Maggie's joints were almost back to normal. They still felt a little sore and ached if she worked too much. But she only had the barest amount of stiffness left. She increased her walking speed around the courtyard, taking long fast steps, and divided the walks with small breaks for situps and pushups. She could manage very few before she became winded and had to stop and catch her breath.

At night, Stefan was gentle and rarely had to be reminded of her limits.

"You're getting stronger," he said. "I can feel it in your arms."

"Slowly. I'm getting there, but I won't be wrestling you any time soon."

"I guess I can wait," he joked.

The end of the week came and Dyk and Octavio started their job. They were less subtle than Marvon and Kieryn and because they weren't taking the mission very seriously they spent most of the first day together, talking and sparring. Marvon and Kieryn knew they would regret that at three in the morning when both of them would want to sleep. They weren't stupid enough to go together into the mess for lunch, though. Maggie usually ate outside under the only tree in the courtyard. Then she usually went to her room for a nap or something. She went inside, as usual, and Octavio won the Wendell-flip to eat first while Dyk watched the outer door.

A few minutes later, a Fang walked by. "Don't expect this to happen again, but I'm going to help you out."

"Oh yeah? You got some tips for the babysitter?"

"Yeah. You need two people to watch two doors. The baby is in the castle."

Dyk jumped up and ran inside. He found her two hallways away, heading for the front entrance with a purse in her hand. He slowed down and tried to follow at a casual distance. It got a little awkward when she stopped to talk to the gate guard about the weather and he was still in the middle of the courtyard. He got an idea and walked past her and leaned on the wall next to the gate. He waited a long time and panicked when he thought that maybe she'd changed her mind and turned around. He poked his head around the corner and almost touched her as she walked by. She saw him and smiled. He just stared back, wondering if he'd blown it once she'd noticed him.

He had no choice, now. Octavio was still in the Fang wing. It was up to him to keep an eye on her. He followed her into the town. She had to stop every quarter mile to rest and again, it was awkward for him to wait for her. He tried staying off the road, but it was too hard to keep her in sight and move quietly through the brush. There were other people on the road, so he hoped she didn't notice him.

When she reached town, she went into a shop. He needed to hear any conversations, in case she was meeting with a traitor contact, so he walked into the shop, too. She looked up at him as he entered, and he immediately blushed. It was a store that sold women's undergarments. His mind blanked on an excuse for him to be there.

The shop attendant asked him, "Looking for something particular for your girlfriend?"

"What?"

"Most boys get that panicked look when they come in here. If I can help you with something specific, you can get out of here faster."

"Oh, uh…"

Maggie was staring at him.

"Just some…" he could feel his face blazing. "Do you have any…" he looked around the shop. Inspiration struck. "What would you suggest?"

The shop attendant beamed. She took him around and asked him a few questions and the busier he kept the attendant, the more easily he could keep an eye on Maggie. She bought a two pairs of lace gloves and three pairs of silk stockings.

"That's fine, I'll take that," Dyk said as he watched Maggie pay for her items.

"Yes, sir! Will that be all?"

"What?" Dyk looked at her and saw the heavily embroidered corset she was holding. "On second thought, I think I need to wait. I might be breaking up with my girlfriend soon."

The attendant gawked and Dyk slipped out the door after Maggie. The next shop had a window and he was able to peek at her. If she started talking, he could walk in. The shopkeeper was showing her fabrics and Dyk practiced his lip reading. He was horrible at it, and he hoped they were talking about fabric and not exchanging saboteur tactics and pantomiming. She bought several lengths of a thick fabric and a bit of leather. He hoped she was done and would go back to the castle but she moved on to another shop. He really wished he had Octavio with him, so they could switch off. He had to stand out, following her from store to store. He thought of all sorts of tactics they could use as a team to keep her from noticing she was being followed.

It was a jewelry store and he ran in when he saw her talking closely with the jeweler.

"…have to clean it to keep it from tarnishing, but sometimes silver enhances a skin tone better than gold would. Would you say he was ruddy?"

"A bit, yeah. More of a pink skin tone than a yellow."

Dyk blushed at his blunder. They were looking at a brooch. And now he had no where to hide.

"I'll be with you in a moment, sir."

Thankfully, Maggie didn't look over at him, but was looking over the brooch carefully. Dyk turned away and looked at the necklaces on the other counter.

"I think that will suit him,"she said and paid for it. When she left and the jeweler turned to him, he followed her out the door.

She bought a pastry and ate it on a bench in one of the squares next to the dolphin fountain. It was much easier to watch over her in the courtyard and he took up a spot at the edge of an alley behind her. A man sat next to her on the bench and Dyk thought he saw the man's lips moving. They weren't looking at each other, but they could be trying to be discreet. Dyk walked up behind them but couldn't hear anything over the fountain. He sat down on another bench. The last place she went was a stall and Dyk was relieved that he wouldn't have to follow her into a building. But he wasn't expecting her to turn toward him and walk his way. He turned and hurried away, looking for someplace to go and wait for her to pass.

"Excuse me!" she called to him. "Fang! Could you help me?"

Dyk stopped and thought about bolting. She had definitely seen him. He'd been caught. His face burned when he thought of the lecture the Captain would give him. If he wasn't expelled completely.

"We keep running into each other." Maggie smiled. "I was wondering if you were going back to the castle."

"Uh… yes, I was."

"Could you help me carry my things? I wasn't thinking when I left. I could barely manage the walk into town, and after shopping, I don't think I could make it back on my own. Please?"

"Sure, I'd be glad to." Dyk smiled. His cover hadn't been blown. He wouldn't be expelled. And if he was careful, he could get some information while her guard was down. He took the bag from her and was surprised that it wasn't very heavy. The fabric was the heaviest and he could easily carry it back. She must still be weak from the stocks.

They headed back to the castle and again, every quarter mile, she stopped to rest. Each break seemed to last a little longer than the one before.

"It was a good day to be in town, wasn't it?" Maggie said while she sat.

"Yes, it was."

"I don't think cadets get many days off."

"I'm not a cadet. I graduated to Fang two months ago."

"Oh. You just seemed so young."

"I graduated a full year early."

"That's impressive."

Dyk wondered if she was teasing him. "Why didn't you want to be a Fang?" he asked her.

"I didn't need to. My dad trained me as well as he trained any of you. So I have all the skills, but none of the responsibilities. I know that look. I get it a lot. You want to know why I destroyed the factory and the oil pump."

"I heard your speeches. I know why you did it."

"You want to know how I could if I loved my kingdom."

"A bit. Do you believe King Wendell will do what he promised?"

"I hope so. I would hate to spend two more weeks in the stocks just because Wendell can't keep his promises." Dyk flinched at the familiar use of the king's name.

"So you'd do it again?"

"Even if he said today that he wasn't going to look into the pollution and tomorrow he magically built another factory, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. I can't even carry my own shopping home."

"But you would if you could?"

"It's up to Wendell. I'm not against the factories themselves, I just wanted Wendell to look into the effects of the factories before he built them. If he does that and protects the land from the factories, then I have nothing to complain about."

"That sounds reasonable," Dyk said to reassure her. He had a lot of good stuff to put in his report. They chatted for the rest of the journey back to the castle. He left her at the inner door to her room and ran around outside to the courtyard to find Octavio.

"I don't have time to talk, but watch the inner door until the Captain takes her to dinner. Then come get me."

Octavio ran off and Dyk sat watching the outer door. His stomach growled and he wished he'd bought something to eat in town.

After the Captain and Maggie left, Octavio fetched Dyk. As soon as he saw Octavio, Dyk ran into the mess hall and loaded up a plate with food and sat down, stuffing his face.

"What happened? I came back from lunch and you were gone."

Dyk waited until his stomach stopped complaining and slowed down enough to talk between bites. "She left through the inner door to go into town."

Octavio slumped. "How did you know she left?"

"A Fang told me. A good thing, too, we just got back. She was gone for hours."

"So she went into town, what happened?"

Dyk told him a quick summary of what happened. "We need to be more careful. I wished so many times you were there so we could switch off following her into stores. And these two doors are going to be tricky. How are we supposed to watch the hallway? There's nowhere to hide."

"Someone did it last week."

"But they were so good, we don't know who they were."

"Do you think we'll ever get that good? I mean, two Fangs were on a mission right in front of us and we didn't even know."

"That trip wiped me out. I mean, all I did was carry her bag, but I was high strung the whole time we were gone. And starving. We need to figure this out." Dyk yawned.

"How are we supposed to watch both doors at night?" Octavio asked.

"I have no idea. Can we assume the Captain will keep an eye on her at night?"

"I don't know. Is it possible she could sneak out while he's asleep?"

"I don't think she would. Except you, know, to go for a walk or something. I was seeing conspirators everywhere she went, but she was just shopping. We did blow it by letting her out of our sight, but we might be over thinking this."

"So first you say we're not taking this seriously enough and now you say we might be taking it too seriously?"

"I don't know. We need to sleep sometime."

"While she's exercising. One could watch her and one could sleep."

"I need to sleep now. You can wake me when they get back from dinner."

"I can't come get you without leaving my post. She could sneak out."

"I really think you're overthinking it. She's with the Captain. We don't need to worry about her sneaking anywhere until he's asleep. It'll take you two minutes to get me. She can't come back and leave in two minutes."