"Transport."

"What?"

She again made to tuck the leaf away.

"No! Right. Right. Transport. What and where?"

"Myself. To someplace other than here."

"That can't be done," he breathed.

This time she reached into her pouch beneath her leather armor, extracted a full intact leaf. Turned it in the weak light.

"This is quality you dream about," she said. "This isn't weak marketplace rubbish. This is the real stuff. A full leaf of it? Of real quality? Imagine how long this would last you."

He was doing the arithmetic as she watched, nervous eyes fixed intently. "But—it isn't—I can't..." Heartbroken voice, forlorn gaze.

Radstac brought out a second leaf.

Something was strangling inside him. "We... we transport out the wounded. After an engagement we're very busy. But right now, when it's quiet, we just receive supplies. There's very little going out."

"Someone will be traveling with me," she said as she took out a third leaf.

His gnawing aching need was almost palpable. But it took a fourth leaf to finalize the arrangements for her and Deo's escape.

* * *

It was a matter of clever official lies. But in the end, it was only a matter of that one Felk soldier's vulgar want.

The wizards paid them no mind, other than to perfunctorily instruct the two of them on the proper procedure while moving between the portals. Walk a straight line toward the far portal exit point. Do not deviate. Do not linger. Keep eyes focused ahead and ignore the disorienting surroundings.

Radstac couldn't remember if she'd visited the Isthmus city before. It was in the northern reaches, but it was entirely possible that at some stage in her mercenary past she had either fought for or against the city-state.