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her eyes. Naki’s mouth widened and thinned in a polite smile.
    Then, without any little movement to warn that she was about to, Naki looked directly at Lilia.
    Uh, oh
, Lilia thought, feeling the heat of embarrassment and guilt beginning to rise.
Caught out.
Just as she was about to look away, Naki smiled.
    Surprise froze Lilia. She wondered briefly what to do, then smiled in return. It would have been rude otherwise. She forced herself to look away.
She didn’t seem to mind me watching her but … how embarrassing to be caught staring.
    A movement in Naki’s direction tugged at Lilia’s attention. She resisted the temptation to glance back, trying instead to decipher what she was seeing in the corner of her eye. A dark-haired person was standing near where Naki was sitting. That person was walking now. That person was coming in this direction.
    Surely not …
    She could not stop her head from turning and her eyes from looking up. Naki, she saw, was walking toward her. She was looking right at her, and smiling.
    Naki put her plate down next to Lilia’s and then slid onto the empty space on the bench beside her.
    “Hello,” she said.
    “Hello,” Lilia replied uncertainly.
What does she want? Does she want to know why I was looking at her? Does she want to chat? What on earth will I talk about if she does?
    “I was bored. I thought I’d come over and see what you were doing,” Naki explained.
    Lilia could not help looking over at Naki’s former companion. The talker was staring at them, looking confused and a little peeved. Lilia glanced at her companions. The girls were surprised, and the boys had that fearful and wistful expression they usually wore when Naki was close.
    She said “... what
you
were doing”. It didn’t sound like it included all of us.
    She turned back to Naki. “Not much,” Lilia said honestly, wincing at the lameness of her reply. “Just eating.”
    “What were you talking about?” Naki prompted, glancing at the others.
    “Whether we chose the right discipline,” one of the others said. Lilia shrugged and nodded.
    “Ah,” Naki said. “I was tempted to choose Warrior, but for all that it’s fun I can’t see myself spending my life doing it. I’ll keep up my skills, of course, in case we’re ever invaded again, but I decided Alchemy would be more useful.”
    “That’s what I thought about Healing,” Lilia told her. “More useful.”
    “True, but I’ve never been much good at Healing.” Naki smiled wryly.
    As Naki continued chatting, Lilia’s surprise slowly began to melt away. Somehow, by smiling at someone across the room, or perhaps because the talker on the other table had been boring, a beautiful and admired novice was chatting to her like they were new friends.
    For whatever reason it had occurred, she resolved to enjoy the moment. Because she certainly didn’t think it would happen again.

CHAPTER 3
     

ACCUSATIONS AND PROPOSALS
     
    The three days since Lorkin and Evar had been ordered to remain in the men’s room and stay there until the Speakers were all available to meet and deal with them had been surprisingly enjoyable.
    “For doing what?” Evar had delighted in asking anyone who suggested that accusations or punishments would be directed at them. Nobody could say exactly what he or Lorkin were going to be accused of. Which gave Lorkin some confidence.
Everyone knows there isn’t a rule or law or even an order that Evar or I have broken. If there was, I’m sure they’d have locked me away in a room on my own.
    The occupants of the men’s room thought it was all very funny. Since the governance of Sanctuary was out of their reach, they delighted in any errors their leaders made – so long as those mistakes didn’t affect everyone badly, of course. They were so pleased that Lorkin and Evar had showed the Speakers up for fools that they had brought them gifts and spent time making sure their new heroes never grew bored.
    Three of them were teaching