Encrypted by Lindsay Buroker Page A

him like he
had been born into it. Best get some answers from him while he was
in an affable mood.
    “ Given the reception I’ve
gotten here, I’m surprised you aren’t...” She watched him sidelong.
“Does my wartime hobby not bother you?”
    “ Actually...” He met her
sideways gaze. “It impresses me. A lot.”
    “ Oh,” she breathed, then
looked away, not sure she wanted him to see her reaction. She had
wanted an ally; she had not expected an admirer. She was not sure
how to deal with that. Parkonis, though he had loved her
personally, had been a little jealous of her professionally. They
had worked in the same field, with her discoveries often eclipsing
his, and his praise had always sounded grudging.
    They passed under men in the rigging,
adjusting sails to take advantage of the wind. Only a faint smudge
of black wafted from the smokestack today.
    “ As far as we’ve heard,”
Five said, “cryptography isn’t taught on Kyatt, so I just assumed
what we called the cryptomancer was a team of mathematicians
learning as they went. But your specialty is linguistics,
right?”
    The question sounded casual, but a trickle
of wariness returned to her thoughts. Just because he pretended to
be an admirer did not make him one. Maybe the Turgonians had simply
decided to substitute honey for vinegar, and had talked him into
delivering it.
    “ Yes,” she said.
“Philology, really. I work with the anthropology and archaeology
departments in the Polytechnic.”
    “ Interesting. How many
languages do you know?”
    “ Sixteen modern, and I can
read a few dozen dead languages.”
    “ Few dozen ?” Five halted and gaped at
her. “You must be a genius.”
    The proclamation startled her, and she
lurched to a stop beside him, conscious of the guards’ gazes on her
back. “No, no, trust me I’m not. It’s just something I’ve a knack
for.”
    He lifted a single skeptical eyebrow.
    Tikaya shook her head. “A world-exploring
uncle gave me a copy of the Tekdar Tablet when I was a child, and I
fell in love with solving language puzzles. My parents encouraged
it, so I had a head start when I started formally studying in
school. That’s all.”
    Five was still standing, gazing at her, and
when she met his eyes, she found that admiration there again. It
was disarming. Maybe he meant it to be. What had the captain told
Five to convince her of?
    “ Hm.” He resumed walking.
“My family gave me swords and toy soldiers when I was a boy.”
Bemusement laced his tone.
    “ You would have preferred
something else?”
    “ Oh, yes. I kept asking
for drawing pads and building materials. I wanted to design a
treehouse with a drawbridge to my room and a steam-powered potato
launcher for defense.”
    “ Sounds like every boy’s
dream.” Despite her determination to remain chary with him, the
change of topic set her at ease. She could not reveal something she
shouldn’t if he was talking about himself.
    “ Alas, this was not a
paternally approved childhood activity, so I had to find my own
building materials.” Five scratched his jaw. “I took it upon myself
to chop down some of the apple trees in my family’s orchard, trees
that my great grandfather had grafted from cuttings painstakingly
acquired when he was a marine sailing around the world. I, being
about eight at the time, was unaware of this bit of
history.”
    “ Oh, dear,” she
murmured.
    “ Yes. There was a lot of
yelling that summer.”
    She chuckled.
    “ What is engraved on your name plaque?”
Five asked as they started on their second lap of the
deck.
    For a moment, the context of the question
eluded her, until she remembered her earlier comment. “You don’t
know my name?”
    He spread his arms apologetically. “Nobody’s
told me much.”
    The salty breeze gusted, and water sprayed
the deck ahead of them. A lieutenant bellowed at the men aloft.
    “ Your name for mine,”
Tikaya offered with a smile. “I can’t keep calling you Five
forever.”
    He