Pali, the boys and Ferra had given up on finding a stall for the day and were resting in an inn he and Meric had chosen before she had left to check the bounty office. Since Meric was still gone he had no choice but to stay put, despite his desire to search for Salis.

Pali looked around the room. Dario and Calren were sitting on the floor near the window talking. Ferra was sitting on a stool and was playing her hand harp while humming a slow song that she had learned from the only traveling musician they had seen on the road. It was making him want to lie down and take a nap.

As Pali listened to Ferra play, he heard something. He was not sure what it was, so he made Ferra stop playing.

"What is it, Papa?" She said.

"Did you hear something?"

Ferra appeared to be in thought for a moment before replying, "I do not think so."

"Pali… Pali… Are you there?" He heard a muffled voice.

Pali looked around for a moment before realizing what it was.

"The communication crystal!" He said and rushed to open the secret compartment in his trunk.

Ferra followed close behind him, excited to see what the call was about. Dario and Calren jumped up and came over as well.

"Hello! This is Pali." Pali said as soon as he had the crystal extracted from the trunk.

"Good to see you alive and well." A man said. It was one of the communications officers in Fort Kein.

"Is there something General Hani wants us to do?"

"No. Someone has requested to speak to you and General Hani has given them permission."

Pali and the children looked at each other, curious who would have asked to contact them.

Before Pali could say anything the officer nodded to someone out of view and then picked up the crystal, obscuring the view with his hand briefly, before it was put down again and he could see who the person was.

It was Loih! Pali had not seen the Knight of Sorris since a few months before he had left for Toa Mirr when he had asked him to keep an eye out for Salis.

"Loih!" Pali said excitedly. He hoped the man was calling to say he had found Salis, and that they had only been chasing rumors.

"Good to see you, Pali!" He said, smiling. "How goes the search?"

Pali's spirits went down a bit. Loih would not have asked that if he had found Salis.

"We have found a few leads but nothing concrete. We think Salis is in Eto but we just arrived today and have not been able to do much searching."

Loih smiled again. "Then you are in a good place because I too have come across information that suggests Salis might be in Eto."

"You did? That makes me feel a little more confident."

"I have some even better news to tell you."

"Better news?"

"Yes. We found Salis' friend Helnion!"

Ferra squealed in delight as soon as Loih had said they had found Helnion. Pali also noticed Calren looked happy as well.

"How?" Pali asked as soon as he had Ferra quieted down.

"She was in Al-Kel…" Loih said, telling Pali the story of Helnion and the things the woman named Triosa had made her do.

"That is horrible!" Ferra said when Loih finished. "Why would someone do that to her?"

"I wish I knew. All I know is that Helnion agreed to retrieve the stolen magic items in exchange for help finding Salis." Loih said, shaking his head.

"How is she now?" Pali asked.

"She is resting. Her injuries were not life threatening, but she is extremely tired."

"What of Triosa?"

"I have not seen her since she chased us out of the estate, but she seems to be able to appear and disappear at will so I could not say whether she will be back. I will stay with Helnion for a while just in case, but I do not know how much good it will do."

Pali heard someone off-screen. Loih looked away from the crystal for a moment then turned back.

"It looks my time is up," Loih said.

"Thank you for letting us know," Pali said.

"Yes! Thank you!" Ferra added.

"I wish you luck with your search," Loih said before the crystal went blank.

"Poor Helnion," Dario said.

Calren nodded. "I wish I could visit her."

"Me too," Ferra said, her previous glee now gone thanks to Loih's story.

"At least she is safe," Pali said, bringing a smile to his face. "If she is safe, then Salis is too, considering how much tougher that Terran girl is. At least I could say that if she was not so prone to finding trouble."

Dario and Calren both laughed a bit at this. Ferra looked at them, slightly disgusted, but said nothing and sighed.

Pali had just finished listening to what Meric had found out at the bounty office. He was happy that Salis had not been caught yet. Meric had even narrowed down the areas of the city they needed to search by half.

"Where should we start looking, Papa?" Ferra asked Pali.

"Salis is a smart girl so I believe looking away from the center of the sightings would be the right place to start," Pali replied.

"Then where should we look?" Dario asked, his voice sounding as bored as he looked.

"It depends on how much money she has," Pali said. "You all know how much she hates being dirty. So I would not be surprised if she was at a nice inn."

"And what if she has no money?" Meric asked.

"I imagine it would be somewhere with as few people as possible," Pali said.

"Where would we find a place like that in a city this big?" Ferra asked.

"That I cannot say," Pali responded. "For now, we should head over to the east side of the city and begin searching."

Dario stood up. "Finally, I can get out of this room."

"I do not know," Calren said, staying seated on his stool. "Do you not remember how much it smells outside?"

"Dario. Calren." Meric said. Her voice stern.

Neither of the boys said anything and glanced at each other. Calren stood up.

"Let us get in the carriage. No use walking that far." Pali said.

"Yes, Papa!" Ferra said, a smile on her face.

Pali smiled as Ferra rushed out of the room. She could sometimes be a pain with her relationship with Dario, but her attitude for everything else had made their trip that much more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise.

Pali lept to his feet and followed Ferra outside. The boys were just behind him, pushed by Meric.

Pali finally pulled the carriage to a stop outside of a modest-sized inn near one area the Night Trickster had been seen. He hoped they would get lucky and this inn would be where Salis would stay but it would not be so easy.

"Meric," Pali said, getting the woman's attention. "Do you think it is safe enough for us to split up?" Pali glanced at the children.

Meric looked around the crowded streets for a bit before replying. "As long as they stay in crowded areas."

Pali turned back to the children. "Are you three up to searching on your own?"

Dario replied almost immediately, his chest puffed out. "Of course! I am not scared of these people."

"I will go with Dario," Calren said. "I do not want to find out what they do to slaves here that are caught on their own."

Pali nodded. "Good point."

"I will be fine too Papa," Ferra said. She then looked to Dario. "I think I will do much better by myself."

Dario made a face at Ferra.

Pali shook his head and sighed.

"All right," Pali said after a moment. "Meric and I will check the inns and you three can ask the street children and the beggars if they have seen anyone. I imagine she has been covering herself to hide her skin and hair, but her height should still give her away." He then added, "We will meet back here in three hours."

The three children nodded and then left, Ferra going in the opposite direction of Dario and Calren.

"I will check this inn," Pali said to Meric.

Meric nodded and headed in the direction Dario and Calren had left.

Pali turned to the inn.

"Please be in there Salis." He said to himself.

Three hours later Pali pulled the wagon back into the same spot he had last seen the others. Not only had he not found any useful information, most of the inns had refused to tell him about any of the guests staying there. A few had accepted small bribes but all he got out of it was getting told that no one like Salis had been staying there.

"I am tired," Calren said, rolling into the back of the wagon and laying there. Dario climbed in behind him. They had already been there waiting. Pali wondered how long they had been back.

A few minutes later Ferra arrived. She had lost the zeal she had had when she left.

"I do not like it here." She said. "Everyone is so depressing."

"I know," Pali said, remembering the faces he had been seeing all day. "No one seems to trust anyone here."

"I know I would not," Dario said. "Everyone here is probably a thief if not worse."

"Maybe not all of them…" Pali replied, not sure if he was right.

"Where is Mama?" Ferra asked.

"I imagine she is being more thorough than I was and is taking longer," Pali replied. He hoped she would not be too thorough and get herself in trouble.

"There she is!" Ferra said a few minutes later. She stood up and jumped out of the wagon before running to meet Meric.

"Did you find out anything?" Pali asked Meric as she approached the wagon.

Pali judged by the irritated look on her face she had not.

"None," Meric replied.

"Is something wrong Mama?" Ferra said, looking up at the woman's face.

"The men here are disgusting and vulgar creatures," Meric said, letting disgust show on her face.

Ferra looked down at the ground for a moment and then looked back at Meric.

"Did someone do something to you!?" Meric said, anger appearing on her face.

"Some men tried taking me with them a few times, but I was too fast for them," Ferra replied.

"From now on I think we should not let you two go anywhere alone, especially you Ferra," Pali said.

Meric looked at Ferra. "I agree. As much as I know I can take care of myself, I tire of these men, though I do not know how well any of you three would help keep them away."

Meric looked over the two boys and Pali, a small smile appearing on her face.

Pali ignored the remark and Dario's protests to take in the woman's smile. He enjoyed seeing it.

Ferra laughed.

"We would have to end up protecting you three if you came with us!" Ferra said, still laughing.

Dario looked like he wanted to argue, but Pali knew that the boy knew Ferra was right.

"We should head back to our inn for now," Pali said, hoping to not give the women any more opportunities to make more jokes.