It was the right moment to act. Both the Vedan lord merchant’s and the lady’s attention was on her, so the change in her behavior would not go unnoticed. After all, it would be a shame to lose the element of surprise.

Anki counted to three. Nua allowed herself to go completely limp. The guard, Quintus, almost let her go, but he managed to correct the grip on her arm and grab the other one.

“Oh, here she goes again.”, he muttered. “Seems like your sense of justice made an impression, madam.”

“Kick her, so she stops playing about.” the lady advised.

Nua wouldn’t like to get kicked.

“Quick, Anki. The words. Repeat until I get them.”

The spirit started speaking. Nua opened her eyes, stiffened, and shrieked dramatically. She regretted that she can’t produce foam on demand. That would add credibility to her deception.

She could feel that Anki lowered his mental shields, as promised before. She remembered what it was like, to be on the receiving end of his emotions and anticipated his annoyance with the Azurians, but nothing could prepare her for the torrent of vitriol the king was exuding toward her captors. It was not just anger on her behalf, but bone-deep hatred for the people who humiliated her brethren, and continued to do that every day, now that there was no Autarch to stop them. Nua knew the old adage “fate worse than death” and until now, she thought it a figure of speech. After all, you could come back from the direst straits, provided that you were still alive. However, the loathing Anki was projecting, the punishments he was planning, made her almost curl up on the pavement instead of following the plan, even if she couldn’t pick up the details – just the general impression. She focused on the words, so they would distract her from Anki’s turbulent thoughts.

With a somber voice, she aped what Anki was saying. With her mind closer to his, the words rolled off her tongue somehow, almost as if she knew them. There was a slight peppery sensation of ether, which she had unwittingly picked up trying to defend herself from the intruding thoughts of vengeance. She wasn’t sure if it did anything.

“Now that’s something else.”, said Quintus, and gave her a well-measured kick to the ribs. Not enough to break her bones, but more than enough to cause blinding pain to erupt in her side. “Behave, thief.”

She barely noticed the shocked expression of the lord merchant and the weirded-out looks from the lady.

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“Wait!”, he exclaimed. “Do not hurt her! Let her speak.”

“This is another ruse. She knows some vedan, I guess.”

Dhurandhara approached.

“Not the high speech.” he said. “it’s impossible. You weren’t looking at her face. Her eyes – they shine with an unearthly glow. The child is god-touched.”

The other guard, Balbinus, gave out several foul expletives.

“The beast-eyed are cursed! If she has ether, we need to kill her now!”

Nua trembled.

“It isn’t working as it should, Anki!”

“Do not be afraid”, interjected the spirit. “Repeat after me, again. Word after word.”

“Don’t do anything.”, the merchant replied, his voice laced with threat. “If this is real, I want to hear the message. It is meant for me, and not for you, puny Azurians.”

Nua was speaking, trying her best to keep her voice steady and droning. The merchant listened with all four of his palms pressed together and his head lowered. After that, he asked a question. Anki formulated an answer. The girl could not make anything out of it, save that Dhurandhara’s tone conveyed polite reverence and a complete lack of regard for the surrounding witnesses.

The last utterance from the merchant was longer than the others, and after that, Anki replied with just two words. Then he lifted the mental shields up.

“it is over.”

Nua slumped, this time her weakness genuine, and breathed with deep relief.

Lord merchant turned to the guards.

“Let the child go.”

“Why I’d never…” started the elegant lady, unsure if she wanted to sound offended, or abandon the argument altogether. “What happened? Is it a curse, or something?”

“She was but a conduit for the message meant for my ears only, madam.”, the Vedan said. “And for all I know, she’s just a regular dweller of the Bottoms, not worth your attention. But Lady Providence works in mysterious ways, and she likes to remind us that we’re always watched even as we distance ourselves from the spiritual. The weak minds – the drunks, the beggars, the children – are often her ears and eyes.”

He approached, then ducked, handed out the package with the fish to Nua, and waited until she opened her eyes.

She gave him an incredulous look.

“Take it, young one. As a charity in the name of Lady Providence.”, he said.

“Oh, thank you very much, milord.”, she babbled, reaching for the fish. Quintus let her go and backed off several steps with dire caution. “Can I take it? Can I really? What has happened?”

“Nothing that should concern you, young one.”, the Vedan smiled. “Although, as the saying in my country goes, giving you a fish won’t fix anything long-term. If you want to better your fate, come to my warehouse tomorrow, before the break of dawn. People will direct you. There’s always a shortage of cleaners.”

Now what? Did he go totally bonkers and offered her a job? Nua’s jaw went slack. Lord merchant dismissed her with a hand wave, and the guards gave way. She did not stay to hear the elegant lady launching into a high-pitched, exasperated protest and did not wait until the vigiles changed their mind. She ran as fast as she could, with the hard-earned package full of razorfish in her hands. A haunting sound accompanied Nua in her mind.

Anki was laughing.