The coded letter had made it into Triar's hands, her messenger had assured her. Now there was only to sit and wait patiently. But Alyssa Pierre didn't like to sit - she felt lazy when she sat down, even when she slept. So she paced, her tall heeled boots clicking on the rock floor.

The place was far, far underground. The air was so stale here, carried through the endless series of tunnels; she was breathing in the last breaths of hundreds of dead men. The How was not, in her humble opinion, the ideal location for a hideout. But it was deep and it was secret, and that was good enough for Jon Serro, so it was good enough for her.

She glanced towards the door, waiting for the combination of knocks that would herald Triar's arrival.

The door swung open. Alyssa stood behind it, grinning as she saw Emme.

"There you are," she said, ushering the two of them inside. "Sorry I've been away. Jon should be back here in a few hour's time, so I thought we could have a chat."

As Triar came into the room, she put a hand on his shoulder. "Well done, man," she whispered. "Any trouble?"

"Good," she said, sincerely. "No lies unless absolutely necessary, that's my motto." She smiled at Emme; Triar noticed that her canine teeth were made of silver.

"Now, then, miss," continued Alyssa, striding over to Emme and patting her on the shoulder. "You must be tired as all hell, at this hour. My bed's in the other room, why don't you have a lie-down while Triar and I chat for a bit?"

Indeed, Emme was exhausted, though she rather resented being treated like a baby. For five days she'd done nothing but wait around for someone to explain to her why she was here. For the moment, though, she was too tired to argue; she nodded to Alyssa and headed through the hatch.

Alyssa turned to Triar once she was certain Emme was out of earshot.

"You did very well," she murmured. "Serro regrets not being able to be here. I assume you want to know why he wanted Emme in the first place?"

Alyssa sat down, crossing her legs and twirling a bit of her curly black hair around her finger. "Jon has been awfully evasive," she said, a twinge of hurt in her voice. "At first he said he needed her and wouldn't say why. But I wore him down."

She glanced at Triar. Her eyes did not look judgmental, but rather curious. "You seem very protective of her," she said. "But you needn't worry. Jon would never harm her. He'd be mad to so much as look at her wrong. She's going to be the driving force behind something very big, Triar."

Biting her lip, she looked impish and excited. "I don't suppose you know who she is?"

"Oh, the papers," said Alyssa, dismissively. "Serro recognized her from the papers. She's certainly not important because of her connection to Willy!" She laughed lightly.

"No, far more. She's the daughter of someone Jon knew, a victim of galdori rape...not just any, you see. Someone quite important these days, though he wasn't back then."

Alyssa leaned her head back in the chair, relaxing. Triar could see a fresh set of bruises on her pale, long neck. Apparently, it had been an eventful week. Lighting a long black cigarette, she blew a few expert smoke rings into the dark room. "Emme is the product of that unfortunate encounter."

Alyssa completely ignored the question about her neck.

"If the person who fathered dear little Emme were to recognize her as well," she said, "and we think he has - he'd almost certainly have her killed. Jon wanted her to be taken on a night when her disappearance wouldn't be noticed. They were watching the bakery, you know. Actually, you had a close call. Our wingmen captured a galdori who was tailing you as you left the Caoja..."

She smiled, and took out a knife that was concealed in her corset, beginning to clean it with the corner of her skirt. It shone silver in the dim light.