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.”
    “Oh, it is,” Gabralina assured her. “It truly is.” It would be wonderful for Sala to have a sylph of her own. “Does this mean you’re staying?”
    “I was thinking of it. When I heard you were here, I had to come. It just wasn’t the same without you back in Yed.”
    Overjoyed, Gabralina hugged her. She would have stayed a simple field hand if Sala hadn’t found her so long ago and introduced her to the city, to all of the rich people who lived in it. And Sala was always so much fun.
    In the center of the marketplace, a roar suddenly sounded, echoed shortly thereafter by others. Both women jumped as cloud-shaped battlers descended, smoky shapes surrounding a screaming man in worn leathers.
    “What?” Sala gasped. “What’s going on?” She clung in horror to her friend.
    Gabralina held her just as tight, trying desperately to think. She’d heard Mace talking to the Widow about this earlier. She hadn’t really thought about it further, but she remembered now.
    “There are killers after the queen,” she explained. “The battlers have been trying to flush them out for a week.”
    “How?” Sala asked.
    Gabralina paused. What had Mace called it, evil intent? “They . . . they can tell when someone wants to do something bad.”
    “Oh,” Sala whispered, her face pale. Her eyes were bright.
    The market cleared. Both women watched as the battlers’ target was apprehended, smoky tendrils wrapping around him and lifting him up into the air. Gabralina wondered if Wat was among the group, but the sylphs’ lightning flashed much quicker than his ever did. They carried their captive away toward the underground, and Gabralina turned back to her friend, her heart pounding.
    “Sorry about that,” she said. “It’s normally very peaceful here.”
    “I’m glad,” Sala replied. “I don’t think I could take that much excitement on a regular basis.”
    The two shared a smile and they continued walking, here and there, just enjoying the day. It wasn’t until hours later that Gabralina remembered the eggs.
    Sala shivered, rubbing her arms.
    Her friend’s home was an underground apartment near the center of town. It was small and plain, just a front salon and a bedroom with a bathroom down the hall that Gabralina shared with everyone else on the floor. There were no windows, but a series of narrow slits in the ceiling let in daylight. It didn’t cost Gabralina anything, as earth sylphs made enough apartments for everyone in the Valley, but to Sala’s mind there wasn’t much encouragement for anyone to want to stay.
    That was probably the point, she decided, looking around at her friend’s tiny space. A small table and two chairs in the front room took up nearly half the area, and she’d already seen that the bedroom was mostly bed. Gabralina had offered this place for her to stay, but the minuteness of the apartment felt like it was closing in on her. It was a huge change from the plantation where Gabralina had been living as the mistress of one of the most powerful magistrates in Yed. That house had eighty rooms and forty servants. The magistrate had given her gowns and jewels and brought her into the highest circles of society. Naturally, Gabralina brought her oldest friend Sala along for the ride.
    Sala sighed, still processing how her friend’s life was reduced.
    Behind her, the door opened. She turned, expecting to see Gabralina, but instead she found the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. He was flawless, even more gorgeous than Gabralina herself.
    The man entered and stopped, staring at her. He was dressed in a blue uniform trimmed with gold, but for all his beauty and splendor his eyes were vapid. He blinked, his hand still on the door handle. He tilted his head to one side.
    “You feel funny,” he said.
    “Do I?”
    “Yeah.” His head tilted to the other side. “Are you in there?”
    “I would assume so . . .” She laughed. “Are you Gabby’s battle sylph?”
    “Gabby?” he