Neriri hardly waited for a response. "There's no way she was actually here. Even if it were in good condition, no one could make it to the outpost and then get lost between here and Starfall, and there was no sign of anything up there. If it's light, it may have blown in the wind. If it has some weight, it may have been thrown."

For a moment Ryota was silent. Finally, he said, "It's light."

"Either way, let's look around here." She turned back to the outpost. "Give us a lantern."

The War Warlock stationed at the outpost pushed the loose lid off of a crate and took out a little metal lantern. Neriri went to take it as the guard lit it with a spell.

"Stay close to me," Neriri said. "Whatever attacked her could still be around." She looked at Teveauce. Night had fallen, and the thought of whatever attacked Raa Palma made Teveauce nervous, but so did the thought of walking back alone. If he stayed at the outpost he might be there all night. He moved to follow Neriri, and she set off at a brisk pace.

Long moments passed as they walked around the darkened plains. It was a warm, humid summer night, not a scary-story sort of night at all, but Teveauce had heard enough stories of yagudo attacking travelers not to put any faith in the treaty the Windurstians were so proud of, especially out here near their nest.

It felt like an hour to Teveauce, although he thought it was actually less, before Neriri said, "Look!" Teveauce hadn't been paying attention, but once she spoke, he could immediately look over her head at the cone of lantern light. There was something scratched in the dry earth. Teveauce guessed they were letters, or runes, but not ones he was familiar with.

"Yes!" Ryota whispered, then, soberly, "Tower, east."

"Tower east? It's unlikely that there's someone else who knows these symbols lost out here without a linkpearl, but... I can't imagine why she would leave that message. We're straight north of the outpost. How could she find herself here without noticing the building or the hillock? And why tower east? Disappearing, and then leaving completely different directions in a patch of dirt in the grass? It's the sort of thing you'd expect from smugglers, or spies." She turned and studied Ryota's face. "But Rose Tower is guarded around the clock. It'd have to be code for something else."

He looked guilelessly crestfallen. "I've known her for so long. I trust her with my life."

She shook her head and smiled apologetically.

Ryota closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began, slowly, with a note of resignation, "I don't know how many towers there are here, or where. I didn't know they were guarded. She hasn't been in this part of the world since she was a child. She arrived here yesterday. I don't think she knows where the east tower is. I think she means she went east of a tower."

Neriri frowned. "Hmmm. East of the nearby tower would be the city gate, or perhaps the pass? No—we're near the northwest tower. We are roughly east of it." She put down the lantern and, without looking, drew from her bag a nice scroll case. She pulled a scroll out of it and stuck the empty case in the bag. As she held it in front of the light, Teveauce could see that it was a map. With a sudden motion, Ryota leaned down to look at it.

Neriri studied the map briefly and then put a hand to her ear, letting the parchment snap back. Ryota's gaze went to her.

"Possible suspicious activity in the West Sarutabaruta area. Watch at Odin's and Shiva's—Odin's and Shiva's—one person from each, see if there's anything funny due east of the towers. Due east. I'm going east of Amaryllis. All units, report any mysterious writing or other unusual activity."

Ryota watched with an expression of growing horror. Teveauce thought what a great story it would be, if this woman really was a spy and her friends had no idea for years! That would make this whole mess more than worthwhile.

"This investigation will likely be long, and possibly dangerous. I can take you two to the outpost if you want."

Ryota immediately shook his head.

"Nah," Teveauce said, with a grin and a wave of his hand. "I'll be fine. I've survived my share of scrapes." That wasn't even a lie.

He saw her roll her eyes a little, but she only said, "Very well, then. Let's go."

Neriri followed the cliffs north and east, sweeping the lantern's light methodically over the ground, periodically checking her map. Teveauce imagined what a smugglers' den might be like. Code names? Secret passwords? Shady characters yelling at each other over card games played on top of crates? He vaguely remembered hearing a story in which a hall floor was covered with sand because the secret organization was so paranoid about invisible infiltrators following its members through doors. He remembered telling it to someone else and being told that the sand would get everywhere and that no one got into anywhere worth sneaking into just by following people through doors. He acknowledged that anyone trying that would probably get caught, but what if, one day, someone didn't? Why take the chance, right? Maybe now he would learn the truth!

Before he knew it, they had reached the pass, uneventfully. The pass itself was guarded. Neriri gave a Windurstian salute and asked the tarutaru there if a short mithra with dark hair had come through.

The War Warlock shook his head. "Nope."

"All right. More likely it was last shift, or the one before."

Ryota sighed. "I didn't know this place was guarded either. I—I doubt she went this way. I mean—if she is a spy, or a smuggler..." His voice was quiet. "If she came this way, I'd bet anything she saw the guard and turned around. I think she's avoiding the path, so... if she left that message north of the path, then went east north of the path, then came here and turned around..." He shook his head. "Let me see the map."

She turned to face him, put the lantern down, and held the map open over the ground in front of it. Her eyes flickered from the map to his face.

He knelt to look. "She didn't go back to the hill. That's where she'd expect me to go, but there was nothing there. She must have gone south along the cliffs. There's no other way."

Neriri sighed. "This feels like a wild rarab chase, but continuing east would be no better. I can't ask someone else to come out here at this hour over something like this. Leaving a post vacant would only exacerbate the problem. Let's go south, quickly." She let the map curl and stood up. "Most likely she's long back in Windurst. Tomorrow I can ask the early gate watch if they saw anyone fitting her description."

Teveauce's excitement waned as they followed the cliffs south. There would be no smugglers' den, not that night, and he doubted he was invited on any subsequent trips. Even if somehow he were, he suspected they would be just as boring.

A smaller pass ran south between the cliffs proper and a great rock. Neriri gave its rocky ground only a cursory inspection, almost missing a dead yagudo around a slight corner.

"Raa?!" Ryota called, with sudden worry.

Neriri stopped and swung the lantern around wildly, making the walls cycle between light and darkness, like the flashing light in the maze of folding screens at the Harvest Festival in Windurst three years before. Teveauce had loved it at the time, but now the suddenness unnerved him.

As the light passed over the yagudo, he saw it jerking, rousing. A jolt ran through him, and he jumped back. Ryota, instead, ran toward it.

Neriri abruptly dropped the map and lantern, which clattered on the rock and made the cone of light shake, and held her hands out, as if to cast some spell.

"You," the yagudo breathed.