"What did you find out?" Suthe asked as soon as she saw Ulsper leave Saer Lon's room upstairs. She had been pacing between the tables below for the past half hour, at least.

The spy spared her a glance and descended the staircase.

"That we're as safe as we can hope to be here," Ulsper said. "For now."

Suthe wrung her hands nervously. "And anything about the swords?"

"Only a theory. I'll ask Nem Koel to look into it."

Suthe watched as Ulsper walked over to the shelf by the door and took one of the ceramic bottles she had seen Saer Lon with earlier. He uncapped the lid and sniffed the contents, then resealed the bottle and put it back on the shelf.

"Those are the illegal drinks Saer Lon trades?" Suthe asked. Ulsper looked up at her.

"They're illegal for a reason, Suthe," he warned. "Don't get any ideas of sampling one."

"It's just a drink," Suthe defended, curiosity now piqued.

Ulsper left the shelf and headed to one of the long tables in the middle of the room. "Shouldn't you be practicing your meditation?" he suggested.

"I already did earlier, with Nem Koel!" she defended, only for her statement to be met with a sigh.

"I'd hardly call that practice, seeing as how distracted you were," Ulsper replied, sitting down and beckoning her over. "Let me show you."

Suthe looked around, but there were no distractions—no way to change the topic and move on to something else. She felt a sudden surge of frustration. The meditation hadn't helped, and she had a feeling that it wouldn't, ever. Why did this man keep having to drag her attention back to her worries and the possibilities of what could go wrong if her magic acted up at the wrong time? She knew the consequences, and she was already trying hard to be careful! Couldn't he see that?

"Suthe?" Ulsper prompted when he got no response.

She huffed and stalked over to the other side of the table, flouncing down on the hard bench.

"It's not going to work," she snapped. "It never does." Memories of times spent sequestered in her room above the bakery, summer heat dampening her brow as she tried to command her magic, sprung unbidden to her mind. All she had gotten out of her efforts were a few headaches and accidentally ending up downstairs once. Thankfully it had been after hours when the bakery was closed, otherwise it would have been quite difficult to have tried explaining her sudden appearance in front of the pastry display case.

"Don't think about that," Ulsper said, gently taking Suthe's fidgeting hands in a move that sent her already-strained nerves tangling in her chest. He kept their hands in the middle of the table, unmoving. "Close your eyes."

"I already tried this," Suthe protested, but grudgingly did so anyway. She let the nothingness in her vision reign for a few seconds before adding "It's not working."

"Give it time," Ulsper muttered, his voice a few octaves softer than before. "Tune in to your surroundings."

Tune into your surroundings, Suthe mentally repeated in a mocking tone. What nonsense. But since Nem Koel still hadn't returned with breakfast, she had no other choice but to continue sitting with her eyes closed.

A moment of discontent slowly passed, and as Suthe became accustomed to the darkness behind her closed lids, she gradually began to take notice of her other senses. The callouses of Ulsper's thumbs brushed against the back of her hands as they lay on the table. His grip was warm and steady, but perhaps it was the size of his hands, combined with Suthe's knowledge of the spy's profession, that made her think of all the deadly strength and force they were capable of.

She barely resisted a shudder.

Then came her heightened awareness of sound—there was the patter of distant, muted feet running by in the street outside, and the delicate hush of a plant tendril moving in a hidden draft on the balcony above. A steady, rapid drip came from somewhere nearby, the drops of liquid falling in such close succession that they almost sounded like a steady stream.

Suthe took a slow breath of air, and caught a sharp whiff of alcohol, muted behind layers of dust. A staleness lingered on her tongue, and she suddenly had the urge for a drink of water.

But what use was any of this? The only thing that came of attempting to control her magic was despondency at her incompetence. If she was supposed to have reached some enlightened state through her silence and stillness, she'd have to inform Ulsper that she had failed, once again.

Suthe opened her eyes, only to find that Ulsper already looking at her.

How long has he been like that?

Disconcerted, Suthe pulled out of his grasp and looked away, certain he would have something critical to say about her lack of talent.

"That was better already," was what he said instead, so quietly that Suthe jerked her head back up to face him, certain she had misheard. But before she could reply, the front door opened.

Nem Koel had finally returned.

"Breakfast!" the girl announced, sauntering over with a smile on her face and completely oblivious to the moment she had interrupted. "Ulsper, you really had to pick the most difficult item on the menu. It took me forever—but I did find those chestnuts. So, ha!"

She tossed a small cloth bag onto the table between them, the contents giving a muffled thump at the impact.

Suthe bit her lip and chanced a look at Ulsper, but he pretended not to notice. How badly would Nem Koel react, Suthe wondered, if she found out that Ulsper had gone to talk to Saer Lon?

She frowned and looked away. No, it was better to not say anything.

"Since the Twin Blades originated in the north of Pretia, Saer Lon says they might have contained jewels from Andilirish mines," Ulsper said.

Suthe's head jerked back up and she felt her mouth fall open in shock. He was actually going to admit that he had gone behind Nem Koel's back?

As Suthe would have expected, a frown crossed Nem Koel's forehead, and she put a hand on her hip. "You..." she looked down at the untouched bag of chestnuts on the table. "You put me through all this trouble just so you could do whatever you wanted, didn't you?"

"Whatever was necessary," Ulsper corrected, only to be met with a roll of the eyes from Nem Koel.

"Unbelievable," she muttered. Suthe's gaze darted between the two, unsure of whether she should get up and leave before they broke out into a fight. But it seemed that Nem Koel was more annoyed at having put in so much effort to find Ulsper's breakfast than the spy having talked with Saer Lon.

"You're lucky she didn't kick you out," Nem Koel continued. "I did warn you not to talk to her. She's really temperamental. I'm sure if she wasn't General Yenh's sister-in-law, we wouldn't have even been able to come here."

Suthe didn't doubt it. The glare that Saer Lon had sent her and Ulsper's way was still fresh in her mind.

"The important thing is that she didn't kick us out," Ulsper said. "Now, do you know where we could find anything about ancient Pretian designs?"

Nem Koel sighed. "Most Andilirish artisans these days don't use the old Pretian styles, especially after the Rebel King took power. Nowadays, even the traditional designs of the Lanfu Dynasty are dying out—it's all about creating a different style that reflects the New Patriot ideals of prestige and power. But I'll ask General Yenh if she knows of anyone."

"Careful who you tell," Ulsper warned. "There are already more people than I'd prefer who are aware of our presence here."

"Yes, yes, I'll be careful," Nem Koel said, though not without another roll of her eyes, Suthe noticed. "I have to get to practice now, but I'll tell the general your theory, and make sure no one overhears us. You're welcome."

She paused, eyebrows raised at Ulsper expectantly. Suthe looked back to him, but he was blankly looking right back at Nem Koel.

"Uh, thank you!" Suthe finally blurted on his behalf. Though she wasn't the most polite about it, Nem Koel was going out of her way to help them. It was the least they could do to thank her.

Nem Koel's gaze flicked over to Suthe, then back to Ulsper, and the corners of her mouth turned down at the lack of appreciation she had been shown.

"Thank you, Nem Koel," Ulsper finally said, but his words were slow and it seemed to Suthe that he was saying it more to just placate the girl than out of any actual gratitude. Still, the words returned a smile to Nem Koel's face, and she skipped out the door, closing it behind her with a thud.

Suthe turned back to the food on the table.

"At this rate, she should've just brought lunch," she grumbled under her breath. It was nearly late enough in the day for it.

Suthe picked out a bun from the small selection and tore off a piece.

"So now we just sit here, and wait?" she asked, looking back up at the spy across from her. Ulsper didn't even touch the bag of chestnuts, but instead went for a bun similar to Suthe's.

"For now," was his short reply.

Suthe narrowed her eyes.

"And for later?"

Ulsper lifted his gaze from the bun, and Suthe didn't miss the confident gleam in his eyes. It was the same expression he'd had when he'd sent Nem Koel away so he could go against her wishes and talk with Saer Lon.

"I might need to check in on a few...friends at some point," he answered.

Suthe frowed. "You mean the Imperial Guard we saw yesterday?" An image of the redheaded woman on horseback, flanked by her minions, flickered into her mind's eye. They had not looked like a group to mess with.

Ulsper nodded, taking another bite. "The longer we stay in one place, the more likely they are to find us. I need to find out how much they know."

Suthe frowned. "But I'm just supposed to stay here."

Ulsper raised an eyebrow. "I thought you weren't fond of jumping across rooftops?"

Oh. Right. Just the thought of their escape from Alaera's apartment made Suthe's hands clammy. She hated the idea of just staying put while Ulsper was out, but it seemed there was no other option for the time being.

"Fine." Suthe snatched the bag of chestnuts and cracked one open. "I'll just sit here and meditate, then, and hope I don't suddenly end up where I'm not supposed to be."

"I think your problem is you worry too much about what could go wrong," Ulsper said. "When you put those fears aside, as you did earlier, you have more control. It'll help you to keep practicing."

Suthe shoved the chestnuts across the table, wishing he would drop the subject.

"Don't you want these?" she asked. "Nem Koel went out of her way to get them."

"I don't really care for chestnuts," Ulsper said, finishing the rest of the bread in his hands and standing up from the table. "You can keep them."

He took a knife from his belt and walked to the other end of the building to resume his sparring practice from earlier that morning. Suthe watched him go in a daze, and only realized a minute later that her mouth was gaping open like a fish.

"Unbelievable," she muttered, shaking her head.

She slammed the next chestnut on the table with a bit too much force, and the shell shattered across the wood.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm back, finally.  Apologies for the long wait!  You all are the best for sticking with me and my random updates.

Our characters are going to get themselves in a bit of trouble in the next few chapters...any guesses what it could be?

Thank you for reading, and don't forget to vote!