Crossing the border into the Empire of Darhi was supposed to be easy. It always had been for Kimba, anyway. But the closer they got to the guards on the road, the more it took to convince Fulmosk’s and Tallo’s horses to walk faster.

She waited until the guards were just on the edge of sight before she paused her horse and twisted around to face the four she traveled with.

“What’s going on?” she asked harshly. “What else is a secret?”

“Nothing!” Fulmosk said with the least convincing smile of this eternity. If I had a physical form here, they would see me roll my eyes. But it seems like that wasn’t needed, as Kimba, Nina, and Rin pushed Fulmosk and Tallo to the center of an odd triangle. They circled around them like prey.

“The more I know, the more I can stop you from dying,” said Kimba as she white-knuckled her reigns. Her horse snorted. “Do we need a false narrative?” The way the two men hesitated made her physically growl. “Do you know how long I’ve been doing this? I don’t get paid if you die. So if there’s something I should know, tell me.”

Fulmosk, ever loyal to the scribe, attempted to speak: “There’s nothing—”

“You won’t be the only one that thinks I’m a bastard,” said Tallo promptly. Fulmosk nearly fell out of his horse when he covered his face with both hands. Kimba, though, seemed to manage to catch the subtlety in Tallo’s voice. Amongst the venom laced particularly for her, Kimba caught his odd inflection.

“Fine,” she said carefully. “Am I to concoct a new story, or is the proper one fine?”

Tallo looked as if he bit into a lemon. “I am not a bastard any more than I am a prince.” Despite Rin and Nina’s shock from the other side of the road, Kimba nodded.

“Fine, I understand enough.” Though it seemed like she understood very little, it was enough for her to return to leading the troupe through the road to the guard that stood post at the iron-wrought portcullis.

“Names and purpose?” the man asked lazily. He leaned against the stone wall, one leg crossed over another, as he held a pad and pen in hand.

Kimba wasted no time. “We are Nura, Rosa, Senda, Rufus, and Gregori in a long travel from Werus to the far end of the great Empire of Darhi, to visit family.” Tallo’s and Fulmosk’s look of surprise almost caught the guard’s eye as he wrote down on his paper with his ink.

“And whom are you visiting?” the lazy man of tan skin asked.

Kimba was almost too quick: “My stupid husband’s family.” She gave a pointed look behind her. While Rin and Nina picked up on what was happening, it took Fulmosk a bit longer.

Tallo, thankfully, was there to save the moment. “Excuse me?”

“You may pass,” said the bored guard.

“If I said thank you,” began Kimba, “I would be lying!” But the five of them were let through the gate without any further questions or kerfuffle.

And at least it took Fulmosk half an entire mile to ask his question, “Can I know what that was?”

“Part of the job,” said Kimba, only half-listening. “Look, we have a few more hours until we get to Grulas. Anything else I should know?” She twisted her reigns to guide her horse to turn around to the group. Again, they stopped in a triangle with Tallo and Fulmosk inside. They didn’t circle this time, but the horses grew restless at the tension.

Fulmosk suddenly seemed to gain some confidence. He straightened his shoulders, held up a finger, and set his voice to sound a little deeper.

“Yes!” he started. He shrank a little bit, though. “I mean—I mean, no. Why did you lie? We are barely a full day into this journey!” Kimba took this moment to direct her horse to step a little closer. She tried not to show that she enjoyed Fulmosk’s cowering, but she did need to try harder at concealing her smile.

“Do you plan on sharing our lies as well as our secrets, dear Gregori?” she asked quietly. Rin and Nina couldn’t hear her, but they didn’t seem to care about that, as they sat upon their horses, trading different rations for tonight’s dinner. Even further, I doubted this was Kimba’s first lie on the job. Fulmosk seemed smaller than his own freckles, now.

“I—I mean, I don’t understand—”

“Little man,” said Kimba with a deeper voice. “How many escort missions have you been on?” The “little man” stared at his reigns in shame. “And you, not-bastard?” She now addressed Tallo, who met her gaze. He sat taller, though.

“This is my first time through the country,” he answered, meeting her full gaze. The threads between their eyes were so vibrant, so green and blue and red and yellow, that I almost had to squint. It was as if a flame lit every thread, the view so bright and hard. The fire in their gaze transferred to the threads of their fate. Annoyance, passion, compassion, desperation. That and so much more than what I could identify in a mere flash of a second. It wasn’t just I who had to take a breath. Kimba seemed caught off-guard.

“Well,” she started to buy herself time, “it’s not mine. Follow my lead.”