Disclaimer: You know the drill.  Ain't mine. Live with it.

A/N: Hiyo Peeps! This is just a ficlet about what some of the people in TC think of Aly! Oh, and it's dedicated to Jamfase, for starting me on Tamora Pierce in the first place! Read on!

*Fesgao*

Who is this country girl?

            She's new, yet the duke and duchess seem to ask her advice…

            Definitely not an ordinary slave, this girl.  What luarin slave – mind you, fresh caught from Tortall, but still – can convince the others and I to confront the duck with our suspicions? 

            Just the way she talked and informed us of her observations.

            And when we were asking the Duke for permission to scout a head, that look she gave him!  I saw that un-slave-like way she spoke with her eyes.  I may be raka, but I am not stupid!

What is the reasoning behind this girl?

*Dove*

Who is Aly, really?

            She says she was a maid, but that can't be true! What maid says phrases like, "I would hear their criers with the ears of my heart?"

            Well, maybe things are different in Tortall.

            Aly is educated, like most people there…

            She might have been the most promising student, but no maid talks like that!  Not even Tortallian ones!

            I know they don't, one of my friends in Rajmuat has a Tortallian slave, and Aly and her speak nothing alike!

            Aly wants to know much more than a slave should care about…

            There is more to her, I know it!  But if Aly is a god's messenger, I will try to believe the story she gives.

But really, I would like to know the truth.

*Lokeij*

Who is this luarin slave?

            It's plainly obvious she is pretending to be who she's not.

            This girl is fitting in well, despite the fact that she was once much higher on the social ladder than she is now.  Most people would not realize it, but once in a while, she slips.

            What slave, except a tutor, knows as much about history and other areas of knowledge that only nobles care about as Aly does?

            I watch and inspect her, trying to see more than is revealed, trying to see her secret.  But she is good, better than me.

I can do nothing.

*Chenaol*

Who is this spy?

            Aly may not be a royal spy, but she is ours.

            Poor girl. Kyprioth has his hand on her, I can see.

            At least this will help our cause.  It is clear that she will be a superb help.

            From what she has figured out on her own and by what she has revealed, we all know that our Aly is someone special.

            But why did the Trickster not let us know earlier of Aly's help?

And what is the full extent of her help?

*Ulasin*

Who is this god's helper?

            Not the daughter of merchants, as she claims. 

            What merchant's child could have figured out where our storerooms are?  What maid fights with daggers and plans to mess with the royal spies' minds?

            She knows that I don't believe her story.

            Kyprioth, changing his messenger?  Gods do not give their vessels skills that are needed, they choose a vessel with those skills already!

            Our Aly is perfect, she may be the key to victory.

But who is she?