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“He couldn’t tell you himself?”
“You say that as if you think he might have explained himself to me.”
“Of course he didn’t.” She sighed. “Trust him to leave the hard jobs to me.”
“You’ve known my mother was still alive my whole life long, and you never bothered to mention it to me?”
“I’ve known only since he was about to lead you out on this last jaunt,” she said. “He took me aside and made me memorize some names and an address. He said I’d know when to tell somebody.”
“It’s now,” said Rigg.
“Fat lot of good it’ll do you,” said Nox, “with men watching my house.”
“I’d rather die knowing.”
“First tell me how that boy died.”
So Rigg told her what had happened, except that he left out any mention of the man from another time whose hand had covered Kyokay’s. He was sure she could sense that he wasn’t telling the complete story, but it still seemed better not to tell her about his abilities.
Nox seemed to take it all in stride. “Trust that idiot Umbo to accuse you before trying to find out the truth. And you lost all your furs?”
“I didn’t really lose them, since I know where they are,” said Rigg. “They’re somewhere downriver, hung up on rocks or branches.”
“Oh, you can be funny? I’m so glad to hear it.”
“It’s laugh or cry,” said Rigg.
“Cry, then. Give the old man his due.”
For a moment, Rigg thought she meant the ancient man at the top of the falls. But of course she meant Father. “He wasn’t all that old.”
“How can anyone tell? He was coming to this house when I was a child, and he looked no younger then.”
“Will you tell me now where I need to go?”
“I’ll tell you—so you’ll know what address it was you never made it to. Nobody’s letting you out of town today.”
“Names,” Rigg insisted.
“Are you hungry?”
“I’ll be eating the flesh of warmed-over rooming house owner if you don’t tell me now.”
“Threats. Tut tut. Naughty boy. Raised without manners.”
“Exactly,” said Rigg. “But I do have a lot of experience with killing animals larger than myself.”
“I get it,” said Nox. “You’re so clever. Your mother was—is—Hagia Sessamin. She lives in Aressa Sessamo.”
“The ancient capital of the Sessamoto Empire?”
“That very city,” said Nox.
“And what is her address?” asked Rigg.
Nox chuckled. “Not a very good listener. Your father always said, ‘If I could only get him to pay attention.’”
Rigg was not going to be put off. “Address?”
