The Camp
- In the morning, Tilja wakes up and feels a bump (5.1)—the raft has bumped up against a sandbank (5.3). Calico freaks out at the water, but drags the raft on shore (5.17), where Tilja's surprised to see a weird-looking, shaggy dog (5.19).
- Then Alnor and Tahl finally wake up (5.26).
- Alnor decides it's time to get the show on the road (5.32). Meena realizes the dog's smarter than anyone thinks and decides to follow it (5.36). They truck on up a hill and see a plain in the distance with goats/sheep and some kind of house (5.37). A different dog yelps, alerting people in the village to the strangers (5.39).
- Meet Salata. She's got a really—uh, distinctive—way of dressing, with a long skirt and scarf, and she's not too happy to see the group of travelers. But it's traditional to welcome in strangers, so Salata does (5.52). The soldiers whisked off her hubby, so Salata's on her own, and she says she'll bring the strangers to the local head honcho, Ellian, the next day (5.52).
- Meena offers to tell Salata's hubby's fortune (5.54). Meena whips out the spoon Axtrig, rubs some oil on it, and tells Salata about her past and that her husband will come back (5.58). Salata's super happy, but warns Meena that magic isn't the Emperor's favorite thing and to be careful (5.69).
- Salata's daughter 'fesses up about the oppression the Emperor wreaks on the peasants (5.73). He owns everything (or a portion of it) and her dad got snatched up by soldiers. The Emperor owns all the land, but he tosses out some portions to his nobles a.k.a. the Landholders. As she says, "...long ago everyone who lived on the land, including Salata's ancestors, had to buy the right" (5.76) to live on their land. No one had ready cash, so they incurred a ton of debt and now have to give the Landholder a lot of money every year—plus interest.
- Meena gets ticked off and says she'd give the Landholder and Emperor a piece of her mind (5.78). Salata gets angry at Meena for possibly bringing bad luck onto her house—the Emperor has ears everywhere (5.83)—and Meena apologizes profusely. Hopefully this means no harm's been done.
- The next day Salata takes them to the house of Ellion, steward for Lord Kzuva (5.92). The guards don't want to let them in, but Salata puts her foot down and gets them inside (5.95). Ellion isn't in, but his wife, Lananeth, is, and she'll see them (5.98). The guards lead them to a windowless little room and locks them in (5.100). Oh good.