"I'm getting really tired," Tav said, "of waking up in some horrible place surrounded by some new menace." What did this make, four times? The Exit Glade, the bottom of the dungeon with Annria, and now here—that was three, although through his headache Tav got the feeling he was forgetting something.

A cloaked figure poked Tav in the eye—one of the extra eyes in his forehead. "Ow!" he yelped. "They're real! They're real eyes. Be careful with them." It prodded him again, only slightly more gentle. Tav yelped again.

"They brought us back to their camp and gave us food and water. That's not exactly menacing," Annria said. She was tied up like he was, and seated on the opposite side of the campfire. "If they're what I think they are, they might even be helpful. Though that's if my information's correct, maybe I've been misinformed. I guess I can't be sure. But from what I hear, the remnant sects aren't usually violent towards humans."

There were several figures bustling about the camp. Each wore dark robes and smooth masks of pale wood, with large dark lenses over the eyes. One figure stood next to Annria, holding a spoon and an empty bowl still spattered with broth. Some of the others tended to the fire, or the tents. Fully three of the figures stood guard next to Tav, and he was both flattered and annoyed that they saw him as that much of a threat.

"Ow!" Also, he wished this one would stop poking him in the eyes. "Yes, they're all real! All eight!"

Annria chuckled. "Maybe the nonviolence was exaggerated."

"Yeah, funny. What's a remnant sect?" Tav asked.

"You don't know?" Annria said. "I would have thought that your Academy would have told you. It's dungeon lore, after all."

"The Academy expects us to stick to the PND." The cloaked figure didn't seem bothered by his conversation with Annria. Instead it was examining the eyes on Tav's temples—a little unsettling, to have that masked face peering so closely, but at least it had stopped prodding. With one pair of eyes Tav looked at Annria, while another pair glared at the cloaked figure through the dark lenses in its mask. This close, Tav could see the eyes behind those lenses. They looked human, dark and curious.

"We learned a little bit about the stable dungeon in Bozara," Tav continued, "but our teachers didn't go into depth about Fallen Nadir. No one's supposed to go in or out, so what would have been the point?"

"Fair enough. And I suppose it would undermine your Perrigenese propaganda, hearing about the horrors the dungeon can inflict."

"Evil, horror, yes, I get it. What do you know?"

"I've heard a few things. Mostly gossip from—" Annria's voice hitched, brief but obvious to Tav's newly enhanced senses. "—people living near the Gate. I hear a lot of gossip, it's part of being a traveling merchant. The remnant sects are how people organize themselves in Nadir."

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"People. So, you're saying they're definitely human? Between the cloaks and the masks, I wasn't quite sure."

"You can't tell with some delver trick?"

"Perception skills are rare," Tav said. "Most of them come from achievements, or maybe some secret family skill getting passed down. It'd take rigorous training. I don't have anything like that."

"Wait, what?" Annria shook her head. "No, it doesn't matter. The Fall didn't kill everyone in Nadir. We weren't—well, Karmere of old certainly wasn't going to let the survivors out into the rest of the world, but we also weren't going to send our people in to clean up anything dangerous. Especially right after the Fall, it would have been mass suicide. We finished the Wall and the Gate and kept the border sealed. Now, generations on, descendants of the surviving Nadireans have formed up into the remnant sects, little groups as few as three people or as many as ten. As I understand, they're a little like your delving parties? The sects are still hanging on, despite everything. The members are—maybe not entirely human, you hear stories, but they don't cause much trouble. They've been known to help fight some of the fiercer beasts of Nadir. I even hear they trade with our people sometimes."

"Wait, trade? Didn't you say Karmere doesn't profit off dungeons?"

"We don't," Annria hissed, suddenly fierce. "We send supplies to the Gate in order to keep its defenders alive and well. Sometimes the folk at the Gate trade with remnants, for tools or weapons they need to defend themselves, and though I don't like it I can't expect any better. But those things never leave the Gate. Nothing does. No weapons, no tools, no crafting materials, not even letters home. If someone from the Gate wants to send a message, they dictate to a messenger still standing in Karmere proper, on soil that isn't cursed."

Tav paused. "Nothing?"

"Never."

"So..." Tav trailed off, cleared his throat, restarted. "So if nothing ever leaves the gate, how am I supposed to get back home?"

Annria closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Tav."

"No. No, that's not acceptable to me. I didn't—we didn't even cross the Gate! I'm not Karmeri, your laws can't keep me here!"

"It's not a matter of the law," Annria said. "Or at least, that's not the important part. It's the way the Gate works—built out of the Dungeon itself, the curse of Nadir turned inward. The Gate is one way only, thanks to stone and sorcery and the last desperate hope of redemption the Nadirean Crown could muster for their crimes."

"There's really no way?"

"If there were," Annria said, "do you think the monsters of Nadir would have stayed within?"

"We should—we should go to the Gate anyway," Tav said. "Maybe we'll be an exception, since we didn't enter normally. At the very least, maybe I can send a message home. Let my family know I didn't die at graduation. Please?"

"I—" Annria's expression was pained. She turned away from him and spoke to the cloaked figure standing next to her. "Ah, excuse me. Do you—" She said a few words in some other language, halting and fractured.

One of the figures standing next to Tav laughed. "We speak your language, Karmeri. As you say, we trade with your Gatecrashers! It is wisdom, not ignorance, that stills our tongues. I am Party Leader Seppi the Foremost Shield. We can take you to the Gate. It is not far."

"Ah. Wonderful." Annria paused. "Do you know much about the crashers patrolling this area? Or the wardens assigned to the nearest stretch of the Gate?"

Seppi shrugged. "No. We are new to this stretch as well. Chased out of our usual grounds by fierce monsters. Perhaps we meet a new sect here and trade members. If we do, they will tell you about your people."