At the suggestion that a longwing was in the best interests of the cause, Liang puffed up in a manner that, were she a bird and not covered with scales, would have resulted in a great many ruffled feathers. She was quickly distracted, however, by the promise of something secreted away for her in Timandra's bag.
"Have you? What is it?" Briefly, Liang considered the notion that she ought to feel guilty for having nothing for Timandra in turn, but she dismissed this almost at once. The next time she came across something nice, she would take it to present to Timandra. And anyway, Liang had saved Timandra from an unpleasant dragon and placed her in a much preferred position. That was surely a gift in itself.
"I very nearly had something for you," she mused, thinking of the lost pie tins; although privately she allowed that they would not have been for Timandra at all, except that as a member of Liang's crew, Timandra would have benefited from Liang's own reflected wealth and prestige. "But that woman said I could not keep them, or there should be no pies. I do not like her. Oh!" she exclaimed, suddenly remembering, "do you think we shall be able to fly in and out of the fortress, now that the longwing is here? Only I have been told we might be able to trade, and I do not know who there is inside this city to trade with at present. The people here seem very jealous of their goods."
Liang sniffed then, as if she were not ten times more jealous of her own possessions, and of her captain and crew besides.