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“Something startled her. I hope it was nothing, when she tells me why she jumped. I’d have to act, otherwise.” Cool and calm, his gaze met the man’s.
The old man paled. I wanted to learn how Walker did that. It would be so useful. I refused to speculate why it worked this time because I didn’t want anything disrupting the time we could spend together.
The old man’s escort’s eyes shifted from me to Walker and a subtle smile curled her lips. Her hand moved, and I blinked as she gave me an upraised thumb.
Then her eyes widened with concern as she crouched next to the old man, caressing his shoulder.
“I… see. Do you have anything to add, sir?” the Warden officer asked.
“No, it was an accident,” the old man wheezed.
“You can go then, sir,” security told Walker.
Moving fast, Walker steered me out of the dance area. I glanced over my shoulder as we walked. The old man bled more as they cut the shoe off. The stabilizer kept it minimal; they were miracles in miniature packages. The old lecher would feel it for perhaps a day, but the bones would knit fast with that little unit. They’d save lives Outside, but they weren’t allowed out of the Capitol.
I smelled strange spicy foods. In front of us, the table displayed more than a dozen silver heating containers. I stared at all the platters, full of cut fruits and vegetables, heaped in a display of plenty. I’d never seen this much food, other than at harvest fairs, where everyone ate what couldn’t be preserved for the winter.
I didn’t recognize half the fruits, but I was determined to try them all.
As I reached for a plate, a young woman paused to offer us drinks from a tray full of fluted glasses. Her black uniform was rumpled. A necklace set with twin crystals hung half out of her neckline, glimmering in the light.
Like many of the servers, her eyes and hair were dark brown to black, her skin tanned to a mahogany shade. A ghost of similarity between her and Walker’s people showed in the shape of the eyes and her cheekbones. She reminded me of someone, though I couldn’t put my finger on whom.
“Drink?” she asked in a pleasant, lilting voice.
“Just wine?” asked Walker.
“No, sir, the golden drinks are cocktails. Would you like wine? I can get it for you.”
“No,” he said. “I’m fine.”
I took a glass from the tray and sipped as I looked at the offerings. Other than the carved fruits and vegetables, it didn’t look like much. Little cubes on crackers, piles of goo on crackers, rice wrapped in green stuff, the faint but persistent aroma of—
“Is that fish in with the rice?” I couldn’t keep the horror out of my tone.
“Yes, tuna in that one,” said Walker. “The rice and fish dishes are called sushi as a general term.”
“You eat big fish?” I knew what tuna was: a huge sea predator. I tried to cover my gag. My stomach flipped in protest.
“Yes.” Walker looked at me quizzically. “What’s wrong?”
“Fish eat people, so that’s like eating people.” I edged away from the once-removed cannibal dishes.
“I never thought of it like that, but you have a point,” Walker said, following. His dimple flickered, he was fighting a smile.
I used tongs to stack my plate with cubes and circles of fruits and vegetables. A spiky red fruit, already cut open to expose a white seedy interior, looked tasty.
Walker shook his head. “That’s garnish: the peel will make you sick. Try one of these.” He indicated the speckled white fruit laid out toward the platter’s center.
I tried a firm yellow fruit first, one I’d never seen before.
“That’s pineapple,” said Walker. “The orange is mango, and the speckled white is dragonfruit.”
Sour and sweet; I liked it. The taste was strong—I wrinkled my nose to try to cover the involuntary pucker of my mouth. I took a drink, trying to think how Chance would act at a high society function. Spend it banging a willing server in a storage closet, probably.
Despite that, he paid attention to the manners lectures. So he’d do both banging and socializing using the correct etiquette. I shook my head. He’d managed to weasel his way into the Guild using his alternate ID and his dick. Even I had to admit that was impressive.
Commotion interrupted my selection of a second piece of fruit. President Cohen had been announced and people moved toward the entrance. The conversation grew brighter and more artificial, laughter tinkling with the crystal.
