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So I snap at Maraya "You just think if he gets a pro for the Archives exaht off her "I like the thought of sorting through all those dusty old books looking for arcane references to ancient oracles"

A a hand to the back of her forehead in a pose copied from the theater "I would weep and wail every day if I had to suffer that As I will for the next year if I can’t go toly "Every day"

"You couldn’t pass the exam anyway, Aaze fixes on est I do, Jes? No Patron man can marry me, not even if he is the lowliest baker’s son from a humble hill-country town back in Saro-Urok Furthermore, Father cannot let any of us al, even for us"

"I don’t want to getmy arms "I don’t want to live Mother’s life"

"Don’t be selfish, Jes Father would ainst the law Think of how much easier and more secure that would have made her life So don’t sneer at her and the choices she’s round, scraping a heel over the oes on in her relentlessly calm way "I do not want to be trapped in this house for the rest of my life My point is that if Father feels his position is strong enough despite his doements, he’ll let me become an Archivist So if you won’t do it for Mother and Father, then I pray you, do it for h coin to pay the entry fee for this week’s trials at the City Fives Court! I chose this week because none of us heard anything about Father co back so soon If I’m trapped on a balcony box the whole time, I can’t run That’s a forfeit I’ll lose my coin"

A her face on my shoulder, her voice all weepy "We’ve never been invited to Lord Ottonor’s balcony before, Jes Never The other officers already look down on Father This is his chance to shove us in their faces Not that you care about that"

I push her away and juhfor years without ever having a chance to actually compete in a real trial? I have run the Fives a hundred times--a thousand times!--on practice courts and in practice trials Now my one chance to experience a real trial is ruined My one chance!"

"Please, Jes Please"

The starsfallen out in this ill-omened way I ith Mother every week to the City of the Dead to s to the oracles Can the oracles read hts, as ru content with hter?

"It just isn’t fair! We have to pretend to be proper officer’s daughters even though no one will ever believe we are It’s Father’s reputation we are protecting, not ours!"

Yet alongsideto the way the situation has just changed None of their arguments matter anyway With Father in residence I have no hope of sneaking out when his aides and servants are looking for the slightest break in the strict routine they impose

I circle back to the couch "Very well I’ll accorabs my wrist "You can’t mean to sneak out of Lord Ottonor’s balcony to run under everyone’s noses! In front of Father! What if he recognizes you?"

"No one will recognize me, because Fives competitors wear masks It’s just one run"

Maraya pries Aht No one ever knoho adversaries are if they don’t win It’s only when they get to be Challengers or Illustrious that people can tell who they are by the color of their tunic or by their tricks and flourishes No one will guess it is Jes because they won’t think she’s out there"

I grab Maraya and kiss her "Yes! Here’s hoe’ll do it There’s bound to be s rooms for the woned to her because she’ll think it her duty to remain out on the public balcony the entire time so everyone knows Father’s not ashamed of her I can clai roooes back to see me"