Page 46

“Then the information had little tactical value.”

Kesta folded her arms. “Not everything is tactical.”

Recognition flickered across his face. He looked at the half-empty cup in his hand before returning his gaze to her.

“No,” he said more quietly. “It is not.”

That answer was not quite an apology.

She did not need it to be.

Pela exhaled and took her child’s ration vessel from the counter. “The problem is still Red Basin.”

Dreven’s expression hardened. “I know.”

“If Rath challenges—”

“He will not take her.”

The absolute certainty in his voice made the hair lift along Kesta’s arms.

Pela noticed too.

“That confidence is exactly what frightens people,” she said.

Dreven’s jaw shifted.

For the first time, Kesta expected him to invoke command.

Instead he nodded once. “Then record it.”

Pela blinked.

“You objected publicly,” he continued. “Put it in the council ledger. If I spend camp resources defending the claim, the expenditure is reviewed.”

Pela studied his face, suspicious even of the concession. “You would let the council overturn you?”

“If they can keep her alive another way.”

Kesta’s attention sharpened.

Pela looked from Dreven to Kesta, then tucked the slate beneath her arm. “I will record it.”

“Unedited.”

The furred woman gave him a look remarkably similar to one Sera had used the night before. “I know how records work.”

When Pela walked away, Kesta glanced at Dreven. “You seem to inspire affection.”

“So do you.”

“We have that in common.”

Keth’s mechanical eye clicked between them. “This is becoming unpleasantly conversational.”

Dreven ignored him and looked at Kesta’s empty hands.

“Did you eat?”