The harpsichord was invented in the final years of the Central Empire, by a Yaglid woman whose name is lost to history. It is held that she was quite young when she accomplished the invention. Apparently, the first thing to occupy her once a nasty drought passed was improving her hydraulis so that it didn't need water. The next time her family was parched, she would at least be able to play music for them. She is commonly referred to as "Little Miss Harpsichord."

  Little Euffie hated her. Maybe, if that brat had just stayed in her lane instead of reinventing an instrument, Euffie wouldn't have to practice scales or do these dumbass triads. She wouldn't have to learn dynamics or fingering. She wouldn't have to stay inside on a warm baskerwol dawn-dusk like this until she hit the right notes three times without mistakes.

  Euffie slumped over the keys. She was small, but her body still played half the keys at once. She didn't care about the noise. That was all she could play, anyway: a mess.

  "This stupid fucking thing," she growled. She sat up, pushing her long black hair out of her eyes. She was tired of this waste of her time.

  "Where did you learn to swear like that?"

  Euffie almost jumped off of her stool. She covered her head and leaned away.

  "Maamel! I'm so sorry."

  "Look at me when I'm talking to you."

  Euffie forced herself to turn. Her non-birth mother, or maamel, was wearing a pink and blue dress with a few too many frills. Her face was hard to make out. Maamel put a hand on her hip. Euffie’s hands froze at her sides. Her body started to tremble without being told to, and she was filled with an overwhelming urge to make it stop.

  "Have those boys you were playing with been using foul language around you?” Maamel said crossly. “Your maamvi's already told them to clean up their mouths."

  Euffie nodded quickly. "I'm so sorry, maamel. I won't talk like that."

  There was a pained sigh that made Euffie flinch. Thankfully, maamel changed the subject.

  "Is the harpsichord getting to you again? You sounded like you were making progress, from where I was in the kitchen. Then you threw it all away in a tantrum."

  Still trembling, Euffie turned back to the keys. "I'm sorry. I won't do that. I didn't know you were home."

  "You will treat this thing better," maamel said sternly. "Whether I’m here to catch you or not. I certainly hope you don't do that while I'm away."

  "No, no!" Euffie said. "Of course not! Only sometimes. I'll stop, maamel."

  "Good. And stop acting terrified. It's not like your parents are scary.”

  "Yes, yes!" Euffie agreed quickly. "I keep doing the happy song on purpose."

  "The which?"

  "The happy one. You know?"

  Euffie's maamel shook her head. "There is major and minor, and a few others. There are no happy or sad scales. Just scales. Do you remember that song I sang for you when you were smaller?"

  "Yes, maamel. The sad one?"

  "Yes, the sad one. That one is in a major key."

  "But it sounds – "

  "Like it's minor? Exactly my point. Watch."

  Euffie surrendered the stool to her maamel. Her flowy dress hid the stool beneath her. She tested a major scale, positioned her fingers, and began to play.

  Euffie's maamel was not good at the keyboard. It was a simple song, which only required two fingers to play. She made a mistake here and there, but somehow, none of them seemed to glare as badly as it did when Euffie made a mistake. As the music saturated the air of the small house, Euffie realized her maamel was correct; the song was in a major key.

  So why does it still sound so haunting?

  Euffie felt a sting on her cheek at the thought. She raised a hand, but when her fingers touched her face, everything vanished, like a big lid had been snapped shut on it. Maamel, the harpsichord, everything.

  For a moment, Euffie felt an intense relief to be away from that woman. Then she felt a man's arm around her back, and screamed.

  ***

  Heemlik was not a jumpy person. His scriptomancer Kaanel, however, could make grasshoppers look crippled. That wasn't enough to save his crotch when this poor girl woke up with his arm around her.

  To his credit, Kaanel did get his head away from her in time. But that wasn't what she was aiming for, and before Heemlik or Jadpers could react, the scriptomancer was doubled over in the rocky sand, curled around his manhood.

  "Woah, woah!" Jadpers said, holding up her hands. "Girl, calm down! You poor thing … "

  The engram girl snapped out of fighting when she tried to stand, only to find that she didn't have feet. She froze for a few seconds. Then, she screamed again. Heemlik flinched, but didn't cover his ears. He'd heard lots of screams in his life. This was a flavor he was familiar with. He just hoped night watch could fall asleep again after it rang out through the small camp.

  "We're not going to hurt you," Jadpers said. The girl fixed her with two terrified eyes glowing silver.

  I was right, Heemlik thought, glancing at the tent door. She is a moon-witch. I told Kaanel it wouldn’t hurt to set those traps.

  The young woman was still in rough shape, but she had certainly improved after over a month traveling with the Steppe Hounds. She’d been fed and bandaged and splinted. She still didn’t have legs below the knees, and she was covered in still-visible bruises and cuts, but at least her arm wasn’t broken anymore.

  Kaanel moaned as he pushed himself to his knees, one hand on his bits and the other on his moon-shard.

  "Who the fuck is he?" she snapped. "Who are you people? Where am I? What's going on?"

  Heemlik waited patiently while Euffie got it out of her system. She transferred her attention to him. He returned it evenly. Chaos and fear were contagious. Heemlik knew how to make order contagious too.

  Jadpers helped Kaanel to shaky feet as the atmosphere cooled and everyone's breathing slowed. Heemlik spoke first.

  "I am Heemlik," he said. "I'm in charge of this group. We help refugees like you get out of Gaar-Adalaant."

  "Well I’m Euffie, and I wanna know what you mean by help," she said. Her eyes almost narrowed, but reversed course to widening. "Wait, Adalaant?"

  "Yeah," Kaanel grunted. "Y'know. Home of the Adalaantians? Oh suns, my nads … "

  "Adalaant … " Euffie repeated, eyes distant. "How … "

  "You were a slave with an engram," Heemlik explained. "Someone took your memories away."

  Euffie looked like she was about to snap at him, but instead she froze up again. She tried to pull in her knees, but without any shins or feet, she couldn’t curl up. She seemed to lose the ability to make eye contact.

  "I’m sorry," she whispered. “I’m so, so sorry. Please don’t hurt me, I shouldn’t have hit your friend. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m sorry.”

  Heemlik shared a look with Jadpers and Kaanel in turn. Jadpers was uncomfortable because she felt that slave engram was changing who Euffie was. Kaanel was uncomfortable because they were in engram territory, which he was supposed to be good at. He looked like he’d gotten over the hit, at least.

  "It's all right to be confused," Heemlik said to Euffie. "We don't know how you got here, or who gave you the engram, but we're here to help. We're not going to hurt you. If you need some time to think, that is perfectly acceptable. Please don't hit my scriptomancer, though. He's not going to brand you. We’re going to take you to someone who can get it off.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Euffie repeated. Heemlik had to strain to hear her. “I won’t do it again. Please forgive me.”

  Heemlik sighed. Best just to press on.

  “You speak the language,” he said. “I’m not sure if that’s more confusing or not. Who are you, and how did you get here?”

  "I'm … speaking Naruglid?" Euffie asked, still distant. "Fuck … "

  Jadpers tapped Heemlik’s shoulder. He took her meaning.

  "We'll give you some space, naamita,” he said.

  "What's that word mean?" Euffie asked.

  "It's just a polite term," Heemlik explained. He was not surprised she didn't know it.

  The girl focused and sat upright. "Can … can I come outside? What time is it?"

  "It is late morning," Heemlik said. "And yes, you may come outside. Is it all right if I carry you, or would you prefer Jadpers to do it?"

  Euffie looked down at her legs, or rather her thighs with the remains of knees covered in reddened bandages.

  "We're sorry about your legs," he said. "Do you know what happened to them?"

  Euffie’s breathing was slower now. “I ... "

  “We already know you’re a witch,” said Jadpers. “And we’re on your side. You can tell us.”

  Euffie’s face froze again, and Heemlik watched for another shift. He hardly needed to.

  “I don’t want to,” she said, looking up at them sharply. “I need time to think. I don’t know where I’m going. I’m no threat to you lot.”

  Heemlik’s expression hardened. This was not going to fly.

  “You will answer basic questions before any further help from us,” he stated with finality. “How did you get inside the Gaar, witch?”

  Euffie’s expression flickered again. Heemlik got the distinct impression he was talking to two people as he tried to predict what she would say.

  “I was - “

  She was cut off by the engram biting down on her cheek with a harsh azure flare. Cautiously, Kaanel approached, his moon-shard ready to help.

  "Don't touch me!" she hissed. Kaanel backed away. They waited a moment while the spike passed.

  "I think," Euffie said carefully, like one stepping over mousetraps, "that Jadpers should lay me outside. I need to think. I will explain everything I can, once I’ve arranged this ... this stupid fucking engram.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “I’m sorry,” she added hastily. “I hope I didn’t make you angry. And I hope you don’t mind me asking for Jadpers. It’s just ... “

  “I understand,” Heemlik said immediately. He didn’t, but he had a good guess given what she did to Kaanel, and since Jadpers was the only female here. Even if she was a Prisnidine.

  She is definitely not from around here, narubati or not. She’s not even making the plague protection sign after seeing Jadpers.

  Jadpers seemed happy to oblige. The Prisnidine strode over, scooped up the smaller woman, and carried her out between Heemlik and Kaanel, who parted for them.

  "Feel better?" Heemlik asked mildly as the tent flap closed behind Jadpers.

  "Yeah," Kaanel said, massaging the area. "Dammit, man, I don't think I wanna meet whoever did that to her, if that's where he taught her to aim."

  ***

  "So," Euffie asked, "do you have any decent clothes I can put on?"

  Jadpers stood holding the girl in her arms, the wind blowing her black hair around her neck. She was overlooking the freshly conquered Ochre Company encampment, her bare, leathery Prisnidine feet kneading the rough sand. The sun was still behind the Fade to the east, and the segment of the world therefore called the Western Curtain was cast into a mid-day shadow, like a forest floor shaded by a canopy. The other soldiers walked around Jadpers, avoiding her like an uncomfortably hot oven. She could fight alongside them, but they werestill Adalaantians, and she was still a Prisnidine.

  "Sure," Jadpers said, looking down at Euffie. "That dress is a bit torn up, but it looks good on you."

  Euffie's face suggested this was not an appreciated opinion. She shifted so the loose dress covered more of her upper half. Her face was strained from what looked like dull pain.

  "Is there a reason you haven't put me down yet?" she asked. Jadpers stopped pushing sand with her toes.

  “Nope,” she answered.

  Jadpers set her down, and sat beside her.

  Around them, the encampment buzzed with activity. Everyone was getting ready to leave. Some time passed in silence. It wasn't as icy as Jadpers braced for; Euffie gave off the energy of someone whose mind was working too hard to be cold, with or without words. She was staring off into the sky to the west, above the horizon. There were a few moons in the sky, but after some squinting, Jadpers wasn’t confident which one Euffie was looking at.

  "Well," Jadpers said after a while, "your engram is – "

  "Shh," Euffie interrupted, holding up a finger. "I'm concentrating."

  Jadpers closed her mouth. Now the silence was icy, by damn. Jadpers was surprised how much it stung. She was, after all, Jadpers the Sharp.

  “Is this the part where you whip back to apologizing?” she asked. The girl flinched, opened her mouth, then shut it. Jadpers smirked.

  “It’s okay, don’t worry. I’ve seen more than one slave like you before. Escapees are rare, but masters getting behind on the maintenance is not. Take your time; I’m all packed and ready to go.”

  Euffie seemed to take that well. She slumped, remembered she couldn’t curl up while sitting, and laid on her back, staring at the clear sky between the Fade at either side, here at the edge of the Gaar.

  Jadpers' eyes were some distance down Euffie’s body when the girl turned to her with those silver-tinted eyes.

  "I’m sorry,” she said, slowly and deliberately. “My head is in two places and my moon isn’t in the sky. He was the one helping me take apart my engram. It’s how I escaped.”

  “I didn’t know they could do that.”

  “Well, they can and they can’t. They can’t get rid of the whole thing, and everything they do makes it into more of a mess than anything, but it does let me at least see chunks of my past.”

  Jadpers frowned. As a Prisnidine, she had strong opinions on this subject of memory, but she didn’t want to overstep.

  “I think you’ll be much better off if you come with us to get that thing off,” she settled. “I’m happy to talk about it, though. Your moon is coming back, right? It didn’t fall out of the sky?”

  Euffie shook her head. “No, not yet. Though I think I make him want to, sometimes.”

  “By getting beat up and left unconscious for over a month? Yeah, that’d make me lose it if someone I loved did that. Do moons love their witches?” she added quickly.

  Euffie frowned. “I ... assume they do? I’m not sure. Moons are strange.”

  “Many Prisnidines worship them back home,” Jadpers said, “so I bet they are. Not as weird as worshipping peridots and amethysts like the Halorists do, or as weird as the suns like they do here in Adalaant.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Euffie sighed. She laid her hands one on top of the other on her chest, still looking up at the sky.

  Jadpers couldn’t help thinking that Euffie was probably gorgeous underneath all that damage. She was battered and bruised, but she shone through all that anyway.

  “What’s with the necklace?” Euffie asked after a few minutes.

  “Oh, this?” she asked, fingering the jewelry, unpinning it so she could lift it higher. “This is an amulet I bought over in Barrid. My pilgrimage proof. It’s a Prisnidine symbol for a great and terrible journey where you find yourself.”

  Euffie cocked her head. "Why do you talk all breathy like that, Jadpers?"

  She remembered my name, of all things.

  “Haven't you ever met a Prisnidine before?" she said.

  "Yes?"

  "If I’m not starving, I don't always need all the air in my lungs," Jadpers explained. "If you’ve met us, have you ever heard us speak?"

  Euffie considered for a moment, which answered the question all by itself.

  "I – "

  "I don't remember," Euffie interrupted. "I don't remember a lot of things. It's frustrating. It's making me angry."

  She lowered her voice, then added, "I'm sorry. I’m really sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”

  Jadpers squinted at the girl’s contrite expression, searching.

  “Your engram really did make you someone else, didn’t it?” she asked.

  A pause.

  “Do Prisnidines really say that a person is the sum of their memories?”

  Jadpers nodded. “We certainly do. That’s where I was going with that. When you get that engram off, and remember everything, is how you’ll be whole again. Just my humble opinion.”

  “You seem to have a lot of those,” Euffie smiled. Jadpers felt a twinge in her stomach, the good kind.

  A narubati moon-witch with a sense of humor, even when she’s that beat up? Damn.

  Euffie’s engram pulsed again, but she waited for a minute before speaking.

  “Sorry for being rude to you so far. You all saved my life, and I’ve just been kind of an asshole. I’ve probably been freaking you out with all the jumping back and forth. I’m trying to apologize intentionally right now, to reign in the accidental ones.”

  “That’s a good strategy.”

  “I mean it, I’m sorry I hurt you.”

  Jadpers chuckled. "Oh, I'm fine. I'd be more worried about Kaanel."

  "That was something else entirely," Euffie said flatly. "He touched me."

  "Don't take this the wrong way," Jadpers said, "but you don't seem like a very good slave, Euffie. Most of the time, anyway."

  For a moment Jadpers worried she'd caused offense, but then Euffie smiled. She sat up, resting on her hands behind her.

  "I'm glad you think so," she said. "That means a lot to me, actually. Some people say I was … weak, once. Sad and confused and sucking up all the time. Before the engram. They said they don't recognize me anymore. That they like the new me. The new sum of my memories is better with some subtraction, is how I think you’d say it."

  Euffie swallowed. Jadpers listened closely, as visibly as she could.

  “I always thought the younger me would be stronger. She wasn’t ever a slave.” Euffie said. “Yet with the engram on, I felt like I’d dropped a lot of weight. Life still sucked, but the awfulness was fresh. Not just vague instincts drilled into me as a kid. Instincts I forgot, and ... well, I’m kind of glad I did. Marthera certainly seemed to like the new me more.”

  Was she saying the engram was good for her? Jadpers didn’t want to touch that.

  "Well, Marthera said they liked the new you. Who is she?"

  Jadpers listened intently to Euffie's story of escaping some place called Halfway, making her way home, and reconnecting with her old caretaker in Aleb. All along the way, she had to keep her disgust hidden; a person with fractured memories like Euffie was uncomfortable to most people, but to a Prisnidine, it was a horror.

  "How did you outrun those horses?" Jadpers asked. Euffie glanced at the horizon again, where the moons were. Then, she turned back.

  "Well, my moon’s power let me do that," she said. “You know Oppzis, the acceleration moon?”

  “Yes, I know about him,” Jadpers nodded. “Prisnidines know every moon in the sky by heart. He’s the silvery one, right? Explains your eyes.”

  “Mhm,” Euffie said. Jadpers waited, but Euffie didn’t continue her story.

  “Marthera died, didn’t she?” Jadpers guessed. “And then you ran all the way here, limitations and safety be damned, which is why you looked slightly less beautiful when we found you.”

  Euffie gave her a sharp look, but Jadpers betrayed no sarcasm. Jadpers hoped that helped.

  “The only thing I don’t get,” Jadpers said, “is why of all the places in the world you could’ve run, you came here. It’s the exact opposite of the Fade from - “

  Jadpers stopped. A sense of awe filled her as she looked at the battered woman beside her. “Wait, what? You’re telling me - ”

  “I’m not telling you anything,” Euffie replied, looking away. “But that’s not stopping you.”

  “You ran all the way through the Fade?”

  Euffie looked sheepish, then ashamed, then pulled herself back into controlled composure.

  “I did, yeah,” she managed. “And it fucking hurt and I’m not doing it again.”

  Jadpers could call it quits. That was all Heemlik would need to be satisfied. He knew Saangra; he’d be easily able to believe a feat like that from Euffie.

  “Wow,” she said. “That’s ... quite something. Sure wish I could do that. Would’ve made the Pilgrimage of the Mists a lot easier. Imagine returning home like that; they’d make me Queen of the Evermarsh.”

  Euffie smiled again, and for a moment Jadpers thought she would laugh. She didn’t, but now Jadpers had a new goal. Several, actually.

  I wonder what she looks like when she ...

  ... has legs.

  ... runs across the continent.

  ... laughs.

  Euffie relaxed, but only slightly. She looked down the small incline on which they rested. Jadpers followed her gaze to see Heemlik and Kaanel chatting about something below. Jadpers knew the Adalaantian dirt was much rougher than the Barridian sand. She didn't sink into it as much, and she couldn't pick up handfuls to let them drain through her fingers.

  “Someone said we’re going to see another witch like me?” Euffie asked.

  “Yep,” Jadpers said. “Her name is Saangra. Her moon does blood and guts like yours does speed. I put her and Heemlik in touch with each other, and now she takes care of his wounded refugees.”

  Euffie frowned. “Refugees from what? The Fade? Does he free slaves?”

  Jadpers pursed her lips. “It’s ... a bit complicated. I’ll explain it more when we’re on the road, but basically, the place we’re leaving, where we found you, is a prison colony where people get worked to death and their bodies get fed to the Fade so it doesn’t eat any Adalaantian lands.”

  Euffie’s frown deepened. “And that actually works?”

  “Yeah, the king made a deal with the Fadewraith half a century ago, and apparently it honored that deal.”

  “Huh. I’m glad you guys found me first, then.”

  “We control much of the northern parts where you landed, and we have birds like Sun-Beak to scout. It’d be more surprising if we didn’t.”

  Euffie was looking at Jadpers now, rather than the sky. Euffie’s eyes were really quite beautiful, in Jadpers’ growing opinion. Euffie seemed to scan the camp around them, then went back to looking at Jadpers.

  “What’s a Prisnidine doing so deep into Adalaantian land?” she asked. “And into Adalaantian business?”

  “Heh,” Jadpers said. Now it was her turn to look at the sky. “Well, let’s just say it beats Prisnidine business.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry. Is there something happening back home?”

  “Nope,” Jadpers shook her head bitterly. “Just the same old reunification bullshit. Tribes killing each other to get bigger, and making everyone smaller instead. My dad is one of the worst warlords. I went out on a Pilgrimage to earn the right to duel him for leadership of the tribe, but then I got roped in with Heemlik. I decided to stay, because it seems easier to take down someone else’s dad than your own.

  “But enough about me,” Jadpers said, sitting up straight. “That ring of yours is pretty.”

  “Oh!” Euffie said, sitting up. “I forgot. Wait, this is a compass ring.”

  Jadpers frowned. “You mean, like the kind of ring that leads you to another one?”

  “Yes. I left the other one behind.”

  “Oh,” Jadpers said, and frowned. “Wait ... does that mean Derek has it?”

  Euffie’s expression made Jadpers regret saying that. She would’ve realized it on her own anyway, but the terror at hearing that name on her face felt terrible to inflict.

  “Here comes Heemlik,” Jadpers said gratefully.

  There was the sound of a falcon announcing itself above. Both women turned and saw Heemlik approaching up the hill toward them. He extended a hand, and Sun-Beak landed on his gloved wrist. Heemlik retrieved a snack from his pocket for the red-tailed bird.

  "Fine bird," he said, stopping short of the two. "Euffie, this is Sun-Beak. He's our scouting and messenger bird."

  The bird turned to Euffie with eyes as sharp as its beak. Jadpers watched the silent exchange between bird and girl. She wished she could hear what they were thinking. Heemlik let it go on for almost a minute before continuing.

  "I'm ... sure you'll both get along,” he said. “Anyway, we’re leaving this encampment soon. We'll be heading north, toward Herepo, where our lunomancer friend is waiting for us. She'll be able to get your legs back."

  Jadpers noticed a spark from Euffie’s engram at the mention of Herepo, but said nothing.

  "Sounds great," Euffie said. There was a strong gust of wind. Euffie turned to Jadpers. "Look, do you have any other clothes for me? I feel I'm going to accidentally disrobe at any minute with this dress on."

  "That can be arranged," Heemlik said. "Different clothes, I mean. Jadpers, carry her back down to speak with us one last time before we head out. She and Kaanel need to work on a schedule to prepare that engram for removal."

  “Actually,” Euffie interjected, “I need to speak with my moon first. He’s been working on getting the engram taken off. He’s not in the sky yet but he should be around noon.”

  “Hm,” Heemlik said. “That’s hours away. You’ll need to wait until we stop tonight. Jadpers, give her one of the spare uniforms, leave her next to your horse, and come to the tent.”