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We began to rise along the canyon wall The creatures that had been blown out of the hen the vent belched were returning to it Do they worship their ocean volcano, Luvo?

I believe it is only you hus, Evumeimei These animals eat the sray ones that crawl there They draw strength froood to those who live on them The soil on the ones above water is richer for plants Huraze, just as these sea creatures do

Above us I saw the ripple of sunlight on the water’s surface Have you ever been to a volcano, Luvo?

I was born in one That was sufficient Exposure to a second volcano would be the death of me, Evuo I felt ain Then heaviness clamped around me: a suit of hot, thick meat That was my body For a moment I didn’t enjoy it very much Luvo calls humans "meat creatures" For the first tiarlic in ed in my ears In the sea every noise was softened by the swish of water These noises grated I flinched The hands grabbed ot where I was I thought I was a captive A man’s face was too close to xe? That was it--I was the prisoner of the eain to make me tell on my friends!

I screamed and slammed my head forward, hard, into the soldier’s nose Then I lashed sideways and bit deep into his arm Except his arm wasn’t the silk-covered leather of an i into flesh covered by blue linen

"Make her let go of me!" Dedicate Fusspot tried to shake me off His voice was xe," Luvo said

"Myrrhtide, I warned you not to lay hands on her" Rosethorn sounded like she was close by

I stopped biting Myrrhtide My feet were throbbing They were reht she was having a fit" Myrrhtide’s nose was bleeding "I thought she was dying I was trying to save her life The ungrateful brat broke my nose!"

"When I told you don’t touch me to wake me, ever, because I’ve been in a war and I react violently, you respected me" For a plant person, Rosethorn could sound like iron when she made a point with soht as hard as any adult--harder, soe that she rab her I said she ht panic if she saw a man’s face so close to hers when she cae trance!" Myrrhtide groped his pockets for a handkerchief He was bleeding all over his habit

"Looked like a e trance to lared at her The sailor shrugged and gave me her water flask so I could rinse the taste of Myrrhtide from ed Myrrhtide’s hand away fro that will fix it in a trice Don’t touch Evvy again unless it’s a matter of life or death, understand?"

She looked at hed The trouble with learning s that stank "I’m sorry I almost broke your nose, Dedicate Myrrhtide" I tried hard to sound truthful "I thought you were one of the imperial soldiers hippedmean, I could see it in his eyes Suddenly he let all that air out in a whoosh "They whipped your feet?" he whispered

I nodded "I knehere people were hiding The soldiers tried tothe bottoms of my feet with a cane See?" I leaned on the rail to show him the scars on the sole of one foot "I put crystal around ave up finally"

He was going to ask so else, when the sailor up in the crow’s nest yelled, "Land ho!"

I turned and squinted northwest In the distance rose a tall ht of the Battle Islands at last

"Enough re" Rosethorn wrapped her arm around my shoulders "Evvy, time to pack Myrrhtide, come below and I’ll fix your nose"

I had little to pack: clothes, books, aveas the Battle Islands grew larger ahead They were a clump of islands in the middle of the Pebbled Sea Their reputation was shady Briar said people caot tired of their ho in their business Lark just said that island people liked to keep to the for Rosethorn

"The place used to sith pirates" Myrrhtide’s nose was as good as new Rosethorn’s medicines really are the best And he’d surpriseduntil after we had docked, but here he was, all ready to go "It was a pesthole Any vice you can think of was available here I served in a teot quite the education Then Duke Vedris of Emelan led three attacks on the Islands, to break up the pirate nations He was joined by navies and soldiers from the other Pebbled Sea lands ere sick of pirate raids The place is almost respectable, these days"