Sly seems reluctant about Pili’s proposal, but I am more on her side with this one. A few months ago, I stole all the cobbed-off corn heading in a cart off to an emperor (not Catra) and he was so agitated while also suspecting me (courtesy of not knowing who did it and my rep for never getting caught) that I just barely stashed my share of corn in my pillowcase when his guards arrived to sniff around. He just about noticed the blueprints I’d written on a sheet of papyrus, for this other caper involving the Pyramid of Djedefre, laid out on our desks. We were simply lucky he was looking for jars of corn and didn’t pay enough attention. It took weeks of raging to everyone about his favorite corn being completely stolen before he got a different order delivered, and until then, he tripled his security and harassed lots of the common folk with them and their threatening armor alongside him. From the accusations and yelling I’ve been hearing outside, this is shaping up to a similar outcome. It wouldn’t be best to do another heist right now.

Eventually, Sly sighs. “I am honestly pretty tired. I’m probably far from my best right now. But I need to get back to my friends soon. Could one of you at least take me around a bit? Maybe kind of like...a recon?”

“Sure,” I volunteer. I don’t know, I guess this Sly is convincing.

This morning, when I had to wake Sly up from our hidden basement, he was really against leaving his cane behind. But a raccoon carrying behind her symbol would be way too suspicious, as I had to explain again. He agreed, but he’s been a bit uneasy all day. He talks about some of his greatest heists, like flooding an entire spice factory in whatever a jungle is, and single handedly winning some sort of plane tournament where it was just his against dozens of huge better-skilled teams. And I can tell he’s impatient to pull this heist. He then talks about how grand it was taking down some being called Clockwerk, and I stop him. “Are you at all scared of not returning to your turtle and hippo friends?”

“...Maybe,” admits Sly. “I’ve never been without them. I mean, I have, but never like this. Never like I wouldn’t be able to see them again. Even when I was in jail at the helm of The Contessa, I knew Murray was in the prison somewhere too and Bentley was free. And I’m not the time or science whiz. Plus, with Carmelita…”

“The law enforcer, right?”

“Yeah…” I see a tear forming.

“You truly love her.” I say it as a statement.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Just like I love Asenath.”

“Yeah. How’d you two meet, anyway?”

“I knew her grandparents well. And one day they told me they needed medicine for poison, and I was able to successfully get it for them. Then years later, I was being pushed around by some baboons, shortly after I became a thief and before I learned my, well, technique, and she yelled for them to back off. We then started dating, and ever since she got pregnant, she’s wanted Pili and I to cut back on heists. And I get it.”

“I gotta say, she’s against heists even more than Carmelita.” The subject returns to her. “I just...for the very first time, it seemed we were going to be able to have a life together without any lies. And I need to return to that.” Sly clears his throat. “So that’s Catra’s palace. I faintly recognize it.”

“Yep. There it is.” Placed on top of a giant sandy hill, and fenced with guards going every which way, the palace is surprisingly easier to get into than some may anticipate.

I grin, and Sly catches it. “Pili and I have gotten in through various methods. Catra doesn’t have any bars on her windows, and it’s very easy to pick or break locks.” I gesture to the pickaxe I like to carry. “I’ve used this to break in twice.” I put it down. “Every time we do this, security tightens a bit, but staying invisible and silent can sometimes let you do the same thing more than one time. However, I don’t like to use my invisibility too often, because it takes effort and if someone saw me appear out of nowhere by mistake, the jig would be up. I see some guards are looking into the sewer pipes right now, so that’s probably not the best option. They would also be tightening access to the dungeons after Pili rescued you. It’s a bit of a windy day, so it might be harder for anyone to hear us if we climb a fence. Problem is it’s hard to see through the windows, but it’s easy to see out of them from inside. Most of the time I strike when there’s a distraction. That’s when the guards make mista-”

“Wait, get down!” Sly pushes me over under a bush. We see some guards running out the gate, just like I saw when I was surfing down my handcrafted river. Sly and I look around a little more and see most of the guards are running over to them or beginning to look worried they’re messing something up.

Sly turns to me curiously. “Was Pili or anyone planning anything?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Yeah, well, this looks like a good enough distraction. What do you say we go for it?”

“Yes. Follow my lead. I know a way in.” 

I run, fast as I can, to the other side of the palace, away from the guards. I lead Sly to a boulder in the ground, close to the fence, and with the slight height boost, I dive over the fence. Sly manages to follow. Luckily this is also a blind spot in the palace grounds to any windows. I then take him past a vegetable patch to a wall where there’s a crack. I hit it with the sharp end of my pickaxe, and it fits perfectly into it, as I knew it would. I then hoist myself to a second floor window and grab it with my other hand, then I jerk the pickaxe free, swing that hand to another dent higher up, and with the same motions, I make it to a third floor window I know is not very tight because no one ever expects anyone to be able to make it up here. I then say, “Heads up” and drop the pickaxe down to Sly. As he’s copying me, quite well I must say, I lightly squish my head against the window to look inside. No one. I try to open the window. I feel a lock on the inside. I scoot over to give Sly space, I ask for my pickaxe back, and I then set the sharp end against the window and pry it open. When Sly and I are in, the window shut behind us, we stop for a second, listening for footsteps. I hear Sly muttering how he’d be more confident with his cane.

When no one comes, we then talk. “So where would her books be kept?” Sly asks.

“Actually...in this room.” 

I don’t know if I would classify this as the library, because Catra keeps books everywhere. But this, the room that leads from the main hallway to her bedroom with the balcony, is the place where I’ve seen the most paper and spines. There are books on how to befriend crocodile right next to cookbooks on them. There’s a history of some cat the last empress used to have. We ignore all the ones with telling spines and go to the blank and big ones. 

“Any of these look familiar?” I ask. “Do you know if picking the wrong one would, as you said, damage the, uh, time beam?”

“That’s time stream, and none of these so far, but these have the same atmosphere. I think-”

“Shh. Footsteps.”

Someone’s walking up stairs nearby. I gesture over to Sly, and when I see I have his attention, I run to the side of the room and go invisible, encouraging the same from him. Sly nods and goes invisible on the opposite end of the room.