We didn’t go far from the sifting section before Adwyn stopped us and pointed at the ground beneath us. “Stay here.”


    still. I prodded her. “I don’t sound like that, do I?” I whispered.


    special.”


    reasonable,” he said. And that was that.


    dance???—??where did you learn that?”


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    We were slinking through the crowds, me on the opposite side of Hinte???—??as far as I could get without it being obvious.


    Kinri. I’m going to get it, obviously. Kinri. See?”


    obvious.”


    buying things. Most entertainment happens in the evening???—??or at night. So I’m wandering around to ground time, looking at things and maybe buying them if I want them enough. Maybe I could show you how, some time.”


    Sure.”


    strained. But why?


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    I flicked my tongue, scenting ink and fernpaper. Not just any ink though???—??it was spicy and familiar. I’d been smelling it every day for cycles. Was this where he bought it?


    I would be the one sneaking???—


    Snake. I’d fantasized about a having a snake since I was a little hatchling. They were sleek, cuddly, dangerous, and way better than skinks or turtles or monitors. My face wore every parcel of my reaction, and I didn’t bother adjusting my mask.


    know. But it’s not the bite that grounds you.”


    fascinating youth. I had a small fortune at times, but it had always been rather… mercurial.” Chwithach looked away. “But the truth is, Ceiwad here was a gift???—??from the miser, in fact. Though my association with him is a part of that youth???—??anyway, even though it was a gift, it was horribly expensive, and I insisted on paying him back, even though he only ever took half of it.”


    change things. Can you believe that?


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    When we left Chwithach, It had been Adwyn, and not Hinte, who’d pulled me away. Hinte had walked up to us, yet when she saw who I chatted with, she gave him a curt nod — and the librarian returned it, with a pensive line in place of a smile. She left us after that.


    did have a necklace, humming with a hidden cryst.


    Mawla about then, too. She was nosing after you; but I sent her away. She’s not the type you want to keep around.”


    gall trying to sell me of my cousin’s necklaces. Its even got her signature on it! ‘G’ for Glyster!”


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    The spot Adwyn had chosen for the cart was an alley between a flat-topped brewery and a sagging house, both leaning against the market’s eastern cliff wall. The crowds thinned here, and the sparseness seemed to make the red and gold of the Gwymri guard that much more numerous. Maybe they were; we were at the very edge of the net stretching over the market, and someones had to guard it.


    * * *