SIAN AND LESEACH PAIRED UP to work, as Loi and Citaan already worked together. The small pile of crystals in Leseach's sack each needed to be at the bottom of a four-foot hole. Sian eyed the crystals. 'I can see why this takes so long,' she said to Leseach. 'I'm impressed that you get the larger villages done so fast.'

The Northerner smiled, a brief lift of those full lips, and nodded deliberately at something behind Sian. Twisting to look, she saw a group of men with shovels ...