The trip went quickly enough. The weather held; although there was distant thunder, no rains came to delay them. Harmonia set a brisk pace. By the time they got to the edge of the Castle's lands, they were all sore from travel, and Ismene was beginning to worry about the horses.

  At the gatehouse, they'd all dismounted for the inspection. The soldiers helped Harmonia unload their horses, carrying everything into a room in the gatehouse, where it was placed on an empty table. Next to them, there was a scholar in the midst of another inspection; it had clearly been going on for a while. Their notes were scattered every which way; some of their books had been set aside; the scholar himself was sitting with a resigned look on his face while the soldiers amused themselves flipping through his books.

  Perhaps, when they applied to the Prytane in charge of border matters, some of the confiscated books would be returned. Perhaps some might end up in the hands of the publishers, be that Ismene's employers or one of the smaller businesses. Some would simply never be seen again, mouldering in a private collection.

  Harmonia's inspection was different. The soldiers did rummage through their satchels: one took the list Ismene had drafted, scanned through it, and scanned through Harmonia's cases of books. One book was picked out from the top level and unwrapped. They didn't actually bother checking the book cases against the list. Harmonia was, after all, member of a House in the Assembly.

  When they were packed up and riding out, Eryx had a sour look on her face. Ismene fell in with her, after they'd ridden down the road a while and Harmonia was ahead enough not to hear.

  "That's really all?" Eryx's tone was simmeringly disappointed. "That other guy was getting taken apart."

  Ismene was letting herself relax. The smuggled volumes wouldn't get across the border if the guards did their job properly—or if they didn't defer to Harmonia's authority. "Rank has privileges," she concluded, shrugging.

  "I'll show them rank," Eryx grumbled.

  Ismene grinned, but schooled her face as Harmonia looked back.

  "Keep up your pace," Harmonia called. "I've got a meeting to keep."

  Now that they were past the border, the land became familiar. The Castle's deep forest was replaced with village operations; farms, manufacturing towns, and attractive family estates. Servants were out on the roads, going about their daily business. Harmonia's party was stopped sometimes by military patrols; but each time, she showed them her family seal, and they were allowed to pass without toll. At well-patronized waypoints, they stayed the night and moved on early.

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  The return to Dryas always brought out mixed feelings in Ismene. On the one hand, she felt energized; ready to step back into the print shop with fresh eyes, ready to get back into the industrious grind of bookbinding and bookselling. Returning from a trip always made the ordinary become more interesting.

  On the other hand, Ismene missed the Castle; its strangeness and its luxury alike. She did have a room to herself in Harmonia's villa in Dryas, but it was spartan and tiny. She had long ago exhausted the dorm library. The city was large and bustling, but she couldn't leave it without papers, and Ismene didn't get much leave. And as much as she felt energized to work, Ismene felt increasingly dissatisfied at going back to a grind that would, ultimately, be all she ever did. As much as she wanted a library, there was no profit in it; Mellon would never approve it. She probably wouldn't end up overseeing her own branch of the publishing business, not when there were employers willing to take up a franchise with Mellon's House. Ismene would probably stay in the same job until she aged enough to be relegated to household minutiae.

  Ismene was, after all, stuck. Her mother always had warned her of coming to a dead end in the city. Ismene would argue that she'd found gainful work that was suited to her interests, but really, what was the benefit of working herself into obsolescence?

  She wished she'd been able to finish reading the Voice's book. Ismene didn't know what to make of it, but she liked the idea that the Voice had come to her directly.

  They rode into Dryas, much as they had to the Castle, with the setting sun; but here it was at her back. House parties spilled out into the streets from richly decorated villas. Everywhere, workers walked on foot to and from their shifts. Carts crawled out of the city and in. Soldiers kept up their watches in twos and threes.

  They stopped at the workshop along the way, so Ismene could unload the new books. She shelved them in stacks, still wrapped, with Harmonia waiting half-attentively at her shoulder. It was a relief to have them put away safely; Ismene was never quite sanguine about her antics until the trip was over. She'd separate out her smuggled copies in the morning, when she worked unsupervised. When Ismene was done, Harmonia locked the cabinet and, then, the office. Eryx was yawning.

  When they reached the villa, Harmonia was greeted by cheerful voices and the fussing of her attendant. She stayed at the real entrance, leaving her companions to fend for themselves. Ismene bid Eryx farewell and together, they walked into the servant's end of the villa. Unlike the fine front of the complex, the gate Ismene entered was simple and small. She signed in with the guard.

  At this point in the evening, there wasn't much activity. There were always groups of servants somewhere, but most were already in their beds. Ismene did make herself wash while the bath was empty, and snagged a roll from the kitchens before allowing herself to creep up to her cubicle. As tiny as it was, she was glad for the privacy.

  There, under her pillow, someone had slipped a letter. It was folded in an intricate pattern and sealed with a slit-off piece, twisted so that the reader could not open it without tearing the document. The letter, then, that her mother had promised.

  Ismene put the letter back. She would deal with it later. For now, she just wanted to sleep.