At the Missing Shekel, Shikouju waits in a booth for someone who is late to the appointment. At last she arrives – an elderly lioness Khatta who looks quite out of place in the Shekel. Her bodyguards deal with some ruffians, but Shikouju joins in when it seems that they won't be able to hold off their attackers.

That business finished, the elderly lioness joins Shikouju in the booth and starts conversing with him, apparently unsure as to his true identity – and quite interested in finding out the truth. Her mannerisms unnerve Shikouju, and he draws his dagger on her, but she seems quite unafraid of him … and at last begins to tell him a tale, of the Compass Rose.