Light returned, and it was blinding sunlight, and she was alive. Salt spray hit her face. Wind tore at her bare skin. A sheer cliff face rushed past her eyes.

  Her hands filed, scrabbling for purchase. Her fingertips brushed stone, then caught it. She jammed them in, pouring the Bronzeband's power into her grip, feeling the rock yield to her will. The falling stopped.

  Emily was hanging on by her fingers to an outcropping of stone on a seaside cliff, swinging violently. Water surged up from below, drenching her back, trying to tear her loose. But she clung on, gasping, her fingers screaming. She was alive.

  She was also dangling halfway down a cliff face, jagged rocks and churning sea below, naked, exhausted, and drenched. But she had not been crushed under a falling dome.

  She thought back to the duel on the pirate ship and summoned Stoneshell fire to the soles of her feet, willing a bst of enough power to fly her up to the top of the cliff. But the fire sputtered out, leaving only a faint warmth under her feet. Teleporting halfway across the world and then immediately getting into a fight before teleporting again had greatly taxed her firepower. She had never worn the Stoneshell's magic this low before.

  Emily gritted her teeth. She had used more magic in the past day than ever before, even in her most trying practice sessions, on days when Aria was feeling particurly ruthless. But she still had some left. She would just need to ration it carefully. Her ankle tingled as she coaxed two ptform out of the cliffside for her feet to stand on, giving relief to her strained fingers.

  With her weight now transferred to her feet, Emily allowed herself an infinitesimal sliver of rexation. Her sore fingers rexed, but still held loosely to the indentations in the rock, and she pressed the front of her body up against the cliff. The stone felt rough against her skin, prodding and nicking her all over.

  [[[ image emily-cliff.jpg goes here centered ]]]

  Emily looked up, squinting in the light of the strong noonday sun. The top of the cliff was just visible, and between it and her was a long expanse of craggy rock. She spied many ledges and imperfections that could make holds for her feet and hands, though most of them would require reshaping with the Bronzeband.

  The sum total of Emily's previous rock-climbing experience was a dimly remembered excursion during a childhood camp. On that occasion, the route had been marked out, and she'd worn a harness attached to the end of a strong rope. She'd also been fully clothed.

  This time, there was none of that, but she had a magical anklet that allowed her to manipute stone. That would have to be advantage enough.

  Once she had rested enough, Emily reached out for the next hold with her left hand. It was just far enough that she had to strain, her right foot going up on tiptoes. As her fingers curled on the stone, she deepened her grip with the Bronzeband's power.

  Next came her right foot. She remembered a camp counsellor telling her to move diagonally across the wall. Once her right foot was securely on a higher ptform, toes pressing against the rockface, she released her left and stood up, reaching for a higher hold with her right hand and gripping firm, natural stone.

  In this manner, Emily continued up the cliffside, moving slowly and carefully, making footholds and handholds for herself. When she felt tired, she would pull a wider ledge out of the rock to stand on and let her arms hang limp.

  The sun beat down on her, sweat stung her eyes and dripped down her body, making the rock slick beneath her bare skin. Each move was deliberate, carefully calcuted to move her up without pcing her in a dangerous position, or requiring too much of the Bronzeband's power.

  She was higher now, and the sea spray was less frequent, which made the sun feel hotter. The more she could rely on natural rock, the less she would need to use her limited energy on summoning holds, and so as she went higher she challenged herself with holds that were further and further apart. Her confidence grew even as fatigue gnawed at her muscles.

  "Just a little... got it!" Emily said, celebrating as the toes of her left foot pressed into a hold she'd first thought would be too far to reach. She brought her left hand up to a new hold that this extended position now allowed her to reach. A soft breeze tickled her inner thighs.

  As she was considering her next move, Emily hear a low whistle from somewhere below her, followed by a familiar voice. "So we meet again, my dear Emily. My, my, what a sight you are. Such flexibility!"

  A million thoughts passed through Emily's mind, and it was all she could do to keep herself on the rockface. Risking a downward gnce, she spied a roguish smile on the bearded face of none other than Captain Richard. He stood with his violin tucked under one arm, on one of the rger ledges she'd pulled from the rock. He was directly beneath her, looking straight up at the point between her wide-spread legs.

  Emily blushed furiously, trying to recall the position of the next foothold, but too surprised by Richard's sudden appearance to move. Where was that nightmoss leotard when a girl needed it? Try as she might, she had never been able to recreate it since that first teleportation. At present, she could not even so much as feel the nightmoss's fibrous presence between her skin and the Bronzeband.

  [[[ image emily-cliff-stretch.jpg goes here centered ]]]

  "I see you're putting my Bronzeband to creative use," he said. "Good of you to keep it warm for me. We might have done great things together, you know. Perhaps we still can. I do like what I see, in case you're wondering."

  Emily was briefly tempted to let go of the rocks and plunge to her doom.

  "Let me cut to the chase, dearest. You have something I dearly want back, and I have something you sorely need. Something blue. Azure, even."

  Emily's blood ran cold. Had Richard stolen the Azure Essence? How could he have managed it?

  "No need to speak, darling, the question is all over your pretty little face. And yes, I am looking at your face." Richard tapped his violin. "In the absence of my Bronzeband, I have had to learn new skills. Luckily I'm a quick study. And Tiedavon Abbey is a fine pce to study resonance and harmonies."

  Emily noticed betedly that Richard had on a blue robe quite simir to the one she'd briefly worn.

  "I was always pnning to take the Essence, ever since I id eyes on it. And when the monks told me about the history of the fire that burns atop this cliff, I had a feeling I would see you again. So imagine my delight when, while in the midst of my morning cliffside stroll, I overheard your arrival and conversation with Kastor. That was when I put my pn into motion."

  With a flourish, Captain Richard produced a thin gss vial from the sleeve of his azure robe. The deep blue liquid shimmered in the sunlight. "A pity about the dome," he continued. "But in many ways, you might say that the monks were responsible for their own downfall. These things can happen when you take in a wild man who washes up on your shore with naught to his name but an old violin, no questions asked. When you tutor him in the ways of resonance magic, celebrate his every victory, give him every honor, and make him much more powerful than you could ever be."

  Disgust and fury welled up within Emily. Not only was Richard a thief, but he had betrayed the monks of Tiedavon after they'd done so much for him.

  "I had hoped that I would be able to recover the Bronzeband from the rubble, but with all that shouting about the teleporting naked fire mage, I realized I might find you here instead, near your fire."

  A gob of spit narrowly missed Richard's nose. "I see you haven't learned any manners since our st encounter," he said, side-stepping and almost losing his bance on the small ledge, though he quickly recovered. "But I suppose that should have been obvious from your choice of dress. Or undress, rather. I should have never challenged such a brazen whore to a strip duel."

  A second gob of spit caught Richard in the eye.

  "I won't demand the Bronzeband from you right this moment," Richard continued, rubbing his eye with a fist, but otherwise nonchant. "You seem to be in great need of it. But I may change my mind if you don't stop doing that."

  Emily wasn't sure how much longer he expected her to hang on to the cliff in her very compromising position. He was clearly savoring the moment.

  "Before you say it, yes, I know you won it fair and square in our little duel. That's why I proposed a trade. The Bronzeband, for a vial of Azure Essence. A barrel, if you'd like. Enough to bathe in. You do seem to like bathing, or at least, you're always dressed for it."

  Emily muttered something inaudible.

  "Meet me for the handover on top of this cliff at sunset tomorrow," Richard continued. "This isn't going to be another duel, merely a trade. No tricks," he added, raising his violin slightly. "Before you get any funny ideas about cheating me, be advised that I've learned some new tricks."

  Richard drew the bow across the strings, making three brief, discordant notes, and then beginning to py in earnest. From Emily's limited vantage point, she watched tendrils of purple light rise from the instrument's strings, swaying to the music. The tendrils wrapped around Richard, and he became fainter, translucent, his visage blending with the rocks. As he became more and more indistinct, the music grew softer, and soon Emily was left alone once more on the cliffside, listening to the wind and the waves.

  Her legs were beginning to ache. Grunting with effort, Emily pulled her right foot off its hold and brought it to stand on a ptform much nearer to her left. She felt like her legs could use a good rub, but did not dare to remove her hands from their holds. Her thighs trembled and her arms ached, but the end was in sight.

  A few careful, broad, and close holds ter, Emily's left hand gripped the surface of the clifftop. With a final burst of strength, she brought her right leg up to a new hold, and then colpsed forward, half-falling, half-rolling into a sprawled heap on the cliff's edge.

  Tufts of grass tickled her stomach, and she luxuriated in the feeling of ying down, of having such a great expanse of horizontal ground below her. She felt she might y there forever.

  [[[ image emily-clifftop.jpg goes here centered ]]]

  Through half-lidded eyes, she surveyed the extinguished remains of the Stoneshell bonfire. Her teleportation must have brought her to its st embers, just as they were blowing off the cliff. Perhaps the removal of the Azure Sphere ended whatever magical protection had kept the fire burning in the open air. She shuddered to think how close she must have been to having her teleportation fail.

  Behind the fire, another shape came into focus—the swiftly moving body of a man. "Emily! Emily! Is that you? Are you alright?!"

  The man was Dorian, and he was sprinting towards her. Then he had her by the arms, had his hands on her back, raised her up, pulled her back from the edge of the cliff, pulled her into a hug. "I knew you'd make it," he said, burying his face in her tangled chestnut hair.

  "What... what happened at the dome?" Emily croaked, her throat almost too dry to sound the words. "After I left. Did... did everyone make it out?"

  Dorian pulled back slightly, though his hands remained firmly on her shoulders, his eyes searching hers. He nodded, relief still etched on his face but now mixed with grimness. "They all got clear just before the main roof came down. They thought you didn't make it. I told them you'd teleported, that you had to have." He shook his head, bitterness creeping into his tone. "I tried to come find you straight away, but they wouldn't let me leave the Abbey grounds. They were suspicious."

  "Suspicious? Of what?"

  "Of us. Kastor argued with them, told them you're the Stoneshell Bearer, but the elders shouted him down. As far as the Council was concerned, the appearance of two outsiders wielding powerful magic right at the moment of the Azure Essence's disappearance and the dome's colpse was too much of a coincidence. I tried to calm them down, throw in a few local words and references to make it clear that I've spent some time here on the Azure Coast, but it was of no use."

  "That's insane!" Emily protested, pushing herself up to full height, though she winced at the scrapes and bruises she'd suffered from the cliff face. "We'd only just arrived! How could we possibly have caused any of it? How could they think that after we risked our own lives to rescue them?"

  "They said we were working with someone else. Or something else. That we were part of a ritual to steal the Essence. There were all sorts of wild theories. Ghor and Tavis weren't any help—they kept going on about your magic, greatly exaggerating what happened when they tried to take your artifacts. The Elders all seemed very offended that you refused initiation and the Tidal Trials."

  Anger fred in Emily's chest. "The ungrateful wretches! All this, after I saved their lives!" A small part of her wondered if Richard may not have been so bad to take their Azure Essence, if this was the way they treated others.

  "They believe we endangered them in the first pce," Dorian said darkly. "They wanted to keep me there for questioning, but I had to find you."

  Emily gasped. "How did you get away?"

  Dorian smiled slyly. "They couldn't start the interrogation right away, with all the chaos of the dome colpse. Other buildings were also falling all around the abbey, and there were more rescue missions to mount. I offered my assistance, but they spurned it, casting a restraint ward on my cloak and leaving me in a corner. But there was one thing they forgot, or maybe didn't know in the first pce."

  The hug released, and Emily stepped back from Dorian's arms. She had felt his skin against hers, and now saw it was because his robe had been reduced to a wrapped loincloth.

  "The blue dye in these robes is a pretty potent spellbreaking ingredient," Dorian said. "It's no Azure Essence, but it's strong enough to break a restraint ward, provided you know how to catalyze it. Unfortunately," he added, looking down at the robe's sorry remains, "spellbreaking doesn't usually leave its ingredients intact."

  They looked at each other for a moment, the silence stretching, filled only by the wind and the distant crash of waves. Emily felt a flush creep up her neck.

  Dorian hastily reached for the knot of his loincloth. "Right. Sorry. You should have this."

  "No," Emily said quickly, pcing a hand on his forearm to stop him. "Don't. You might need the dye again ter." She could hardly believe what she was saying, but she had to be practical. She was already wearing two powerful magical artifacts, and couldn't deprive Dorian of something that, honestly, he would put to better use than she could.

  "But you're..." Dorian gestured vaguely, looking uncomfortable.

  "Naked?" Emily finished. "In case you hadn't noticed, Dorian, this happens to me pretty often. At least in Thesson." She forced a small, tired smile. "Right now, we have bigger problems than finding clothes." She gnced towards the afternoon sun. "It was Captain Richard who stole the Azure Essence. And he wants to trade."

  "The pirate captain you won the Bronzeband off?" Dorian asked. "He's here?"

  Emily nodded gravely. "He confronted me as I was climbing the cliff."

  Dorian's eyes widened, and he took a few cautious steps toward the edge. "Is he still down there?"

  "No, he... teleported away. He has a magic violin. I think it's the same one he had on the ship, though I didn't know it was magic then."

  "How can he py the violin if he doesn't have hands anymore?"

  Feeling a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach, Emily cleared her throat. "I... may have not told you everything about what happened on the pirate ship."

  Dorian raised an eyebrow, though Emily avoided his gaze. Telling Dorian this closely guarded secret, this hidden source of shame, made her feel the exposure of her body before his eyes all the more keenly. "Before Richard left the ship, he came to my room. Well, it had been his room, I suppose. He looked so pathetic, still naked after our duel, and with mere stumps on the end of his arms. He wanted the Bronzeband back, so that he would be able to row a lifeboat away. I knew I couldn't give it to him, but when he held his poor stumps to light I just... well..."

  Dorian made the connection. "You used the Stoneshell's healing powers on them. Just like you healed Ghor's wrist. But... moreso."

  Emily bit her lip. "As soon as he put that bow to the violin string, I knew it had been a mistake."

  "It's certainly complicated matters." Dorian frowned. "But it's done now. You said he wants to trade. I take it he still longs to recim the Bronzeband."

  "Yes. The Bronzeband for the Azure Essence. He said to meet him here, at sunset tomorrow."

  Dorian rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "He can't be trusted."

  "Of course not. He tried to cheat me once before. And I don't know that him having the Bronzeband again would be a good thing. He would just use it to steal and hurt people."

  Dorian eyed her ankle. "You've grown attached to it."

  "Of course!" Emily excimed. "It frustrated me at first, but I think I've gotten quite good at it now. And without it, we'd both be dead."

  Dorian nodded. "We'll meet him here tomorrow, like he asked," he said, speaking somewhat louder than was strictly necessary. Then, softer, he said to Emily, "But first, you need some rest."

  "Where can we go?" Emily asked. She gnced at the sandstone tower that led down to the Abbey, but knew they could not return there after what Dorian had told her. What was more, she had no great desire to enter one of Tiedavon Abbey's buildings again.

  "After I escaped from the monks, I didn't come straight up here," Dorian expined. "I had to go the long way round, scouting around the base of the cliffs, looking for other ways up. While I was climbing up here, I took a wrong turn and hit upon a small secluded cove by the sea. It'll make a great hiding pce. There's even a trickle of fresh water there, seeping from the rocks."

  "How do we get down?" Emily asked.

  "The path is a lot less vertical than the way you came up," Dorian assured her. He led her a short distance along the clifftop to where a narrow fissure angled down the rock face, offering a series of rough steps and handholds. "We might need the Bronzeband's help in a few spots, but it's manageable."