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The rest of the meeting passed with Valentine deep in thought.
He buttonholed Brother Mark as they left to get some dinner and look over the nighttime pickets.
"Is it possible that-that a Kurian agent is manipulating her? Sowing doubt, fear?"
Brother Mark's gaze looked even more droopy. He nibbled at a turnip. "The Kurians and their agents may play with your senses, just as the Lifeweavers do. I suppose you've . . . ahem . .
. experienced ..."
"The night I got this," Valentine said, rubbing the side of his face where his jaw hadn't healed right. "Speaking of night, it always seems like she's at her most timid then. Dawn comes up and she's almost her old self."
"Sunlight interferes with their abilities. If it is someone manipulat-ing her, it would be like no agent I've ever heard of, that would put him-or her-on par with a Kurian."
"Then a Kurian-"
"No, they have to see, hear, smell-feel your aura, even, to be the devil whispering in your ear. Though I suppose they could work it through a proxy. Relay their mind through another, just as a Reaper becomes the Kurian when the Kurian is manipulating it."
"I haven't seen anyone touching her. She likes to pat you and slap you, locker room stuff, but that's never when she's making decisions. It's an 'at ease' thing with her to let you know you can relax."
"She's never slapped me," Brother Mark said in a tone that sug-gested he might enjoy the experience.
Churchmen. You never know.
"Anyway, I can't remember anyone going out of their way to make contact with her,"
Valentine said.
"Physical contact isn't necessary, you know."
Valentine straightened. "But you said-"
"An aura projects up to, oh, nine feet from the body. You didn't know that?"
"No."
"I saw it on a scanner once, during my education. An aura shows up on certain kinds of electrical detection equipment. It looked a little like the northern lights-ever seen them?"
"Yes, as a boy."
"It's an odd thing. A man missing his arm will still have the aura of his arm. It just looks more like a flipper. He can even move it around, to an extent, by working the muscles that used to work his arm. They could turn up the sensitivity of the equipment and show just how far an aura extends. Fascinating stuff. It's one of the reasons I don't eat cooked food. There's more aura residue clinging to uncooked vegetables."
"You don't say," Valentine said, wondering how to get the Brother back to the subject at hand. "Thank you for continuing my education."
"You weren't wrong-of course the connection is a good deal clearer when there's physical contact."
"How often would the Kurian have to make contact?"
"All I can do is guess. Different Kurians have developed different skills."
"Guesswork, then."
"Every few days. It's like a- Do you know what hypnosis is?"
"I saw a hypnotist once in Wisconsin. He was doing it for entertainment."
"It's like a hypnotic suggestion. Much of it depends on the will of the subject. With a strong-willed individual, I expect there'd have to be contact every day or two."
"Can you detect the connection?"
