It was sweet of Galen to insist that she accompany him to the prefecture to cash in their reward, Zana mused, but the effect it had on her was completely opposite to what he had intended; even though bringing in the cavalry - as Peet had called it - had been her idea, the prefect and the chief of police were talking exclusively to Galen. It was as if she wasn't even in the room. And it did sour her mood.

"It's too late in the year to try and cross the higher passes," the chief was saying. He had been harping on the dangers of winter travel in the mountains for quite some time now. "If you don't want to stay in Etissa, choose one of the other settlements in the prefecture. It would be a regrettable waste of money if you'd hurl your reward into some canyon, together with your wagon and yourself, and your lovely wife."

So now she had suddenly popped out of thin air, Zana thought glumly. How nice of him to finally notice her, even if it was only as an afterthought.

"I appreciate your concern," Galen said, and demonstratively handed Zana the bag with their reward. "But we want to try our luck nonetheless. We have family north of the mountains, who have been awaiting us for some time now, and we've been delayed here long enough."

"I can only repeat that I'm really sorry for that," the prefect said, although he didn't sound overly concerned. Zana wondered how he was even able to hold himself upright in his chair - he had to be a hundred years old, at least. Didn't the district chief ever stop and check on the age of his prefects, and appoint a successor? Or had interested parties bribed him to look the other way, so that they could keep their senile and thus totally ineffective fool of a prefect a few years longer?

"So am I," the chief said, and to his credit, he sounded chagrined. "But at least it did serve to root them out this time."

Well, more or less, Zana thought, though she was glad that Galen let that statement slide without comment. That criminal Asar would go to jail - maybe even to the gallows - but a lot of apes were already back on the streets, still pretending to be pillars of the community; like the owner of the Etissan Herald, an unctuous toad named Latis. At least the humans had been confiscated, although Zana wondered what would happen to them; they were, as the chief had put it, "good for nothing anymore except killing other humans."

Spoilt. Useless. And a useless human was a dead human...

I can't save them all. I have to focus on what works right now, and go from there.

"Well, yes," Galen said blandly, and took Zana by the elbow. "I'm glad that it's over, and that we got our human back in one piece, mostly. We won't talk unfavorably about your, ah, impressive town, but we really need to be going now. As you mentioned, Chief, the weather isn't too stable anymore..."

"We won't talk unfavorably about this rat-hole?" Zana repeated when they stepped outside the prefecture's gate. "I don't know about you, but..."

"I simply won't mention this town at all, once we've finally left it behind," Galen muttered, and warily scanned the plaza before them. He hadn't let go of her elbow since they had exited the prefect's office, and his other hand was hidden under his robe, probably clutching his hand-gun.

So that's why I had to tag along - to be his walking purse, so he has his hands free for doing battle. Zana didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed at that realization. It did make her uneasy - a lot of those casually strolling passersby could have been in that distillery a week ago; nursing a grudge, jumping to the chance of a quick revenge stabbing...

We longed so hard for the safety of the north - we never stopped to consider why it is considered a refuge from Urko.

Urko was the law. A cruel and unforgiving law, crushing humans and dissenting apes with deadly power, but for the average citizen, the south was the safe haven, not the north.

Nelva called us outlaws. And these parts are where the outlaws live - cruel and dangerous. Here, you need to be your own lawgiver. And executioner...

She didn't like it here. For the first time since they had fled the City, Zana was gripped by homesickness, a longing so fierce and sudden that her heart clenched painfully in her chest. Suddenly, she wasn't annoyed at Galen's possessive grip around her elbow anymore. She hugged the leather pouch against her chest and quickened her step.

"You're right," she said. "I'll be glad when we have the town gates in our back, too."