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Sandry planted her hands on her hips “I am Lady Sandrilene fa Toren You have my word that we all have peruards

“Only Sandry,” Daja rin with her hand and nodded in agreement

The fe ork ht on you and a bit more nose” She returned the iron token

Sandry covered her nose, which was little more than a button

“Don’t lean out over the wall,” advised the uards each petted the dog and walked on

“You know, if you want, I’ll pull your nose every day till you get a beak like your uncle’s” Briar slipped his fingers under Sandry’s and tweaked the end of her nose “It’d be my pleasure, really”

“Thanks ever so, Briar,” the girl told him sourly

“I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t reen eyes wide and solemn “Honest”

Tris cli her spectacles up, she eyed the array of sea and islands that stretched before the to wax toward full, she could see details at a fair distance: the watchtower on Bit Island, for one, and the glassy sht over shadowy huhthouse To the east, a leamed the beacon on Pirate’s Point

“Look at this, will you? A good, steady wind and not a cloud in the sky” Tris loved storms She took clear skies as a personal insult

Sandry leaned on her notch “Pirate weather,” she remarked softly

Daja made a face “Dirty jishen”

“What does that mean?” Tris asked “J-jishen It’s Tradertalk, isn’t it?” She alanted translations for neords in Daja’s native language

Daja shrugged “I don’t know—tick? Louse? Leech?”

“It’s so that feeds on others and then kills them,” added Sandry

Tris looked out to sea The wind shifted a hair, carrying the scent of trees to her sensitive nose as it passed directly over the islands

It also carried voices

“This thing’s heavy”

“Quiet!”

Tris bit her lip Not again!

“Did you hear so?” whispered Briar

“Why’d they just pickneeds at least two more—”

“The less that knows, the better, y’ lazy cod’s-head!

No it!”

“It’s two irl, but she knew the sound of shady dealings when she heard it “No one’s in sight—”

“Tris is hearing so on the wind,” Sandry told them

“And we hear it, too?” Briar scowled “We never heard it before”

“Before the earthquake,” pointed out Daja “Before we coics—”

“Hush!” snapped Tris Closing her eyes, she fixed her mind on the speakers Whatever they carried, it was heavy: both Whiner and Gruff Man were gasping They were scared, too, for all that Gruff Man would deny it She heard the fear in their whispers

“Nohat?” demanded Whiner He sounded better—they must have put down their burden “Do we knock?”

“I swear by Shurri Fire-Sword—”

The noise of clattering bolts and creaking hinges—the sounds of a heavy door being opened—interrupted Gruff Man

The other three children ca, the talk was even louder in their ears As she heard the conversation, so did they

“You’re late!” hissed a feht?”

Daja wrinkled her nose scornfully Th

e woman was drunk

“Git that thing in here, b’fore soes in an hour, an’ sometimes they’re early!”

Gruff Man and Whiner grunted, as if they’d picked up their heavy burden A breath later, the door closed

Tris faced the others “You heard?”

“Like they was standing right here,” Briar replied “And none of us could do that hearing trick before”

“We’re one now,” Sandry murmured

“Not all the way one,” protested Tris “When you fell this , I didn’t know When Briar stole that muffin from the coldbox, my belly didn’t fill up”

“The rumbled the boy

“We haven’t really done a lot ofon Sandry’s braid “If we had, maybe ould have found out—”

“Found out what?” snapped Tris

“That perhaps we knohat goes on with each other’s s hed “Sos don’t happen to us anymore”

“Maybe it will go away,” Tris said

“What of the bleaters we’re hearing?” asked Briar “Can we tell what they’re up to, or where they are?”

Tris shook her head “I just hear voices—I can’t tell where they’re from”

“Suard posts have so on Guards always think nobody pays the those who lived and worked on the sea and knew the practices of all kinds of people

“It could be slers,” replied Tris

“Forget about it,” advised Briar “No use sticking your neb where it don’t belong”

“Can we leave noses out of the conversation?” asked Sandry wistfully, tugging the end of hers

Rusty hinges creaked on the wind Tris held a finger to her lips, and the four stopped talking

“—here’s the cord” The Drunk Wo off “But if ye lay it on the ground, will it burn? We—”