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“Shady Court was clear,” Irina said to them, apparently by way of greeting. “So was Starlight Terrace, except for this one.” She nodded toward Darica, who shrank back. These people, she noticed, were older than they had looked on the vids, and all six bigger than she was, some by a lot. Combined with the guns and knives she could see some of them carrying, it spelled out the opposite of welcome.

“Says she knows the area,” Irina continued, accepting a backpack and a travel-bottle of water from one of the group. “Thanks.”

“She got anything I need to carry?” asked another, a hulking young man with a huge trail pack at his feet. She’d been expecting him to be from Marchenn too, but his accent was pure Vioda.

“Oh, I can carry it,” Darica blurted before she thought, and earned appraising looks from just about everyone. She could have slapped herself.

“That’s not the question. If you really did get loot, it goes to a hauler. And Ralis is our hauler today.” Irina looked pointedly at the leather bag. “So let’s have it.”

Darica thought again that she might leave. The only one of them she could have identified was Irina, so they might be less likely to want to keep her either close or permanently silent. Something made her doubt it, though. “I didn’t get much,” she said, her hand moving to the drawstring of the leather bag. “I don’t see why you need it.”