Slowly surfacing from the depths of healing slumber, Ederra opened her eyes to a nightmare. She was sprawled on a hard wooden floor, her thick woolen dress barely protecting her ribs from bruising, the scarf she had used as a pillow rustling underneath her reddening cheeks.

At first she thought it had been the heat that had awakened her, given that she'd fallen asleep in what she could only describe as a furnace room, but then clear voices drifted from above and a slow trickle of alarm began pooling at the base of her spine. She recognized her own words, the ones she had feverishly scribbled in the night, only now they came out twisted, from a different mouth, using the wrong tones and inflections. She winced at their awkward delivery, and prayed that this might all be just another dream.

But then another voice cut through the monotonous speech, and Ederra nearly banged her head against the low ceiling as she suddenly jolted upright.

"That is all very well, child, but I cannot see the purpose of you entertaining us with these stories at a time such as this."

It was an abrasive voice, hardened with the experience of age and cold with the certainty of purpose. Someone who did not like wasting time on what she considered to be trifles, or worse, inconveniences that might delay a desired result.

"I feel obligated to do so at this very instance since I have shirked my duties yesterday evening, in light of an unfortunate occurrence," said Tahni calmly. "I must insist on remedying the situation."

"If you insist on it," replied the other woman, "let it be so while the priestesses assess your drink for offer. I am sure that would be most suitable for all involved."

"By all means, I was done a while ago anyway. Now, as I was saying, in the third year of my studies into applied sciences and modern philosophy, my mother took it upon herself to show me the practical.. uhm.. things I could do while tending her exquisite gardens. I am certain you've heard of them, they are quite the sight..."

There was nothing Ederra desired more in that moment than for someone to show up and assure her that this was indeed some sort of cruel nightmare, specifically designed to punish her for Attira knew what indiscretion.

There was no way Tahni could be that foolish. If all that was being said was true, not only had no one called her out for skipping the previous trial, she had also somehow completed this one and could have easily succeeded, keeping her head down to advance to the next stage. Ederra racked her brain, trying to remember the exact moment when she'd delivered the answers to her friend, as well as what instructions she had given her. While all of the previous hours had been somewhat of a blur given her extreme exhaustion, she remembered clearly that she'd told Tahni not to bring up the speech unless explicitly asked. So what was she going on about now? Had something gone wrong again?

Ederra rubbed her eyes, then adjusted the lopsided wig. Picking up the scarf, she tied it under her chin and began the laborious process of extracting herself from the chamber.

She had first thought it a stroke of luck that she'd found the spot almost right away: a lonely gazebo with a tall base, and a suspiciously large grillwork on the side opposite the stairs. She had peered carefully around, then crouched before the intricate metalwork. Having felt the heat, she wouldn't stop until she'd pried the whole grill away, crawling into an auxiliary level housing dozens of clay stoves heating the floor above.

As she reached the end of the room, she pressed her nose against the grill and squinted at the surrounding area. The gazebo was placed on a low hill, and the side she was currently facing led to a small grove of birch trees housing two twin temples, presumably for other deities. She spied several pairs of ceremonially clad women on the paths next to the trees, but they were too far away to pose a real issue. Closer at hand , she thought she could distinguish muted conversations - entirely to be expected, since the presence of the contestants indicated that their flocks of followers would be lingering nearby as well.

She had to act at once, before anybody wandered around to her side. Swiftly, she pulled the grill away and almost tumbled out into the damp grass, tripping over her dress and once again dislodging the wig. She puffed her cheeks in frustration, straightened the ensemble on her head, then turned to readjust the secret entrance to the room she'd just come from. Finally, she stood up on wobbly legs and noticed that she'd gotten a couple of mud stains for her troubles.

Ederra did not typically feel inclined to burst into tears, but the past few hours had surely been testing her resolve. She rubbed the stains away as best as she could, then limped to the other side of the wooden structure. Sure enough, she'd barely made a few steps before the first group of ladies-in waiting came into view. They were gossiping and pointing animatedly at the gazebo, probably imagining how well their mistresses were doing and how long they'd still have to wait for them.

Fortunately for Ederra, the contestants' attendants weren't the only ones hanging around, and she found that she could blend in quite well with other workers from the burial complex, who'd been driven by curiosity to catch a glimpse of the women fighting to be the next queen. For her part, she could not have been less impressed with the entire concept. True, the nap had helped, but she was still tired and didn't feel like expending more energy than would have been strictly necessary. Instead, she found a comfortable tree stump and sat down with a sigh of contentment. From her current position, she could just about make out the top of the stairs leading out of the gazebo.

Of course she knew that isolating herself like this meant she would miss out on the golden opportunity to catch more gossip, but for once she felt no inclination whatsoever to do so. That was an alarming sign in and of itself, and she made a note of finding ways to improve her stamina - there was no way she was going to pull this off otherwise.

As she stared fixedly ahead, seeing but not truly registering what was going on around her, she found herself dozing off once again. Therefore, she had no way of knowing how much time had passed before a familiar voice jolted her out of her reverie.

"You've made it easy for me to find you," chirped Tahni. "I was worried I would have to turn the whole place upside down, but then I remembered you were wearing the ugliest head scarf I had ever seen, so I just focused on that, and here you are."

Ederra squinted up at her friend, doing her best to stifle a yawn. She then peeked behind her to take stock of all the other contestants surrounded by their servants and ladies-in-waiting, enabling her to surmise that they were done for the day.

"Did you pass?" she asked curtly.

"I think so. Nobody said otherwise."

"Good, then let's get out of here."

She braced her hands on her knees and slowly stood up, mindful of her aching back.

"Don't you want to know how-"

"Not in this setting."

Tahni nodded, but as soon as she started walking towards the nearest footpath, Ederra saw another woman coming towards them.

"Wait," she whispered, and Tahni turned around curiously.

She was definitely another contestant, and also appeared somewhat familiar. Ederra suddenly wished that Tahni had had time to tell her what had just happened, for there was no mistaking the woman's purposeful stride, or who the intended target of her attention was. Fortunately, her gaze passed over Ederra quickly enough, dismissing her out of hand as an unremarkable servant. Ederra didn't complain about this treatment, since it enabled her to study the woman's face unimpeded. She was wearing a strange expression, somewhere between curiosity and amusement, which looked quite incongruous when worked into her delicate features, as if she'd just stepped out of a Terevansian perceptivist painting.

"Lady Sebek," she murmured in polite greeting, bowing her neck at just the required angle among equals of standing. She looked to be in a hurry, as she barely waited for Tahni to respond in turn. "I do not know if you meant to do that," she continued, "but I considered it imperative to thank you in any case. So here I am, eager for you to accept my sincerity. I have not brought additional gifts, and all the offerings my good ladies have carried today belong to my ancestors at my family's shrine, so I would be so very grateful if you accepted my words as the kind regards they represent."

Oh, dear, but she was a smooth talker. Ederra was fairly confident she could match her any day of the week - well, perhaps not today since she bore the unfair disadvantage of fatigue. What presented even more interest was the fact that even her voice sounded familiar; Ederra must have therefore heard her speak in this manner before.

"If by «this», you mean helping you," said Tahni, "I can assure you that I absolutely did. The novice was careless in her switch and I spotted the moment when she gave you the wrong bag. I couldn't stay quiet after that, knowing that we might lose a worthy woman to the schemes of a ruthless cheater."

"I see," said the stranger, puckering her small lips. "I wouldn't have expected them to use such a careless agent, however," she added, and Ederra noticed the slight stiffening of Tahni's shoulders.

The woman kept on frowning at the ground for a few moments longer, but then she turned back to Tahni, a warm, almost ingenuous smile revealing perfect white teeth.

"Their mistake made my fortune, and so did your help. There was nothing I could have done otherwise."

"But there is something you could do right now," blurted Tahni. "I mean, you don't actually plan to let them get away with it?"

"Oh?"

The stranger's eyes had widened to an almost alarming degree, as if the thought had never really crossed her mind.

"I know who did it," clarified Tahni. "I stayed in front after they were done with me just so I could see their faces when your tea came up for checking, and I'm telling you, she looked absolutely revolted-"

"Who did?"

"Her," whispered Tahni, tilting her head to the right, and Ederra followed the indicated direction until she spotted a tall figure clad in a clinging lilac dress, with a hairdo so complicated, it must have taken hours to put together. "Reyoma, wasn't it?"

Ederra couldn't stop from shuddering. Reyoma Tersi had been the one contestant whose speech she'd managed to hear from start to finish, and she wasn't ashamed to admit it had been the best she'd ever heard. Finally having a face to associate with the woman was still a revelation, in that she looked even more formidable than Ederra had imagined her to be.

"You think Lady Tersi had something to do with this?" asked the other contestant, sounding genuinely perplexed.

"She looked more than suspicious," said Tahni stubbornly.

"But that's just her face! I can't believe she'd stoop-"

All of a sudden, the stranger closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she blinked back at Tahni a few seconds later, a smaller version of her smile from before reemerged.

"I know she may sometimes come across as ... haughty," she began mildly," but I've made the effort of trying to be more understanding of her situation and even though I wouldn't describe our relationship as particularly close, I am fairly certain of her character. You must have noticed how confident her bearing is, and I can assure you, that is no act. A woman such as her would not feel the need to resort to cheap tricks to further her goals, when she knows she is more than capable of succeeding on her own."

"Cheap tricks are sometimes the most effective, precisely because no one is expecting them," countered Tahni, and the other woman inclined her head in silent agreement. Ederra wondered at this show of solidarity between two rivals, and promptly decided to distrust everything this smooth-tongued lady said or implied.

"I suppose the only thing that could exonerate her is the lack of proof," added Tahni grudgingly, eliciting an emphatic nod as a response.

"It is a hopeless case, isn't it?" sighed the liar, then shook herself and started rummaging in her sash pocket. "I know I said I had no gifts to offer, but I just remembered I saved a spare... No, don't refuse, please. I am doing this as much for you as for myself, since I know I cannot bear to have an unpaid debt. There!"

She proffered a small glass vial to Tahni, who took it hesitantly.

"I call it a revival tonic. It's been a hard journey to this glade, and I don't anticipate the return being any easier, so my mother prepared this for me and my ladies. We've packed more, just in case, and I'm so glad that we did!"

With every additional word, Ederra's suspicion grew and her frown deepened. Compared to the start of the conversation, this woman now looked positively giddy, not even sparing a glance for Reyoma, who must have counted as one, if not the biggest, of her competitors.

"Thank you," said Tahni, "but there is no debt to speak of."

"It is I who is thankful. I would linger, but I must care for my ancestors' shrine now. May Channa smile on you through all of your days, Lady Sebek."

She bowed again as per the departure protocol, then turned and walked towards three waiting women carrying voluminous loads. Tahni glanced after her for a while, then drifted back to Ederra.

"I didn't expect to find any nice people in that family," she confessed.

"Give me that," hissed Ederra, almost snatching the vial out of Tahni's hand.

"Sure, if you want it. I was going to give it to you anyway, but... I remembered who she was midway through our talk and I mean it, I thought everyone in that family was a snake."

Ederra judged it unwise to point out the validity of that statement, since Tahni appeared quite taken with the other woman and her whole innocence routine. She clasped the vial tighter, as if to remind herself not to fall for the same trap.

"And which family might that be?"

"The Jebrils," confided Tahni, and Ederra found that she wasn't in the least bit surprised. "I think her name's Hedina, or something of that sort."

"Hedina, Hedina..." mused Ederra. "She wouldn't happen to have a brother named Hanadan and an uncle named Tohab?"

"I don't know about the uncle, but the brother is Eker's - I mean, the king's close friend."

"Ah."

Of course it would have turned out this way. It had taken the end of the conversation for Ederra to finally connect the dots and associate that voice with the lively presentation speech she'd caught snippets of while negotiating with Hanadan in the haunted box. Wordlessly, she transferred the vial to her own pocket and followed Tahni down a footpath, skirting a small rose garden.

"Where did you leave our bags?" she inquired sometime later, as they approached the main road.

"By the front gate, with the priestesses of Denera. Very friendly women, you'd like them."

Ederra took a deep breath, finally deciding to face what was really troubling her.

"I'm sorry I left you to carry them all by yourself. I'm sorry I left you alone. It won't happen again."

Tahni turned to smile back at her.

"No worries," she said. "This wouldn't have been necessary if I'd actually stuck to the plan yesterday. It was supposed to be a reconnaissance anyway, but I got carried away."

"You will tell me everything that happened in that gazebo on our way back... What?"

Tahni was sputtering, clearly struggling to hold back her laughter.

"I wanted to call it a gazebo, too," she said in a trembling voice, "but they kept on insisting it was a temple."

"How is that a temple?"

"I don't know! But you're smart, so tell me: have you ever actually heard of the goddess Valina?"