Mistress Jardena Official

She did not sleep. At midnight she walked the quay and locked the chest in her office, calling in her steward, Toman—solid as a boulder and loyal as the harbor's breakwater—and a few trusted fishermen. "We must find Locke," she told them. "If those maps return what was taken, someone will move to claim it."

Jardena watched his mouth. "Everyone gets shelter in Halmar," she said. "But I will see the hold. If you bring danger, you will leave before dawn." mistress jardena

Jardena raised the silver circlet on her hand. "Then you will leave these maps," she said. She did not sleep

The Heart rested in Jardena's hands. She could have kept it under her circlet forever, held the tide-paths for Halmar alone and thus kept the town safe by force. Instead she carried it to the lighthouse and, under the glass roof where the blue rose waited, she began to weave a pact anew. "If those maps return what was taken, someone