Indigo Rain by Watts Martin Page A

morning,” Roulette called.
    Lisha’s ears perked up and she gave Roulette a smile—smaller than the bright one last night, still pretty but almost timid. “Good morning.”
    The raccoon came over, but didn’t sit down. “I didn’t think I’d see you here now. You don’t sleep here, do you?”
    She shook her head. “No, but I wanted to get an early start on planning work for the rally tomorrow. I’m in charge of security.”
    Roulette grinned. “That doesn’t surprise me. I’ll go get some food and—”
    “Do not get food here,” Gregir called from across the room. Both women turned. “Get food here. ” Gregir held up a large brown bag with a few small grease flecks on the bottom. It smelled like—
    “Doughnuts?” Roulette asked, laughing. “Your breakfast is doughnuts?”
    “And your breakfast is doughnuts. Plenty to share.”
    She laughed again, and pulled out one of the chairs at Lisha’s table. “Come join us.”
    Both Lisha and Gregir flicked their ears, glancing at one another. The wolf sat down, though, as did the raccoon.
    “These aren’t a very nutritious breakfast,” Roulette said.
    “Nonsense.” He tilted the bag on its side and ripped it open to expose all the pastries. “This one is plain, this one has nuts, this one has cream filling, this one has berries. Very nutritious.”
    “Thank you,” Roulette said with a grin. She took one of the cream-filled ones, biting into it carefully. Lisha leaned forward and took one of the fruit doughnuts.
    “You are welcome, Roulette,” he replied, tail wagging once.
    Lisha’s ears flicked, and she ate her doughnut in silence.
    Roulette cleared her throat. “Are you doing something for the rally tomorrow?” she asked the wolf.
    “I have put up signs, handed out flyers,” he said. “I have spoken with other groups. We are supposed to ‘excite’ people about the referendum.”
    “Which is working,” Lisha cut in. “The most recent polling has it being defeated.”
    “Narrowly,” Gregir grunted, and ate nearly all of a chocolate doughnut in one bite. “And the other side is excited, too.”
    Roulette nodded as she listened, and finished off her doughnut, licking her fingers clean of bits of whipped cream. Then she paused, tongue tip against finger pad, as she realized both vixen and wolf were watching. Just as quickly, both Gregir and Lisha looked away.
    She cleared her throat, standing up. “I should go—do that recording. Of my impressions from yesterday.”
    Lisha nodded, standing up, too. “You should, yes. Just bring me the notebook when you’re finished. I’ll be in the meeting room closest to the reception area.”
    Gregir said to Roulette, “I’ll be ready for our—work—in about an hour, if that is a good time, yes?”
    “Yes,” she said with another nod. “That’d be fine.” She grabbed another donut as she headed out.

“ This is not as bad a place as I was expecting it to be,” Gregir said as he and Lisha walked up the steps of the boarding house.
    “I told you it was a nice place.”
    “You say everything is nice, so I did not take that seriously.”
    She laughed, shaking her head, and led him up the stairs. “It’s just down the hall.” She reached into her pocket for the key, then froze as she approached the door. It had been pulled to, but wasn’t completely shut.
    Gregir stepped in front of her, motioning for her to stay behind him, and gently pushed the door open. Roulette couldn’t see past him, but she saw his ears fold back.
    “What?” she hissed, squeezing between him and the door frame.
    The sheets had been pulled off the bed and left in a pile on the floor, the mattress overturned. And her beloved trunk had been hammered open—
    “Oh, no.” Roulette leapt to the trunk, throwing aside the clothes in a frenzy. But she’d known it wouldn’t be there even before she looked. To a thief she would have nothing else of value. “Oh, no…”
    “What is missing?”
    “Everything,” she