- Prologue

square centimeter of Asu's packages.

Her name and address were written on it in clear Trade block letters on the right, and again, in flowing Liaden cursive, on the left. The return address was in Trade, the sender's name also rendered in Liaden.

She might, she thought, as she grabbed onto the cart to help ease it over a particularly rough bit of sidewalk, have been guilty of over-bowing to Pilot yos'Senchul for his signature. Theo thought the instructor had been amused, though, and he had made her sign her name, too, beside his on the slip, then tore it off and handed it to Turley with a flourish.

Surprisingly, the mail clerk had bowed, and solemnly placed the slip into a small bin at the side of the counter. 'Next outgoing pilot,' he had said, then looked over Theo's head and called out, 'All right! Who's next?'

'Scout Pilot Win Ton yo'Vala?' Asu said, as they and the cart hit smooth surface again.

She'd already said the same thing twice before, and it was getting hard to ignore her. You'd think, Theo said to herself, that a girl who'd just collected five packages with her name on them would be too busy wondering what was in them to pay attention to somebody else's mail.

Still, she'd better answer something; it was important to keep peace—more or less —with her roommates.

'Win Ton's a friend,' she said, like she was telling a story about somebody else. 'We played bowli ball on the liner when I went to Melchiza with my mother and her team.' She felt her lips curve slightly upward. 'We beat the dance machine, too. The arcade manager said we had the two highest scores she'd ever seen.'

'And he remembers these adventures so kindly that he sends you a packet at school,' Asu said, with a smug look that Theo didn't quite understand. 'A good friend, indeed!'

'Well,' Theo said cautiously, 'he is a good friend. But it isn't like it cost him a lot to get this to me.'

Asu's laugh was quick and sharp.

'Did it not? Are you sure?'

Theo frowned and looked again at the thin box with its notable lack of stickers and forms.

'The favors, you mean.'

'Sometimes,' Asu said, in that annoying too-old-for-school voice she used to explain obvious details to the kid, 'favors are more expensive than cash. And he owes everyone who carried that package a favor.' She sighed, stopped pushing, and spent a few seconds fussing with the brake before she looked up again.

'That's a good friend,' she said and the smirk this time was unmistakable. 'Here, it's your turn to push.'

'I owe a favor, too, though, don't I?' Theo said when they'd changed places and gotten under way. Asu was eying her box again.

'What gives you—oh.' The other girl frowned slightly. 'yos'Senchul had you sign too, didn't he? Yes, I guess you do owe a favor, or will, as soon as that receipt gets back to your . . . friend.'

Theo gritted her teeth and kept on pushing. 'Why?'

'Well, it's clear yos'Senchul expects great things from you,' Asu said, matter-of-factly. 'There's a hole, Theo, bear left—good. All of the pilot teachers have, ever since you brought the Slipper down like that.' She cast Theo a bland, over-the-shoulder look. 'You really do need to get your math scores up, though.'

'I know,' Theo told her fervently.

'So,' Asu said, with another glance at the top of the cart, 'what do you think it is?'

You had to give her credit, Theo thought; Asu never gave up.

'It's probably just a note,' she said, shaking damp strands of hair out of her face. But there wasn't any reason, was there, she asked herself, for Win Ton to send a note this way, incurring all those favors, when they'd been writing via the letter service just fine, her more than him—and her less than before she'd come to Anlingdin.

Asu's sigh could've blown a feather ten feet.

'No, it's probably not just a note,' she said. 'Pilot post is expensive, weren't you listening? Why would your . . . friend . . . pile up all those favors to send you a note when he could use a letter service far more cheaply?' She gave Theo a smile. 'It's bothering you, isn't it? You can stop and open it now, if you'd like. I don't mind waiting.'

Theo put her head down and kept pushing. The steepest part of the path was still ahead; it would take both of them pushing to get the cart up to Erkes. The good part was that the approach hill was short.

'Bowli ball,' Asu said, contemplatively, as if speaking to herself. 'Our little Theo has a Scout pilot sweet on her and she thinks we'll believe they just played bowli ball. Oh, I'll take a wager that he taught her all kinds of hand-talk!'

That was it. Theo stopped, set the brake, snatched Chelly's package and her own from the top of the cart and was half-a-dozen steps up the hill before Asu found her voice.

'Wait! Theo, where are you going?'

'Home,' she said, pointing up the hill to where Erkes was silhouetted against darkening clouds. 'With my package and with Chelly's. You can bring your stuff from here.'

'It will take both of us to get the cart up that hill!' Asu cried. 'Theo—be reasonable.'

'I am being reasonable,' Theo said sincerely, but she was already slowing. Asu in a snit was irritating. Asu in a snit at her was bound to be unpleasant in ways she didn't have time for. Besides, she told herself, as her feet turned her around, Asu did try to be helpful, and to pull her weight as a member of the team. Sometimes. In her own way.

'Win Ton didn't send this to you, he sent it to me,' Theo said.