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She stood in a narrow alley like those she had walked down all day She’d kept to the slu that Denth would expect her to run for the open city He knew it better than she did In her addledin the cluttered, quiet slum seemed a much better idea

Aover the sides He was short, dark-haired, and wore typical slues of wear

"You’ve been causing quite a stir," the man said

She stood quietly

"Wo the slued If everyone hadn’t been so paranoid following the raid the other day, you’d have been seen to hours ago"

The man seemed faintly familiar "You’re Idrian," she whispered "You were there, in the crohen I visited the slued

"That means you knoho I a," he said "Particularly not things that could get me into trouble"

"Please," she said "You have to help me" She took a step forward

He hopped off his boxes, a knife flashing in his hand "Help you?" he asked "I saw that look in your eyes when you ca You look down on us Just like the Hallandren"

She shied back

"A lot of people have seen you wandering about like a wraith," he said "But nobody seeoing in soht It’s aStop wandering Find a place to hide

"I figure that so to act first"

"Please," she whispered

He raised the knife "I won’t turn you in You deserve at least that much Besides, I don’t want to draw attention to h That will sell for a lot, even daed like it is I could feed my family for weeks on that cloth"

She hesitated

"Scream and I’ll cut you," he said quietly "It’s not a threat It’s just an inevitability The dress, Princess You’ll be better without it It’s what iseveryone take notice of you"

She considered using her Breath But what if it didn’t work? She couldn’t concentrate, and had a feeling that she wouldn’t be able to get the Co knife convinced her So, staring straight ahead and feeling like she was so the buttons

"Don’t drop it to the ground," the h already"

She pulled it off, then shivered, standing only in her underleggings and her shift He took the dress, then opened her pocket pouch He frowned as he tossed aside the rope inside of it "No money?"

She shook her head dully

"The leggings They’re silk, right?"

Her shift ca off the leggings, then handed thereed--or perhaps so else--in his eyes

"The shift," he said, waving his knife

"No," she said quietly

He took a step forward

So snapped inside of her

"No!" she yelled "No, no, NO! You take your city, your colors and clothing, and go! Leave rabbed handfuls of refuse andit on the shift "There!" she screamed "You want it! Take it from me! Sell it like this!"

Contrary to his threat, the man wavered He looked around, then clutched the valuable cloth to his chest and dashed away

Vivenna knelt Where had she found more tears? She curled up, heedless of the trash and mud, and wept

IT STARTED RAINING sometime while she was curled in the mud It was one of the soft, hazy Hallandren rainfalls The wet drops kissed her cheek; little streams ran down the sides of the alleyalls

She was hungry and exhausted But with the falling rain came a shred of lucidity

She needed to ht--the dress had been a hindrance She felt naked in the shift, particularly now that it et, but she had seen woo on, becori a bit of a cloth sticking fro shawl OrEither way, she wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling it tight across her chest to offer some measure of modesty She tried to make her hair black, but it refused

She sat down, too apathetic to be frustrated Instead, she si the pale white into a sickly brown

It’s still too long, she thought I’ll need to do soar would keep hair that long--it would be difficult to care for