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Xilya's tail scraped lazily along the ground. She scratched at her throat indifferently. "Well, that was stupid."

Ryziel stared at her with a fiery glare, and she stared back in challenge.

"Was it?" Ryziel said softly, keeping his anger barely in check. "And what in Nihl's sight makes you say that?"

Xilya was unaffected by his seething expression, one of the very few who didn't turn or cower from his venomous gaze.

"Because she has seen everything already. She knows what we are up to. And instead of threatening to go to the enforcers and the Xolis Council, she is willing to actually aid us in the one thing we need most." Xilya's eyes narrowed. "Honestly, Nihl Ryziel, whywouldn'twe take such an opportunity?"

"I have my reasons," he said.

"And they are?" she asked.

"I can think of one," Nar called out. "We don't have room to stow away a bunch of humans."

"I find that highly unlikely," Xilya responded. "We can make room easily. What else?"

Ryziel rubbed at his throat. "I have...personal reasons."

"And they are?"

"I don't need to tell you."

Xilya let out an impressive growl, and Ryziel met her with his own.

"Damn your stubbornness, Nihl Ryziel. Who cares if you have some strange issues with the girl?” Xilya hit her fist against the edge of the map. "You should know something. I was messaged again by the urk who gave us the map. With the storm season fast upon us, the water rises below and moves, shaping the earth. In a few cycles’ time, he says there will be a great flooding below. This is why the cave systems constantly change and the urks are always looking for new systems. Is this not true, Nar?"

"It's true," responded the urk. "There are places that had been sealed off for ages because of the waters but then would become reopened after great floods moved the current. Yurza's Keep had been one of these at a point if I’m not mistaken."

"So, you see," Xilya continued, "we are running out of time if we want to grab as many minerals within the Keep as possible and have the chance to use the tracer to look for the ionx we still desperately need. So, if I were you, Nihl Ryziel, I would rethink forbidding the girl to help. I would think hard. Unless you can come up with a different plan very soon."

Ryziel closed his eyes and rubbed them, baring his teeth. This changed things. But could he put aside his fears and allow Aly to return? He barely knew her and yet he could no longer say he didn't care about what happened to her. Not completely.

Because all it took was one bad day. And even if she was still mostly a stranger, she was an innocent woman who his subconscious felt compelled to protect, even if he didn't yet understand why.

"I will...think on it," was all Ryziel could say.

Xilya bowed her head, giving him a stern glare. "Very well. But I would think quickly if I were you."

Chapter Fifteen

Aly stood by Braxin's door, waiting to be let into his work unit, preparing herself for the inevitable shouting match that was likely to occur. She hadn't gone to him right away. Instead, she had slipped back to her own unit to replace the ripped-up and poorly patched slipsuit for a new one, throwing the bad one in the trash. She messaged her team after that. Then, knowing she couldn't avoid him, messaged Braxin, who immediately responded, ordering her to come to him.

When the door to his work unit finally opened, Aly came face to face with two enforcers, a krull male, and a lygin female. Braxin stood between them.

"Get in here, Smith."

Aly did as Braxin commanded, the door closing behind her. She glanced at both of the enforcers who she'd seen around before but only at a distance.

"Sit down," Braxin said.

Aly did.

The krull came over and gestured to her techband. "Give it up so I can assess it," he said, almost like a parrot with his throat moving and beak opening and closing. Aly took off the band and handed it to him. His talons carefully tapped along the screen as he maneuvered through the programming. Aly watched him with only a simmering of anxiety bubbling in her stomach, fairly confident they wouldn't find anything unusual.

"Care to tell us where you were?" the lygin asked.

"I was at the bottom," Aly responded.