"This isn't right," Suthe protested for what must have been the fifth time. Just like the first four times she had spoken, her protest was ignored, as Nem Koel and Saer Lon dashed around, making last-minute preparations for their departure that morning.

Saer Lon's lack of response, at least, was understandable, given the fact that she didn't speak Montese. But Nem Koel? Well, that was just rude.

Suthe crossed her arms. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

"Ow!" Nem Koel dropped the shirt she was carrying, and pressed her hands over her ears. "There's no need to be so loud!" The glare she sent Suthe's way could have melted iron.

Suthe gave a surprised start. "I didn't mean to be," she said, glancing over at Saer Lon who was carrying on unaffected. "I didn't realize how loud I was. Sorry."

Now it was Nem Koel who appeared apologetic, snatching the fallen shirt up with a sigh and marching over to drop down next to Suthe on one of the benches in the center of the building.

"Look," she said. "I don't like it any more than you do. But if we want to stop this war over the Twin Blades, we have to keep pushing forward. Ulsper knew the risks he was taking when he went out yesterday." Nem Koel fiddled with the shirt in her hands – Suthe didn't realize she was trying to fold it until the girl finally wrapped it into some semblance of a lumpy rectangle.

Suthe raised her eyebrows. That was going to wrinkle.

"If it's any consolation," Nem Koel continued, "from what I've heard about the guy from Seolosu, he's able to take care of himself. He's apparently been on his own for about three years now, ever since the massacre – "

Nem Koel abruptly cut off, the hand not holding the shirt flying to cover her mouth. Suthe didn't miss the way her eyes immediately darted to Saer Lon across the room.

"Well, now you have to tell me," Suthe joked, half-serious. "What massacre?"

"Saer Lon doesn't like talking about it," Nem Koel said, quickly standing up and heading for one of the three bags set by the front door.

Suthe stood and followed her. "Well, she wouldn't have to talk about it, if you told me," she reasoned. "Besides, she doesn't speak Montese, so she wouldn't even know if you said anything. Right?"

But Nem Koel remained serious. "It involves General Seolosu too. I really shouldn't say."

The light shifted at that moment, and Suthe turned to see that Saer Lon had joined them. It was too late to press for any more information now.

"Come on," Nem Koel said. "We should leave now to catch the train."

The early morning was still dark and cool as Saer Lon opened the door and the three of them scurried across the inner courtyard. Suthe's bag thumped against her back with every step, like the physical manifestation of the heavy guilt she felt at leaving Ulsper behind without knowing where he was. But what else could she do? She was a refugee in a foreign land, with no knowledge of even the language or of any other resources at her disposal. It was as Nem Koel had said – she would have to keep pushing forward.

Suthe stopped beside Nem Koel as the two of them waited for Saer Lon to unlock the courtyard door that led to the street outside. Slowly, the door creaked open, and Suthe held her breath. Half of her expected to see Ulsper on the other side, somehow miraculously unscathed and returned just in the nick of time. She had seen enough of his training during their time in Fai to know that he wouldn't be captured so easily.

But Ulsper wasn't there. After a long moment of checking the street, Saer Lon pulled back and nodded to the other two, with a finger on her lips. Trying to ignore the disappointment she felt, Suthe nodded emphatically. Nem Koel had warned her of the dangers of their early departure, and she wasn't about to mess things up if she could help it.

Nem Koel snuck out first, followed by Suthe, then Saer Lon at the end, who turned to lock the door behind them before giving a single nod to Nem Koel that it was okay to proceed. Suthe could only envy Nem Koel's lightness of foot as they made their way up the street – the trainee's style had a willowy flexibility and grace that was different from the steady sureness and caution Suthe had seen in Ulsper's tactics. Suthe wasn't sure it was entirely a good sign – while Nem Koel might be nimble and able to easily adapt, it seemed like the kind of approach needed by someone who often threw themselves into a situation before realizing how bad it actually was.

Still, Suthe realized, she didn't have any room for judgment. Nem Koel had been entirely supportive and helpful this entire time, and Suthe was putting them all at risk by just being here. And there was no doubt she was the least skilled of the three of them – while Nem Koel and Saer Lon had had obvious training for stealth and fighting, all Suthe could do was try to tiptoe across the cobblestones like some exaggerated theif.

She suppressed a sigh. Maybe instead of meditation, she should have been honing other skills the entire time she'd been cooped up in that martial arts school-turned illegal alcohol trading post.

Nem Koel held up a hand just then, and Suthe nearly ran into her. It only took a moment for her to realize the reason for the sudden stop. In the dimness of the early dawn, a bluish glow was reflecting off a wall down the street to their right, heading their way. And as Suthe listened, a faint clinking and whirring carried through the stillness – the exact danger Nem Koel had warned they might encounter in their early-morning expedition. A clockwork soldier.

'Hurry,' Suthe heard Nem Koel whisper. Startled, she looked back at the girl, surprised she would have risked saying something when the machine was so close. But Nem Koel was already facing forward, determined to continue on their way before they were caught.

Trying to ignore the uneasy twisting in her stomach, Suthe followed, not daring to glance back until they had crossed two more intersections and turned a corner, out of sight.

They threaded through the shadows of the street lanterns, keeping their hoods tucked low on the rare occasion they passed a lit window. Although the clockword soldiers were still out, it was still too early for most of the human occupants of Fai to be out of their beds, and Suthe was thankful for that, at least. It made it easier for her to pass through without drawing attention with her foreign looks.

The sky was lightening now, and Suthe could feel her nervous anticipation turning more and more into hope with every step. The clockwork soldiers would return to their boxes at daybreak, and at the sound of a high-pitched whistle, she realized they must almost be at the train station. She could feel her mood lifting already.  Whenever she had gone to the train station in Crestdune to pick up cooking supplies, she had always wondered about riding on a train one day.    And now –

"Ack!"

Suthe couldn't help her surprised gasp as behind her, Saer Lon suddenly grabbed her cloak and pulled her down behind a handcart someone had parked along the street. Ahead, Nem Koel also seemed to realize something was amiss, as the girl suddenly flattened herself against a wall, in the shadows of a pillar near a doorway.

Not a moment later, a clockwork soldier appeared at the corner up ahead. At the sight of it, Suthe's mouth immediately went dry, and Saer Lon's grip tightened on her arm.

The machine was frightening in many aspects, and Suthe briefly wondered how she had ever been curious to see it in person. Maybe it had seemed like a good idea while in the quiet, confident presence of Sylterra's most dangerous spy, but now, cowering behind a handcart, Suthe hoped that she would never have to see another one again.

The most unnerving about the clockwork soldiers was perhaps the fact that they could have almost been mistaken for humans wearing strange armor. In the case of this particular soldier, at least, its movements were fluid and balanced, and the humanlike arms ending in humanlike fingers swayed with the creature's gait in a perfectly humanlike manner. But the whole time, a soft whirr came from beneath the brassy metal skin, and a cold blue light seeped out through the grooves carved in the metal and from the eyeholes of the elaborately-forged mask. It even had a helmet in the same style that Suthe had seen some of the Andilirish soldiers wearing, back when she and Ulsper had visited the general at the fort.

The soldier slowed its pace as it walked further into into the center of the intersection, finally coming to a stop and making a slow turn.

Suthe felt her heart jump to her throat and lowered her head, drawing on her meditation practice to stay calm and fight against every instinct to jump up and run – or worse, transport herself somewhere else.

Don't come this way. Don't come this way, she chanted over and over in her head, a silent plea that she knew was useless. If the creature decided to walk down the street towards them, there would be no stopping it.

There was the clink of a footstep as the soldier began to move. Suthe held her breath.

Please, don't come this way.

A sequence of clicks sounded from the machine, and then it turned, marching off in the direction it had originally been headed.

Suthe waited for Saer Lon to stand up first before making any move to do so herself. Not for the first time that morning, she wondered how much longer it would be until sunrise, and consequently the return of the clockwork soldiers to their metal boxes spaced out along the streets.

The answer to that question was apparently around five more minutes – soon, the three of them began seeing people out on the street, and by the time they had reached the train station, the blue stone on each clockwork box was once again glowing as a sign that the metal creatures had returned for the day.

The sky was bright enough now that Suthe could make out the faded green and blue colors of the train station, a once-vibrant building now worn down by poverty and time. Still, she felt a thrill of excitement at the sight. There were definitely more people in this part of the city,

"Saer Lon will buy our tickets," Nem Koel said, falling into step beside Suthe and dropping her hood as their need for stealth was no longer necessary. "You and I should find a compartment on the train – it leaves soon, at the third chime."

"We can get on the train without our tickets?" Suthe asked, following Nem Koel as they opened the door and hurried through the near-empty station. Saer Lon split off and headed for what Suthe assumed was the direction of the ticket booth.

"The conductor will check our tickets once we're on the train," Nem Koel explained.

A blast of steam rose up from one of the engines outside, and Suthe couldn't help but jump involuntarily.

"And it doesn't matter which seats we take?" she asked.

"No, we just need to make sure we're in the right carriage," Nem Koel replied, apparently forgetting Suthe couldn't read Shun Dwo as she pointed to one of the signs overhead. "We want to go to this platform, and then any of the carriages after the fifth one are within the price range of our ticket."

Suthe frowned. "But – "

Nem Koel had already stepped outside, and Suthe's question was forgotten as she hurried after her. The train at this platform was long – at least fifteen carriages, and the engine at the front loomed large with a chimney at the very front, connected with various pipes and tubing like black sandsnakes slithering out of the main body of the train. Suthe hadn't realized she'd stopped to stare up at it until Nem Koel had turned back and gave her a nudge.

"Come on," she said. "It's an early train, but there will still be people coming to take those seats."

The inside of the train was much quieter than the outside, Suthe was surprised to find. The wood-paneled corridor was covered by a long blue rug and glass lanterns were spaced at every-other window on the right. On the left, a line of seven doors stretched to the door at the other end of the carriage.

"Follow my lead," Nem Koel whispered, before turning to make her way down the hallway, gently knocking on doors and continuing on until there was no response from the other side of the fifth door.

"This is it," she whispered back to Suthe before opening the door. "Come on."

Suthe stepped inside, glad to be relieved of the weight of her pack. Nem Koel kept watch at the open door until Saer Lon came aboard, and once the three of them were inside the compartment, Nem Koel shut the door and drew the curtains.

Only a few minutes later, three chimes sounded from the station, and the train lurched into motion. Suthe scooted closer to the window and watched silently as the scenery began to blur and the buildings of the city whizzed by. Twenty minutes later, all there was to see outside were scraggly pine trees and the tall peaks of mountains in the distance.

The adrenaline of their adventure began to wear off, and Suthe finally sagged back against the seat. Once again, her thoughts returned to the spy that they had left behind.

Ulsper, she called out silently. Where are you?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi everyone, thank you for all your support and patience with my slow updates - with general life stuff taking up most of my time anymore, I had originally hoped to finish the last few chapters of Forever Green before coming back to turn my full attention to this one (also, re-reading certain chapters of this story gave me a strong urge to rewrite which I only just resisted...ugh).  But so many of you have been showing your support for this story lately - and I can't thank you enough - that I started getting some ideas brewing again and just had to write.  I can't make any promises, but I will do my best to finish this story.  Lately, it seems like I've been able to dedicate about a day a month to writing, so we'll see if that gets me anywhere lol.  Anyway, thank you for reading!