"And how will you two be paying today, dears?"

Jesper and Wylan looked at each other uneasily. They'd managed to evade the question until now. They'd gotten everything on Wylan's list and then some. For an old deserted shop, there was quite a selection.

Jesper cleared his throat. "The thing is...we're a bit low on funds at the moment. Is there any way we could…you know," he made an awkward vague gesture.

Alma laughed. She seemed to do that a lot. "Oh silly boys. I don't mean money. What I charge is far more valuable than scraps of paper big men decided had value."

Wylan blinked. "What's more valuable than money, ma'am?"

Alma's response came immediately, as if she'd been waiting for the question. "Life. Emotions. Love. Belief. Do little printed slips of paper hold a candle to any of those things?" She didn't wait for an answer. "No. of course not."

"But how to we give away any of those things? How do we pay in emotions? How do we give love?" Wylan questioned and then blushed when Jesper winked at him for the last question.

The resulting smile on Alma's face was far too unsettling for Jesper's taste.

Inej breathed in the fresh air as she looked at the setting sun. "Come on. We need to get back to the House."

"But we still haven't found your knives," Nina said.

Inej grinned and looked at her. "Who said I didn't?" Inej flashed the sharp blades. "They were in the shed."

Nina frowned. "Why hide them there?"

"Legend's a skiv. He likes messing with our minds and hurting us. Who knows what he's thinking?"

"Kaz has probably figured out his thought process by now. They can't be too different."

Inej laughed, and as she did it felt like a weight was slowly being lifted off her chest—not gone, but going. She pecked Nina lightly on the cheek and rested her head on her shoulder. They looked out at the canvas of orange and pink in the sky and the buildings pumping out smoke. She felt more at home than she had in some time. "Thank you."

Nina didn't have to ask what for.

Kaz was walking back down the hall when he heard the voices. They started as nonsensical whispers, almost coaxing him to follow.

"Kaz," Inej whispered.

Kaz shook his head, the wraith was not there, just another of Legend's tricks.

"Come on, Brother," Jordie taunted, his voice playful like they were playing a game back on the farm.

"Come home to us, darling," his mother spoke with a voice that sounded like the sweet honey she'd feed him and Jordie with a spoon.

"You miss us, don't you? Be with your family again, Son," the rough voice of Kaz's father filled his ears. A sudden memory of his father strewed over the fields flashed in his mind.

He heard Inej's voice then again. No words, just her genuine laugh. He followed that sound, and the whispers of his old family fell away. He followed that sound right back to her.

"I want only two things from you. Two emotions to be exact," Alma said, smiling as if what she was say was utterly normal.

"Emotions," Wylan said flatly. "Which ones?"

"I was thinking joy and courage, but we can negotiate if you'd like. Let's see…" Alma surveyed them both, analyzing them. "Yes. Joy from Elian and courage from David."

"I'm not giving away my joy," Jesper said, bewildered.

"And I won't give away courage. What else do you want?"

"I did say we could negotiate, but it's one emotion from each of you or I won't be selling."

"Wy. This is crazy," Jesper whispered.

"We didn't find any other apothecaries," Wylan whispered back.

Alma sighed. "Fine, fine, fine. Not joy or courage, but how about envy? Hmm?"

"And what about the other?" Wylan prodded.

"Wy! You can't be serious," Jesper said, not bothering to be quiet.

"The other one can be...Indignation. I have a low stock on that one," Alma said and smiled again, displaying her yellow and crooked teeth. "I want envy from 'Wy' and indignation from Jesper."

"How do you know his name?" Wylan asked, eyes narrowed.

Alma laughed and gave no answer. "So what'll it be, boys? Envy and indignation or nothing?"

"Fine," Jesper said. "How do we give you our emotions?"

Alma turned away into a back room and came back with two tiny clear vials. She handed one to Wylan and the other to Jesper. "Think about a time you felt envy. Picture it clear in your mind. Feel it. Be envious. Then, blow into this vial," she told Wylan.

"And you," she turned to Jesper. "Do the same thing, but with a time you felt utterly indignant."

Wylan locked eyes with Jesper, both of them clearly uncomfortable.

"Go on. Don't be shy."

Wylan swallowed and pictured the time he saw Jesper kissing Kuwei. The jealousy from that moment was not hard to bring back. He blew into the vial and it immediately filled with a greenish smoke.

Alma took the vial and corked it, turning to Jesper with an expectant expression.

Jesper focused for a few moments before blowing into the vial. And orange smoke filled the space, almost floating out before Alma snatched the glass tube and corked it.

Alma held both up to her nose and breathed them in. "Both are very, very strong."

Jesper and Wylan looked at each other. What the hell did that mean?

"All right, dears. Would you like your items gift wrapped?"

"No," Jesper said shortly as he took the bag and walked out the door, Wylan close on his heels. Neither wanted to spend another second in that store.

Nina and Inej were curled up on the couch eating waffles that a maid had brung up. There looked to be no real players anywhere, just residents in the town and the servants who were much too excited to be at service.

They hadn't spoken much, just enjoyed the other's company after what had happened today.

Inej yawned. "I'm full, do you want—"

Nina didn't wait for Inej to finish before scooping the sticky remains of her plate onto her own and happily continuing to devour the sweet syrup and creamy waffles.

Nina started to say something when she broke off, eyes wide and skin pale.

"What is it?" Inej asked her.

Nina shook her head as if trying to break some sort of trance. "Nothing. Nothing. I thought I saw...Nothing. It was nothing."

Inej furrowed her brow. She was about to press further when the door slammed open. She leapt to her feet, knives out and ready to defend. Next to her, Nina had somehow placed her plate on the side table and stood up with her arms out all in one motion.

"Don't shoot!" Jesper cried jokingly. "We come with no ill will."

Wylan rolled his eyes and set a heavy-looking bag down on the nearby desk. "Kaz isn't back yet?" He questioned.

Nina shook her head and collapsed back onto the couch with her waffles. Inej sank into the cushions as well.

"You two got everything you needed?" Inej asked, resting her head on Nina's shoulder.

"More or less. We also lost some," Jesper said as he grabbed a plate of waffles from the trolley the maid had brought in.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nina asked, looking up from her plate.

"It means that the lady at the alchemy store charged us two emotions. One each," Wylan said grimly.

"Emotions? Which ones?," Kaz's scratchy voice came from the door.

"Indignation," Jesper said without even looking behind him.

"Envy. She had wanted courage and joy, but we talked her down," Wylan told him.

"Saints. We'll get them back," Nina vowed.

Kaz looked slightly annoyed at the prospect of incorporating another factor into his plan, but said nothing. He instead glanced at the knife Inej was sharpening. "Good to know some of you accomplished your job without any losses."

Inej sighed inwardly as both Jesper and Wylan stiffened. Kaz could never be sympathetic, could he?

"So what's our next move?" Nina asked, mouth full.

"We follow the clue I found in Room 5. We go meet a nice man who goes by the name of Nigel."