Koi-boi
- Cam's told to "make himself free," so he does just that. He wants to be free of the palace, north and south, everything.
- As he's walking through the gate, a Downlander spits at him, mistaking Cam for an Uplander even though he's not.
- Cam stops at an inn and asks if he can stay there. At first the lady is reluctant, but she eventually agrees—she tells him she thought he was an Uplander too.
- One day, Cam and the innkeeper chat about the war, and Cam observes that they must be expecting another war since they're building the gate up so high and have so many soldiers around.
- Everyone from Dorn-Lannet thinks there'll be another one too, she reports.
- They swap war stories about killing a rabbit from far away that turned out to be a girl, or luring someone away from the group, pretending to be a girl.
- Cam knows he should laugh, but he can't help but feel bad. His people—Downlanders—did that to them.
- During the day, he watches the maids do their work, and imagines what his family are doing back home, or what Lord Ryuu is up to.
- The innkeeper follows Cam into the woods and catches him spying on the lord's men. When she confronts him, she tells him a story about how the lord is looking for a koi-boi.
- What's that? Someone who sings to the fish so they grow up strong. Duh. The last singer died, so they need a new one. Then she runs off.
- Back at the inn, she asks him if he's planning on killing the lord.
- Cam's not sure how to answer, but then she tells Cam about her hubby who died in the war. It seems like this war has changed everyone's lives—even the Uplanders.
- After that, Cam wonders whether the guards see him watching everyone on the hill—if his innkeeper notices, then they must see him too.
- Later on, Cam sees Diido in the woods and introduces himself. When he talks about her to his innkeeper, she tells him that Diido is a koi-boi, but the man who took her in makes her sleep with him in order to earn her keep.
- Cam feels sick learning this news, so he gets Diido an axe and gives it to her the next day. She asks him questions about where he got it, who he is, and all that jazz, but he doesn't want to talk much.
- The two become friends, and Diido admits to Cam that she thought he was Gyodan Ryuu's ghost when she first saw him.
- Cam laughs at the idea, but sometimes he feels more like a ghost than a real person who's alive. He promises to free her from Tseri.
- The innkeeper admits to Cam that her husband didn't die in the war—instead, he ran away with a mental problem. Still though, she lights a candle for him on the sea every year.
- Cam is surprised because they light candles on the river for their dead. Hmm… maybe Uplanders and Downlanders are not so different after all.
- The innkeeper asks Cam to come with her to the waterfront since it gets crazy down there, and he agrees.
- When they're down there, she says it's been really nice having him around—she likes having a man in the house.
- Part of him wants to stay, but another part of him needs to return to Kayforl. He decides he'll try to go to the castle gate tomorrow.