This early in the morning, the docks were busy. It looked like a pair of cargo ships had arrived late in the night and were being unloaded in a hurry now, and the Rambutan being loaded up in preparation to depart hadn’t helped matters. Big Mike was front and center, as he had been on the docks back in Cotanaku, directing the mingled dockhands and sailors with his booming voice.

The large captain’s boisterous manner crumbled a little around the edges when Kaldalis, Reno, and Ess walked up to him.

“Alright boy,” Big Mike said, clapping a hand down on Kaldalis’s shoulder to pull him in close. “I want to trust you. I really do. But I need your solemn word that this is on the up-and-up.”

“Of course it is,” Kaldalis said quickly. “Why? What do you mean?”

“I’m just askin’ you to look at it from my perspective,” Big Mike said. He furrowed his brow and searched Kaldalis’s eyes. “A bunch of people from a foreign country just asked me to be ready to leave the capital in a hurry. What does that sound like to you?”

“Like you’re a good friend?” Ess provided.

“It sounds like you’re planning something nasty,” Big Mike said. Despite Ess’s interruption, he didn’t take his eyes off of Kaldalis, clearly searching for the lie. “An attack or a heist. Something against my homeland that you’re makin’ me party to.”

“Oh shit,” Reno cursed, “he’s got you there, Kal. This does sound pretty shady.”

Kaldalis spared her a quick glare before turning back to Big Mike and putting a hand on his shoulder in turn. “I promise I’ve been completely honest with you. If we’re making a getaway from anything when we leave, it’s whatever Onirioago throws at us. No trouble with the law, no illegal contraband, no stolen goods. I promise.”

Big Mike examined Kaldalis carefully, and after a moment, his face split into his more characteristic grin. “You’re a good kid, Kal,” he said, slapping him on the back. “Damn good. But I wouldn’t say no illegal contraband, if you catch my drift.” He gave Kaldalis a conspiratorial elbow in the ribs with a bark of a laugh.

“Hey, don’t tell me anything I don’t need to know,” Kaldalis said, putting up his hands, “I’m gonna be under oath this afternoon.”

“Onirioago seems the type to have something up her sleeve, though,” Big Mike grumbled. “I tried to avoid dealing with her myself on the trip here, but I between Demriv’s complaints and what my boys had to say about her, you don’t have to tell me she’s ten pounds of mischief in a five pound bag.”

“You might be selling her short on that end,” Kaldalis said with a grimace. “But I’m glad you understand.”

“We wanted to come down and offer our help,” Reno put in. “Since we might be casting off on short notice.”

“No ‘might be’ about it,” Big Mike said, he straightened up. “I’ve put in to ship out of here tonight.”

“What?” Ess asked. “Why? What if nothing happens?”

“Well then we’re leaving anyway,” Big Mike said. He pointed down the dock towards the nearest building. “The paperwork has been filed, and it’ll be stamped by this afternoon. The only way we don’t leave is if we eat the docking fees all over again.”

“Classic Baimer.” Kaldalis grimaced at the reminder of the bureaucracy.

“It’s not so bad,” Big Mike said quickly. “But rules is rules, kid.” He pushed back the front of his tricorn hat and wiped at his balding forehead. “I just don’t know where I’m gonna get the fuckin’ money if we gotta stay for anything.”

“Tell you what,” Kaldalis said, “if we have to stay, I’ll cover the docking fee for you.”

“Shouldn’t you check with Garyung before promising something like that?” Ess asked.

“This isn’t on behalf of Cotanaku,” Kaldalis said. “I mean out of my own pocket. This whole thing is my idea, and if I’m wrong, I’ll own up to it myself.”

“Shit,” Big Mike cursed. He favored Kaldalis with a broad smile. “You’re a good kid, Kal.” There was a crashing sound and a cry went up on the deck of the ship. “Shit,” Big Mike cursed again, in a very different tone of voice.

“You gotta deal with that?” Reno asked.

“Jesse!” Big Mike bellowed up at the ship. “When I fuckin’ tell you two men to a barrel, it’s not for my goddamn health!” He turned back to Kaldalis with an apologetic smile. “Sorry boy, your friend has the right of it.”

The captain turned and with startling alacrity for a man his size, swarmed up the side of the ship without using the gangplank. His booming voice started cursing a blue streak that was probably audible all the way up at the castle.

“Kal!” Reno hissed as soon as Big Mike was gone. “Are you crazy? Can you afford to pay what you just promised?”

Kaldalis grimaced. “Probably, actually. I might have to dump some junk charms off on an NPC vendor, but even if it ruins me, I’ll be fine in a week when the stream rewards come through.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game,” Reno warned.

“It’s videogame money, it’s not like I just promised to pay out real cash,” Kaldalis said with a shrug. “Besides, if worst comes to worst, I can depend on the kindness of my friends to keep me fed, right?”

Reno gave him a glare, but Ess swatted her shoulder. “Give him a break. He knows what he’s doing.”

“Honestly, I can’t imagine a situation where I’d be happier to be broke. It’d be because Onirioago is safely behind bars and nothing went wrong,” Kaldalis said. “Really, don’t worry about me.”

“I’m just saying someone has to look out for you,” Reno grumbled. “Because it sure as hell isn’t gonna be you.”

“You’re not wrong,” Kaldalis said with a heavy sigh. “And I do appreciate it. But as long as the stream rewards are coming in, I’ll get through this just fine. I’m not going to tell you not to worry about me, but I’ve been fucking up my life in Rundan since the minute I got here, and I’ve been able to handle every curveball. Trust me, okay?”

Reno seemed mollified by the admission of guilt. Or, at the very least, she was satisfied enough to leave the conversation alone. She led the trio up the gangplank onto the ship, where dozens upon dozens of crates and barrels stacked around. A group of sailors was busily carting them down into the ship while another group of dockworkers were bringing more on to replace them as they went.

Big Mike was in the middle of it, coordinating it all like a foul-mouthed orchestra conductor. No sooner had the three of them got up on the deck that he started to incorporate their help into the chaotic dance of loading the ship.

It was hard work, but not back-breaking. Kaldalis understood quickly why Big Mike had ordered two people per barrel; it wasn’t that the barrels were too heavy to move single-handedly, but that with two people working together, they moved faster, and needed less rest between trips. Kaldalis, Reno, and Ess worked with a few of the other sailors as intermediaries, repositioning the goods already on the deck to keep them accessible and organized for the sailors stowing things belowdecks, and to make room for the deckhands to drop off their next load of goods.

“So Kal,” Ess grunted as they worked together to carry a barrel of fresh water between them. “You really are doing okay, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, absolutely,” Kaldalis insisted. “Why?”

“You just seem… I don’t know,” Ess said. She turned and guided him with a twitch of her chin, and they set the barrel down beside the stack of goods being carried belowdecks. “Ever since I got here you seem to always be so tense.”

“Okay, yes,” Kaldalis said as they went back to the pallet of barrels to grab another. “But that’s just because I’m in a perpetual state of building a house of cards while surrounded by oscillating fans. Every five minutes there’s some new threat, and I just can’t let a megalomaniac with machiavellian political clout and a frightening talent for poisons get lost in the shuffle.”

“So once this is all over,” Ess said, taking hold of one end of the barrel and waiting for him to take the other. “Once the trial is over and she’s behind bars, everything will be fine?”

“Fuck, I hope so,” Kaldalis grunted as he grabbed the barrel and they lifted together in wordless coordination. “I know there’s going to be new business when we get back, and a new catastrophe after that. But once the prison cell holding my archnemesis is no longer in the line of fire, the stakes won’t include her crazy ass getting loose and making good on her threats.”

“I hope things get better for you, then,” she grunted as they moved the barrel into position beside the one they’d just placed, and together they set it down.

“Me too,” Kaldalis grumbled. “I just hope they wait at least a week before they immediately get ten times worse.”

The trio worked hard through the morning under the colorful encouragement of Big Mike. He insisted that he would make sailors of them yet, but he was the one who pulled Kaldalis up short. He’d nearly lost track of time in the comforting repetition of manual labor, and it was the captain that sent him off the ship. It was time to catch up with Bangen and Gavinkim.

It was nearly time for the trial.