Turning toward him, she said, “I agreed to join Ari and Janco mostly for the satisfaction of beating you.”
Understandable. “You don’t want to be my second?”
“I…” She tugged the hem of her tunic. “I’m not sure I want to deal with all the subterfuge and undercover missions all the time. I mean…I enjoyed the smash and grab. And killing sand spiders was fun. But…I don’t know…” She smoothed her collar and fiddled with the embroidered diamonds. “The spy training is interesting. It’s just…” Maren met his gaze. “Can I be a part-time second? Or a when-you-really-need-me second? Is that possible?”
“I did say you can have any job. What else would you like to do?”
“I’d like to be a real adviser.”
“You are a real adviser.”
“To the Commander. I enjoy political machinations far more than security. And the generals, and Sitia…”
“Plenty of intrigue and drama?”
“Exactly.”
“I’m okay with you being an as-needed second, but I need to check with the Commander about you reporting to him. Have you told Ari and Janco?”
“Yes. Janco pouted, of course. Cried I didn’t love them anymore.” Maren huffed in annoyance. “But Ari understood, and eventually Janco came around. I’m still going to finish the spy training, if that’s okay.”
“It’s perfect. And if the Commander agrees, you’ll have to go through his adviser training.”
“Adviser training?”
“In diplomacy, politics, resource management, leadership, things like that. And there’s an extensive course on self-defense, but I think you can skip that one.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Might be nice to have a class that I can ace.” Maren fiddled with her sleeves. For the first time since Valek had known her, she appeared doubtful.
“I’m sure you’ll ace them all.”
“Really?”
“You wouldn’t be standing here in an adviser’s uniform if I thought differently. I’ll let you know what the Commander decides.”
“Thank you.” Maren grinned and strode from the room.
Conferring with the Commander was just a formality; he’d be a fool to not accept Maren. And the Commander was never a fool.
* * *
Kenda visited his office later that afternoon. “Exciting morning,” she said as she settled on the chair in front of his desk. She held a stack of files.
“Did you see the fight?” he asked.
“Most of it. You made a number of mistakes.”
“Thanks,” he said dryly. “Guess I need to practice fighting multiple opponents again.”
“Yes, you do. You upped the stakes for future challenges. Did you do that on purpose?”
“I couldn’t make an exception for Ari, Janco, and Maren. Once I agreed to that fight, I couldn’t say no to other groups.”
“You’re not getting any younger, you know.”
“Gee, Kenda, no need to sugar-coat anything. Is there a reason, other than pointing out my flaws, for your visit?”
She held the files out. “This batch of reports came in this morning. I flipped through them, it’s pretty standard stuff. You know, with your three new seconds, you can delegate and have them read all these.”
