Tseetsaa was never the first one out in the morning. Even Cheeyt was still in bed when she grabbed the bag she had carefully packed the night before and made her way to the door. Miyt knew where she was going, of course—she had helped Tseetsaa pack the goods.

The streets lightened to rosy and deep violet as Tseetsaa walked. Her destination was what she thought would be the best markets for what she had to sell. Nuliyaa wasn’t the only one who had a feel for the city’s trade.

She found the right square and chose a spot to lay out her blanket. Other sellers were filling the rows, too, with people who knew each other calling greetings and giving friendly nods to everyone else.

The square stood between two academies, one for mages and the other for something like mathematics, maybe, and several city administration offices. It wasn’t the wealthiest part of the city, but the people here were better off than many. Yet they still needed to be careful enough with their funds that they wouldn’t look down on charcoal sketches and they likely did their own embroidery.

Because that was what Tseetsaa hoped would be the big draw: the embroidery patterns she’d first designed for Miyt.

She’d originally planned to bring only sketches today. Then she’d gone with Miyt to drop off one of her commissions. The woman had taken the garments, examined the stitches, and then had sighed out, “I always just love your designs.”

“They’re my daughter’s,” Miyt had replied, motioning to Tseetsaa. “She draws out most of my work.”

So Tseetsaa had used what was left of her paper to sketch out flowers, temple signs, and other common things that people liked to stitch onto their littiichangs, collars, and hems.

When her art was laid out meticulously on the blanket, Tseetsaa sat down next to them and prepared for her day of making her own money.

The sun peeked above the edge of the city and more people filtered into the square. Tseetsaa flashed her brightest smile at every person who looked her way. She chatted with those who passed. She made sure the embroidery on her clothing was visible so people could remark on it and she could point out the matching patterns.

The sun rose higher. No one bought anything.

“Oh, these are lovely,” a woman said as she came up to the edge of the blanket. She bent down and examined the sketches for a moment, then stood, smiled at Tseetsaa and wished her luck selling, and wandered off. Just like almost every person who had stopped by today. Most others didn’t even bother to stop.

Tseetsaa slumped. Her sisters were right. She didn’t know anything. She couldn’t survive on her own. Which she’d always known. Had she thought that would change?

No. She straightened. She had more than half the day left. She wasn’t done yet.

Forcing her smile back to its earlier brightness, she met the eyes of a young man standing at the booth across from hers. He gave her a polite smile back as he spoke to the other young man next to him. Their pale skin and hip-length outer garments suggested they were visitors from Nengmek. This was part of the reason she liked coming to the markets in this area: the academies meant there were more people from other places than she usually saw.

“Tseetsaa? What are you doing all the way out here?”

No! Out of all the markets in the city, why was he at the one she’d chosen?

She’d frozen at the words and had to force herself to lift her eyes. Maarp stopped close enough to make her concerned for her goods. He looked it all over. “What is this? Are you selling for your miyt again?”

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“For myself today.” She had to fight to keep her chin up. All she wanted to do was grab everything and run.

“What?” His eyes widened, then he lowered his voice. Not enough, though, because several people glanced over when he said, “Does your family need money that badly?”

Her face went red as she snapped, “No! I just want to make my own money!”

“Oh, Tseetsaa.” He dropped to a crouch, all concerned. “Once we’re married, you’ll have plenty of spending money.”

How? He made less than what Nuliyaa had at the jewelry shop. Did he not know how much supporting a family cost? Tseetsaa may not have been making the money, but she’d certainly done enough of the food shopping.

She hadn’t meant to say those words, but apparently she had because he reached out to grab her hands as he said, “Is that why you’ve been putting me off? You think I’m not ready to support a family? I promise I’m more than able—.”

“I’m not going to marry you!” The words flew out as she snatched her hands away. Sketches tumbled away and she reached to snatch at them.

That was a mistake because it made it easier for Maarp to grab her arm. “We’re not going to fight in front of everyone,” he growled at her, wrenching her to her feet.

“Get your hands off of her.” The two young Nengmekian men had come over. The speaker was the one who had returned her smile a few minutes before. He was reaching for Maarp, trying to force his hands off of her.

“This isn’t any of your business.” Maarp shoved the Nengmekian.

The Nengmekian stumbled back, his feet landing solidly across her sketches.

A wail tried to claw out of her throat and she clenched her teeth against it. Hours and hours of work were ruined. Because of Maarp. He reached for her again and she whacked his arm as hard as she could. “Get away from me!”

Maarp stopped moving. At first she thought it was because she had surprised him. But then the other Nengmekian said, “That’s better,” in an accent that spoke to his wealth as much as it did his heritage. Oh, a mage. He knelt down and pulled a few of her sketches out of the dust. His companion—no, his servant, she realized, because the first Nengmekian’s clothing was more utilitarian and had a crest—did the same. That wail tried to escape again as she saw the smudged charcoal and torn edges.

When all of the salvageable papers were back in her hands and the two young men stood firmly between her and Maarp, the mage murmured something and Maarp jerked away from them. “I’m going for the watch!” He almost fell over his feet as he scrambled away.

“Yes, yes.” The mage turned back to Tseetsaa. “Did he hurt you?”

Everyone nearby was watching them. She jerked her eyes to the ground, blinking back tears. How fast could she run away? Ha! Going home wasn’t going to make her feel better—everyone in her neighborhood would know about this before the end of tomorrow.

Oh. The young men were still watching her, looking more concerned with every second of silence that passed. “No,” she forced out, trying for a smile. She wasn’t sure if her lips ever made it that far.

“Would you like for us to walk you home?” the servant asked. The mage’s eyes cut at him, then he looked at Tseetsaa and sighed.

“No.” She finished stuffing the papers back into her bag. “I’m fine. Really. Thank you.”

The mage frowned at her before holding out his hand. “May I buy one of those papers, please?”

She blinked in confusion. He couldn’t possibly want to buy anything. “Was there a design you preferred?”

“Any will do.”

He passed her a single sengs and she gave him the first paper her fingers touched. Shocking her yet again, he took a bit of chalk out of his pocket and drew something on the blank side before folding it and passing it back to her. “Protection charm,” he told her. “Have you used one before?”

She shook her head, still too surprised to speak. She knew how much Nuliyaa spent on protection charms. This mage was just handing her one—drawn on paper he’d bought from her.

“Open the fold and then tuck the flat paper under your clothes. It has to be touching skin.”

She nodded. Both men looked her over again before hesitantly starting to walk away. “Health and safety to you,” the servant said.

“Thank you,” she said as she slung the bag back onto her shoulder. She unfolded the paper and slipped it under her tunic before folding the blanket over her arms and hurrying out of the square.

The tears started falling before she was between the buildings. Maarp was never going to leave her alone and she hadn’t thought he’d get violent. She needed to leave. As soon as she could.

Nengmek. She almost stopped in the street and it was only the flow of people walking around her that kept her moving. Hadn’t Miyt said that Cheeyt and Nuliyaa might be going there soon? That was two whole nations away. Certainly that was far enough away from Maarp.

Her steps quickened. Now she just needed to convince them that she was going along.