Good ideas manifest after it’s too late. Jioni left a weapon trader’s van without a single weapon. She walked vulnerable. Cold and silent. The streets seemed just as broken as always but more battered than usual—missing road signs, trash on the floor, and shredded vegetation as far as her eyes could see. The commotion had already died down. Blocks and blocks she walked without ever seeing a single soul; the wind blew, but it was not hot. Jioni soon picked up the pace; she attempted to outpace the setting sun toward the edge of the city where Derrin was.
