got there. Surely the gods did sometimes watch out for fools and children . . .
“Well, as it happens, we are always on the lookout for loyal and experienced troops. I know about the loyalty, and while you haven’t had as much time in the field as we normally prefer, I also know the quality of your training was first-rate, given as how it came from us. And that you can pull a trigger when it needs to be pulled.
“Go see Gunny. She’ll find you a bunk and get you squared away.”
The boy’s face lit up in pure joy.
“Thank you, sah! My debt is boundless!”
Cutter shook his head. “You’ll earn your pay, Singh, and Gunny will work your ass ragged.” But from the boy’s smile, Cutter knew that hard work wasn’t any kind of impediment, not even on his pradar . . .
SIX
As they finished their midday meal, still-warm
foof
-rats with a pungent blood sauce, Droc said, “So, how are things? As you recall them?”
She picked a bit of meat from between two teeth with her forefinger’s claw, flicked it onto the plate. “Mostly. Many of the faces are different, but the flow seems to be the same.”
“Your meal was acceptable?”
“Quite tasty. So much for the canard about
bolnica
food being uniformly awful.”
“Well-fed patients behave better. Can’t have them getting up to go seek prey because the food stinks.”
She nodded. “I do find it somewhat odd that I haven’t gotten any Challenges,” she said. “It has been several days, and I expected at least a few.”
“Disappointed?” Droc gave her the briefest of smiles.
“No, just remarking; however, I remember that facial expression, Brother. You know something of which you are not speaking.”
“I do not
know
, but I have a suspicion.”
“Which is . . . ?”
“Our sister the Shadow.”
“What of her?”
“She applies the law.”
“And what does . . . ? Ah. Yes. I see.”
“Good to know that your wits haven’t completely evaporated during your association with the humans.”
There was really no need to say it, but Kay said it anyway: “You think our sister has let it be known that she will be especially rigorous in her application of the law regarding
prigovor
in my case.”
“If I had to gamble on the premise? Indeed. Even though you and I know that Leeth would not knowingly break the law, she might . . . ah . . . bend it a bit. And if she would not do that much? There are more than a few among The People who believe that
Sena
abuse their power and adjudicate matters to their own ends when it serves them.
“Someone who might consider challenging you, just to see if they could win, might think that a Shadow peering over their shoulder for the slightest error is a matter of some concern. I would; even a careful person can misstep in matters of protocol. Were Leeth to hint at taking special care in investigating such, it would not be illegal, merely suggestive. Word would get around quickly.”
Yes. A Shadow looking at you with interest was to be avoided.
Kay nodded. “Family first.”
“Of course. ‘My sister and I against my cousin; my cousin and I against the pack; my pack and I against the world.’ Are your humans so different that you have forgotten this?”
“Not at all. If anything, they are much like us in that regard.”
“For their own kind, you mean.”
“It depends on how you define that. They have become in many ways my pack.”
“Made you an honorary human, have they?”
She whickered. “No, but Cutter’s tribe behaves as family, regardless of blood. There are more than a few of my cousins and a couple of sibs I would trust less than I do my humans.”
“Sister! I am shocked to hear this!” He smiled to give that the lie.
She shook her head. She had put all this behind her when the orbital ship took her aloft those long years ago. Now and again, memories of how it had been surfaced, but sitting here, talking to her brother, knowing her sister had her back? It was a powerful
“Well, as it happens, we are always on the lookout for loyal and experienced troops. I know about the loyalty, and while you haven’t had as much time in the field as we normally prefer, I also know the quality of your training was first-rate, given as how it came from us. And that you can pull a trigger when it needs to be pulled.
“Go see Gunny. She’ll find you a bunk and get you squared away.”
The boy’s face lit up in pure joy.
“Thank you, sah! My debt is boundless!”
Cutter shook his head. “You’ll earn your pay, Singh, and Gunny will work your ass ragged.” But from the boy’s smile, Cutter knew that hard work wasn’t any kind of impediment, not even on his pradar . . .
SIX
As they finished their midday meal, still-warm
foof
-rats with a pungent blood sauce, Droc said, “So, how are things? As you recall them?”
She picked a bit of meat from between two teeth with her forefinger’s claw, flicked it onto the plate. “Mostly. Many of the faces are different, but the flow seems to be the same.”
“Your meal was acceptable?”
“Quite tasty. So much for the canard about
bolnica
food being uniformly awful.”
“Well-fed patients behave better. Can’t have them getting up to go seek prey because the food stinks.”
She nodded. “I do find it somewhat odd that I haven’t gotten any Challenges,” she said. “It has been several days, and I expected at least a few.”
“Disappointed?” Droc gave her the briefest of smiles.
“No, just remarking; however, I remember that facial expression, Brother. You know something of which you are not speaking.”
“I do not
know
, but I have a suspicion.”
“Which is . . . ?”
“Our sister the Shadow.”
“What of her?”
“She applies the law.”
“And what does . . . ? Ah. Yes. I see.”
“Good to know that your wits haven’t completely evaporated during your association with the humans.”
There was really no need to say it, but Kay said it anyway: “You think our sister has let it be known that she will be especially rigorous in her application of the law regarding
prigovor
in my case.”
“If I had to gamble on the premise? Indeed. Even though you and I know that Leeth would not knowingly break the law, she might . . . ah . . . bend it a bit. And if she would not do that much? There are more than a few among The People who believe that
Sena
abuse their power and adjudicate matters to their own ends when it serves them.
“Someone who might consider challenging you, just to see if they could win, might think that a Shadow peering over their shoulder for the slightest error is a matter of some concern. I would; even a careful person can misstep in matters of protocol. Were Leeth to hint at taking special care in investigating such, it would not be illegal, merely suggestive. Word would get around quickly.”
Yes. A Shadow looking at you with interest was to be avoided.
Kay nodded. “Family first.”
“Of course. ‘My sister and I against my cousin; my cousin and I against the pack; my pack and I against the world.’ Are your humans so different that you have forgotten this?”
“Not at all. If anything, they are much like us in that regard.”
“For their own kind, you mean.”
“It depends on how you define that. They have become in many ways my pack.”
“Made you an honorary human, have they?”
She whickered. “No, but Cutter’s tribe behaves as family, regardless of blood. There are more than a few of my cousins and a couple of sibs I would trust less than I do my humans.”
“Sister! I am shocked to hear this!” He smiled to give that the lie.
She shook her head. She had put all this behind her when the orbital ship took her aloft those long years ago. Now and again, memories of how it had been surfaced, but sitting here, talking to her brother, knowing her sister had her back? It was a powerful
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