[b]Birsi![/b]

“And what do you make of Sjakal?” The warrior-woman— Jekkan— steps forward and runs her fingers through your hair. Powerful, commanding, but not unkindly. “You all are very far from home. Is this truly a better place than the plains for you, Fire Wheel?”

A lot hinges on your answer to this question, guardswoman. The more you add to whatever answer you give, the easier it might be for you to make a mistake, but the tall, intense woman really, really wants to know your answer. One finger runs along your jawline as you consider her question.

She’s got so much power. Why is she down here in the gutter?

[hr]

[b]Silsila![/b]

“And where is Birsi, Silsila?”

Hai Lin is not exploding. She is intensely, furiously not exploding. Steamed, salted fish sizzles on her plate, but her eyes don’t leave you. You are still surrounded by her guards.

“It was such a simple thing I required of you, but it seems that only one of you came back. Why might that be? I am [i]all[/i] ears.”

If you don’t give a good answer, you are going to be extremely arrested. And if you try anything funny, you might extremely end up in a duel.

[hr]

[b]Nahla![/b]

Ruz’s private chamber is like the lair of a dragon. She is a collector of the strange, the unusual, and the gaudy. Her hoarded wealth is reflected in every golden tablet, every jade ornament, and the massive chandelier that casts dizzying shadows over the place. It’s… disorienting. And she moves almost silently on the plush carpets.

“Ah, the northerner girl,” her voice hisses, from deeper within the candle-speckled gloom. “Do come in. There’s a good girl.”

You are in danger if you do so. You are in terrible risk if you do not have a plan and a performance to match it. Not everything here is as it seems.

[hr]

[b]Soot![/b]

“What?? You can’t be [i]serious,[/i]” Rosethal sputters, furious. Her finger jabs you: here, here, here! “You are supposed to—“

Then she stops, runs one hand possessively over the sword. “Well,” she says. “Well, well, well. I mean, if you can provide the ante, I see no reason that you shouldn’t join in.”

And she sits down opposite you, her green eyes startling and hungry over her veil, ready to win the sword.

Prepare to Fight, Soot, or Entice, as pleases you— but this is a battle, even if it is done with cards and bluffing. You will win the first hand and scrape together enough of the pot to hold you in for a few more hands, and it’s up to you how you play them.

Do your best, and keep in mind that Rosethal can be goaded into some very reckless bets.