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"How did you get started running the Fives?" I ask

"My grandaunt ran theoes all the tio at it They paid s do you have, that you can train while they work?"

"I’irls and three boys"

How like Efeans! Five girls and only three boys! But I don’t say that aloud

"I have three years to prove o back to the family business"

"What business is that?"

"Perfu factory when I got here"

I laugh "Because your Fives name is Resin I wondered"

"What about you, Jes? There’s a ru around that your father’s an officer in the aroes on hastily as if she has already said the cruel thing out loud and now ize for it "You knohat they say: Patron eyes and Commoner skin"

We walk for a while in silence I don’t kno much I can say, how much I want to say, how much is prudent to reveal

She finally says, "It’s just you have such a Patron way of talking and acting, like you’re kin in a lord’s household But you can’t be"

I am a Patron, I want to say, and yet I know I airls all pretended ere

"I’m sorry," she says "I ht, Mis Yes, my father is in the army And my mother is Efean It’s hard to talk about"

"You have nothing to be ashamed of!" she says stoutly "And if anyone says you do, you can just run their ass flat on the court"

We’re laughing as we reach the West Gate of the Lantern District Two huge brass wheels are suspended fro with a thousand ribbons fluttering in the breeze According to the decree of the king and queen, all public entertainht people congregate on the tiered stone seating of its many small amphitheaters Whether Commoner or Patron, the people of Efea take their poetry and theater very seriously The old epic plays can last until dawn if the audience keeps deue with the actors over their interpretation of a faue I once saw a death scene repeated five ti audience was satisfied The best-beloved playwrights and poets are as celebrated as any Illustrious

As Mis and I walk down thethe ap there? That’s where the banner for The Poet’s Curse was hanging, but they’ve taken it down"

The empty space in the row of banners looks suspicious "What reprehensible story did The Poet’s Curse tell?" I ask

"Shhh! If the playwright was arrested, then we don’t want anyone to hear us talking about it! Coe not to have to bow to Father’s strictures If I win prize money I can come here as often as I ith lorious Possibility opens everywhere aroundWhat felt like bad fortune looks like good fortune if I turn it over and examine it from the other side

Because the theaters open only at night, during the day the Lantern District is called the Lantern Market because you can buy other pleasures there At the street stalls a person can buy protective amulets; perfume; every sort of cosifts suitable for lovers It is eirl would never, ever walk, even with an ill-wisher in attendance, and certainly never alone with a friend I can’t stop staring What goes on behind these closed gates is the sort of thing Father wished to protect his daughters froirls like us who aren’t really Patron or Co sexual favors Such acts are the lowest thing a Patron wo the Efeans makes Patrons scorn Co a lane with amulets meant for newborns: shell anklets to ward off sickness, polished stones to weight their souls to their flesh until they fully attach, and carved a no coin to spend, I am content to watch people Because of Saryenia’s harbors, people co the shores of the Three Seas: handsome Amarans so fado in its officialdo the Three Seas; a pair of seafaring Tandi guildworasslands of Dey; veiled desert men; and more besides Like ribbons they coht andEfeanit up to me whether to call after him