At the main entrance to the Inquisitor's chambers Mara turned to her left toward Hazar's apartments. Above, Dolos was visible as a small pink disk spinning across the sky. The other moon, Minos, was hidden by the high narrow walls which bounded the Second Circle. Around Mara the walls pressed tighter and seemed to become even more confining. What would it be like, she wondered, to be freed from bondage to Hazar and Zaco and the rest, to move from place to place unfettered, to make a life for herself instead of giving unending service to her overlords? But Hazar and Zaco would never let her go.
Go? Go where? What was she thinking about? It was all ridiculous. Mara tried to remember when her thoughts of escape had first manifested themselves. Had she caught some strange disease in the Hartford lands? Could one of those bucolic imbeciles have cast a spell on her without her knowledge? Nonsense, and besides, how could she escape? Would Hazar allow her to travel across the Guardian Mountains? Not likely. Zaco? Impossible. She knew no other lords, except, except… Did she dare get embroiled with Nefra's scheme?
This was all silly, ridiculous. Mara didn't know what had come over her. What was she thinking about? Tomorrow her thoughts of defection would appear ridiculous. Tomorrow? What awaited her in the coming days and years? What reward had she ever received for her services? Every day she teetered only one footfall from banishment to the guards' pleasure houses. With a start Mara halted and placed her hands against the cold stone walls. Were these not the walls of her prison? She looked around her. On all sides she saw only confined space.
With sudden loathing Mara backed away from the wall and hurried down the First Circle. As she neared her apartment she found herself thinking about an Ajaj in Hazar's service, one twisted and bent. She began to wonder how she could unobtrusively contact the Gray known as Buster.