2/2

She stuck one of her few remaining cigarettes between her lips in lieu of actually addressing his whining, because this was her break-time and damn it all if she didn't get something done during it. The motion didn't do more than buy her a few seconds to light it, and when she looked back at him he was still pouting at her from his spot on a battered camp chair.

Sighing through her nose and enduring the sting of smoke that accompanied the act, she ran her non-smoking hand through her loose hair before picking a language they had in common that wasn't English or Russian. "Frankly, I don't care."

"That's not very understanding." Cherep was quick to point out in return, in German like her instead of the Russian he stared in because they both needed the practice. "You're supposed to sympathize with me."

"Says who? I don't really like watching you risk your life and bones for an adrenaline rush in front of spectators, nor the fact you seem to want me to support it. I didn't require you to support what I do, why do I have to do it for you?"

Sonya clamped her mouth shut probably a sentence too slow. His mostly-faked pout changed into a smaller but real frown, and in return she shifted awkwardly. Not quite guiltily, but still somewhat sorry for how bluntly that came out.

"You know, sometimes I think Lisa did you a disservice with those acting lessons." Her fellow Cloud started, his light tone at odds with the serious look on his face. "You can fake most things really well, so it's hard to keep in mind that you're not really as understanding of some conversational gambits or why we use them as you seem."

"For the last damn time, I am not socially incompetent."

"No, but you don't really have the tolerance for a lot of social interaction." He countered easily, waving a hand. Mostly to disperse the smoke, partially to wave off her oft-repeated denial. "When you reach that limit, then the nicest you are is socially incompetent."

She finally gifted him with a dirty look, more than tired of trying to talk to people that weren't at least semi-content or indifferent with whatever was going on.

"I wasn't asking you to support me doing something I know you don't like me doing, I was… in a roundabout way, inviting you to complain with me." Cherep pointed out with an impressively straight face, which made it hard for her to understand if he was mad at her or not. "At most, I was expecting you to roll your eyes at me or snort. Maybe even bitch in your dryly witty way that no one ever gets everything they want, and I should be happy enough with what I have."

She eyed him warily, still trying to figure out if he was irritated or annoyed or something.

"Calm down, sister dear." He grinned at her, which just made her suspicious. "Is it just the thing with Faris, or the whole 'we're in China' thing in general that's bothering you so much?"

A waved hand to the opening of the tent he was stuck within in case something mechanical broke down probably meant to incorporate the country they were in.

"Both." The Storm-Cloud tiredly admitted, giving up on understanding and just resigning herself to the fact she had upset him. "Faris and the luggage thing with him was just the latest in what's been bothering me."

"Poor Sonya," he gestured to a spot next to his chair, inviting her to sit, "no one really appreciates you that much, do they?"

"…are you patronizing me?"

"Little bit, yeah."

Sonya supposed she deserved that, if only for snapping at him first.

CLVI (Thursday the 13th of April, 1967. Chiu-Ch'uan, People's Republic of China.)

It took them another week to get out from the borderlands of the Gobi Desert region, which then left the performers of the Großes Volksfest into the middle of China.

Instead of high and cold mountains contrasted with low-lying near-desert heat, they got to enjoy a muggy wet and nearly oppressive heat of the famed bamboo forests of Asia.

Sonya wasn't sure why that was worse, given they had just been crossing plains of baking grasslands and nearly arid scrubland when not trekking across the foot of a mountain range or two. It just felt that way, no matter how strongly she reminded herself of Soviet Russia's blackout winters or even the mountain ranges they had left behind recently.

The middle region of China was also the point at which things like 'curfew' and 'escorts' became a thing.

She really did wonder what they were trying to hide. Jiayi had already independently confirmed what news the Russian had sent to them via Cherep during the winter, using some of her more far-flung family connections and her obvious nationality to encourage some gossip her way.

'For our protection' her pale white ass, she could probably murder a platoon of those Red Guard members without too much difficulty. Wet behind the ears, utterly puffed up on their own arrogance, little shits that they were.

She wondered if she should feel disturbed over that thought, and then wondered if the fact she didn't was good or not. She eventually decided that moral questions of that magnitude deserved more than a few minutes to deliberate over and shoved it aside in favor for other things to ponder.

The difference between this year of traveling as a circus performer and last year was Sonya's distinct lack of desire to explore or even leave the areas set aside for fairgrounds and the like.

She had already decided she didn't like China, knew well that anything she'd get up to in regard to the local underworld would draw some very unwanted official attention that probably wouldn't be worth it, so she stuck close to the circus' assigned locations.

It wasn't until Crina made a faux-casual comment in Romanian about her normal habits and what she hadn't been doing that Sonya realized a few things.

"So, when do you think it will be safe enough to go back to wandering around like a stray cat?"

Okay, not so much faux-casual as it was bluntly spoken and rather frank. For the two them, on the other hand? It was the equivalent of genuinely spoken concern.

Sonya neatened the stack of tarot cards the old bat had been absentmindedly instructing her on the use of while she thought. "Likely… the moment we are on a ship for our next country."

Her master of all things mystic snatched her pack of cigarettes, stealing one from the thief shamelessly. She had her own lighters, due to the incense she burned when her drinking got a bit out of hand, so the lack of one on the younger woman's person still wasn't a thing to hide.

"You think it's that bad, then?"

"Think?" Her not-so-legal apprentice repeated slowly, giving the crotchety gypsy a measured stare. "Crina, have you looked around lately?"

The question netted her a shrug, as well as the return of her pack of cigarettes. "I've heard a little from Jiayi, over how bad it's getting. But for us? Those that will leave and possibly spread word to other countries about what's going on?"

"That's part of why I'm being overly cautious. There is little keeping those in power from arranging a 'terrorist attack' or some completely 'natural' disaster that so unfortunately took out a wandering circus troupe."

That earned her a sideways but sharp beady-eye stare. She merely shrugged then returned her attention to try memorizing the meaning of various cards again.

The thief wondered…

Crina's comments now and Jiayi's from earlier in the year seemed to imply that certain members of the circus knew full well what her usual job description entailed. That made her wonder if there was another reason why Master Liam was so accepting of a mere mechanic's little sister joining up with him.

There was… some sense to that logic if so.

Mafia people tended to avoid interfering in other mafia operations unless they knew what was going on. It was easier, not to mention more cost-effective, to let some other group or syndicate to establish a smuggling route or underworld business then take it over by force.

Additionally, more time to plan or gather information to take over said route or business meant it was less likely someone would end up massacring their own people because of some unknown detail or there being more combatants than assumed.

A Russian thief popping up with Mafyia tattoos within a circus would've taken a lot of syndicates near or around the Soviet Union aback at first.

Sonya shuffled the oversized cards, wondering if that was part of the 'why' Master Liam allowed her to tag along after Cherep in the circus and not just as a wandering traveler in their wake.

CLVII (Monday the 17th of April, 1967. Mafia Land.)

Renato considered what he had learned carefully as he followed a rather busty redhead dressed as a Mafia Land hospital nurse down a busy street.

A certain someone was picking up Sonya's mail, and she was on the island with him when the thief herself wasn't and wouldn't be for several more months yet.

Mafia Land had some rather strict limitations on who could pick up or handle their employee's personal effects, even if those employees happened to be six feet under. Rarely did any Mafioso attach anyone to their personal accounts, not even if they shared a blood relation to another did they authorize them to basically be free to paw through their apartment or storage units.

Much less allow others to handle the sensitive things sometimes sent by mail.

This woman was either someone the touchy Russian Storm-Cloud allowed closer than most mafia people allowed very many, or she had gotten to Sonya's accounts either through her work or because of him again.

By an average Hard Cloud's typical behavior alone, the first option wasn't likely if she was currently with her brother-figure again this year. Which left the second to be the more plausible one.

Unfortunately, the young woman in question wasn't a typical Cloud in nature. Nor did she really conform to what was usually thought of as Cloud behavior and gained some amusement by baffling anyone expecting it from her.

Renato only had Sonya's Mafia Land employee ID number because he was a suspicious and probably paranoid asshole, he had twisted it out of a particularly slimy clerk in the Thieves' Hall not too long ago after she agreed to help him with Shamal. She would probably not be impressed with him for having it and would likely actually go through with that threat to break a few bones from the very beginning of their association if she learned he knew her number at all.

Even with a recent changeover, security breaches like that could've happened before Vongola got into the island's operations. The redhead could've even gotten Sonya's ID number afterwards or during the inevitable confusion of the switch.

It was a lot easier to keep an eye on the Storm-Cloud's movements if he could use that ID to be alerted to her coming and going from the island. Especially since she preferred sea-routes to what air travel was allowed on the island.

Additionally, the hitman didn't really want to press his luck with how much backlash from his work she would be willing to brush off. There had been more than enough of that to last him a long while as it was.

However, there were limits to what he could use Sonya's Mafia Land employee ID for. Since he couldn't lose a bit more than half-foot of height, nor somehow slim himself down to her lithe but still growing willowy frame no matter what disguise he wanted to try, he couldn't access her records.

Not even through his shiny new association with Vongola, as it was the outside advisory branch in charge of security. Which meant he was stalled on ruling out that first option from being possible.

Given Renato was likely already on thin-ice where the Russian was concerned, a misstep could cost him a contact that was proving to be rather fascinatingly diverse in her knowledge base.

…and Shamal would pitch an annoying fit if the hitman couldn't somehow sweet-talk Sonya into visiting Vongola territory this winter or sometime next year so the baby Mist could prove all those doubters over a Mist tolerating Cloud wrong.

She had to be alive for him to do said sweet-talk, as well as somewhat endeared to him.

Though he was sure mentioning Shamal alone would work there even if she still wasn't happy with him.

Which left him in this particular bind.

The risks were obvious, but the possible results were less clear. His lifestyle as a hitman meant he rather preferred better odds for success, but there were always occasions he could afford ensuring that.

Worst comes to worst, he could always stalk whoever it was until he understood more of who it was.

Somehow, in between hits he still had to do. For both Mafia Land and for Nono Vongola.

Renato raked a hand through his short and spiky black hair distractedly, noting the turnoff the red headed nurse swung herself down and calculating a different route to keep tailing her by.

Just following someone even a few feet back was suspicious as hell, meaning he had all sorts of tricks to pull out to keep a target from getting wary of him.

For all he knew of Sonya's personal life, this woman could be someone important to her. The hitman had, by sheer accident no less, only just last year learned the thief was fostered with a brother in Soviet Russia's Moscow.

Given it had been four years since he met the girl-turned-young-woman, that was… bad.

It was equally likely she was just that good, or they both weren't too interested in more than a casual acquaintance until just recently. The Soft Flame Sun user was leaning more towards deciding he had been badly neglecting a surprisingly interesting information source he hadn't known was at hand.

The alleyway he had been walking down suddenly opened on to another street, the one the redheaded nurse was supposed to be on. A glance down the street in both directions informed the hitman she had already taken another street or entered one of the buildings nearby.

Well… this was a rather expensive area, but still a residential one.

He now had both where the woman was working and where it was she likely lived or reported to after picking up Sonya's mail.

Where this trail ended meant little more than he had to be a bit more careful than he had been. This section of the island was generally filled with condos and long-term apartments sometimes sold to various underworld powers.

Meaning if that redheaded woman was a friend or more to Sonya it was likely a good thing. If not, then he might be getting into another thing that may prove to be over his head.

CLVIII (Saturday the 22nd of April, 1967. Lan-Chou, People's Republic of China.)

Crina became markedly less popular in a short enough amount of time it nearly gave Sonya whiplash.

While it hadn't been too obvious back near the borders of the People's Republic of China, the further in the circus got the more obvious it was that the superstition a fortune teller relied upon for business dried up.

It had been more of a novelty service than any actual fortune telling business, apparently in more rural China the act of getting one's fortune read by an exotic and genuine gypsy was worth the price for some cryptic babble spouted off at them. That did not extend into more developed cities the further south they went.

She had noticed it as far back as Chiu-Ch'uan, when it Crina's usual draw dipped from the normal rate and Sonya's success rate of acquiring less certain business increased.

That didn't prepare her for the outright scorn exhibited by those visiting the circus by the time they reached Lan-Chou.

Her master of mysticism rapidly shut down her little tent in response, not three hours into the day.

It was apparently a baffling enough treatment the old bat immediately made tracks to where Master Liam was setting up the later big-top show. Sonya hesitated for a full minute, but eventually decided to default into just entertaining the younger visitors in lieu of her usual job.

She also, just in case, purposely kept an eye on several of the worst offenders that had mocked her mistress' fortune telling.

The Russian had known the Red Guard was being given more and more power, the mass rallies paid for by the government still being talked about last year had told her that much. She hadn't known they would become bold enough to go after examples of another country's cultural history.

The fact members of the Red Guard were here and had gone after Crina, on the other hand, said nothing good about where the upsets in China were about to go.

She wasn't surprised when Jiayi swung around to collect her when she was in the middle of juggling a set of throwing knives for said Red Guards' entertainment in hopes of distracting them from making an even bigger scene than they had already. Extracting herself took a few pointed hefts of the knives and a sharp smile, but they had been impressed enough with her knife skills to 'allow' it.

The old bat the thief worked mainly under was a tough woman. Even though she probably likely knew what might have happened had she not shut down her tent quick enough, she merely looked as crotchety as ever.

Master Liam was stressed looking enough for the both even as he prepared himself to act as the big-tops ringmaster instead of the, currently sick, gentleman that usually did it.

"You may not be able to go back to work, Crina." The circus master informed Sonya's master in all things mystic lowly in Mandarin Chinese when they finally reached them.

He was carefully waxing his mustache, so it would stay no matter how loudly he would have to be shouting in the next few hours, and the man gave a short nod to them as she and the Chinese woman got close enough for him to see them in the performers tent's mirror.

"This isn't the first road bump we've weathered, nor would it be the last of them." Crina scoffed rather loudly in the same language, striding over to her apprentice and holding out a demanding hand. "But this is a different one, and I don't think I can go to selling herbs and the like here."

If Confucius' home and grave hadn't survived the current unrest without damage, then it wasn't likely a lone gypsy's trade would either.

Sonya obediently ponied up a cigarette for her.

"We cannot simply have her as a 'holistic' healer." Jiayi chipped in, looking as fierce as the little lioness the thief tended to think of her as. "They will not accept that either, not if just simple fortune telling started this mess and we already said we had nothing beyond first-aid training among us."

"And she must do something, if only to be of use for the performer's visa she's in the country on." Master Liam agreed with a slow nod, then turned to the three women in the tent with him. "Suggestions then, ladies?"

"I've got nothing." Admitted the old woman sourly around the filter between her lips, searching her pockets for a lighter she probably didn't have on her.

Their native expert kept her mouth stubbornly shut, but she looked equally unhappy as the gypsy woman. She tended to handle the acrobats of the circus troupe, so it wasn't really that surprising.

She kind of wondered why she was in this tent for the discussion. Was it because she was 'officially' Crina's apprentice, or because they thought she had more to give over?

Liam turned his attention to her when it appeared the Chinese woman had no idea nor intents on making that clearer. She supposed that answered that question, they were wondering if she could do something more.

"I… have a jewelry making kit."

"I forgot about that." Muttered the old gypsy woman as she peered at her apprentice. "What would you need for it?"

"Copper or silver wire, preferably." She only could do simple things with it, and with a lack of precious stones but for the spinel gems she had on her Bec de Corbins or the red tourmaline key necklace around her neck? "And… a lack of questions on how I do some things."

Without gems for any ornamentation, that would mean local stones if they were going to have more than just braided wire jewelry. Like the natural granite or basalt in the area. Since she didn't have any stone-cutting tools, it would mean she was limited to what kind of control she had over Storm Flames to shape anything.

This was… not really a good idea. She couldn't think of another, though.

The circus master smoothed a hand down fiercely waxed mustachios thoughtfully, considering the Russian carefully. "I feel… uneasy over such a condition, little sister Sonya. But… we do not have the luxury to demand an explanation as well as a service you were not hired to do."

"It's not that I do not trust you," she didn't really, not with this, "it is more that this will complicate a fair few things that do not need to be. For both you and I."

They would likely find out eventually anyways. Cherep wasn't really going to get away with a stuntman's lot in life without a few crashes or broken bones. Sonya decided she was merely… testing the waters before they had to commit to this circus to hide her foster brother's Dying Will Flames and his innate use of them.

CLIX (Saturday the 22nd of April, 1967. Lan-Chou, People's Republic of China.)

With a very limited amount of time that could be spent outside the circus' designated fairgrounds, Sonya took off immediately.

To avoid more questions that she really cared to deal with, she did it in a way that allowed her to evade an 'escort'. Nominally by simply waiting for a moment or two of inattention to anyone watching her movements, and mostly by abusing Cloud Prorogated jumping and circus level gymnastics to be in places that wouldn't be checked or looked at normally.

Even if anyone did look for where a lowly apprentice was.

There wasn't much of a reason to try sneaking around at night, not only would there be more interest in who might leave or enter the fairgrounds at that time but also the thief didn't really know the area that well and light would be a necessity to find what she needed.

Stumbling around in the dark also didn't really appeal to her anyways.

Sonya took with her a few empty packs and used her limited geological knowledge to find herself some rocks with pretty patterns or solid colors. Getting back into the city of Lan-Chou with three full packs of said rocks clicking and shifting on her took a fair amount of time and the occasional backtrack or three.

Crina stubbornly sat herself down next to the thief when she returned just before sunset, looking mulish enough the younger woman ignored the old bat instead of try protesting the scrutiny.

Her expression when the Russian took hold of her red crystal key and snapped off the teeth with her bare hands was an interesting study of shocked and wary.

Sonya was taking a leaf out of her own book. Since her control over Storm Flames did suck for anything other than complete Disintegration, she needed something to help her not melt whatever rock she was trying to cut into. Instead, she used the sharp broken end of red tourmaline to carve stone.

Which worked surprisingly well for something makeshift. She mourned her poor key but replacing it later wouldn't be too difficult.

"I suppose this would be how you light your smokes without an actual lighter." The old woman mused slowly, fingering the still warm rock Sonya had tested her theory about her Storm Flame control on.

She had carved that bit of shale with Crina's name. Given that it worked, didn't look to be melting any more now that she had stopped applying her focused Storm Flames and was no more crumbly than usual for a bit of shale, the thief decided this really was going to work out.

"You realize you're going to have to make a few hundred of these things, right?" The gypsy continued when her apprentice didn't respond to the leading question.

"…can you get Jiayi to write down common Chinese characters for reference? I do not think I recall all the simple ones I can carve."

"I can do that." Crina admitted wryly, heaving herself up. "They didn't find a lot of silver wire for you, but Master Liam did put in an order for it we can pick up in the next stop. They found you copper, though."

"We will also need string or leather for necklaces if you want to sell them that way and not just charms to wear on such things." The Flame user shrugged the limitation off, more interested in examining a bit of granite and wondering how she would melt enough of it off for a flat surface she could carve and not waste half the rock to get it.

"I've heard stories, a long-assed time ago, about those able to summon an inner fire at will." Posed aloud her master just before she ducked out of the tent they usually lived and worked out of. "Funny how those old stories seem to have a bit of truth behind them."

The thief pursed her lips as the old bat left to find her more things to use in her amateur jewelry making.

That was an... interesting thought.

Did Crina's culture have stories about Dying Will Flame users and their abilities?

She wondered if the old woman wouldn't mind sharing those stories, and how much she would be asked to explain in return.

Her infrequent dips into history hadn't reached any contemporary period just yet, she was currently picking at ancient Greece and Rome. Familiarizing herself to a history that was almost but not quite the same as what she recalled was a little tricky, especially since a fair bit of it had yet to be discovered but she knew some things happened differently from Rachel's school lessons.

Which made everything a rather confusing mess for her. Instead of trying and find differences, she had instead started working on recalling this history as what she needed to think of instead of Rachel's.

It wasn't as if she'd ever actually use that version of history again.

CLX (Monday the 8th of May, 1967. Shanghai International Settlement, People's Republic of China.)

In the month more it took the Großes Volksfest to work through the rest of China, the Storm-Cloud made upwards of four hundred little stone charms. The outside edges and a loop to thread a string or a leather thong through in mostly copper wire but some had silver instead, they were little square tiles with a word or two at most carved into the faces.

Crina sold about a hundred of them in each stop, meaning while not really all that popular they did at least cover the lowest base of her usual amount earned. Her apprentice was just happy with that, and the fact they could go back to being fortune tellers with little trouble from now on.

Cherep had to work hard not to laugh when he learned of what his foster sister had been up to while he got a stunt show set up, and why she wouldn't be there for the next one either.

Sonya chucked a bit of basalt at his head anyways.

Frankly, by the time the circus reached Shanghai, the thief was more than ready to put China and her hopefully only stint as a professional jeweler behind her.

Master Liam arranged for a ship with some decent swiftness, obviously to his circus performers if not to anyone outside of it. He also lied through his teeth when the port authorities asked why the haste to leave, citing they were about a half a month behind schedule due to sightseeing and enjoying the countryside… when in fact they were about a month ahead and had done no such things.

Since Shanghai was a British controlled port city, the circus relaxed some of its guard over their performers. Which meant curfew or not, they finally got around to doing the bits of shopping that had been put off while in more uncertain areas of the country.

Her fellow Cloud and a few other mechanics got sent out for parts and the fiddlier bits of machinery that were prone to breaking, Jaq and Faris ended up fetching canvas and tarp repair kits, Jiayi and some of her girls left to find more fabrics for repairing costumes and tents.

Sonya kept herself armed to the teeth anyways, especially after their mistress of the trapeze got wind of Red Guard groups starting to interfere with the People's Liberation Army installations.

It turned out to be one of her better ideas.

She got suspicious enough to send Crina back with some of the preserved food they had been sent out to purchase, around when the civilians cluttering the streets started to rapidly find other things to do well outside of the neighborhood.

The old bat didn't look entirely pleased with getting sent away but left when she noticed the same thing.

It was when the fishmonger she had been haggling with suddenly ducked out of his stall entirely that she decided that pretending to ignore the reason for the situation wasn't going to cut it.

…and that she possibly wasn't getting the preserved snapper she had been tasked to find.

She turned around and was confronted with the three Chinese men who had been rather impatiently waiting for her to notice them.

Liqin was one of those men, who did at least look a touch apologetic about this. There was a man in a red Gi with a long braid of dark hair, which might be a member of what Triad group her old guide belonged to, and another man in darker clothing with a sour expression.

"May I help you?"

"Miss… Yu, was it?" Obviously, the long-haired spokesman understood wasn't her real name.

She didn't particularly want to make this easy for them. "That will work for now, yes."

To his credit, that didn't seem to faze him. "I was wondering if I may ask you a few questions."

"This have anything to do with a visit I may or may not have done last winter?" At his nod, the thief pursed her lips thoughtfully. "No."

It earned her a slow blink from the man standing front and center, and a cringe from Liqin. The other man, the one standing off to the side a bit, looked irritated.

Actually, he started out with an irritated expression. His face turned rather red and angry at her flat refusal.

"Miss Yu, I really only want to ask a few questions." The first speaker tried again, without a trace of exasperation or irritation in his tone.

Sonya was impressed with his calmness, but that wasn't going to help. "By law, and you know full well what laws, I cannot help you this way. Not that I would be particularly inclined to do so suddenly accosted by three gentlemen out of the blue like this."

"Yu-"

"Stop messing around, Fong." The last man snapped, reaching out one hand to grab her arm. "We don't have the time-"

The Russian wasn't amused, nor willing to see where that would go.

Her hand grabbed his and crushed the bones to splinters without warning. That man's knees suddenly hit the planked walkway they were standing on, and he gave out a choked off gasp of pure pain.

She locked eyes with the first man, who still seemed weirdly calm even with her crushing one man's hand to rubbery uselessness in front of him. "I. Cannot. Help. You. If I say anything beyond 'I don't know', then the organization that allowed me to be hired for some job I may or may not have done will have me hunted down and killed for speaking of things they promised anonymity for. Find another way."

"Would you be willing to answer if I did?" Fong asked lightly, still unconcerned by his fellow's pained whimpers.

"Not particularly, no."

Liqin sighed, if in exasperation or tiredness it was debatable.

"Then we seem to be at an impasse." Crossing his arms over his chest, the long-haired triad member regarded the thief thoughtfully. "I must ask, and if you cannot or will not answer…"

"You may be stuck, I am not." Sonya reassured him with a tight little smile, finally letting go of the ruined hand.

"I will not allow you to just leave." The spokesperson of this little 'intervention' warned as he adopted a looser stance, sounding slightly apologetic about that.

The man who had, rather unwisely, reached out to try manhandling a Cloud managed to drag himself away a little bit. Liqin had been standing a way away anyways, wary of a woman that could make metal spontaneously melt on command as well as the individual confronting her.

Sonya was entirely not apologetic about the sudden dunking her former guide/personal assassin and Fong experienced when she jumped with enough force to not only reach a second-story balcony but also to crack and shatter the dock planking under their feet.

She didn't hang around to watch them deal with that, nor long enough to find out if they had more backup even if the target was only one woman.

She got the hell out of dodge, mentally planning a slightly alternate route to meet up with the circus and wondering how to warn Cherep that she had to find other traveling arrangements for the next ocean-going bit.

The thief would meet up with the circus in Singapore, or worst came to worst, India.