Author's Note: Just a short taster chapter to tell you all that I am back up and running. Sorry about the huge delay, I've been rather busy with exams and prelims and stuff…

Chapter 3: The Joys of Port Caynn

To Ayla, narrow alleys had never been a personal favourite; she preferred woods or wide open spaces where you could see everything. Back home – or what used to be home, she reprimanded herself – alleys of the sort she was in now were virtually non-existent, since most of the houses were made out of paper. This alley was particularly bad, it was moist, slimy, it stank, there were frequent obstacles on the uneven ground – some of which had moved as she had attempted to avoid them – and the dark openings made her nervous. Her unease grew as her journey continued, following the barely discernible figure of the stranger.

Eventually, as she began seriously contemplating the thought of slowing down – she was still tired and her body, in particular arms, shoulders and shins, was incredibly sore from frequent collisions with various objects – the woman she was following entered what appeared to be a large drainage pipe and, after signalling Ayla to follow her, made her along it on hands and knees. After brief hesitation, Ayla followed and discovered that the pipe led into a sewer. She'd thought the alley had been bad enough, but it was sheer luxury bathed in rose-water compared to crawling through the thick sludge a bare hands breadth below her face (and her highly-offended nose), even without thinking about the overwhelming stench that permeated the confined space. Determinedly she continued, trying not to breathe through the aforementioned nose, and not to splash anything into her mouth as she breathed. She barely noticed the eerie light emitted by a multitude of plant growth on the sides.

After traversing several bends in the pipe, she followed the mysterious woman through a hole in the roof of the sewer and emerged, dripping filth, into a dimly lit room. The woman turned to her, "normally we take easier routes, but we didn't have time tonight. Welcome to the abode of the king's main representative in Port Caynn." Ayla quickly realised, after the briefest consideration of her charming route to her present location, that she didn't mean the royal, official ruler of Tortall. The woman, seeing the question forming on her lips, continued "aye, and I don't mean him that sits in that big palace in Chorus. We are members of the Court of the Rogue. Anyway, we should clean ourselves up" she gestured towards a barrel of water and a copper basin, "by the way, I'm Kaisha".

"Ayla", the girl replied. She looked down and realised that shaking hands might not be overly appropriate. Kaisha, seeing her look, grinned and said "pleased to meet you and all that. Come one, I want to get clean and do something about this cut." They roughly washed hands arms and legs, and were just finished when the man Ayla had seen earlier returned. He spoke to Kaisha: "where have you been? And why did you bring her?" His gaze shifted accusingly to Ayla.

"We came as quickly as we could. The cut slowed me down, and I wanted to wash that sewer filth out of it as soon as possible. As to why I brought her" Kaisha replied, "she's obviously not from here, and I'd say she's left home. A pretty thing like her shouldn't be in the alleys – even if she can take care of herself, which I don't doubt she can. She's young enough to learn our ways, and to be honest, we could use some new members."

"Very well," the man scowled and turned back to Kaisha, "as long as she is not a spy sent by my Lord Provost, or one of Tarik's, we'll see how she turns out. She's your responsibility." He turned and left.

"Come Aylas, let me show you around briefly, and then we'll talk. Don't mind Shadow, he's been bad-tempered ever since his partner went missing." Ayla followed her through a doorway covered by a bead curtain, thinking hard.