A small crowd had gathered in front of Milvia's house. The three guards on duty that day were sitting on the stairs to prevent anyone from entering. Aili walked up to the one who had broken the window when Liraira had given the alarm.

“Hi, Onis. Anything happened while we were away?”

They shook their head, whipping the air with a short brown braid.

“There was a group that said they were her friends.” Onis nodded in the crowd's direction. “We told them to wait. I think that made them angry.”

“Good idea, we don't want people to touch anything until we find out what happened.” Aili cleared her throat. “Listen, we know it seems dangerous, but we need to talk to someone who might be the murderer. Can you come with us?”

Onis glanced at the ground.

“Reporting problems is one thing, but I have a job and a family.”

“I get it. We can give you ten vissins now, regardless of what happens, and twenty more if he's the murderer and we catch him.”

Onis thought about it for some instants, then nodded. Aili smiled.

“Great. Let's go, then.”

They cut through the crowd, the guard walking at the front to clear the way. Saia stared straight ahead. Some people were shouting their indignation, angry at Koidan but still too afraid to express it freely, but most were asking for reassurance, a sign of the god, or just a word from the people who seemed closest to him. But there wasn't enough time for that; they had to learn how to reassure themselves.

Luckily, the crowd returned in front of the house once the group had reached the end of the street. Onis slowed down to walk beside Saia and Aili.

“They think that the evil god killed that girl. Who knows, maybe it's true.”

Saia stiffened, but didn't reply.

Aili gestured for them to turn right. They headed down the large road that connected the central square to the docks. It broke into three smaller streets toward the end, and Aili confidently chose the middle one.

“It should be the third house on the left,” she said, then stopped. “Is there somewhere we can hide? I want to observe the area before talking to him.”

Onis put their braid on a shoulder.

“Not here, but we can circle around.”

They entered a side street and looked at the back of the house. They found the garden Orver had talked about, enclosed by a fence. The tall grass hid half of the backdoor from their view.

“That's Loriem's house,” Onis said hesitantly.

Aili stopped.

“Do you know him?”

“Not well. I see him often when I go to Taitia’s with the other guards. Sometimes he offers us some of his beer. Oh, look.” They pointed at the farthest corner of the backyard. “He’s there.”

Saia narrowed her eyes. Someone was moving up and down, disappearing into the grass before emerging again.

“What is he doing?”

“Choosing the herbs for his beer.”

Aili wrinkled her nose.

“From his backyard?”

“I don’t know why, but it tastes amazing.”

Saia looked around. Apart from two men talking to each other from windows on opposite sides of the street, there wasn't anyone else.

“What now?”

Aili straightened.

“Onis, you'll go guard the front door in case he tries to run. Saia and I will talk to him from the fence, so he won't feel threatened or try to hurt us.”

The guard nodded.

“I don't know how to fight, though.”

“Just follow him. Even better, put a barrel at the entrance to stop him in case he tries to leave. We’ll scream if we need you.”

Onis nodded and left. Aili took a deep breath, then looked at Saia.

“Are you ready?”

“It depends. What are we going to tell him?”

“That we're planning a meeting and... And he's seen us.”

Aili forced a smile and waved.

“Come on,” she said, advancing toward the house.

Loriem was looking at them with a bundle of grass in his hands.

“Good afternoon,” Aili widened her smile, then returned serious. “You're the brewer everyone talks about, right?”

He lifted his chin.

“I make beer, yeah. I'm about to prepare another batch.”

He raised the herbs. Aili nodded.

“Good. I'm not going to waste much of your time. We just wanted to organize a meeting with the whole village to talk about what happened and thought that maybe we could buy a barrel from you.”

He glanced at Saia, then back at Aili.

“You're talking about the dead girl, right?”

“Yes, exactly. The meeting's about that.”

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Saia noticed that Aili's hand was trembling. She must have realized that too, because she clenched her fingers and lowered the fist at her side.

“A disgrace,” the man said. “The evil god has made his first victim.”

Aili swallowed.

“Just a question, where were you earlier this afternoon? We're asking this to everyone,” she added quickly, “just to make sure that she was actually killed by the evil god and not one of us.”

Now she was also sweating. Saia resisted the urge to take her aside and tell her to calm down.

The man looked up, squinting a bit.

“Let me think... I went to Taitia's. You know, the tavern down at the docks. Ate something, then returned home. Now I'm brewing my beer.”

Aili nodded. Saia noticed that the man's grip on the bundle of grass was so tight his fingers had blanked.

“How much do you sell it for?” Aili asked.

“A barrel's twenty vissins. Not negotiable.”

“Can we taste it, then? To be sure it's what we're looking for.”

He nodded and headed inside. Once he’d disappeared behind the door, Aili let out a long sigh.

“That was scary.”

Saia drummed her fingers on her bag.

“What do we do when he comes back?”

“I don't know. I think we should just drink our beers, promise him we'll think about buying it, then go to Taitia's. Maybe the owner can tell us whether he was actually there.”

“What if Taitia doesn't remember? And he could have paid her to tell a lie. He knows we suspect him now, I don't think he'll stay here and wait for us to come back.”

Aili brought a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes for an instant.

“I know, but I don't have a better idea. If I ask anything else, he'll know for sure that we suspect him and become either more cautious or violent.”

Saia looked at the house. She noticed some movement inside, but couldn't see clearly what Loriem was doing. He could have been poisoning the beer, for all they knew.

Her fingers stopped on the bag.

“I have an idea.”

She opened it and took out the sea snake. She tossed it where Loriem had been standing and reached over the fence to move the tall grass around until it wasn’t visible anymore.

Aili gripped the fence with both hands.

“What are you doing?”

Saia was about to explain when the man opened the door, his back against the wood. He walked up to the two women with a mug in each hand.

“There you go. It's twelve vissins in total.”

Aili searched in the pockets of her pants while Saia looked into the bag. She tucked the leather gloves under her arm before opening a small purse half filled with coins. She took the beer and let the six vissins fall onto Loriem's open hand.

He crossed his arms, waiting. Aili took a sip and raised her eyebrows.

“This is good.”

Loriem nodded. He looked at Saia, then at her mug. She held the gloves with her free hand and brought the mug to her lips. She didn't remember which scale belonged to that snake. She covered them all with her palm and focused until she felt the sea waves under her skin. She agitated them with her thoughts until they were buzzing.

A soft rustling caught Loriem's attention.

“What the...”

He jumped back with a shriek. The snake held onto his leg as he staggered and fell into the tall grass, clawing at his pant leg. Saia touched the scales again, and the animal went limp, half-hidden by the herbs.

She stepped forward and put her hands on the fence.

“Listen to me, Loriem. I know it hurts, but if you're honest with me I can give you an antidote.”

He sat on the grass, wide eyes pointed at the two red dots on his leg.

“I'm gonna die. Shit, I'm gonna die!”

Aili clutched the mug with both hands, making the beer tremble with her.

“I don't... What...”

Saia glanced at her, then focused on the man.

“Have you killed Milvia?”

He tilted his head in her direction, keeping his eyes on the bite.

“Whatever you say. Just give me the antidote.”

He reached out with a hand.

“How?” she said. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

“Are you insane?” Aili shouted.

“Don't worry,” Saia said.

Loriem looked around, sweat spilling from his forehead.

“It wasn’t me. Just give me the antidote.”

Saia gripped the fence, then turned and approached Aili.

“What should I ask him?”

“Just... Just heal him. I need to think about it.”

Saia shook her head.

“I can't. I left the antidote at home.”

“What?”

She turned toward the general direction of her house. At least, it wasn't far.

“I'll be quick,” she said, talking under her breath so that Loriem couldn't understand. “Just keep asking him questions. Tell him he'll have the antidote when he tells the truth.”

Aili pressed the mug against her chest with both hands.

“What if he’s actually innocent?”

“I'll heal him anyway, I don't want to kill anyone.”

Onis was walking toward them, alerted by the shouts. Saia waved at them and ran away. She only stopped once in front of her house, panting. She closed the door behind her and kneeled in front of the bed. She fished the sphere out of the blanket, sat with her back against the side of the bed and recalled the waves.

“Before you say anything,” she said as soon as the light turned golden, “there's a man who was bitten by a snake. Can you heal him?”

The light spun in silence. Saia watched as it slowed down.

“Milvia's dead”, Koidan said. “Loriem's blood's full of venom. There's one of your snakes next to him and it isn't moving. Did you use magic outside?”

“Yes, but I hid the snake in the grass first. Loriem and Aili didn't notice anything, so I don't think the sentinels did.”

“Aili’s trembling, Saia. And she's asking questions to Loriem about Milvia's,” he paused, “murder?”

He sounded surprised.

“And what are they saying?”

Saia realized she was gripping the sphere too tight.

“Loriem's admitting he did it. What happened, Saia?”

She told him, from their visit to Milvia's house to how they confronted Loriem.

“You should have just awakened me,” Koidan said. “I’d have fixed everything. There was no need for this.”

“Everything? Even resurrected Milvia?”

“No, but I'd have noticed that there's a stone frypan stained with Milvia's blood in a side street, and that some of it is also on the clothes under Loriem's bed.”

“Aili would’ve found out that you're a sphere.”

“Yes, and that's clearly more important than catching a murderer before he runs away.”

“Oh, sorry for trying to help you.”

The light slowed down.

“This is all my fault. The earthquake, the fire, and now Milvia's death.” He sounded incredulous, as if he had just realized what had happened. “If I hadn’t been so selfish to think that I could escape my fate without consequences, she’d still be alive.”

“Loriem murdered her, not you.”

“Yes, because he knew I wasn’t there. I should have never told that lie about the evil god. I… I just couldn’t imagine any of my people becoming murderers as soon as I turned my back.”

Saia sighed.

“So what’s your plan now?”

“I’ll stay awake and face the consequences.”

“And die.”

“I’ve lived for two hundred years. Milvia was only twenty-six.”

The light dimmed so suddenly Saia had to blink away the afterimage of the furniture from her sight. She felt a wave of sadness creep up from her hands to her chest and meet the tension that was already there. She breathed deeply, trying not to cry.

“I’ve been selfish, and foolish. I’ve failed Milvia and all of my people.”

Saia closed her eyes for an instant, trying to calm down and think rationally about all of the possible ways she could fix that mess. She didn’t want Koidan to be replaced.

“How much can you go on without sleeping with the energy you have left?”

“Who knows? My guess is about a year, maybe less if I make another mistake and the monks find out about it. Let’s just try to enjoy the time we have left, and…”

Saia shut him down.

She stared at the sphere in her hand, blue light rotating slowly. She put him down on the blanket and stared some more.

“Oh, shit,” she whispered. “Shit shit shit shit.”

She brought both hands to her mouth and sobbed. She thought about waking him up again, before it was too late to apologize, and tell him she was sorry. But then what? He would have died. 'His people' wouldn't have even noticed. They would have kept being careless and dependent on Koidan like babies. And what if the next one, the substitute, wasn't like Koidan at all? She knew that bad gods existed, and nothing could guarantee her that the next one wouldn’t have been exactly like Vizena.

She just needed time to think. She could find a solution, discuss a better system with Aili to prevent crimes. Paying the guards to patrol the city was the first step, and even if she didn't know what could come next, there were a million other things to try that were better than just letting Koidan die.

She wrapped him up in the blanket and hid him. She stood, a hand on her forehead. They were waiting for her. Loriem had to be imprisoned, Onis wanted their pay, Aili needed an explanation and more answers than what Saia was willing to provide. But she wasn't ready to face them.

She opened her bag and dropped it next to the tank. She fished the snakes out one by one, putting them to sleep before letting them fall into the bag. She looked outside the window, waiting for a moment of quiet in the street, then locked the door behind her and left.