Lenoren sat down on the corner of a heavy desk and squinted into the gloomy twilight of a room that was almost underground. It was just the kind of office Zurres would choose for herself in a palace full of airy, sunlit rooms, Lenoren thought maliciously.

A small window and a hunched door at the back led out into a forgotten little courtyard filled with dank air, moss, and vines. The rough stone walls breathed an atmosphere of dungeons and conspiracies. Lenoren could almost sense the hidden passages behind them. And as Zurres's dark tale wore on, an invisible snake began to wind around Lenoren's chest, threatening to choke her.

"But what should I do!" Lenoren burst out, shaking off the snake. "It's not that easy! True safety does not come from arresting one single wrongdoer. It comes from a healthy society, where everybody can have a say and a good life. From a convivial culture, and a free, egalitarian structure. If there is no justice in the system, there will always be some people terrorizing others."

Zurres sneered. "Of course. So we need to bring the Transition to the Mountains, don't we?"

"Yes, we do!" Lenoren scoffed. "But it will all take time. Even sending recoursors to arrest Naydeer will take time. And we cannot wait any longer! If you say people might get murdered any time. Tomorrow. Today. We would have to do something quickly. But what? How? What could possibly work within a matter of days?"

Zurres arched an eyebrow. "Well, one option seems to present itself, don't you think? Given what we know about the workings of Naydeer's mind."

* * *

The night was freezing cold, holding the Snuggery in black, icy clutches. Everyone had cuddled up inside, sharing duvets and warmlings, slowly sinking down into an ocean of darkness. A whispered argument over pillows mingled with soft toddler snores and the rustling sounds of dreamers turning over in their sleep. Cahuan shifted in her position by the door, the sentinel's post. Her hand reached out in the dark, to feel the reassuring presence of the siren traption that would call in the neighbors if need be.

Cahuan leaned her head against the doorframe. She was so tired. Staying awake day and night simply was too much. This was impossible to keep up. Maybe they should ask more friends to take over shifts. Or think of something. Cahuan closed her eyes with a sigh.

In the courtyard, the wrollic had burrowed deep into a nest of his tree, his bushy tail wrapped firmly around the small furry body. But then his head perked up, ears twitching. His shiny round eyes peered out, alert, intent, over the sheltering ring of his tail. Then he jumped up and danced over to the Snuggery window, making the shutters rattle.

Cahuan jerked awake. Hearing boots on the steps to the Snuggery, she quickly reached for the siren. Her hand groped helplessly in the dark. And before she could do anything, the door was flung open. A warning scream remained stuck in her throat.

"Torly!" she croaked instead.

Now the whole Snuggery was waking up, blinking into the light of a lantern.

"We have written to you. But we figured we might arrive before the letter." Yoor had stumbled across the threshold, his limbs stiff and numb from the ride. Behind him, half a dozen teenagers became visible. A girl of about fourteen squeezed to the front.

"We are a surprise!" Nin declared, bright-eyed. "We are here to protect you!"

* * *

Lenoren paced across the bedroom, arms wrapped tightly around her chest. "Do you believe we were right to let them go? They are just kids, after all!"

Qin Roh sat up on the mat, pulling her knees up to her chest. "It is the best we could do. And Nin has been on fire all this time. I'm not even sure we could have restrained her if we'd tried." Her gaze followed Lenoren's trail. "The kids will be all right. Zurres said that the danger to the observers would not be that big. And she even has sources in the Mountains. So if she can't judge, who can?"

Lenoren turned and paced back. "Yes. Of course. Sure." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, life is full of dangers. And children do grow up, no matter how much you'd like to protect them."

Qin Roh gave her a rueful smile. "Indeed. But knowing in theory we can't keep Nin at home forever is quite different from actually physically letting her leave." She shook her head. "Never mind. They'll be fine. And Nin is doing good things. She is protecting people. This is the kind of adventure we will be proud of too, once she has returned safe and sound."

Lenoren snorted at the last three words. But then she sighed deeply. "Right. At least she did not go all alone. Lots of people will be there, looking out for each other. Including experienced ones."

* * *

Zurres woke up to an icy room. Her breath hung above her face in a hazy little cloud. The warmling by her hip had cooled down to body temperature and was no more than a hard stone sitting on her mattress.

Zurres felt the chill inside her bones. It had crept into her marrow during the long ride across snowy mountains, and had stayed there all night. If it did not leave now, it would turn into serious illness, Zurres could tell. She groaned while she shivered. This was a level of danger she had not reckoned with. Her mind had been on threats and oppression, on deceit and violence. But not on sickness. Not on old age.

Grudgingly, Zurres admitted that she had underestimated the journey.

Zurres's identity, her memory of who she was, had always included a fit and able body. She was used to being young. She had been for decades, after all. And the fact that it was no longer so, and never would be again, was slow to sink in. For as long as she possibly could, Zurres had treated old age like a temporary inconvenience, a short spell of weakness that would heal away soon enough.

But it would not.

She could not handle such hardships anymore.

Her body was frail and would only be getting more so. She had better accept that fact. And act accordingly.

* * *

"Aaah! What a relief!"

Zurres stretched her legs toward the open fire. Even though the whole room was already pleasantly warm thanks to the heated floor. "You would not believe how cold it was even at the inn." Zurres shook herself. Then she winked at Naydeer. "Or perhaps you would. Only I did not. Just as I did not know what exactly it would mean to travel up here." Her face darkened. "I dare say the people who sent me here did not know either. Their decision was based on reports, papers. But now I am here, physically!" There was a slight undertone of outrage in her voice.

Naydeer instantly offered her hospitality, along with her opinion on the limited understanding of said people. And, after some hesitation, Zurres gratefully accepted the invitation, the sympathetic views, and another one of those delicious tidbits.

Zurres even got a tour of the villa when she asked for it. Her praise for the architecture, the carpets, and the delicate paper screens all told Naydeer she was speaking to a true connoisseur, and when Zurres said she felt reminded of her youth in the palace, Naydeer believed it immediately. Pleased and animated, the two women settled down for dinner with fine dark wine in sparkling glasses. A flutist in the corner was weaving gentle melodies into the background of their conversation.

But Zurres still had some worries on her mind. She wagged her head. "Even if I am staying here, I believe I should go around and at least visit some other owners in their homes. Both as a matter of courtesy and to fulfill my formal obligations. I am only an observer without any formal powers, but I do wish to honestly report that I have made my inquiries."

Naydeer instantly offered to take her around. A pleasure. And with that, there was only one small matter left that needled Zurres.

"In fact, I believe I should speak to some other people as well. Not just the owners, but some random folks. For instance, what about the guards we saw outside your mine earlier? Do you think they might volunteer to show me their homes and answer a few questions? For how long they have been living there, and so on?"

"I can certainly ask them. I am sure they would be happy to give you a firsthand account," Naydeer nodded amiably.

The roasted mushrooms on the table sent up a wave of enticing fragrance and both women turned to their plates with the deeply satisfied feeling that things couldn't be going any better.

* * *

"Why has Zurres moved in with Naydeer? With Naydeer, of all people! Doesn't she know?" Kaya was fuming.

"Maybe she has gone there to spy," Lhut said, unconvinced.

"Or maybe she is telling herself she has gone to spy, while in reality she is slowly but surely being co-opted with the help of luxuries and pleasant conversations," Kaya huffed. "But no matter. We did not expect much from Zurres anyway. What could she do, coming here with the toothless mandate of an 'observer'? She can only signal a bit of attention, adding to Nin and all her friends from Varoonya, so that we will be safe until solstice."

Enim scratched his head. "Well, that is already quite something, I'd say."

Kaya clasped her hands together tightly. "Yes. But there will be no folkcount. That was the other message. Zurres will not be doing one. Nor will anyone else. Except perhaps in a year, or four, or a hundred."

She scoffed. Then she raised her head, her eyes wild. "The Choosing will be at solstice. The Mountain grouping is in. We have spent all these moons wooing. People are ready. Now! But they will not stay on their toes for years. If we miss this Choosing, we've missed it! And after solstice, when all the observers from Varoonya leave, what will keep Naydeer in check?"

* * *

"But when will the recoursors come? The same year as the new folkcount?" Torly grunted, shaking her head in desperate defiance. "And I will be lying to all my friends all that time? Even to Yoor? It's unbearable!"

Zurres stood in the inn's back room, very stiffly. "We have been through this before. It is necessary. When the recoursors come, they will rely on surprise. Do not spoil their chances for them. And do not betray Joonster. No one must even know he testified. All you can say is you met him, gave him coin, and never heard from him again." Zurres raised an eyebrow. "Is that so hard?"

"Yes." Torly was reticent, sulky. "It is. It is deceitful and dishonest and despicable. And cutting a cleavage between myself and those nearest and dearest to me. It violates basic trust. In a group that utterly relies on honesty and confidences."

She raised her hand. "And I'll do it nevertheless. It sounds right, even though it feels horribly wrong."

* * *

"One of them is the daughter of a Council member, it would appear." Naydeer's voice was clipped. "As if to point out that anything untoward happening here will be receiving the greatest possible attention in Varoonya."

Pramus sighed, folding his mage's robe over his chest. "Unfortunate timing."

"Very unfortunate." Naydeer slammed a book down on her desk. "If we had known, we'd be ready by now. That home-made folkcount would be over already. But we have been caught by surprise. And we missed our chance."

Pramus raised an eyebrow. "Maybe not. These children imagine they are protecting the people. They will have no interest in the tools. Until it is too late."

Pramus ran a slow finger down his gnarled staff. He turned, his face falling into the shade of dark blue velvet, his broad-brimmed hat all but hiding him from Naydeer's gaze. But his voice came through deep and sonorant. "When just before solstice their near-full receptacle is suddenly lost, and all their hope and hard work with it, it should dishearten them sufficiently. Or in any case, they won't have time to come up with yet another antic. The Choosing will take place in Behrlem, as usual, and it's the owners who are expected there. And the rest will be history. Folkcount, grouping, and all."

* * *

Nin was winding a long cord around her ankle, holding it out to Pulan, who wanted to show her the best-ever professional sailor knot anyone had ever learned. Nin briefly wondered where Pulan had acquired a sailor's skill, living as she did in the middle of a fairly dry highland, but the question quickly slipped her mind as soon as Pulan started handling the string in deft, swift moves. Nin had to ask her to tie and untie the knot six times until Nin was sufficiently sure that she too had mastered the art. And, reassuringly, would be able to free herself any time she chose to. She whistled through her teeth, almost as well as Pulan.

"You really believe it necessary, you tie yourself to receptacle?" Cahuan eyed the arrangement a little skeptically.

"Yes! Really necessary!" the girls chorused without a trace of doubt. Then they whistled in abominable disharmony. "We'll always be with you," Nin explained to Cahuan once again. "With Kaya and Enim in particular, but with the rest of you too. We even sleep here in the Snuggery, and in Enim's place as well. No one will hurt you while we are near!" Highly satisfied, she tapped the string around her leg. "And we'll be guardians of the receptacle too. So freedom, love and justice will finally come to the Mountains!"