Star Bright

This continues the story begun in "Star Light."

Hidden in the deep shadows cast by the sodden pine, Tien sat watching the road from halfway up. Soldiers from the Council of One Hundred thundered through deep puddles on hardy horses a hundred yards away.
    The rain attacked the ground, trying to dent it with constant vertical strikes. From somewhere to the east, lightning cracked. Tien huddled in his wet cloak, watching for any person, soldier or not, that might look in his direction.
    Deeper in the brace of trees, Ren sat with his back to the road, listening. Even with the rain dropping around him he could pick out individual horses and loud voices.
    Deeper still, Onli was waiting for anything to come charging through the trees and find her, Momono the singer, and Teegan. She had her story planned and rehearsed -- simple travelers, got lost in the woods, girl fell sick.
    It had been three days since the five of them had escaped from a village built into huge trees, and three nights since Teegan had fallen ill and set fire to the inn while she slept. She was still hot to the touch and would not wake.
    Momono, once a singer in the southern cities, watched the girl as her chest rose and fell. Each of the girl's shivers made him flush with heat; he felt her pain and torment. Drops of rain fell on her face and evaporated.
    The Council's soldiers hunted them, believing them to be dangerous criminals, who had brought down a tree and destroyed part of the village with supernatural fire. They were Day-lighters -- Momono more of a tag-along -- and the Council hunted them.
    While most of humanity accepted the rain, Day-lighters knew the sun waited behind it. The Council thought that they wanted to burn the land with the sun's power, but they only wanted to bring the light back.
    Tien appeared through the rain, dripping. He hunched under the sheet suspended between a few trees. "Nobody's so much as glanced in our direction for three hours," he breathed out, trying to warm himself up. "They all think we went to the town north of here."
    "I wouldn't mind if we did that," Momono said. The last three nights, hiding under trees or inside caves, had worn on him more than the others. He wasn't used to such living conditions. Tien looked up at him and sneered.
    "You know what will happen if we do that," Onli said. "We'll get captured or killed, and Teegan will get taken back to a Council building for more experiments."
    "I know," Momono said.
    "Then maybe you shouldn't mention it," Tien said, rubbing his arms. "Unless you have any better ideas than staying out in the cold for days on end, keep your mouth shut."
    Momono scowled. "I might have an idea. It's risky."
    Onli and Tien looked at him. Momono knew Tien was ready to reject it outright. "To the east of here, there's a bigger city. I've been there before. There will be more soldiers but there's a lot of space. It's ten times bigger than any village we've seen. We can get lost pretty easily there." He looked down at Teegan. "We could even find somebody to take care of her."
    "We don't have enough money for that," Tien said. "Cities are more expensive. We barely have enough to buy food."
    "I could find a cheap guitar," Momono said, "and raise money singing. I'm not too shabby. Cities are good for performers. More people, and people with more money, than any village." He looked at the two of them.
    Tien rose. "I'll ask Ren what he thinks," he said, before walking off into the rain.
    Onli watched Momono silently for a few moments, letting the rain fall around them. "You know he holds you responsible for Teegan."
    "I know," Momono said. "But I also know that I had nothing to do with it. I don't know how many times I'll have to tell him that."
    "He might never trust you. Tien is savagely suspicious."
    "I know."
    "I hope for your sake you aren't planning on betraying us," Onli said. Momono looked at her, shocked. "If you are, nothing will be able to save you from him. Not me, not Ren, and not Teegan." She locked Momono's eyes with her own, and her silk voice floated across the small clearing to him. "Then again, I don't think any of us will really try to stop him."
    "I don't plan on betraying anybody. I what will happen," Momono said. He looked away. "I think the city is a good idea. It has its risks . . . but every place does."
    Onli studied him for a bit. She gave a little smile. "It has its own risks for you, doesn't it?"
    Momono didn't answer.
    "There's something that you don't want us to know." Onli let the words hang. "Whether it's something that will make us lose our trust or not, you don't want us to know. I suspect that Tien has already picked up on this fact, which further explains why he doesn't trust you very much."
    "I have a lot of reasons," Momono said. "And I suppose you're right, Tien knows I'm hiding something." He paused. "But I'm not the only one, am I, Onli?"
    The tiny fire illuminated Onli's wide eyes. "I might not have the powerful eyesight of Tien, but I see things in a different manner. I've noticed a few things about you. You're the one that cares for Teegan the most. You look after her and fret over her. We're all worried about her right now, but you won't leave her side," Momono said. "At the inn that burned down, the waitress said that the innkeeper had a daughter that caught rain-sick and died. You didn't say a word until we went up to our room. I felt something from you then: a cracking sensation."
    The two of them sat quietly. Onli had her head bowed. Long, wet hair hid her face.
    Before she could say anything, Tien came back. "Ren thinks it's a good idea. He thinks he'll be able to help Momono out with some of his songs. His ears let him pick out notes or something like that." He knelt near Teegan and checked her. Onli watched him with a face that was covered in something that could have been rain.

"The first thing we'll have to do is for me to get a guitar," Momono told them as they walked east toward the big city. They'd been traveling for two days. "We might have enough money for a cheap one, but it would drain us."
    "We can't spend everything we have on a guitar," Ren said. He carried Teegan on his back with a wet blanket between them, to keep her from burning him. The burns on his arms were just healing. "We'll have to find a different way to earn some money."
    Onli looked at Tien. "The ball?"
    Tien didn't answer. He was walking with his arms crossed.
    "What ball?" Momono asked.
    "The Day-lighters have a trick we can use," Onli said. "We each have a small red ball. We handle it or play with it, or talk about it if we think a person that will notice is a Day-lighter or one of our few allies. We don't use it very often, as it can be risky."
    "It's how Roland, at the inn where we picked up Momono, knew we were Day-lighters. He knew about the trick. I never got my ball back," Tien said. "We should consider it more risky than before. The Council's picked up on it, somehow."
    "I think we should do it," Ren said. "But we'll need to be careful. We're in no position to run right now. We're all tired. That said, Teegan needs help more than we need to stay safe. I say we do it."
    Tien sent an angry look at Ren.
    "Tien, please consider Teegan," Onli said. "She needs help. This could be a way for us to gain a lot of money, which can assure us safe travel, or security, or food. It's something we need, or we're going to find ourselves starving in the rain one of these days."
    "All right! All right!" Tien said, shaking his hands. "We can do it! But I say how! If we have to do this, we're going to do it my way!"
    "We'll do it your way," Onli said sweetly, smiling.
     A bit later, Momono began telling them about the city they headed to, Breston.
    "Before the rains came, it was supposed to be a huge metropolis. Towers so high you had to bend your neck to see their tops, wide parks, long streets. It's on a huge lake, and profits from the shipping. It used to be quite a bit bigger than it is now, but of course the rain." Onli and Ren nodded, Tien just kept walking. "It used to have great statues and sculptures to marvel at; ancient and beautiful architecture was on every road. Now there's only one piece of beauty that most people go to see: The Trapped Titan."
    "What's that?"
    "Some sculptor was paid by a wealthy sponsor," Momono told Ren, "and -- damn all the rain -- did his part to spread beauty in a dreary world. He took big slabs of rock, attached them together using screws, and chiseled them down to look like a giant human stuck in the ground up to his waist. His hands are missing too, his arms are sunk in up to the wrists. His face is turned up to the sky and rain, screaming a quiet scream. He's nearly faceless."
    "I'd like to see it," Onli said. "It sounds very interesting."
    Momono thought about the last time he'd seen the statue. Tien, walking behind him, noticed this sudden introspection but said nothing.
    "Not many artists working these days," Ren said. He shifted Teegan. "Usually it's just people like you, Momono. Singers and that sort of thing. Not much art for art's sake anymore." He sniffed. "Sort of a shame."
    "I suppose it is, but art is always behind it in the end. I sing and play to earn money, but I never would have started if I didn't love what I do," Momono said. "Unfortunately, it comes down to keeping yourself alive. You can't do that on dreams."
    "No, I guess you can't," Ren said.
    They all walked in silence for a little while. Momono said they would begin to see the city in an hour or so.
    "There's a lot of area around it that's clear from it was bigger," Momono said. "There are many areas covered in rubble and half-destroyed buildings. If we needed to, we could rest in one of them. Many are occupied, or were when I was last here, but usually nobody minds when people stop in. They don't really own the buildings, anyway."
    It quickly became apparent how big the city of Breston used to be. With the rain and a strong wind pushing them back, the four of them climbed a hill and laid their eyes on desolate areas that were hundreds of acres. Toppled buildings crossed each other on the ground, one fallen over the other. They walked through the sodden fields of weeds that had grown through the stone ground.
    It took them a few more hours to get to the city itself; the day's light had disappeared and been replaced with firelight's flickering reflections from the falling rain.
    They found an inn and, after Momono and Tien made sure it was safe and out-of-the-way, the five of them got a room. It took nearly the rest of their money; prices were more expensive in the cities, plus they had to tip the servant girl.
    They went down to eat in twos. Tien and Onli went first, while Ren and Momono stayed in the room with Teegan, who still had not woken up. The two of them briefly talked about trying to get her to sip water, just to keep her from drying out. Ren guessed that she was getting water just naturally while they were out in the rain. It also helped her to keep cool. They had to drench their cloaks and lay her on them to keep her from burning anything. When Tien and Onli came back, they sent Ren and Momono down.

For the first time in a month, the Day-lighters experienced no ill effects when they stayed at the inn that night. Nobody came bursting into their room in the dark morning hours, and nothing burned down. For the first time since meeting them, Momono woke up well-rested, in a dry, warm room, with the smell of good food and distant conversation coming down the hallway.
    "It's too bad Teegan is out," Ren said. "It would be the perfect ploy to have her play with the ball while we stood nearby. To anybody but Day-lighters, it would look just like a child being watched by the adults." He took out his red ball. It was faded, and didn't have much bounce. "Now somebody will have to be handling this thing and try not to look like a strange man-child."
    Onli watched him as he passed the ball from hand to hand. "Maybe not."

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Momono asked. He and Onli sat on a stone bench by one of the large roads in the city. Teegan was propped up between them. Her breathing was shallow, and the heat from her forehead kept them warm despite the rain.
    "No, but it's something we can try, anyway," Onli responded. Teegan had Ren's red ball in her limp hands. Anybody walking by them would see two poor beggars, soaked to the skin, and their sick child between them, clutching her last toy. Somebody who knew the trick would recognize a cry for help from Day-lighters.
    An hour passed. The rain wasn't terribly strong that morning, but they both quickly became soaked through. Momono looked at each person passing by warily. As a person would come close, Onli would plead them for a few coins. Most would ignore her, despite her sweet voice, but a few dropped the odd iron into Momono's upturned hat. After a while a city guard came by.
    "Here now, what's this?" He said. He scowled down at the three of them. He was a big, round man with a scraggly beard. "Go on out of here."
    "Sir," Onli said, big eyes wide with sorrow. "Our daughter. She's sick. We have no money. Please, we only need a little bit for food."
    "It's either you go on out of here, you I drag you out and throw you on your bum in a puddle."
    "Sir, please! Feel her forehead, you'll know she's sick!"
    "It don't matter if she's sick!" The guard said. "I want you to-"
    At that moment Ren ran and grabbed the guard's arm. "Guardsman! I saw a murder! Saw it with my own eyes! A woman was stabbed! I got a good look at who done it, too!"
    "What?" The guard said. He looked briefly at Momono and Onli, who reacted with the proper shock when hearing about a murder. Onli clutched Teegan close, protectively. "Show me where."
    "It was over here, I think," Momono heard Ren say as he took off with the guard it tow. "I got confused by all the alleys. It normally doesn't happen but . . . " They disappeared around a corner. Ren would soon lose the guard or knock him out in a shadow. It was just their luck to encounter a stern guard so quickly, before they even had a chance to see many people, Momono thought.

"Here's him," the raggedy man said, pointing. He held out his hand. "I'll be takin' my pay now." He smiled at Tien with watery eyes. Tien dropped five iron into his palm. "You better hope to have more than that if you're getting looked at by him."
    "That's all I have right now," Tien said. "I'm sorry. My daughter's sick; I need to save money for her."
    The raggedy man nodded, pocketed the money, and limped away. Tien looked at the door the man had pointed him to. It looked like any other dreary home. Tien knocked, and entered.
    Inside it was warm. He heard steps, and a thin man with muscled arms met him. The man wore an apron, rubber gloves, and had a mask over his face.
    "You're the doctor?" Tien asked. The man nodded. He tore the rubber gloves off and tucked them into a pocket on his apron.
    "I'm Doctor Amesis," the man said. He removed the mask on his face, revealing a grim face and thin lips. Dour eyes looked out under short hair. "What do you need?"
    "My daughter," Tien said, a practiced speech. "She's ill. Feverish, won't wake. It's been a few days."
    Amesis' eyes rose. "Days? You'd better get her to me as soon as you can."
    Tien didn't move. "I don't have much to pay with."
    "Then you need to see a Council doctor," Amesis said. "That's how doctors work around here. You want cheap care, you see a CD. You want good care, you see a private doctor." He looked up. Tien still hadn't moved. "You can't go to a Council doctor, can you?"
    Tien shook his head. "And I prefer no more questions on the matter." He and the doctor stared each other down.
    "I can't take charity cases," Amesis said. "I'd like to, but I can't. Find the money and I'll look at her."
    "How much?" Tien asked. The doctor thought for a few moments, looking Tien over.
    "How old is she?"
    "Almost nine."
    "Six hundred iron should do it. That'll cover a checkup, and any medicine she needs, except for the expensive stuff."
    Six hundred! Tien thought when he stood in the cool rain again. How are we supposed to get that much? I hope Onli and the others are having more success than I am. He started trudging through the worsening rain toward where Onli and Momono said they would set up.

Momono's hat was woefully empty. A paltry sum of iron shined inside. The heavy rain crushed their spirits.
    Onli felt Teegan's head and whisked her hand away, making a face. "Is it much worse?" Momono asked. She shook her head.
    "Not worse, no, but no better." Onli wiped the rain out of her eyes. "I don't think this is going to work."
    "Maybe we need to move," Momono suggested. He kicked the hat; the coins inside clanked together. "We could probably find a better spot."
    "No, I think this is a good spot. Other than that unfortunate guard, nobody's bothered us. That's more important," Onli said. She wrung out her hair, then put Teegan's hood down to do the same to her. "I wonder if she can hear us."
    "Speak of the devil," Momono said, nodding to their right. The same guard was coming toward them. "We might have to move anyway."
    "Give me a chance, first," Onli said. "I'll turn up the power."
    They watched the guard get closer. Momono couldn't help looking afraid. "Sir, please," Onli began, but the guard cut her off.
    "It's all right. You don't need to go do anything." The guard reached behind him; Momono shrank back. Onli didn't move. "In fact, I've done a bit of asking around for you." He revealed a leather pouch, heavily filled. "Here, take it."
    Onli took the offered pouch, and looked inside. "There must be three hundred iron in here!" She said. Her voice cracked at the end, and Momono didn't know if she'd meant it.
    "Four hundred," the guard said. "Hopefully, enough to get your daughter some help." He the guard nodded, once, and walked on, whistling in the rain. He disappeared around a corner and was not seen again.
    "Was he . . . " Momono began. "He must have been. A Day-lighter?" He whispered.
    "Or a friend," Onli said. She was gazing at the dull coins in the pouch. "Either way, we're very lucky. Next chance we get, we meet Tien at the rendezvous spot."

Back at the inn, Tien entered their room to find the other three already waiting. Teegan was propped up in Onli's lap. Momono wore a big smile. "You'll never guess what happened!"
    Tien listened to the story. Thunder began to crackle outside as he listened. When they finished, he scowled. "It isn't enough. The only doctor I've found that isn't a Council doctor wants to charge us six hundred."
    The other three gasped. "Six hundred?!" Ren asked. "Does he have gold equipment?"
    "I think he understood that going to a Council doctor isn't an option for us, and is charging us for the peace of mind. It's not right, but that's what he said. He wouldn't shift."
    "So what do we do?" Momono asked. "It could take us days to raise the rest of the money!"
    "How long do you think it would take for you to raise it with a guitar?" Tien asked. His gaze bore into Momono. "How much would it cost us for a serviceable instrument?"
    Momono thought about it. "A guitar that costs two hundred would be fine for today but would pretty quickly go out of tune. I still have a bunch of supplies in my pack to help with that, though. I could earn five hundred just today if we hurry. But . . . a guitar might cost more in the city than in the country."
    "Where would you do it?" Tien asked.
    "On the street corner until the inns fill up, then I ask to play at inns. Most places will charge me a flat fee or a percentage of the earnings, but I should still be able to make enough. We can have Teegan looked at by tomorrow, I'm sure of it."
    The others looked at Tien. He sat on the bed with his hands pressed against his mouth. After a moment of thought he nodded. "Okay."

Momono exited the shop, holding the neck of a pale guitar. "It was cheaper! Only one-hundred and seventy iron!"
    "Good. You and Ren get started on the songs at the inn, Onli and I will start looking for places that will let you play," Tien said. "Just let me know the names of some of your more popular songs." Momono nodded, and wrote a few names on a piece of paper. He then headed back to the inn, where Ren waited with Teegan.
    Tien and Onli started down one of the big streets of the city, looking for places that would let Momono play. They ended up walking right into a big square that had a towering, dripping statue in the center of it.
    "What did he say this was called?" Tien asked, looking up at the structure.
    "He called it 'The Trapped Titan,'" Onli said. She gazed up at it. "It looks so angry."
    The alabaster figure was stuck to the waist in the ground. Its wrists ended with cut circles, flush with the smooth ground. The face was nearly featureless, with little more than a bump for a nose and shallow hollows for a face. The smooth mouth nevertheless seemed stretched and open, the head tilted back at the sky in a thundering shout. Stone muscles pressed through marble skin, looking warm and smooth to the touch, straining against the ground it was trapped in. It was a hundred feet taller than them; the rain ran from it in deep rivers.
    "That place looks like it could be some promise," Tien said, pointing off to the side. Onli tore her eyes away from the statue and looked. She spotted a beer hall that looked big, warm, and inviting. "It looks just like the kind of place that could use a musician."
    "Let's try it," Onli said. She felt strangely cowed by the Titan. She glanced at it before following Tien into the beer hall, which had a sign that read "Titan's Mug."
    "A guitarist, huh?" The man behind the counter of the beer hall said when they inquired. "What kind of songs?"
    "Let's see," Tien said, taking out the piece of paper Momono had written on. "'A Girl's Finest Gift' . . . 'Twice a Man, Never a Boy' . . . 'The Cavalier' . . ."
    "Oh, I like that one. Always a pleaser. All right, I accept. What are the terms?"
    Tien stood stock still until Onli pushed past him. "He'll give you ten percent."
    "Ten? Girl, what sort of scam are you running? Fifty."
    "Fifty?!" Onli laughed. "Only a fool would agree to that! Twenty!"
    The barman smiled grimly. "Twenty-five."
    Onli fell silent. She returned the smile. "Deal." She offered her hand, and the barman shook it. "When do you want him to start?"
    "The rush begins at eight. I want him on-stage-" the barman pointed at a slightly raised platform "-at eight thirty, right after the Newsman. What's his name?"
    "Momono," Onli said.
    "Last name?"
    Onli looked back at Tien, who only shrugged. "We don't really know. He might not have one."
    "All right then. Make sure he gets here on time."
    "Don't worry, we will," Tien said. He and Onli left.

"Ren and I will be in the beer hall with you -- just two travelers enjoying a drink together to get the taste of rain out of our mouths," Tien said later when they were gathered at the inn. "If nothing happens, we won't be seen. We're only there to make sure nobody gets uppity."
    Momono nodded. He and Ren had been spending the rest of the day making sure that his songs sounded good. Ren's sharp ears were able to pick out notes that should or shouldn't belong. Despite a week without practice, Momono felt confident he'd be able to raise enough money. "I'm ready to go."
    When the time came, Onli stayed at the inn with Teegan, and the three men left for the Titan's Mug. They showed up just as the rush was beginning; Ren and Tien were able to blend in easily. Momono met with the barman, who requested he play "The Cavalier" as the last song, when everyone was good and drunk. He said it would be quite profitable, and winked. Momono nodded, suddenly nervous. He found a table in the back, next to an old man that looked like a regular, and tuned his guitar.
    After a few minutes, the Newsman got up and stood on the raised platform that Momono would soon inhabit. He coughed and shuffled a few papers. He was a younger fellow, and looked uncertain.
    "Ahem," he began. The crowd's noise didn't die down much. Tien watched the young man shift from foot to foot. "Excuse me." A few people quieted, and he decided that was good enough. "Our own Councilwoman Gwynda would like to wish everyone a prosperous new year. She and the other Council members have been working hard to support our fair city, and she hopes you understand that she thinks of you, the citizens, always." A few people laughed. "On that note, taxes on vegetables will be raised a half-percent, and all produce-growers must respond to the census by the first of the second month." There were a few angry shouts from, Tien suspected, produce-growers.
    The Newsman went on to talk about local things. The Day-lighters weren't mentioned. Tien breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The Newsman rambled on, quickly losing even the small amount of people that had listened to him at the beginning. He wrapped up quickly and ducked off the stage.
    Momono took the stage, bringing his new guitar with him. There were a few drunk cheers. Momono raised his hand to stop them. "Thank you, my name is Momono. I'll start with a few good drinking songs! Has anyone here heard 'Never a Drink Too Many'?"
    A massive cheer erupted from the crowd, shocking Tien and Ren. They looked at each other, and Ren shrugged. Momono began to strum a few chords, and the crowd cheered again, to a man raising their glasses and clapping their friends on the shoulder. Tien watched with amazement as Momono led them in a lewd, embarrassing song about drinking, wenches, and associated acts. Every person in the beer hall knew the words, and some were able to sing them despite having their noses deep in mugs. The crowd swayed with each word, and the loud singing soon drew in more customers. The final word, one not appropriate for mixed company, was sung long and lustily by the entire crowd, each one with their heads tilted back and roaring, like the Titan outside.
    With a mighty crash, the crowd dropped to their chairs, applauding and cheering Momono. The singer started into another song, this one less appealing to the drinking crowd as a whole, but still appreciated. The night went on, and the box that Momono had brought onstage to accept tips filled up rapidly. Tien smiled. Finally, Teegan will be able to get help.
    Every once in a while a drinker would shout a request, and almost always Momono would begin to play the song. There was never a time he didn't know what song it was, and the crowd showed their appreciation.
    Hours passed, and the crowd got drunker. Finally, after some nod from the barman, Momono ended a song. "I'm going to do one last song for everyone. I know you all know it: 'The Cavalier'!"
    The building cheered and applauded again, and one man even burst into tears. Momono started to play. It was a slow, sweet song that neither Ren nor Tien had ever heard. It started with a man, the eponymous cavalier, and his fiancee. Momono sang about their love in low tones and slow strums, but soon changed to a faster beat. He sounded a call to battle, and the cavalier left to fight in a war. Momono's fingers warped up and down the guitar's strings, belting out note after note. He played a battle on his instrument, and the crowd clapped along. After a rending note, Momono slowed down, and called out to the fiancee, proclaiming his love in a chilling reprise of the first section. The man started crying again. Momono switched to the fiancee and sang out for the dead cavalier, slowing the song to a stop with a long final phrase.
    There was a long pause after he was finished where nobody said anything, then the patrons of the Titan's Mug started clapping and cheering. They stood and stamped their approval. Momono bowed and thanked them, holding the tip box up and shaking it. It was already heavy, but would quickly got heavier.
    Just before he could move off the stage, The old man he'd been sitting near stood up and yelled drunkenly. "I thought I rec'nized that man!" He hiccuped. "'S Councilwoman Gwynda's son!"
    The beer hall went silent. A coin clinked out of a stunned man's grasp into the tip box.
    "I know it's him!" The old man said. "Momono Gwynda! I thought I recognized the name!"
    Tien and Ren looked at each other, shocked. Ren tilted his head toward the door, but Tien shook his own head.
    "I think you have me confused," Momono said. "I've never been in this city before."
    "But you played 'Never a Drink Too Many'!" One patron shouted. "And 'The Cavalier'! Both of them are area classics!"
    "They're well-known in the south . . . " Momono started.
    "He sort of looks like Councilwoman Gwynda, doesn't 'e?" One man said. "'E's got the same narrow chin!"
    "I swear, I have no relation to your Councilwoman!" Momono shouted. "I've been singing in the south towns for many years!" Even as he said this, he holstered the guitar over his shoulder and grabbed the tip box. "I thank each of you for your generosity; this money will go to help a sick child in-"
    "Get down!" Tien said, pulling Momono off the stage. The Titan's Mug was in a frenzy.
    "Somebody get the guards!" One man shouted. "The Councilwoman's son has returned.!"
    "No!" Momono shouted. "He hasn't!"
    "Shut up!" Tien shouted, dragging Momono toward the door. Ren pushed through the crowd in front of them. People were cheering and smacking Momono on the shoulders genially.
    They got out into the rain and Ren led them around the corner of the beer hall. They kept running, waiting until they couldn't clearly hear the shouts of people that had exited with them. They found a wet shadow and hid in it. Tien turned on Momono.
    "What the hell, singer?" He said. "Are they right? Are you the son of a Councilwoman?"
    "I-I'm . . . I . . . yes."
    Tien smacked his forehead and groaned at the clouds. "Do you know what you've done?" He asked. "You've pretty much just brought every guard in the city down on our heads! We're lucky we could get away!"
    "We had to get money!" Momono said, shaking the full box for emphasis. "I didn't think anyone would recognize me!"
    "You . . . I . . . augh! We need to get out of this city now," Tien said. "Which way is it to the inn?" Momono pointed. "Come on!"

They got back to the inn without trouble, but the whole city seemed to be filled with shouting. They took a moment to compose themselves before walking in, as if nothing had happened.
    The innkeeper greeted them and they greeted him back, walking slowly and casually. Tien informed him they would be checking out soon, and once they got out of his sight they broke into a run, bursting into the door to their room without knocking. Ren locked it behind them as Tien whipped off his cloak. "Onli, get your stuff together. You're never going to believe this, but-" He looked up. Momono was staring at something.
    Teegan raised her hand and gave a weak wave.

"She woke up an hour or so after you left," Onli explained. "She was hungry, and thirsty, and weak, but alive and, as far as I could tell, well." Teegan nodded and drank from a glass of water. "She's still fairly warm, but not as much as before."
    "Finally, some good news," Tien said. "How do you feel, Teegan?"
    "Thirsty," she said. Her voice sounded raw and sick.
    "Drink up, then." Tien shot a glance at Momono, then back at Onli. "Momono is Councilwoman Gwynda's son."
    Onli's mouth dropped open and she looked at Momono for confirmation. He looked away, embarrassed. "Really?" She asked. Momono nodded.
    "We need to get out of the city," Tien said. "Somebody at the Titan's Mug recognized him, and people started calling for the guards." He shot Momono another look. "I guess they thought their prodigal son had returned. Are you going to explain what's going on here, or do I have to beat it out of you?"
    "Tien!" Onli said.
    "Quiet! He's endangered all of us!" Tien shouted. Taking a breath and lowering his voice, he continued. "You'd better have a damn good explanation for what just happened."
    Momono sighed. "I lived here until I was twenty-two, with my mother and father. My father died when I was sixteen . . . which left my mother to take care of me.
    "There were some others at the house I lived in," he said. Teegan slurped noisily from her glass, keeping her eyes on him. "But they were maids or servants, nobody I could really learn from. I found music when I was given a guitar by my father, who had dabbled and wanted me to enjoy it too. I loved it . . . still do.
    "My father was the thing keeping my mother in check. She isn't exactly a cruel woman, but she has a habit of taking extreme roads when simpler ones would work just as well." He shook his head. "I couldn't take it. I was saved from vicious beatings my entire life simply because she thought her status was above them. When I turned twenty-two I decided I'd had enough. She was grooming me for entry into the Council of One Hundred, but I was having none of it. I snuck out of the house and out of the city after midnight. I haven't been back since. Ten years."
    "I hate to trivialize everything you've just told us -- clearly, this was something that you didn't want to say -- but I have to ask," Tien said. "If your mother finds out that you're here, what will she do?"
    Momono shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'm her only child, and I perceived some empty nest syndrome from here, even before I left. Maybe after all these years she understands why I left, or maybe I'm going to be dragged back to the house and clapped in shackles. I don't matter right now. Teegan's awake and is getting better, which means we don't need to stay in the city anymore, right?"
    "It depends on how Teegan feels," Onli said. She looked at the girl. "How about it?"
    "I'm tired," Teegan said. "I just wanna stay here."
    "Ren could carry her if he had to, but we've all been moving a lot in the past few days," Tien said. "Momono, how likely are the guards to find us here?"
    "Breston has hundreds of places for travelers to stay, and hundreds more permanent homes. The guards could search for a year and not find this place, but we aren't that far from the Titan's Mug, and that's where they'll start."
    Tien sighed and nodded. "Ren, keep your ears open. I think we're safe right now, but I want to be prepared anyway," Tien said. Ren nodded.
    "What . . . if I, uh, went to her first?" Momono said. He was looking at his feet and sitting on one of the beds. "We obviously don't want a Councilwoman's guards finding the four of you, but I'm not a Day-lighter, not really. Nobody would guess. If I don't get back to you, you leave the city without me."
    "Would you like that?" Tien said quietly. His tone froze Momono. "Would you like to be dragged back to your mother, away from us?" He walked at Momono, hands doubled into fists. "And then, at the barest mention of punishment, you tell her how the Day-lighters kidnapped you and forced you to travel with them?" His face was broken by angry creases, but his voice stayed smooth. "You tell her all about us: Me, Ren, Onli . . . Teegan. You tell her about our crazy schemes to burn the land and boil the sea."
    He gripped Momono's tunic with both hands and hauled him up. "I told you. If you leave us, I will kill you!" He bellowed in Momono's face. Teegan squeaked and Onli gasped. Momono tried to tilt away. Tien threw Momono down; he was about to drop to his knees with one fist cocked back toward the singer when Ren wrapped his arms around his shoulders and hauled him away, throwing him with astounding force against one of the beds. Tien bounced off and struck the floor, scrambling to his feet and pulling out his sword. He found Onli and Ren with their weapons drawn and facing him. Teegan stumbled to Momono and knelt by him.
    "Calm yourself, Tien," Onli said. "You had no right to act that way. Momono was only trying to find a way out of this.
    "I have a way out of it," Tien spat. "We just need to keep him quiet."
    "And are you a monster, that you would do such things yourself?" Onli roared, growing taller in the flickering candlelight. She stepped forward. "Would you cut out his tongue and damn his eyes? Tie him to a rack and carry him along with us, as we run from the guards and soldiers? Are you trying to give the Council another reason to hate us? I see the Newsmen saying it now: 'Day-lighters mutilate Councilwoman's son,'" she growled. She took another step and reached him. He held his sword up and she battered it away with her own. The swords clanked together in a pile.
    Bringing her hand around with stunning quickness. She slapped him, and the blow rang in the room. Tien staggered down to a knee, clutching the stinging cheek.
    "How-" He began.
    "Quiet," Onli said, and the vicious echo of Tien's own word cut him. "Sit there and think about the way you just acted. Not like a human; a monster. We've worked against monsters, do you remember? We freed Teegan from them; we knew they should not be allowed to succeed."
    Next to Momono, Teegan watched the two adults. She seemed likely to fall over; she was gripping the bed next to her.
    "I remember," Tien said. "I was the one who said we should. And because of it, ten people or more died." He got to his feet. There was a small stream of blood coming out of his mouth. He leaned against the wall. "I told myself I would not let my own foolishness result in the deaths of my friends." He nodded toward Momono. "If he had run to his mother and revealed everything he knows about us, would you have blamed me? Don't deny you would have."
    "No!" Onli said. "I would have blamed Momono, because he was the one who had done it!" She bent and picked up her sword. Tien reached for his, but she stomped down on it. "Momono doesn't get a sword, why should you?"
    "To protect Teegan!" Tien said. His anger was turning to despair.
    "Ren and I can fight just as well as you," Onli said. "We rely on stealth anyway. Give me a better reason."
    Tien looked up at her, weak and unable to speak. He leaned back against the wall and didn't answer. Onli picked up his sword and handed it to Ren as Tien collapsed to a sitting position. Onli stepped away.
    The encounter seemed to be over. Momono let out a caught breath. He noticed something. "Is it warm in here?"
    Onli ran to Teegan. Tien moved to follow her, but Ren stopped him. "Teegan?" Onli asked.
    "I'm okay," the girl said. "You were fighting, and yelling . . . "
    "And you were upset," Onli said, smoothing the girl's hair. She moved back, surprised. "You're so hot."
    Teegan nodded, but gave no explanation. "I'm sorry, Teegan," Onli said. "We're done now." Onli looked at Momono. "You're all right?"
    Momono nodded, slightly embarrassed that she would choose to pay attention to him at that moment. The thing she said about blaming him for running off was stuck in his head. He got off the floor.
    "Ren, has anybody taken notice of our spat?" Onli asked.
    "Not as far as I can tell," Ren said. Onli nodded.
    "What do we do?" Ren said. His eyes went from Tien to Teegan to Momono, and finally settled on Onli. Onli sighed and closed her eyes. To Momono she suddenly seemed likely to collapse.
    "Let's all just get out of this city," she said finally. "We can figure out what to do after that once we're away." She looked around the room. "Gather up your things."
    Momono tried not to look at where Tien sat. The man didn't move; he just sat still and watched the others. Onli spoke a quiet word to Ren, and Ren approached Tien. "Your weapons," Ren said.
    Momono and Teegan froze. Tien looked up at Ren and sneered. "My own brother."
    "That doesn't matter right now," Ren said. "This is for Teegan, not you. Maybe you'll finally start to realize that."
    There was a tense moment, and Tien removed his empty scabbard from his belt. He proceeded to empty his pockets of any and all weapons. There were many more than Momono thought. Throwing knives, small spiky metal balls, poison bombs, the harmonica with the hidden dagger -- the list went on. When he was done, he looked noticeably lighter. He spotted Momono looking, and Momono turned his head back to his pack quickly.
    A happy problem he discovered he had was there was too much money from the Titan's Mug for him to carry alone. It was split up between him, Onli, and Ren. Tien watched the money change hands sullenly.
    Reluctantly, Tien started to put his pack in order, and in a few minutes they stood outside the door as Ren listened. It was just a moment before he nodded and opened the door. The hallway outside was empty, and they heard nothing except for the drip of rain on the roof. Ren led them to the front door, and paid their bill. The innkeeper said nothing, other then commenting that he was glad Teegan was feeling better.
    The clouds had grown and worsened; the rain fell heavily on their raised hoods. Teegan smiled up at the cool rain. She was the only one that didn't have her hood on, she said that she was still hot and the rain made her feel better.
    They made for the city's nearest exit, the same one they had entered. Instead of the normal late-night flow of travelers, they found a blockade of soldiers and guards, checking each person that entered or left. Onli looked behind her at Tien. "What are they doing?"
    Momono thought for a moment that he would refuse, but he began to concentrate. The gate was more than fifty yards away, but even with the rain it was no problem for him. "They checking people that go in or out," Tien said. "It looks like they have a picture of someone that they're checking against." His eyes moved to Momono. "It isn't difficult to guess who they're looking for."
    "That's what I hear, too," Ren said. "I keep hearing 'Councilwoman' and 'son.'"
    "I don't think they'll let you through if you're traveling with me," Momono said. "Is there some way for me to sneak past?"
    "We can't change your appearance enough to fool them," Onli said. "And it looks like they're checking everyone. Plus, you have a guitar. That's sort of a tip off."
    Momono cleared his throat. "I have an idea." Four pairs of eyes looked at him. He began to lay out his plan. Tien started to shoot it down, but when Momono finished explaining it, he was silent. "It falls to whether or not you trust me," he said. "I understand if you don't want to risk it."
    Onli looked at Tien. "What do you think?" She asked.
    Tien nodded. "I like it." He smiled, and Momono didn't particularly like the way it looked.

A few minutes later, Momono approached the guarded gate alone, without his guitar. His hood was pulled low, and he could just barely see out from under it. He stood in line behind the small amount of travelers trying to get out of the city at that time of night. The sky was a block of darkness.
    He got close enough to spot the picture they were using to find him. It wasn't a very good likeness -- the eyes were too close together, the lips were too big -- but it looked enough like him to be difficult to avoid. The line slowly filtered through the gate, with each person being checked against the picture. A few people joined the line behind him.
    The person in front of him was waved through, and Momono stepped up. The guard took one look, quickly checked the picture he held, and then looked back up. "It's him!"
    Momono stepped back, bumping into the person behind him. It just so happened to be a large man. The man took hold of him. "Is this guy a criminal?" The large man asked.
    The guard that was there shook his head. "He's the Councilwoman's son!" He took Momono's arm. "Your mother's been wanting to have a long talk with you about a few things." He said. "The rest of you can go through," he called to the people waiting in line. He and two other guards bustled Momono down the street, away from the gate. He struggled to get away, but the guards had him too tight.
    From atop a building on the main road, Tien watched them drag him toward the center of the city. As soon as they got around the corner, he spoke: "go."
    Ren's keen ears heard the word; he, Onli, and Teegan went through the now unguarded gate. Tien found Momono again, and began climbing down the outside of the building. When he got to the ground he pulled his cloak tight and followed after the guards.

His mother's house looked very much the same. Too much, Momono thought. Lights came from the same windows, the bushes were the same size, the same men guarded the front door. The two men smiled and greeted him, as if he was home for a visit and not being escorted by three city guards. The front door was pushed open, and Momono was hauled into the opulent foyer.
    He was struck by terrible déjà vu. The same dusty vases sat on the same fading tables. The same pictures -- old even when Momono was a child -- hung on the same walls, some at the same maddening tilted angle. The sights, the smells, the sounds, and everything else rushed to take him back to when he had been young, and he knew his mother was coming from her study to mete out some punishment.
    He shook his head violently, startling the men that half-carried him. He wrenched his arms out of their grasp and stood. Standing in the middle of the entry hall to the big manor, he took a slow, calming breath, denying entry to the bacteria of the past.
    "You're taking me to my mother?" Momono asked one of the guards. He said yes. "I'll go there myself. Where is she?" He already knew.
    "She's in her study, sir," the guard said.
    Anger blazed through him, and he envisioned lashing out at the poor fool. "Do not call me sir," he said through clenched teeth. The guard stepped back. Without another word, Momono started up the steps. He knew the study would be in the same place; everything else seemed to be.
    He reached the second floor after climbing the tall staircase, and realized something was different. The thin carpet, which always became bunched and folded after a few people had walked on it, was missing. There was just cold stone floor. Momono looked at it and wondered before moving on.
    He saw the doors of the study and nearly succumbed to the past once more. Just as they always had been, the right door was shut, but the left door was open a crack, to be pushed open when someone wanted to enter the room. Momono couldn't remember a time seeing the doors at any position other than that. He stopped outside them. He heard nothing from inside, save the ticking of the clock, and the ticking of rain against the window. He pushed against the left door, just like he had done a hundred, a thousand, times.
    She sat behind the long wooden desk. Try as she might, she could not keep herself the same, like she had kept most of the house. She was thin, looking ragged, wearing clothes too big for her. Even sitting, she seemed shorter than he remembered. Her once long, black hair was thinner, shorter, and grayer. Her hands shook with palsy. Her face was a craggy surface of lines.
    A man Momono didn't know stood behind her. A new husband, perhaps.
    "Momono, darling," Councilwoman Gwynda said, spreading her arms as if for a hug. "Come closer, I want to see you."
    Momono's heart thundered as he walked closer. He saw with some surprise that his mother was in a wheelchair. The room was hot; a fireplace blazed behind the long desk.
    "You've finally come back to me," Gwynda said. "How I've longed for this day. With some work, you can start ruling the city instead of me. I know the city will accept you."
    "No," Momono said. His mother's face fell. "I'm leaving again soon. I only got caught and brought here because I was foolish. It won't happen again."
    Gwynda tapped on the arm of her wheelchair, and the man behind her directed her around the table to a few feet in front of Momono.
    She looked so small. Momono could have picked her up and carried her like a sack of tomatoes. She looked up at him, thick spectacles enlargening her eyes. There was an elastic wrap on one wrist, and a small cover, like a napkin, on her lap. "Tell me I didn't hear that," she said. "Tell me you're just being silly again, like when you went off with that girl."
    That girl's name was Olivia, Momono though. His cheeks flushed. "I'm leaving tonight," he said. There was so much more he could have said, but the words all got caught in his throat.
    "Another woman?" His mother scoffed. "You silly boy. Just like your father. A romantic. Leave those foolish thoughts by the way, boy, and do as your mother says."
    Momono stood still, mind ablaze with awful actions, and words too harsh for the vilest criminal. Instead, he turned and walked to the door. "Stop him," he heard. The next thing he knew he was falling toward the hard floor. The man behind his mother had wrestled him down with ease and locked the only exit.
    Without looking at his mother, Momono picked himself up and brushed himself off. He'd landed on his elbow and it hurt, but he refused to cradle it. He finally looked at her, and found her leaning forward in her chair, a small smile on her face. "Lecks is a good helper. He does as he's told," she said. "Not like some troublesome boys I know." Her smile disappeared. "You hurt me, Mo. I raised you and cared for you, and you repay me by leaving."
    "You never cared for me. My father cared for me. You punished me. He told me how I had succeeded, you told me how I had failed. He built me up, and you broke me down." Momono felt almost disconnected from his body, like he was watching the interaction from somewhere else. "It was only by his actions that I realized I would have to leave this place, with or without your blessing. So I did."
    "And you went off with a cheap whore, too!" His mother yelled in a shrill voice. "Admit it! Just like that tramp from before!"
    Fury boiled out of him. "Her name was Olivia!" Momono screamed. "She wasn't a whore! I loved her, and you banished her just because you wanted to keep me under your boot! And that's all you've ever wanted to do, wasn't it?" Momono's heart leaped at what he was about to say. "My father saw it, and that's why he killed himself! He couldn't stand by and watch you destroy me just like you destroyed him, so he did the only thing he could to show me what happens to be people you get close to!" He sucked in a thin breath. "Tell your thug to unlock the door, or I will find a much more destructive way out of this room!"
    "No need for that, luckily," they heard behind them. Momono, his mother, and Lecks all looked at the door. Tien stood, spinning a key around his index finger. "I have made a way."
    "Who are you?" Gwynda demanded. "How did you get in here?"
    "Nicked it," Tien said, holding up the key, "from a guard. You'd think a Councilwoman would have some more competent guards at her own home." He looked at Momono. "Shall we?"
    "Lecks!" The Councilwoman shrieked. "Stop him! Don't let my son leave again!"
    Tien rushed forward, striking Lecks from behind and making him stumble forward. Momono ran around him, heading for the open door.
    "Alarm, alarm! Villains, murderers, thieves!" Gwynda yelled at the top of her voice. "Stop them, seize them, catch them!" She whacked Lecks, who was struggling to raise himself to his feet. "Get up, you oaf!"
    Tien and Momono exited the room, running headlong into two guards that had come when the Councilwoman's screams reached their ears. All four went down, and then Momono was being picked up by Lecks. "Keep my boy, but kill the other one!" He heard his mother say.
    Momono stomped his foot down on the hard floor and twisted, wrenching himself out of Lecks' grip. Instead of running, he turned and grabbed Lecks' throat, catching the big man off-balance. With sudden, brutal pressure, he squeezed the guard's throat, crushing his windpipe with both strong thumbs. Lecks fell to the ground, and Momono was left staring at his mother. He had finally shocked her into silence. He approached her, and she shrank back, trying to direct herself back into the room.
    Momono grabbed the arm of the chair and pulled her toward him.
    He felt a light hand on his arm, and nearly punched Tien in the face. Tien didn't flinch. "Let her go, Momono," Tien said quietly. "It's not about her. It's about Teegan."
    Teegan with the light hair, that could burn down an inn even when sick and dying. Teegan, that a dozen people or more risked and lost their lives to free and protect. Teegan, that ran to Momono to help him up after he'd fallen.
    He stopped pulling his mother, but didn't let the chair go. He nodded curtly to Tien.
    "Who's Teegan?" His mother asked, as Lecks writhed on the floor, gagging. "Another tramp?"
    Councilwoman Gwynda watched as her son's eyes moved to find her with utter slowness.

"Do you think they're all right?" Teegan asked Onli. They were waiting outside the city, at the pre-determined meeting spot. Momono's guitar was on Ren's back.
    "I hope so. Tien won't let Momono out of his sight. Unless Momono does defect, I think they'll make their way back to us," Onli answered. "Do you still feel all right?"
    Teegan nodded. She still hadn't put her hood up, and the rain was evaporating off her skin. Her face was flushed. "I'm worried about Momono."
    "I know honey, me too," Onli said. She didn't want to remind her about what they would have to do if Momono or Tien didn't show after a day -- the amount of time they had all agreed on to wait.
    They waited in silence for a bit.
    "I want to ask you about something," Ren said quietly, on Onli's other side. "I'm not that worried about Momono, but Tien . . ."
    "I know," Onli responded just as softly. "Maybe he finally has it in his head that this isn't a grand adventure that he's leading, but something much greater than him. You've known him the longest: would he really leave us?"
    Ren didn't respond immediately. "I hope not. But he has never been one to see other people's perspectives well. Strange that someone with near-supernatural eyesight would have that problem."
    "He's never needed to," Onli said. "He can see nearly everything."
    Ren smiled. "Yes." He sat quietly for a bit. "We hurt his ego pretty badly back at the inn."
    "We did. I hope he'll realize that we did it for the right reasons."

"Tell me I didn't hear that," Momono said, each muscle in his body clenched and bursting.
    "Momono, more guards are coming," Tien said.
    "Yes, just give up. Leave your foolish thoughts by the way."
    For a moment, Momono thought that he had gone blind. He sucked in a breath, and let it whistle out. His grip on the arm of the wheelchair tightened.
    Striking her would vilify him. Yelling at her would do nothing. Walking away would fail to sate the furious anger that flowed through his bones.
    She watched him. She had the little smile on that meant she knew you could do nothing.
    A thought cascaded through his body, sending shivers in all directions. Momono grew a smile of his own. It stretched and twisted. His eyebrows dug down into his face, creating a harrowing monster. His mother leaned away.
    Momono turned to Tien. "Let's get out of this building." Tien started to say something, but Momono turned away.
    He ripped the elastic band off his mother's wrist, balled the napkin in her lap, and stuffed it in her mouth. Before she could push it out, He wrapped the band around her head, tying it tight at the back. Councilwoman Gwynda's shouts were reduced to a muffled meow. He picked her up and, as he guessed, could carry her like a small, wet dog. Her limbs beat against him, but it was like a tree beating on a mountain. Momono looked at Tien, who pointed behind him. Momono noticed the two other guards they had collided with lying on the ground, unconscious, but more were getting closer.
    Tien led him away from them, around a hall, and toward a deserted back staircase. They went down, and found an open door, with a dazed guard slumped against it. Tien pushed it open and went into the cold, dazzling rain. Momono was instantly soaked, and his mother croaked at the cold.
    "What are you going to do?" Tien asked. "If you mean to hurt her-"
    "No," Momono said. "Not that. Not physically, at least."
    Momono seemed to be leading them somewhere, but Tien didn't know the city well enough to figure out where. "Whatever you're going to do, do it quickly. They'll figure out we aren't in the house soon enough, and then the entire city will be looking for us. I have reason to suspect that they won't just throw us in prison, either," Tien said.
    "Then keep an eye out," was all Momono said. He shifted his mother.
    They walked for almost an hour. Some of the buildings began to get familiar to Tien. The hour was late, and the streets were empty, except for the odd guard. They crept; Momono had a hand over his mother's mouth just in case. The woman grunted and fought the entire time, but she was too old and feeble to do anything worthwhile. Momono barely had to struggle against her.
    "I know where we are," Tien said, after they'd gone a few more blocks. He shielded his eyes against the rain. "We're near the Titan, aren't we?"
    Momono said nothing, he simply forged on through the pounding raindrops.
    They broke out of an alley, and Tien saw the Titan rising up in the darkness, raging against the ground that held him captive. Momono headed directly for it. Tien took a quick look around, saw nobody, and followed him.
    Momono walked directly in front of the tall sculpture, and dropped his mother. She groaned when she hit the hard, soggy ground. "Look at it," Momono ordered. His mother peered up at him, making a disapproving face. "Look at it!" Momono pointed at the Titan. "Look at my father!"
    Tien stared. "You told us the Titan was funded by a wealthy sponsor. It was your mother?" Momono nodded.
    "Look, mother. Do you see how he pulls against the ground? Screams at the sky?" The singer looked down at his feeble mother. "How strange I thought it was when you had this built. All I could see in it was my father trying to get away from you. He pulls against your constraints but he's stuck to the waist. He'll never get out." He paused. "Now look at me."
    Councilwoman Gwynda shifted her gaze from her husband to her son.
    "If you really think that, after everything you've done to turn me into a wailing fool, after everything I saw my father suffer through because of the way you acted, I would want to came back to you and take your place on the Council . . . then there is no creature on Earth more demented. And if the Council really does see you as a good leader, still, then I want nothing to do with them. Is that what the entire Council is like? Confused old husks that rattle human lives between their knuckles like dice?" He smiled. "I heard that the Day-lighters want to burn you out of your power and take control. If that's true, than I wish them luck."
    The Councilwoman's eyes grew wide. "You will never see me again," Momono said. "If you do, it's because I've either come to kill you, or I am already dead. You might think that you're safe, ruling others with a demented and thin mind, and then there will be nothing but everlasting darkness, because I will finally decide your life needs to be ended." He picked her up easily. Tien could see thin streams of steam rising from him. "Maybe you'll change, and beg my forgiveness, and I'll let you be. But I don't see that happening. That would require you to realize you were wrong for once in your life!"
    He dropped her on the ground, and looked at Tien. "Let's go."
    "You're a scary man, singer," Tien said. He turned. "Uh oh."
    "What?"
    "I think we might be surrounded." Tien took a few quick looks around him. "This way!" He led Momono toward an alley, but before they could reach it, a guard stepped around a corner and blocked it. Tien cut left, and Momono slipped in the rain keeping up with him. He got up and chased Tien, who was heading for a different alley. Another guard appeared, and this one Tien confronted.
    The guard swung and missed. Tien wrapped his arms around the guard's wrist, and Momono heard a snap. The guard dropped the sword and screamed. Tien picked it up and pushed past the man. Momono followed. Tien splashed through puddles, keeping the sword ready next to him.
    Momono suddenly felt tired, and struggled to keep up with him. Tien disappeared around a corner, and Momono followed.
    He found Tien cornered by three guards. Tien looked at Momono and shouted. "That's the one that kidnapped the Councilwoman!"
    The guard between them turned, and Tien brought the hilt of his sword down on his head. The other two tried to spring on him, but Tien darted under their attacks. Momono picked up the sword the unconscious guard had dropped.
    Tien cut another guard through his leather pants, dropping him with a cry. He feinted toward the last one, who stumbled backward to avoid an attack that didn't come. Tien brought his sword around with the guard off-balance, knocking him over. He kicked the guard in the face and looked at Momono. "Coming?"
    Momono nodded, and the two ran.
    "You're a dirty fighter," Momono said, when they'd gone a few blocks. Tien was checking for people.
    "Yeah, well, you do what you can. I can hardly count the number of times I've been surrounded by people that want to kill or capture me. We'd better keep moving. The gates are going to be guarded again if we don't get out of the city soon, and I don't think we can pull the same trick as before."
    "I wonder if Teegan and the others got out all right," Momono said.
    "I'm sure they did," Tien said, walking down the street with Momono on his heels. "Onli is smart. After the stunt you pulled, there was no reason for them to be stopped. They've probably been waiting for us at the spot for hours now." Tien stopped looking at looked at the sword in Momono's hand. "I thought we agreed no weapons."
    Momono looked at the sword. "I suppose we did. Then again, Onli and Ren didn't want you to have a weapon, either."
    Tien glared, but Momono didn't relent. "Do you know why I wanted you to be the one to make sure I came back after pulling my stunt at the gate?"
    "Because you knew I wouldn't let you get away?"
    "Yes. There's another reason, though." Momono looked around them as they walked. Rain was the only other thing in the street. "I wanted to give you a chance to leave."
    Tien stopped, skidding in water. "What?!"
    "I saw how you looked in the inn, after being browbeaten by Onli. You looked how I felt while I was living with my mother. You were trying to figure out if you could get away. I wanted to let you have that chance. I knew I wasn't going to betray Teegan, so if I got back to them and you left, I could say you were killed protecting me."
    "I would never do that to them," Tien said savagely. "They're the only family I have."
    "I guess they are. I guess they're the only family I have left, too." Momono looked at the sword again. Rain dripped off its sharp edge. "Want me to get rid of this?"
    Tien considered this, then shook his head. "If you want a sword, you can have one. You're part of our group, now. Consider yourself a Day-lighter, for better or worse."
    Momono nodded, and smiled.

They made it out of the gate before it was blocked by guards, but only by hurrying. They went as quickly as they could to the spot pointed out by Momono as the meeting place.
    All they found was a scorched circle, devoid of any other evidence that Ren, Onli, or Teegan had been there. The ground was wet ash, drowned in the falling rain. Tien searched for them using his powerful eyesight, but saw nothing. He turned around and tensed.
    A minute later several guards came upon the empty spot, after getting reports of an "explosion."

To be concluded in "First Star I See Tonight."