I went though the door and nodded to the neighbor kid Dad sometimes paid to watch for shoplifters. The place looked as it always did inside, a maze of shelves and racks gently illuminated by hanging bulbs. I saw a family arguing in Quarryap over by the gas stoves, as well as a few other customers here and there. Dezi looked around at shelves full of old computers and lifelight-catching prisms as I led her to the back counter. Sawada and Northmarch stood behind it, looking down at something-a map, maybe?-and talking in low voices.

"How's it going, Dad?" I said as nonchalantly as I could. I couldn't wait to surprise him.

"El!" He looked up immediately. "Nice of you to-Rik's anvil, Ellery! You look...man, you look great!" He was beaming at me and I returned the grin.

"Thanks, Dad. Good to see you too."

"Wait-is your head okay?"

"Bonked it at work. Still getting used to the low doors." I felt bad for lying, but it was the best I could come up with off the cuff.

"Some bonk. Be careful." He shook his head. "Gave me a scare for a second there, kid. Thought you were here to break my kneecaps or something." A little shiver went through me at how close he'd come to the truth. "So what's the special occasion? You finally getting hitched? Is this the lucky lady?" He turned to Dezhda, who'd gone bright red.

"Oh, come on, man! Ignore him, Dezi, he's always like this." I looked between them. "This is my dad, Astair Sawada."

Dezi recovered remarkably quickly and shook my dad's hand with a smile. "I'm Dezhda Kuznetsov. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Sawada! Call me Dezi."

"Same! I also answer to Astair or Tair or 'Hey, dumbass!'" He brushed a stray strand of gray hair out of his face as Dezi giggled. "You know, it's interesting how you say 'Kuznetsov'. A lot of old Sovish names would actually change depending who they were attached to. So for a woman, you'd say 'Kuznetsova' instead."

"Oh, so that's why Dyedushka's always adding letters to things!"

"Dyedushka, that's your grandfather?" Dezi nodded. "Man, I'd love to talk to him sometime. A while back, y'know, I actually met this guy who came to Savlop all the way from Sovland! He himself, not his great-grandparents!"

"Wait, for real?" Dezi's eyes were wide. "What was he like?"

"Well, it was interesting. He had a hard time actually expressing himself. Apparently they've engineered the language so heavily over there that..."

Oh, boy. He'd be on this for a while. I was about to jump in to rescue Dezhda, but it seemed like she was actually interested. I knew they'd hit it off quick.

"How's it going?" I asked Northmarch, who'd been watching-if that was the right word for someone blindfolded-the whole interaction with an air of bemused amusement.

"Oh, it is good around here. The depth of Mr. Sawada's knowledge continues to surprise." He paused, as if thinking. "Your new clothes look very fine."

"Uh, thanks. I'd say the same about yours, but-" He still wore nothing but a blindfold under his mop of pale hair, a gut-cord sling across his chest and a pair of shorts that went down to his knees.

"I understand, no need to worry." He smiled the same calm smile he always seemed to wear and rested his elbows on the counter. I could see every little muscle in his shoulders move; he had to have the least body fat of anyone I'd ever seen. The effect was a little uncanny. "I know I am not the most stylish of people, yes."

"With you there. I'm not either most of the time." I came around the back of the counter to join him. "What were you guys working on, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Ah, I had planned to tell you anyway. Look here." He stepped aside-his feet were bare, I noticed with mild surprise, hard and armored with callous- and indicated the counter.

It was indeed a map, fresh-printed on warm plaspaper. I didn't recognize the area at first. There were a few streets and blocks in the upper-left corner, but most of it was shaded green, traced with squiggly lines that didn't look like any Savlop-2 street. It took seeing a familiar name-Romanov Street-to realize what I was looking at.

"The park? Damn, I didn't realize it was this big." Northmarch nodded. "Why are you interested in that horrorshow?"

He smiled wider. "Your father and I plan on visiting tomorrow." He paused, waiting for an outburst-which I nearly gave him.

"And why, why in the world, would you be going in there?" Maybe I shouldn't be so mad. Northmarch and Sawada were adults, they could do what they want. But into the park? There was no reason I could think of to go into a regular dark zone, let along that one. Maybe it was just because the place scared me so much.

He steepled his fingers. "I have many friends among the tornagena, you know? We are far from homogenous, and I have met plenty of different tribes and clades. There are even some that live in the park."

"Oh, I know. Met a few the other day. Tried to kill me and a friend of mine."

"Mm, I do not mean the poor derelicts looking for a few leaves to keep over their heads. These people, our word for them...it means something like 'visitors.'" The smile showed a little teeth. "They are not, as you say, in for the long haul. My friends are, and one of them has found something quite interesting."

"Interesting how? That word can mean a lot of things.”

"Interesting historically. My acquaintance Morranne has discovered a Dakessar chapel, one far more ancient than any I have heard of. Based on what they've told me, it may even be old as Lastdusk."

I let out an impressed whistle. No wonder my dad was all over it. Man just loved old stuff. He'd already taken Dezhda on a tour of his collection, showing her crumpled Sov winter hats and belt buckles stamped with the hammer, wheel, and star. She was either actually interested or doing a very good impression.

"Okay," I said. "He'd dive into a paste macerator to check out something like that. So, not to pry, but why would you? I've only met a few tornagena, but they all tended to have more, ah, immediate concerns."

"This is understandable. It is not an easy life, the one we lead. But you speak of immediate concerns. What created those but the concerns that came before? This is the essential truth of history: that which exists now is determined by that which came before." He took a deep breath, and even through the blindfold he seemed to be looking right at me. His voice remained smooth, deceptively deep.

"I am a student of history, and I mean that in the truest sense: one who is taught. Think of the strange situation the tornagena find themselve in, Sharkie. Living in the dark, fighting for their lives from birth until death. I did not realize how odd, how cruel and capricious the lot of my people was until I visited the lighted world. When I did understand it, it made me want to know why. How had such a thing been allowed to happen? What choices, what mistakes, what vagaries of chance had led to our present tribulation? What had been forgotten? Should we discover all that, I believe, we can begin to discover the true nature of the problem and how it may be solved."

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Despite his accent and slightly off diction, his eloquence was formidable. For a guy who didn't own a shirt, he sure could speak. "Northmarch, I-"

"I do not tell you all this to rub it in your face, Sharkie. Nor to lay blame. I tell you because I understand that you and your father care deeply for each other. I know you may not trust me, and I wish to assuage your concerns. This is a dangerous thing we undertake, but my motives are pure. Your father will be better able to understand any ancient technology we find, and he wishes to see the place for himself anyway. I will protect him with my life-this I swear." He touched the bone handle of his khukuri when he said it-some tradition I didn't get, maybe?

"Well, uh, thanks for that," I said awkwardly. "It's reassuring. But I'd like to come with you." Sawada was no oblivious naif, but I didn't think he was a fighter. Northmarch or not, I wasn't going to let him in there without me backing him up.

"You would? This would be a great help!" He crossed his arms and grinned. "Yes, very definitely. Another pair of strong arms will speed us greatly-there is much brush to cut, of course. Hm, and we may need to carry things out as well."

"Moving heavy things is my specialty. When are you going?"

"We will leave here tomorrow morning at six. Is this suitable?"

I couldn't help gulping. So soon? I'd hoped for a little more time to heal-and to psych myself up. "Yeah. Yeah, that works."

"Magnei shan! We will be seeing you tomorrow morning, then! Look here, this is where we will go once we meet Morranne..." He spent a few minutes showing me routes and trails on the map, but to be honest I didn't pick up on most of it. Navigational skills atrophy when you've lived on a neatly labeled grid your whole life.

"It will make more sense when we are there, and Morranne will be guiding us anyway. They know most about the park. But I will tell you this: the place is bigger than it seems. Paths twist and wind. Tunnels have opened. It would not do to get lost in there."

Ah, just what I needed to hear. I was reassured-reassured that going in there was a dumb idea. But I knew Sawada wouldn't hear a word about changing his mind, and Northmarch was apparently a zealot. Best I could do was go in with them and keep them from getting too distracted by dusty old wine cups or something.

"Shall we see where has your father gone? You can let him know you are joining us."

"Yeah. Poor Dezi's probably had an ear and a half talked off by now."

"She seems a nice girl, your friend," said Northmarch as we went into the back.

"You don't know the half of it." I eyed him sidelong. "She's got a boyfriend, just so you know."

He coughed, ashen cheeks actually blushing a little. "Not-ah, not what I meant. Good for her. Though unfortunate for us, maybe?"

"Heh. Just a little. Wait, how'd you-"

"You stare."

"Damn, that obvious? Need to work on that." I didn't ask him how in the hell he knew where I was looking with that blindfold on. Part because it might be rude, part because I didn't want to know. He was still a little unsettling.

We caught up to Dezhda and Sawada by one of the walls. He was showing her one of his favorite pictures, framed on the wall, and I didn't want to interrupt. The bottom third showed a mottled, pale gray landscape, the top a pure black sky. Hanging in the middle of the darkness was a bright semicircle, mottled blue and white.

"...this is just a knockoff of a copy of a reproduction, of course. Still old, but far from original. But that's not why I have it. It's just incredible, don't you think? That's us! That's the world, how it used to look. We really sent cameras up there, to another little planet that went around ours. Probably still does behind the Pall, actually."

Dezi stared at the photo, eyes transfixed, mouth slightly open. "I..." I was shocked to see her tear up a little. "I never thought it looked like that. So blue. Movies are one thing...but that's really how it looked?"

My dad nodded. "You know, I even saw a picture in a book once-I don't have it, guy wouldn't even hear an offer-a picture of a person up there, on Luna. Guy in a gold helmet and puffy white armor, standing next to a banner. Most incredible thing I ever saw."

Dezhda turned to look at him. "Do you think it's true there used to be loads of people out there in space? Or that there still are? That's what the priests say, talking about the war and Martyred Kings and all, but it always sounded like just a story to me."

"Oh, well you're gonna want to sit down for this one. The debate's been going on forever-you know, just like I have," he finished when he saw Northmarch and I waiting patiently. "Man, I keep double-taking every time I see you, El. Where'd you get the suit, anyway? It even looks fitted."

I nodded. "Dezi took me to this place she knew, Kwan and Moliere's. They set me up. Oh, Dezi-this is Northmarch. Works with my dad."

He stepped forward and extended a hand, even bowing a little. Player. Dezhda shook and introduced herself like he wasn't even barefoot and shirtless. "It's nice to meet you! And Sia's grace, that is a really big knife!"

"I am being told this all the time, but where I am from they are all this size." He laughed a little. "Would you like to see it?" Dezi and I nodded while Sawada rolled his eyes.

"Any excuse to whip it out," he muttered, leaning up against a toolbox. "Kids." He stuck around, though.

Northmarch carefully unsheathed it. It was a bit under two feet long including the grip. The blade was a glossy gray that reminded me of ice, different from any regular steel I'd seen. It curved forward, opposite of a katana or machete, and the edge was recurved-narrow near the grip, bellying out near the end, then tapering back to a point. The spine was around half an inch thick-it looked heavy.

"Most everyone of my tribe carries one of these. Even children get smaller ones. And do you see this mark here?" He pointed to a set of lines and circles scribed into the blade near the grip. "A crowned sun. The signature of my friend Senevou, greatest blacksmith under light or dark."

"Wait, you handmake these things? With hammers and shit?" I asked while Dezi admired the play of light over the steel.

"Well, I don't. As an artisan, I am hopeless," he chuckled. "Senevou, though, is not. This started life as a set of hauler suspension springs, can you believe it? Give him a day or two, and some techniques he will not even show me, and he hands back one of these. Here."

I grabbed the grip as he proffered it to me. "Damn!" The thing had to weigh nearly four pounds, a vicious hybrid of knife, sword, and axe. "What do you even use these things for?" I passed the knife to Dezi, who grabbed it with a huff of effort.

"Anything requiring a sharp edge, it will do." He grinned. "Though for some things, smaller is easier." He tapped the handle of a smaller knife whose sheath was built into that of the big one.

"I don't know how you even carry that, let alone swing it around," Dezi said as she handed Northmarch back the khukuri.

"I'm sure he has plenty of practice," said my dad.

Northmarch sheathed it without looking. "As he says. I hardly notice it is there, except when I need it-which is more often than I would like."

That silenced everyone for a few seconds, until I remembered why we'd gone to Sawada in the first place. "Oh! Dad, I want to let you know I'm coming with you guys tomorrow."

He was taken aback. "Oh-what-So, I mean-Ugh." His ponytail danced back and forth as he shook his head. "Damn, you caught me by surprise. I mean, I appreciate the offer, El, but it's gonna be dangerous in there. I don't want you getting into harm's way-"

"I'm going to keep you out of harm's way, Dad." I met his eyes with a level gaze. "And it wasn't an offer."

"Mmm..." He looked off to one side then the other, pained. "You know you really don't have to..."

"I do not think her mind will be changed, Mr. Sawada," said Northmarch. "And three sets of eyes will be better than two."

"Yeah...yeah, but what about your friend?" Dad said with the eagerness of a starving man grabbing a dropped ration ticket. "Will taking one more upset them?"

"Morranne will not be bothered, no." The tattooed scars straking his cheeks bent as he smiled, the woad dye vibrant even in this dim light. "You did not ask my opinion, but I think it is a good idea to have her along."

Sawada screwed up his face, then relaxed with a sigh. "You won't listen even if I tell you to stay back, will you."

I shook my head.

"Alright, fine. You're in. But we're being careful, Ellery." He jabbed a finger at me. "No messing around, and if shit starts coming unhatched we leave, no matter if we get where we're going or not."

"Dad, I can promise you it won't be me keeping us from leaving."

"Good. Good." He gave Dezhda a wary look. "I hope you don't want to come too?"

"Come where?" she asked innocently.

"Into the park," answered Northmarch.

Dezi looked at all three of us, smiling like a babysitter humoring slow children. "Nnnnope! No way! All yours. By the way, who's Ellery?"