," I said. It was nice to be able to mention the war god without worrying about whether the person I was talking to would know who he was. I hadn't realized how much I missed talking to someone who believed the same things I did. Tannix referenced my gods fairly often, but I was under no illusion that it was because he believed in them.

"Ah. But what if Catul would prefer I stay a blacksmith?" Joen asked. We walked a little further before he shrugged. "It's complicated. But right now getting home is everyone's main concern. So I'll think about it later. Now, shh."

He stepped up in front of a small wooden booth. The man behind it wasn't surprised by Joen's broken Deoran, which made me assume this was a merchant Joen had visited often. Joen handed him some money—I wondered where it had come from, since I certainly hadn't been the one to steal it—and we walked away with three bags of food. Joen handed me one and slung the other two over his shoulders.

"You want to see the port?" he asked, once we were further down the street.

I nodded. "I need to get some sort of idea for how we're going to steal a ship."

He cast me an almost skeptical glance. "When Lord West Draulin mentioned the idea, I thought he was crazy. But then I thought about what I've seen you do, and the things the knights say about you."

"Lukk's fond of me," I said.

"Lukk may have blessed you, but you're the one doing the work." He nodded down another street, "This way. We'll get a good view of the port without getting too close. Do you have any ideas?"

"A few." I shifted the bag on my good shoulder and followed him. I just hoped seeing the port would help my shaky ideas solidify into something that would actually help us.

"This is very uncomfortable," I muttered under my breath. "Does it have to be so tight?"

Jalor pulled the cloth of my sling so that my arm was even more snugly bound against my chest. "You're going to be running. If you shake your arm too much you'll open up the wound again."

"Don't try to reason with him, he's just being whiny on principle," Tannix joked from across the room. He wasn't wearing his tunic, and he sat still as Acen fiddled with the bandaging on his shoulder. It wasn't nearly as restrictive as my bandaging—it just wrapped around his shoulder and upper arm a few times, and once across his chest. He could still move his arm.

"On principle?" I asked a moment later. A long enough moment that Tannix knew I'd been distracted by him.

He just smiled at me. The idea of actually doing something had put them all in better moods. Tannix glanced over at the other knights, Joen and Mayah, who were gathered nearby. "Is everyone ready?"

"Aye," Kor replied for the group. "As ready as we can be."

Tannix pulled his ratty, dirty tunic over his head. Somehow it didn't make him any less attractive. I cast Mayah a quick, suspicious, and hopefully subtle, glance. What did she think about seeing him without a shirt on? She was busy tying her wavy hair up into a knot on the back of her head. Maybe she hadn't been looking at him, after all.

Tannix accepted the sword Acen offered him, and cinched the belt around his waist. "All right, gentlemen, Lady Mayah. Let's go."

It was a little nerve-wracking to travel with everybody, but at least the streets were mostly clear. Joen knew the quickest and safest way to get to the port, so he led the way, with me and Tannix close behind. The knights and Lady Mayah followed us, walking in pairs in an attempt to look less conspicuous.

I took the lead when we reached the harbour. Earlier, with Joen, I'd picked out exactly which ship we were going to steal. It wasn't too impressive, just a medium sized merchant ship, but I liked its location. It was docked at the end of a relatively empty pier. Guards patrolled the port, but Joen and I had watched long enough to figure out their routes.

Joen, Tannix and I stopped behind a pile of large wooden crates. I leaned around them, watching the patrolling men, eyeing the sailors I could see on our ship, making last second notes about how my plan was going to work. We were joined by the twins first. Ender grumbled something under his breath and leaned against the crates to take weight off of his crutch. Kor peeked around the crates.

"I could just shoot them," he whispered.

I shook my head as I drew back behind the crates. "No, the sailors would probably see and call an alarm."

Jalor and Mayah arrived next. She didn't seem like Lady East Draulin in that moment, and not because of her peasant dress. It was because I never imagined a Telt lady enjoying what we were doing. She beamed at Tannix with a truly dazzling smile. "This is sort of fun, isn't it? Sneaking around. Granted I'm very glad I won't be the one doing any fighting, if it comes to it."

"We'll protect you, my lady," Jalor said.

She turned to him, rewarding him with that same smile. "Thank you, Sir Jalor. I do feel very safe, given the circumstances."

I realized I was frowning and turned to peek around the crates again before anyone would notice. I didn't dislike her. Not really. Not consciously.

When Acen, Evrik and Mandell finally joined us, I turned back around. We huddled into a tight circle. They all looked at me.

"We'll do it exactly how I explained earlier," I said. "Joen and me first. Then Kor and Evrik, once you're in disguise. It doesn't look like there are too many men on the ship."

Tannix nodded. "We'll wait for your signal."

Joen started to move and I went to follow him, but Tannix caught my hand. I met his gaze, squeezed his hand, then let go. We had to go.

Joen and I jogged down the pier, right towards the guards. They stopped pacing and stared at us in confusion as we approached. We stumbled to a stop in front of them. Panting dramatically, I leaned against the nearest cargo boxes. Joen waved at the guards, indicating that they had to wait for a moment until he got his breath back.

"Idenas," he finally said between heavy breathes. He gestured back the way we'd come. "Das."

Joen didn't know very many words, but he'd learned 'prisoners' and 'out', with a little help from Lady Mayah, who was apparently fluent in Navirian. My hope was that Joen's very convincing gasps for air would explain away his choppy sentence.

The guards seemed convinced. They started to talk over each other, rapidly.

Joen waved down the pier again. He couldn't risk an actual conversation.

The men looked annoyed, but briskly started walking. Joen and I watched, breathing normally once again, as the Deorans rounded the corner and disappeared behind the pile of crates that hid the knights.

"That wasn't so hard," Joen commented, flashing me a grin.

"I think you might have had the accent off, a little," I said, grinning in return. It always felt good when plans worked. Even if getting rid of the guards had been the easiest part of the plan. It was getting rid of the sailors that I was more worried about. We continued towards the ship, until another pile of crates provided the perfect hiding place to wait for Kor and Evrik.

The two knights were walking down the pier calmly. Newly disguised in the Deorans' armour, they had no reason to worry about the crew noticing them. They walked right up to the ship, and instead of pivoting around to pace back along the pier, they went up the gangway. Their footsteps on the wooden planks were loud, so it was no surprise when the men on board noticed them.

Someone started speaking to them in Deoran, but he sounded more confused than angry. Joen and I took the opportunity to rush up the gangway and step onto the deck behind the knights.

Evrik suddenly moved. He grabbed the man who'd been speaking to him, spun him around, and held a dagger to his neck. In the same instant Kor drew his bow and nocked an arrow. Taken completely by surprise, none of the sailors had time to draw weapons. The knights didn't need to speak Deoran to be understood.

But Joen did. He stepped around Evrik, and spoke slowly.

He was simply telling the sailors that if they left they wouldn't be hurt. I could tell from the look on the sailors' faces that his Deoran was awful, but at least they seemed to understand. It really didn't take much to convince them. They were only sailors, after all, and didn't feel duty-bound to lose their lives.

Kor and Evrik did a sweep belowdecks to collect any other crewmembers. Mandell and Jalor climbed on deck to help Joen heard the sailors off of the ship, to where Tannix and Acen were waiting to tie up and gag them. We couldn't risk them running off to tell anyone what had happened, we needed at least a bit of a head start. Right from the start Tannix had been adamant that we were not to kill any of them, if we could help it. When the sailors were all carefully bound and hidden behind another pile of crates, we were ready to go.

Tannix was the last to climb onto the ship. As he stepped off of the gangway, he looked over all of us, his eyes lingering on me just a heartbeat longer than the others.

"Goodwork, gentlemen," he said. "Captain Ender, take us out to sea, far enough fromthe coast that we won't be spotted. We sail for Zianna."