"I told you to get back during the day."

I waved my hand dismissively. "You didn't, really. You said tomorrow. It is still tomorrow." Baisan had found me almost as soon as I had stepped into the lower city. Lothian Dusk had just fallen, but that wasn't the true end of the day, not for those used to Zianna.

Baisan muttered something insulting about me under his breath, but I didn't catch it. "So," he added, louder. "Was the letter important?"

I hesitated, unsure of what exactly to tell him. "We're looking into it," I finally said.

"We?"

"Yes, me and the friend I went to."

"The one who can read."

"Yes."

"When did you become friends with somebody who can read?"

I sighed. "I'll explain when we get home. I'm sorry for worrying you, Baisan, I really am. But you know by now that sometimes I need to do things on my own."

"And there's no way I could have stopped you," Baisan said. "I know."

"Besides," I draped my arm over his shoulders, "I wasn't in any danger, not really. I was going to see a friend."

"Of course." Baisan shrugged off my arm.

I laughed. "So, are the others home?"

"Leker and Castin just went out. Orrun and the girls were working all day and got back before I came out to find you."

"Do you think we could find Leker and Castin before going home?" I asked hopefully. "I have something to show everyone."

Baisan was obviously annoyed, but after a moment of thought, he nodded. "Come on, they were going to wander around near the gate to the main pass." He turned and led me off in another direction. When we reached the gate, it was clear that the two boys had decided on begging. I tended to stick to pickpocketing, but the rest of them would occasionally switch if they believed it would work better.

Baisan and I, from our vantage point on a nearby roof, could see Leker working the crowds of people who were leaving the lower city. Many of them were probably poorer merchants who had decided to sell their goods in the lower city instead of trying to find room in the real market. Others were visitors, mostly the working sailors who had come in for some food, drinks, and probably a stop at one of the brothels. Leker seemed to be doing well. He was still young enough that he could take advantage of people's pity to get things from them. As we watched, we saw a few people give him coins.

Castin, on the other hand, couldn't manage the cute, poor little street child any better than Baisan or I could. He was leaning against a wall, just out of sight of the guards who were standing at the gate. He was watching Leker carefully, ready to run in and help if the need arose. He had his little knife out to warn any other thieves to leave him alone. He didn't need to worry; Castin had quite the reputation among the thieves as a dirty fighter. Most people knew better than to bother him. He had even managed to teach me a few things over the years, though he quickly got frustrated with my lack of talent.

Baisan leaned over the edge of the roof and whistled loudly. It was a particular whistle, a quick high-pitched note followed by a longer one that started high and ended low. Castin glanced up when he heard it, and after a moment, he had located us. Baisan motioned for him to join us and Castin responded with a nod. He went off into the crowd to get Leker. Before long, they joined us on the roof.

"What is it?" Castin asked.

"Finn wanted to talk to all of us together," Baisan replied.

Castin glanced at me. "About?"

"I'll tell you when we're all together," I told him. "Let's go." I didn't wait to see if the others would follow me, instead I just took off back towards our home.

When we got back, the girls and Orrun were sitting around the fire. Stria was tending to it, poking it gently with a longer stick, while the other two were dividing up whatever they had gotten earlier in the day. They looked up when we entered.

"Thought you two were staying out until real dusk," Orrun said.

"The greatest thief wants to tell us something," Castin replied. "You three did well." He reached down to pick up a few of the coins Orrun had been piling up. "Leker has some too."

"Well, Finn?" Baisan sat down beside the fire. "Talk."

Instead of talking, I pulled Tannix's little pouch of money from my pocket and tossed it to the floor in front of Baisan. The noise it made when it hit the ground, a dull thud and the tinkling of coins hitting each other, grabbed everyone's attention. Baisan picked up the pouch, opened it, and poured some of the coins out onto his hand. They glinted in the flickering light from the fire, drawing everyone's eyes. Mostly they were copper, but I saw two brass ones, their shine less red in the light. Baisan handed the pouch to Castin and glanced up at me. He didn't say anything, so I started speaking.

"That was given to me by the friend I went to visit last night."

"In payment for the letter?" Baisan asked.

"No," I shook my head. "We're unsure about the letter. This was just a gift."

"How did you manage to become friends with someone who could give away this much money?" Leker asked. Orrun handed him the pouch to look at, and he pulled out a few of the coins to inspect.

"Must be royalty," Castin muttered under his breath.

"He isn't royalty," I protested, before really thinking it through. They all tore their gazes from the pouch to look up at me again. I sighed and moved over to settle myself beside the fire with them. "Of course you remember that I vanished for some time before joining you, Baisan?"

He nodded.

"That's when I met him," I said. I briefly described my time at the Order. I reminded Baisan of how I had helped him get away from the merchant in the marketplace, and how soon after that, he had run by me with the guards in tow. I explained that after distracting the guards and climbing over the wall, I had found myself dragged into the strange group. I showed them the gold ring that had allowed me to blend in. I told them about Tannix, and how we had quickly become good friends. The story ended the day I was forced to run away, and had shown up with the cloak for Ninavi.

"So you really can pass for a Telt?" Castin asked.

Baisan nudged him. "That isn't the point, Cast. This explains that day we found you wandering around with those two Telts."

"The younger one was Tannix."

Baisan laughed. "You made friends with him? He would have been cornered and robbed instantly if you and that huge man hadn't been with him. So he's not royalty? Then who is he?"

"He's from West Draulin."

They all looked at me, eyes wide. We might not have been particularly worldly, but everyone knew about West Draulin.

"So you want us to believe that you, a thief, became friends with a lord from West Draulin?" Baisan asked.

"I think he would be called a lord of West Draulin, actually."

My words didn't help with their disbelief. Of West Draulin meant more than simply being from West Draulin. Of West Draulin meant part of the ruling family.

"That's royalty," Orrun said.

"And he just decided to give you money," Baisan said.

"He doesn't need it," I said. "I know it might be hard to understand, but people can't help who they make friends with. He didn't know I was a thief at first."

"I believe you," Ninavi said. She was wearing her red cloak, and fiddling with one of the ties. "Where else could you have gotten this?"

"I do too," Stria added. Leker and Orrun agreed. Only Baisan and Castin still looked a little skeptical.

"Do you think he'll give you more money?" Baisan asked. The pouch had made it around the whole circle, and it was sitting in his hand again.

"I can't ask him for money," I said. "Baisan, look at how much he already gave me. How much is in there, sixty, seventy siyas? That was nothing to him, but it can easily last us weeks. We can buy good food tonight for dinner, and tomorrow night, and many nights to come." I hesitated and glanced around the fire, briefly making eye contact with all of them. "We learn to hate Telts. They're rich, they do no work, and they don't care about or even notice our problems. Tannix, well, he's not royalty, but I suppose he's close enough. We still became friends. He's different. In a couple of days, I'm going to go back to talk to him about the letter again. Baisan, why don't you come? Maybe if you meet him for yourself you won't mind this so much."

Baisan stared thoughtfully at the coin pouch. "We'll be safe?"

"You know me, Baisan. Have you ever seen me take a risk I didn't think I could get out of?"

"No," he admitted.

"It's easy to get in and out when you know how," I assured him. "And he's expecting us."

"Then I'll meet him," Baisan agreed. He slipped the pouch into his pocket and stood up. "Leker, Orrun, let's go see what food we can buy."

I woke up the next morning to Orrun shaking my shoulder. "Finn, get up. Baisan wants us to go out. We're supposed to find more blankets."

More blankets sounded amazing. Drowsily, I imagined Tannix's wonderful sheets before being sharply brought back to reality when Orrun shook me again. I groaned and sat up. The room was empty, aside for Orrun, the remains of our fire, and our individual little makeshift beds. Each bed had a treasure or two beside it. When it came to food and money, we always split it evenly, but other things we tended to claim for ourselves as prizes, such as Castin's little knife or my dagger.

"Why don't we just buy some?" I asked grumpily, even though I knew the answer. Baisan didn't want to waste the money on things we could easily steal. Orrun didn't bother replying to me, he just watched as I reluctantly got to my feet. I slipped my feet into my boots and picked up my cloak. "Where are we going?"

"I thought we could check the stalls," Orrun said. "There might be someone selling cloth. That would be the easiest. If not we could go to the residential sections and hope for an open window."

"Or an unlocked door." I nodded in agreement. My dagger was still hanging on my belt, which I wrapped around my waist and buckled while walking towards the door. Orrun followed me.

We quickly got to the busiest section of the lower city, the slightly wider road with all the little booths. As we walked down it, we glanced over every cart. Just because we had only been told to find new blankets, didn't mean we needed to ignore easy pickings. At one point, we wandered past Ninavi, Baisan, and Leker, but didn't acknowledge them beyond a quick nod. Ninavi was working all of her charms on a small group of foreigners, and we knew better than to get in the way of her act. Baisan and Leker were acting both as guards and trying to pickpocket people who walked past.

To our disappointment, none of the stalls were selling cloth. "Why did he give us the hard job?" I said to myself as we left the main road to go search the houses.

"Because he's upset with you," Orrun said. "Not about the money, of course, he's delighted about that. But he's worried about you getting cocky and challenging him for control."

"Yes, he's always worried about that." I couldn't help but smile. Baisan and I tended to switch between being friends and being rivals, though I had never tried to overthrow him as leader. Sometimes my more elaborate ideas concerned him. "So maybe I deserve it. I understand him wanting to rein me in a bit. What did you do wrong?"

"I volunteered." Orrun grinned. "It was go out with you, or be the one keeping an eye on Ninavi."

"And I was the better choice?"

"To watching Ninavi beg and cry so that people will give her a little bit of food? Yes. When my mother... I never begged for her to give Leker more food. I won't beg now. I like to think we're a little above that. I can hope, at least."

"Of course you can," I agreed. "I like to think we're above that too."

Our discussion was interrupted by a scream from nearby. Normally we would both ignore it, and keep our distance. This time was different, because we recognized the voice.

Stria.

We broke into a run. Sometimes it was hard to figure out exactly where a sound had come from amongst all the winding streets and little buildings, but we were lucky. As soon as we reached the next intersecting street, we saw her.

Arow had Castin pinned against the wall. Castin's knife was lying on the ground near their feet, and it was obvious he'd been taken by surprise. Stria was tugging at one of Arow's arms, to no avail.

"Arow!" I yelled as Orrun and I reached them. "Let him go." I pulled out my dagger and tried to look as menacing as possible. Orrun grabbed Stria and tugged her out of the way. She fought against him, frantically trying to get back to Castin, but he held onto her tightly.

Now that I was closer, I could tell why she was so distressed. It wasn't only because Arow had Castin trapped, as I had initially thought. There was a jagged rip in Castin's tunic just above his hip, the edges of which were wet with blood. I couldn't see the actual wound, not from my position, so I cautiously moved a bit closer.

"Stay back," Arow growled at me. He shook Castin slightly, drawing my attention to how limp he'd gone. "Or I'll do worse. You still owe me, Finn. Your little band of thieves all owe me. I think that maybe ridding your group of this one might make you a little less troublesome."

Stria jerked against Orrun again, and he barely managed to keep his hold on her. I held my right hand up to try to ward her off.

"Let him go, Arow," I said again, trying to sound calm.

"You can't fight," Arow said with a cruel grin. "You wouldn't attack me."

I would for Castin. At least I would try. I shifted the way I was holding the dagger slightly, trying to remember what Tannix and Castin had attempted to teach me. Castin's eyes were closed. He was still breathing, his chest rising and falling shallowly. I had to get him away from Arow. I took a deep breath, gripped the dagger handle a little more tightly, and rushed forward.

I took Arow by surprise. He dropped Castin and had whipped out his own knife by the time I reached him. I barely managed to duck away from the first swipe he made towards my head. The second slash got me across the forearm. For such a big man, Arow was quick when he had to be. Speed had always been my advantage against him, and without it I knew I would lose. My best plan was to distract him long enough for Orrun and Stria to get Castin away, and then I could run.

Arow lunged at me again. Instinct kicked in and I dove to the side, rolling to my feet behind him before he realized what I'd done. I took the chance to jump onto his back and wrapped my arms around his head. It wasn't the most effective attack. Orrun and Stria were crouched over Castin, but they weren't leaving. They weren't taking advantage of the time I was giving them. Arow started trying to pry me off.

"Orrun! Get him out of..." I was cut off as my grip slipped and Arow threw me to the ground in front of him. I scrambled to my feet just in time to avoid a kick to the head, and hopped backwards out of his reach.

Suddenly, there was someone else at my side. Arow instantly stopped fighting. He never liked to take on more than one of us at once, preferring to pick on us when we were alone. The appearance of the stranger must have worried him. He fixed me with a glare for a moment, and then he turned and walked away calmly, assuming that I wouldn't go after him. He was right. I ignored the person at my side and rushed back to the others. They'd moved Castin so that he was sitting up with his back to the wall. Stria was hysterical and Orrun looked panicked.

"I... I don't know what to do," he stammered, staring up at me. His hands were red, and I knew he'd been trying to cover Castin's wound.

I felt strangely calm. "Go find Baisan," I told him. He was off in a heartbeat, and I took his place kneeling beside Castin.

The girl, I had finally noticed that she was a girl, crouched beside me. "You have to cover his cut." Her voice was light and gentle. "We'll use his tunic." She picked up Castin's little knife and reached over to grab the corner of his shirt. She paused, and after a moment I realized she was waiting for my permission.

I shook myself back into the moment and nodded. "Yes, use his tunic." With my own dagger, I helped her cut it away. She took the scraps from me and started to wrap them expertly around his waist so that they would stay in place over the cut.

Stria had stopped crying, but she was still tightly holding on to Castin's hand. "He'll be fine, Finn. Right?"

"He's strong," I murmured, which in no way answered her question, but seemed to make her happy. I watched as the girl finished tying a knot in Castin's makeshift bandage.

"Your arm?" She took my left arm gently and I didn't protest. She carefully rolled my sleeve up to get a better look at the slice. It wasn't as bad as I thought. It was quite shallow and had almost stopped bleeding. "Do you want me to bind it?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No, I'll be fine." I pushed my sleeve back down and when I looked up I accidentally met her gaze. Her eyes were brown, just like any other Native's, but with a ring of orange around the centre. Intrigued, I had to ask. "Who are you?"

"Kassia." She broke the eye contact to look down at Castin.

"Are you from the streets?"

She hesitated, and then nodded. "Yes, I guess I am now. I used to live with my mother, but she just died and I..." She hesitated again. "I was kicked out. Your friend needs help."

Just as she finished talking, Orrun reappeared with Baisan and the others. Baisan took in the scene quickly. "Finn, help me pick him up. We'll take him home. Orrun, Leker." He paused to pull the blue money pouch from his pocket and hand it to Leker. "See what you can find for bandages. Clean ones. Girls, run home, get a fire going and prepare his bed."

We all obeyed. The boys ran off in one direction, the girls in another. Baisan and I carefully lifted Castin. Baisan hadn't acknowledged Kassia, or maybe hadn't noticed her in the panic, so I motioned for her to follow us.