Chapter Thirty-Four

Namid and the Queen had their minds on the same thing.  What was so utterly wrong with Irian that this was his reaction to people?  Namid knew him a lot better than the Queen, and she went back over what she knew about her partner. 

She of course remembered the years of silent holidays and driven training, but she could remember very few for whom Irian was a concern-past feeding, clothing and training.  She was unable to remember anyone other than Musashi-sensei and her brother that was really nice to him outside of class, though someone had obviously shown him a bit of favor-he was in posession of a lot of high-level scientific gear.

Thinking back over the time that she had known him, even she had treated him just like another tool to be used, going so far as to tell him how horrific his face looked.  Theirs had been a working relationship only, and their attitudes toward it resembled the effect of dousing two cats and shoving them into a shoebox together.

She felt a twinge of regret.  Why she hadn’t noticed till now, she couldn’t say.  What she was going to do about it was yet again a mystery.  He was the great unapproachable-it might not be so out there to think that he didn’t have emotions.  If he did, he sure kept them well hidden.  Maybe he thought he had a good reason to.

As they stopped running, her reaction was one completely driven by instinct-she drew a pair of arrows, nocked them, and let fly.  Two massive centipedes fell, pinned to trees by her shots.

The battle was here, now, and there was no time for distractions.